Pass rate
73.8%
Below average — 1.2 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 84 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £46–£132
2003 Isuzu Bighorn MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 3 trims combined
- typical 175,203 mi
Only 84 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.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
25.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2006 81.2% pass
- Avoid 2005 66.3% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 14.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 67.2%
- Typical mileage
- 175k mi
The 2003 Isuzu Bighorn MOT pass rate is 73.8% of its MOT tests — 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 3.4× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 18.8% of everything recorded on the 2003 Isuzu Bighorn, against 5.6% nationally — 13.2 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 25.8%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- 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.
- Based on a small sample. 84 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 Isuzu Bighorn? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Isuzu Bighorn first registered in 2003 is combined here — 3 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2003 Isuzu Bighorn compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 67.2%. The median 2003 Isuzu Bighorn in this dataset had covered 175,203 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 77.6% of the time, April–September 68.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 8.33% of tests.
- 84 recorded tests behind this page.
- 73.8% overall pass rate, 67.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Isuzu Bighorn, the average is 73.5% — best year 2006 (81.2%), worst 2005 (66.3%).
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
- 84
- Typical mileage (median)
- 175,203 mi
- Make and model
- Isuzu Bighorn
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 Bighorn MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Bighorn
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 21 | 76.2% |
| South West | 15 | 73.3% |
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 Bighorn
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 Bighorn
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 8.3% 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 lights 7.1% of tests
“rear fog lamp not working”
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 4.8% 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.
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 Bighorn through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £46–£132 — and 22% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £46–£132
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 22%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 84 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 Bighorn, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2003 to 2006. Across them the pass rate runs from 66.3% to 81.2% — a spread of 14.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 73.8%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2004 75.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2005 66.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 81.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
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 Isuzu Bighorn 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
- Subaru Forester 73.7%
- Toyota Corolla 73.9%
- Nissan Almera 73.9%
- Mazda Mx-5 73.6%
- Volkswagen Bora 74.0%
- Audi A4 74.1%
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 Isuzu Bighorn 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 335 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 | 88 | 25.80% | 20.98% | +4.82 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 64 | 18.80% | 5.57% | +13.23 |
| Brakes | 47 | 13.80% | 20.89% | −7.09 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 45 | 13.20% | 5.52% | +7.68 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 22 | 6.50% | 12.21% | −5.71 |
| Steering | 21 | 6.20% | 2.57% | +3.63 |
| Tyres | 19 | 5.60% | 19.76% | −14.16 |
| Non-component advisories | 13 | 3.80% | 4.18% | −0.38 |
| Visibility | 10 | 2.90% | 4.97% | −2.07 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 6 | 1.80% | 1.76% | +0.04 |
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 | 8.3% | £80–200 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 7.1% | £3–15 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.8% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.8% | £45–120 |
| Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 4.8% | £40–120 |
| Steering box leaking oil Steering | Minor | 4.8% | £60–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.6% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.6% | £80–250 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.6% | £5–20 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.4% | £60–140 |
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 | 39.3% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 26.2% | £80–180 |
| Chassis condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 23.8% | £180–450 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 19.1% | £20–55 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 14.3% | £45–120 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.1% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90-120k | 14 | 78.6% | 107,100 mi |
| 120k+ | 70 | 72.9% | 194,171 mi |
Source: 84 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 Bighorn MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Isuzu Bighorn?
73.8% of the 84 2003 Isuzu Bighorn tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 67.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Isuzu Bighorn?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (8.33%), rear fog lamp not working (7.14%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (4.76%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Isuzu Bighorn MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 78.6% of the time, falling to 72.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Isuzu Bighorn in this dataset had covered 175,203 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Isuzu Bighorn MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 77.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 68.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.