Pass rate
83.8%
Around average — 11.2 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 68 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£130
2003 Caterham Super MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 2 trims combined
- typical 20,337 mi
Only 68 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Suspension
38.9% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2007 95.5% pass
- Avoid 2003 83.8% pass · this year
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 11.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 85.5%
- Typical mileage
- 20k mi
The 2003 Caterham Super MOT pass rate is 83.8% of its MOT tests — 11.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 38.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Caterham Super does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.9× the national share
Suspension accounts for 38.9% of everything recorded on the 2003 Caterham Super, against 21.0% nationally — 17.9 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 83.8% — 11.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 14% 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 Caterham Super? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Caterham Super first registered in 2003 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2003 Caterham Super compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 11.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 85.5%. The median 2003 Caterham Super in this dataset had covered 20,337 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits", noted on 10.29% of tests.
- 68 recorded tests behind this page.
- 83.8% overall pass rate, 85.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Caterham Super, the average is 92.0% — best year 2007 (95.5%), worst 2003 (83.8%).
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
- 68
- Typical mileage (median)
- 20,337 mi
- Make and model
- Caterham Super
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Emissions Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Super MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 52% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Super
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 20 | 95.0% |
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 Super
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 Super
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 exhaust and emissions 10.3% of tests
“catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
-
Check the suspension joints 7.3% 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 2.9% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps”
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.
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 Super through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£130 — and 14% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£130
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 14%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 68 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 Super, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2001 to 2012. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.8% to 95.5% — a spread of 11.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 91.1% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2002 95.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2003 83.8%catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2004 90.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2005 84.6% position lamp not working
- 2006 94.1% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2007 95.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 93.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 93.7% headlamp aim too low
- 2010 93.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 91.8% steering rack gaiter damaged or…
- 2012 94.2% steering rack gaiter damaged or…
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 Caterham Super 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
- Honda S2000 83.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.2%
- Porsche 911 85.5%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 81.7%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
- Subaru Impreza 80.0%
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 Caterham Super 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 54 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 | 21 | 38.90% | 20.98% | +17.92 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 9 | 16.70% | 5.52% | +11.18 |
| Tyres | 5 | 9.30% | 19.76% | −10.46 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 5 | 9.30% | 12.21% | −2.91 |
| Brakes | 4 | 7.40% | 20.89% | −13.49 |
| Visibility | 3 | 5.60% | 4.97% | +0.63 |
| Steering | 3 | 5.60% | 2.57% | +3.03 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 5.60% | 1.76% | +3.84 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1 | 1.90% | 0.82% | +1.08 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 10.3% | £60–250 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 7.3% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.9% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of a single lamp or all lamps Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.9% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.5% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp not working on main beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.5% | £5–25 |
| Hydraulic brake callipers leaking Brakes | Major | 1.5% | £45–110 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 5.9% | £25–65 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 5.9% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 5.9% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 4.4% | £18–45 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 4.4% | £20–80 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.9% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 43 | 86.0% | 14,985 mi |
| 30-60k | 20 | 85.0% | 41,398 mi |
| 60-90k | 5 | 60.0% | 82,867 mi |
Source: 68 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 Super MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Caterham Super?
83.8% of the 68 2003 Caterham Super tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 85.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Caterham Super?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (10.29%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (7.35%), ball joint excessively worn (2.94%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Caterham Super MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 86.0% of the time, falling to 60.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Caterham Super in this dataset had covered 20,337 mi.