Pass rate
76.9%
Around average — 4.3 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 35,682 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£88
2003 BMW 3 Series MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 119,261 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
26.3% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
11.4 pts down across model years — 12.1% in 2000, 0.7% in 2013.
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 91.0% pass
- Avoid 2004 76.5% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 14.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.7%
- Typical mileage
- 119k mi
The 2003 BMW 3 Series MOT pass rate is 76.9% of its MOT tests — 4.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 3 Series does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.3× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 12.7% of everything recorded on the 2003 BMW 3 Series, against 5.5% nationally — 7.2 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 26.3%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- 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 76.9% — 4.3 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 BMW 3 Series? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 BMW 3 Series compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 4.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.7%. The median 2003 BMW 3 Series in this dataset had covered 119,261 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 80% of tests, with a 77.6% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 76.6% of the time, April–September 77.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 5.50% of tests.
- 35,682 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.9% overall pass rate, 71.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 3 Series, the average is 81.2% — best year 2021 (91.0%), worst 2004 (76.5%).
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
- 35,682
- Typical mileage (median)
- 119,261 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 3 Series
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 3 Series MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (80% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 3 Series
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 10,220 | 79.3% |
| South West | 4,791 | 71.2% |
| East of England | 4,585 | 77.4% |
| West Midlands | 3,031 | 78.4% |
| London | 2,901 | 84.1% |
| North West | 2,771 | 75.6% |
| Yorkshire | 1,941 | 74.5% |
| East Midlands | 1,848 | 76.6% |
| Scotland | 1,616 | 71.5% |
| Wales | 1,281 | 72.1% |
| North East | 689 | 76.3% |
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 3 Series
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 3 Series
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 5.5% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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 windscreen 4.3% 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.
-
Check the suspension joints 2.6% of tests
“ball joint 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.
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 3 Series through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£88 — and 38% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £33–£88
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 38%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 35,682 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 3 Series, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 76.5% to 91.0% — a spread of 14.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 76.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 76.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 77.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 76.9%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 76.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 77.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 78.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 78.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 78.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 77.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 78.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 79.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 79.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 82.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 84.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 88.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 88.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 89.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 89.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 89.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 91.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 87.7% 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 BMW 3 Series 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
- MG Tf 76.5%
- Toyota MR2 76.4%
- Land Rover Discovery 76.1%
- Land Rover Range Rover 76.0%
- Toyota RAV4 75.9%
- Toyota Rav-4 75.9%
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 BMW 3 Series 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 96,223 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 25,856 | 26.30% | 20.89% | +5.41 |
| Suspension | 21,046 | 21.40% | 20.98% | +0.42 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 12,453 | 12.70% | 5.52% | +7.18 |
| Tyres | 11,819 | 12.00% | 19.76% | −7.76 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 10,557 | 10.70% | 12.21% | −1.51 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4,406 | 4.50% | 5.57% | −1.07 |
| Visibility | 3,956 | 4.00% | 4.97% | −0.97 |
| Non-component advisories | 2,625 | 2.70% | 4.18% | −1.48 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2,037 | 2.10% | 1.76% | +0.34 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1,468 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.5% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.3% | £80–200 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 4.0% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £18–45 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.4% | £80–180 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £40–150 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 1.9% | £3–12 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 1.6% | £5–25 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.6% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 24.8% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 22.2% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 15.7% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 11.4% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.9% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.6% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 240 | 89.6% | 21,529 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,925 | 83.7% | 48,616 mi |
| 60-90k | 6,017 | 79.7% | 77,026 mi |
| 90-120k | 9,882 | 76.9% | 105,327 mi |
| 120k+ | 17,558 | 75.0% | 156,386 mi |
Source: 35,682 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 3 Series MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 BMW 3 Series?
76.9% of the 35,682 2003 BMW 3 Series tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 71.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 BMW 3 Series?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (5.50%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.27%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (4.05%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 BMW 3 Series MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.6% of the time, falling to 75.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 BMW 3 Series in this dataset had covered 119,261 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 BMW 3 Series?
Petrol: 77.6% pass rate across 28,702 tests. Diesel: 74.1% pass rate across 6,962 tests. LPG: 76.5% pass rate across 17 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 BMW 3 Series MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 76.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.