MOT for imports and emissions - catalyst not required

Wrote this for MOT man today for my '94 import, maybe will be useful to someone on here.


Regarding emissions test. In simple terms, it's a non-cat test because it's a 1994 import. In more detail, the explanation is below.

Please note: the car's first registration date is 1 sept 1994.

The latest revision of official standards is available online: "In Service Exhaust Emission Standards for Road Vehicles"
www.gov.uk/government/publications/in-service-exhaust-emission-standards-for-road-vehicles

First, see page 2 - section 1.1:

The catalyst test applies to:
- All passenger cars first used on or after 1 August 1995
- Other vehicles, such as large passenger cars and light goods vehicles (3), first used on or after 1 August 1994 and mentioned in the Annex to this publication.
- Passenger cars first used on or after 1 August 1992 and mentioned in the Annex to this publication.

Now it's obvious first two bullet points do not apply, so let's see if the car is mentioned in the Annex. For Mazda, see page 97 of the Annex. A note there states on how to identify Mazda models:

"The VDS code consists of the 4th to 9th digit in the VIN number. The VIN can be found on the VIN plate. The serial number consists of the last 6 digits of the VIN number."

If you apply this to the chassis code of this car, of course no match for any modification of MX5 (or indeed any other model) listed in the Annex will be produced.

To identify which emission values to be used for testing, please look at Table 1 Petrol Fuelled Cars in the same document, the row that applies to the car is:
"From 1/8/92 and before 1/8/95 but are not included in the Annex"