Pass rate
76.0%
Around average — 3.4 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 783 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £36–£109
2003 Alfa Romeo 147 MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 88,957 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
20.3% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2003 76.0% pass · this year
- Avoid 2006 67.7% pass
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 8.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 70.2%
- Typical mileage
- 89k mi
The 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 MOT pass rate is 76.0% of its MOT tests — 3.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Alfa Romeo 147 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 12.9% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 72.6% and this one manages 76.0% — 3.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Alfa Romeo 147? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 3.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 70.2%. The median 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 in this dataset had covered 88,957 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 89% of tests, with a 76.5% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.5% of the time, April–September 79.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect", noted on 3.96% of tests.
- 783 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.0% overall pass rate, 70.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Alfa Romeo 147, the average is 71.2% — best year 2003 (76.0%), worst 2006 (67.7%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 783
- Typical mileage (median)
- 88,957 mi
- Make and model
- Alfa Romeo 147
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Headlight Alignment
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the 147 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 58% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (89% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 147
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 203 | 75.9% |
| South West | 117 | 71.8% |
| East of England | 98 | 78.6% |
| West Midlands | 83 | 69.9% |
| East Midlands | 67 | 73.1% |
| Yorkshire | 59 | 86.4% |
| North West | 57 | 77.2% |
| London | 33 | 87.9% |
| Scotland | 30 | 73.3% |
| Wales | 27 | 70.4% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2003 147
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2003 147
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the lights 4.0% of tests
“headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the suspension joints 3.5% of tests
“pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
-
Check the windscreen 2.9% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2003 147 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £36–£109 — and 43% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £36–£109
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 43%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 783 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the 147, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2001 to 2009. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.7% to 76.0% — a spread of 8.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 72.0% srs malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2002 71.8% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2003 76.0%headlamp aim projected beam image…
- 2004 75.6% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2005 71.8% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2006 67.7% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2007 68.2% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2008 70.0% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2009 72.3% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2003 cars with a similar record
- Land Rover Range Rover 76.0%
- Land Rover Discovery 76.1%
- Toyota RAV4 75.9%
- Toyota Rav-4 75.9%
- SEAT Leon 75.8%
- Land Rover Defender 75.7%
Closest pass rates among 2003 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 1,848 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 384 | 20.30% | 20.98% | −0.68 |
| Brakes | 350 | 18.50% | 20.89% | −2.39 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 261 | 13.80% | 12.21% | +1.59 |
| Tyres | 244 | 12.90% | 19.76% | −6.86 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 198 | 10.50% | 5.57% | +4.93 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 173 | 9.10% | 5.52% | +3.58 |
| Visibility | 104 | 5.50% | 4.97% | +0.53 |
| Non-component advisories | 52 | 2.70% | 4.18% | −1.48 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 46 | 2.40% | 0.82% | +1.58 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 36 | 1.90% | 1.76% | +0.14 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.0% | £30–80 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.5% | £40–150 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.3% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.1% | £80–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.9% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.7% | £5–25 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 2.5% | £5–15 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.4% | £80–250 |
| Horn not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £8–25 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 1.8% | £3–12 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 15.7% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 14.3% | £200–700 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.3% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 10.3% | £40–150 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 9.4% | £80–180 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 9.2% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 6 | 66.7% | 26,495 mi |
| 30-60k | 131 | 77.9% | 49,854 mi |
| 60-90k | 268 | 76.1% | 77,322 mi |
| 90-120k | 240 | 76.7% | 103,282 mi |
| 120k+ | 138 | 73.2% | 151,983 mi |
Source: 783 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2003 147 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Alfa Romeo 147?
76.0% of the 783 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 70.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Alfa Romeo 147?
The three most recorded items are headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (3.96%), pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn (3.45%), position lamp not working (3.32%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 66.7% of the time, falling to 73.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 in this dataset had covered 88,957 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Alfa Romeo 147?
Petrol: 76.5% pass rate across 695 tests. Diesel: 70.6% pass rate across 85 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Alfa Romeo 147 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 79.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.