Pass rate
90.6%
Above average — 18.0 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 424 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £28–£71
2003 Bentley Arnage MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 52,543 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
28.1% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £40–£65 for Shock absorber leaking. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2009 94.9% pass
- Avoid 2001 87.0% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 7.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 90.2%
- Typical mileage
- 53k mi
The 2003 Bentley Arnage MOT pass rate is 90.6% of its MOT tests — 18.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.1% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.3× the national share
Suspension accounts for 28.1% of everything recorded on the 2003 Bentley Arnage, against 21.0% nationally — 7.1 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- 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 90.6% — 18.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 11% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
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 Bentley Arnage? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Bentley Arnage compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 18.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 90.2%. The median 2003 Bentley Arnage in this dataset had covered 52,543 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 90.9% of the time, April–September 90.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 6.13% of tests.
- 424 recorded tests behind this page.
- 90.6% overall pass rate, 90.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Bentley Arnage, the average is 89.5% — best year 2009 (94.9%), worst 2001 (87.0%).
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
- 424
- Typical mileage (median)
- 52,543 mi
- Make and model
- Bentley Arnage
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Arnage MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 78% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Bentley Arnage is most common
Across all Arnage model years on record (2000–2009): 1,968 Bentley Arnage cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 3,803 tests. London (W) has the most, with 85 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London (W) | 85 | 87.4% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 63 | 92.5% |
| 3 | Crawley (RH) | 52 | 90.7% |
| 4 | Ashford (TN) | 48 | 91.0% |
| 5 | Guildford (GU) | 44 | 88.8% |
| 6 | Chelmsford (CM) | 43 | 93.0% |
| 7 | Reading (RG) | 42 | 86.3% |
| 8 | Nottingham (NG) | 39 | 90.8% |
| 9 | Worcester (WR) | 39 | 89.9% |
| 10 | Leeds (LS) | 39 | 92.5% |
| 11 | Leicester (LE) | 37 | 97.3% |
| 12 | Slough (SL) | 36 | 91.5% |
| 13 | Gloucester (GL) | 33 | 84.2% |
| 14 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 32 | 91.5% |
| 15 | Maidstone (ME) | 32 | 91.4% |
| 16 | Peterborough (PE) | 31 | 85.9% |
| 17 | London (SW) | 31 | 78.1% |
| 18 | Bolton (BL) | 31 | 81.1% |
| 19 | Norwich (NR) | 30 | 84.4% |
| 20 | Hounslow (TW) | 27 | 96.4% |
The twenty areas with the most Bentley Arnage cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the Arnage
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 92 | 92.4% |
| North West | 62 | 91.9% |
| East of England | 58 | 93.1% |
| South West | 42 | 78.6% |
| London | 31 | 87.1% |
| East Midlands | 31 | 96.8% |
| West Midlands | 31 | 93.5% |
| Scotland | 28 | 92.9% |
| Yorkshire | 24 | 91.7% |
| Wales | 20 | 85.0% |
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 Arnage
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 Arnage
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 suspension joints 6.1% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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 lights 1.2% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 steering 0.9% of tests
“steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
With the wheels straight, rock the steering wheel gently with the engine off — more than about an inch of free play before the wheels move is worth investigating. Split rack gaiters are cheap to replace and commonly recorded.
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 Arnage through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £28–£71 — and 11% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £28–£71
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter missing or no longer…
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 11%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 424 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 Arnage, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2000 to 2009. Across them the pass rate runs from 87.0% to 94.9% — a spread of 7.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 89.7% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2001 87.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2002 89.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 90.6%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 88.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2005 91.9% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2006 90.8% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2007 87.1% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2008 91.7% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2009 94.9% has a bulge, caused by separation…
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 Bentley Arnage 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
- BMW M3 87.7%
- Porsche 911 85.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.2%
- Honda S2000 83.5%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 81.7%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
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 Bentley Arnage 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 320 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 | 91 | 28.10% | 20.98% | +7.12 |
| Brakes | 82 | 25.30% | 20.89% | +4.41 |
| Tyres | 38 | 11.70% | 19.76% | −8.06 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 30 | 9.30% | 12.21% | −2.91 |
| Steering | 27 | 8.30% | 2.57% | +5.73 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 22 | 6.80% | 5.52% | +1.28 |
| Visibility | 15 | 4.60% | 4.97% | −0.37 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 7 | 2.20% | 0.82% | +1.38 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 5 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
| Non-component advisories | 3 | 0.90% | 4.18% | −3.28 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 6.1% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.4% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.1% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.6% | £45–110 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.2% | £3–12 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 0.94% | £60–150 |
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 0.94% | £120–300 |
| Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault Brakes | Major | 0.71% | £3–15 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency less than 50% of the required value Brakes | Major | 0.71% | £45–110 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 0.71% | £30–75 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 5.7% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 4.3% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 3.1% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.6% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 1.9% | £30–75 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Advisory | 1.9% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 65 | 93.8% | 21,195 mi |
| 30-60k | 186 | 91.4% | 44,572 mi |
| 60-90k | 130 | 86.2% | 72,747 mi |
| 90-120k | 38 | 94.7% | 100,447 mi |
| 120k+ | 5 | 100.0% | 144,567 mi |
Source: 424 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 Arnage MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Bentley Arnage?
90.6% of the 424 2003 Bentley Arnage tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 90.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Bentley Arnage?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (6.13%), linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (2.36%), ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.12%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Bentley Arnage MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.8% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Bentley Arnage in this dataset had covered 52,543 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Bentley Arnage MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 90.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.