Kawasaki KR1: MOT pass rate by registration year

Which KR1 years pass first time, and which fall short of the model's 84.0% average, from 662 DVSA tests.

1990

highest-passing year · 86.3%

1988

lowest-passing year · 78.9%

7.4pp

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: 1990 (86.3% of 175 tests). Lowest: 1988 (78.9% of 57). Years more than two points below the model average: 1988.

Registered	Tests	First-time pass	vs model (84.0%)
1988	57	78.9%	-5.1 pp
1989	375	83.5%	-0.5 pp
1990	175	86.3%	+2.3 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 · 2006–2023

Questions

Which KR1 years have the lowest MOT pass rate?: 1988 registered examples pass first time less often than the Kawasaki KR1 overall (84.0%); the 1988 cohort is lowest at 78.9% from 57 tests.
Which KR1 year has the highest MOT pass rate?: 1990, at 86.3% of 175 first tests (2005–2025).
How much does the KR1 pass rate vary by year?: 7.4 percentage points between the highest (1990, 86.3%) and lowest (1988, 78.9%) 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 KR1 reliability, failures and mileage · ranked #2748 of 5428 models· other Kawasaki models: ZX-6R, ZX-9R, ZZR600, ER5, ZZ-R1100, ZX