Kawasaki EX500-D3: MOT pass rate by registration year

Which EX500-D3 years pass first time, and which fall short of the model's 77.3% average, from 2,406 DVSA tests.

1998

highest-passing year · 80.0%

1997

lowest-passing year · 76.6%

3.4pp

spread across 3 years

Pass rate by registration year

first-time pass rate · cohorts with 50 or more tests · registration year from first use date

Highest pass rate: 1998 (80.0% of 250 tests). Lowest: 1997 (76.6% of 1,455).

Registered	Tests	First-time pass	vs model (77.3%)
1996	700	77.6%	+0.3 pp
1997	1,455	76.6%	-0.7 pp
1998	250	80.0%	+2.7 pp

Older cohorts are survivors: the worst examples have already left the road, which tends to lift the earliest years. A first-time MOT pass is a roadworthiness check, not a full mechanical inspection.

Pass rate over time

first-time pass rate by test year · 2005–2023

Questions

Which EX500-D3 years have the lowest MOT pass rate?: none: no registration year of the Kawasaki EX500-D3 falls more than two points under the model's 77.3% overall pass rate.
Which EX500-D3 year has the highest MOT pass rate?: 1998, at 80.0% of 250 first tests (2005–2025).
How much does the EX500-D3 pass rate vary by year?: 3.4 percentage points between the highest (1998, 80.0%) and lowest (1997, 76.6%) cohorts with at least 50 tests. Older cohorts are survivors: the worst examples have already left the road, which tends to lift the earliest years.

Full report: Kawasaki EX500-D3 reliability, failures and mileage · ranked #4013 of 5428 models· other Kawasaki models: ZX-6R, ZX-9R, ZZR600, ER5, ZZ-R1100, ZX