Pass rate
75.0%
Around average — 2.4 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 749 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £36–£96
2003 BMW 5 Series MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 143,656 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
20.6% 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 →
11.3 pts down across model years — 12.7% in 2004, 1.4% in 2013.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 96.6% pass
- Avoid 2000 73.0% pass
Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 23.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 69.7%
- Typical mileage
- 144k mi
The 2003 BMW 5 Series MOT pass rate is 75.0% of its MOT tests — 2.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 5 Series does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.5× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 13.6% of everything recorded on the 2003 BMW 5 Series, against 5.5% nationally — 8.1 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 20.6%, but at 21.0% 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 22% 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 BMW 5 Series? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 BMW 5 Series compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 2.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 69.7%. The median 2003 BMW 5 Series in this dataset had covered 143,656 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 57% of tests, with a 75.5% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.4% of the time, April–September 75.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 5.21% of tests.
- 749 recorded tests behind this page.
- 75.0% overall pass rate, 69.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 5 Series, the average is 87.4% — best year 2023 (96.6%), worst 2000 (73.0%).
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
- 749
- Typical mileage (median)
- 143,656 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 5 Series
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the 5 Series MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 65% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (57% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 5 Series
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 229 | 79.5% |
| East of England | 113 | 73.5% |
| South West | 72 | 65.3% |
| North West | 68 | 64.7% |
| West Midlands | 65 | 76.9% |
| London | 62 | 85.5% |
| East Midlands | 41 | 75.6% |
| Yorkshire | 33 | 72.7% |
| North East | 27 | 74.1% |
| Scotland | 26 | 73.1% |
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 5 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 5 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 windscreen 5.2% 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 lights 5.1% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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 4.1% 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 5 Series through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £36–£96 — and 22% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £36–£96
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 22%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 749 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 5 Series, side by side
24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.0% to 96.6% — a spread of 23.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 73.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2001 78.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 75.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2003 75.0%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2004 77.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 77.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 77.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 79.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 81.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 80.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 82.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 81.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 81.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 81.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 88.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 88.7% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 85.7% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2017 88.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 89.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 90.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 90.7% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 92.2% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 92.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 96.6% windscreen damaged but not…
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 5 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
- Toyota Land Cruiser 74.7%
- Saab 9-3 74.6%
- Mercedes-Benz Clk 75.5%
- Audi A6 74.5%
- Toyota Avensis 75.6%
- 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 BMW 5 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 1,925 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 | 408 | 20.60% | 20.98% | −0.38 |
| Brakes | 400 | 20.20% | 20.89% | −0.69 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 270 | 13.60% | 5.52% | +8.08 |
| Tyres | 240 | 12.10% | 19.76% | −7.66 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 232 | 11.70% | 12.21% | −0.51 |
| Non-component advisories | 93 | 4.70% | 4.18% | +0.52 |
| Visibility | 88 | 4.40% | 4.97% | −0.57 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 77 | 3.90% | 5.57% | −1.67 |
| Steering | 60 | 3.00% | 2.57% | +0.43 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 57 | 2.90% | 1.76% | +1.14 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 5.2% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.1% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.1% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.1% | £40–150 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.6% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.9% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.9% | £5–20 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.8% | £80–180 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £30–80 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.4% | £25–65 |
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 | 27.0% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 15.6% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 14.7% | £80–180 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 11.9% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.7% | £45–110 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 7.1% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 4 | 75.0% | 22,168 mi |
| 30-60k | 10 | 100.0% | 53,461 mi |
| 60-90k | 81 | 74.1% | 74,251 mi |
| 90-120k | 136 | 78.7% | 108,058 mi |
| 120k+ | 504 | 73.8% | 166,358 mi |
Source: 749 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 5 Series MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 BMW 5 Series?
75.0% of the 749 2003 BMW 5 Series tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 69.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 BMW 5 Series?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.21%), headlamp lens slightly defective (5.07%), ball joint excessively worn (4.14%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 BMW 5 Series MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 75.0% of the time, falling to 73.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 BMW 5 Series in this dataset had covered 143,656 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 BMW 5 Series?
Petrol: 75.5% pass rate across 429 tests. Diesel: 74.4% pass rate across 320 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 BMW 5 Series MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 75.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.