Pass rate
70.5%
Below average — 2.1 pts behind the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 672 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £56–£160
2003 Hyundai Matrix MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 77,778 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
20.9% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2009 73.6% pass
- Avoid 2002 68.1% pass
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 5.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 61.9%
- Typical mileage
- 78k mi
The 2003 Hyundai Matrix MOT pass rate is 70.5% of its MOT tests — 2.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 11.9% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 30% 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 Hyundai Matrix? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Hyundai Matrix compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 2.1 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 61.9%. The median 2003 Hyundai Matrix in this dataset had covered 77,778 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 93% of tests, with a 70.5% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 73.5% of the time, April–September 67.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 12.35% of tests.
- 672 recorded tests behind this page.
- 70.5% overall pass rate, 61.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Hyundai Matrix, the average is 69.9% — best year 2009 (73.6%), worst 2002 (68.1%).
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
- 672
- Typical mileage (median)
- 77,778 mi
- Make and model
- Hyundai Matrix
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Matrix MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 59% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (93% of tests).
Where the Hyundai Matrix is most common
Across all Matrix model years on record (2002–2010): 5,042 Hyundai Matrix cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 13,593 tests. Portsmouth (PO) has the most, with 203 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 | Portsmouth (PO) | 203 | 66.0% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 202 | 73.6% |
| 3 | London (SE) | 126 | 82.0% |
| 4 | Dartford (DA) | 122 | 76.8% |
| 5 | Bristol (BS) | 117 | 63.7% |
| 6 | Poole (BH) | 114 | 67.1% |
| 7 | Colchester (CO) | 106 | 67.7% |
| 8 | Sheffield (S) | 104 | 72.0% |
| 9 | Brighton (BN) | 99 | 67.6% |
| 10 | Basildon (SS) | 92 | 80.3% |
| 11 | Manchester (M) | 92 | 72.7% |
| 12 | Southampton (SO) | 85 | 70.4% |
| 13 | Peterborough (PE) | 81 | 69.7% |
| 14 | Leicester (LE) | 80 | 73.5% |
| 15 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 77 | 70.6% |
| 16 | Guildford (GU) | 75 | 67.5% |
| 17 | Ipswich (IP) | 75 | 69.0% |
| 18 | Croydon (CR) | 74 | 84.4% |
| 19 | London (N) | 73 | 83.0% |
| 20 | Maidstone (ME) | 72 | 71.1% |
The twenty areas with the most Hyundai Matrix 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 Matrix
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 217 | 71.4% |
| East of England | 87 | 74.7% |
| West Midlands | 86 | 73.3% |
| South West | 79 | 64.6% |
| London | 69 | 76.8% |
| North West | 51 | 64.7% |
| East Midlands | 43 | 55.8% |
| Yorkshire | 27 | 81.5% |
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 Matrix
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 Matrix
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 6.1% 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 brake pipes 3.9% of tests
“rigid brake pipes excessively corroded”
Brake pipes run under the car, usually in front of the rear wheels. Flaking or crusty metal is what fails; a light dusting of surface rust does not. Worth asking a garage to look while it is on a ramp.
-
Check the windscreen 3.9% 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 Matrix through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £56–£160 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £56–£160
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 672 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 Matrix, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2002 to 2010. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.1% to 73.6% — a spread of 5.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 68.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 70.5%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 69.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 69.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 69.7% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 68.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2008 70.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 73.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2010 71.9% joints constant velocity boot…
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 Hyundai Matrix 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
- Suzuki Carry 70.5%
- Ford Focus 70.6%
- Vauxhall Vectra 70.4%
- Volvo XC90 70.7%
- MINI Mini 70.9%
- Skoda Fabia 70.1%
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 Hyundai Matrix 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 2,278 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 | 483 | 20.90% | 20.89% | +0.01 |
| Suspension | 469 | 20.30% | 20.98% | −0.68 |
| Tyres | 276 | 11.90% | 19.76% | −7.86 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 242 | 10.50% | 12.21% | −1.71 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 228 | 9.90% | 5.52% | +4.38 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 225 | 9.70% | 5.57% | +4.13 |
| Steering | 125 | 5.40% | 2.57% | +2.83 |
| Visibility | 84 | 3.60% | 4.97% | −1.37 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 83 | 3.60% | 1.76% | +1.84 |
| Non-component advisories | 63 | 2.70% | 4.18% | −1.48 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 12.3% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 6.3% | £80–250 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.1% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.7% | £5–20 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 3.9% | £80–180 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.9% | £80–200 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.3% | £5–25 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 3.1% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.0% | £18–45 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 3.0% | £180–450 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 28.9% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 24.6% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.7% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 14.1% | £45–95 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 11.3% | £20–80 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 11.0% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 13 | 76.9% | 15,104 mi |
| 30-60k | 180 | 77.2% | 47,818 mi |
| 60-90k | 261 | 67.8% | 75,616 mi |
| 90-120k | 157 | 68.2% | 101,945 mi |
| 120k+ | 61 | 67.2% | 141,025 mi |
Source: 672 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 Matrix MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Hyundai Matrix?
70.5% of the 672 2003 Hyundai Matrix tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 61.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Hyundai Matrix?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (12.35%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.25%), headlamp lens slightly defective (6.10%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Hyundai Matrix MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 76.9% of the time, falling to 67.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Hyundai Matrix in this dataset had covered 77,778 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Hyundai Matrix?
Petrol: 70.5% pass rate across 627 tests. Diesel: 70.0% pass rate across 40 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Hyundai Matrix MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 73.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 67.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.