Which year Austin Morris Mini 850 Super is most reliable?

Based on 3,681 vehicles (1980–1981) and millions of DVLA MOT records.

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The Mini 850 Super is a relatively young model with only 2 model years in our dataset. All years are closely matched — differences are real but smaller than you'd see on a model with 10+ years of data.
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Not just "newer is more reliable"
These rankings compare each year at the same mileage point — a 2003 Mini 850 Super at 80,000 miles is judged against a 2014 Mini 850 Super at 80,000 miles, not its full lifetime average. Verdicts are also relative to this model's own average, not a universal scale. That's the difference between "old cars wear out" and "this year is genuinely more or less reliable."
Best year in dataset
1980
Highest pass rate at 63.4% — the strongest performer across 3,374 Mini 850 Supers
Worth extra checks
1981
Lowest pass rate at 62.7% — years are closely matched but this one trails the rest
See common failures for 1981 →
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Dataset
3,681
vehicles · 1980–1981 · millions of MOT records

Pass rate by year

Year Pass rate Vehicles
1981
62.7%
307 Worst year
1980
63.4%
3,374 Best year

Click any year to see full MOT history, common faults and comparisons for those cars. Verdicts are relative to this model's own average — a good Land Rover year is judged differently from a good Toyota year.

How is this measured?

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What "pass rate" means

The percentage of all MOT tests that resulted in a pass — counted across a car's whole life, not just its first test. Higher means fewer failures over time.

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Mileage groups built from real data

We split this model's real-world mileage history into 5 equal groups — so each slice contains the same number of cars, not an arbitrary round number like "0–30,000 miles."

Does age still matter?

Yes. A low-mileage 20-year-old car has still had 20 years of weather, perishing rubber, and ageing electrics. Comparing at the same mileage narrows the gap between old and new — but doesn't erase it entirely.

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Why this beats surveys

Our figures come from the DVLA's national MOT database — over 50 million real test results from accredited garages, with no opinions involved. Most reliability guides are based on owner surveys with a few hundred responses per model.

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