Pass rate
79.6%
Around average — 7.0 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,996 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £45–£126
2003 Jaguar XK8 MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 82,832 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
30.7% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2004 82.1% pass
- Avoid 2000 77.0% pass
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 5.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 76.3%
- Typical mileage
- 83k mi
The 2003 Jaguar XK8 MOT pass rate is 79.6% of its MOT tests — 7.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 30.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.5× the national share
Suspension accounts for 30.7% of everything recorded on the 2003 Jaguar Xk8, against 21.0% nationally — 9.7 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 79.6% — 7.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- 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 Jaguar XK8? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Jaguar XK8 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 7.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 76.3%. The median 2003 Jaguar XK8 in this dataset had covered 82,832 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 99% of tests, with a 79.8% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 80.4% of the time, April–September 79.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction", noted on 3.01% of tests.
- 1,996 recorded tests behind this page.
- 79.6% overall pass rate, 76.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Jaguar XK8, the average is 80.2% — best year 2004 (82.1%), worst 2000 (77.0%).
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
- 1,996
- Typical mileage (median)
- 82,832 mi
- Make and model
- Jaguar XK8
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Indicator Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the XK8 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 62% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (99% of tests).
Where the Jaguar XK8 is most common
Across all XK8 model years on record (2000–2008): 5,347 Jaguar XK8 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 12,646 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 146 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 | Birmingham (B) | 146 | 80.8% |
| 2 | Coventry (CV) | 139 | 82.6% |
| 3 | Crawley (RH) | 129 | 81.2% |
| 4 | Ashford (TN) | 124 | 77.2% |
| 5 | Peterborough (PE) | 110 | 80.0% |
| 6 | Reading (RG) | 109 | 81.8% |
| 7 | Chelmsford (CM) | 105 | 86.5% |
| 8 | Bristol (BS) | 104 | 73.6% |
| 9 | High Wycombe (HP) | 104 | 85.5% |
| 10 | Poole (BH) | 94 | 73.7% |
| 11 | Norwich (NR) | 92 | 83.6% |
| 12 | Guildford (GU) | 91 | 82.7% |
| 13 | Sheffield (S) | 91 | 85.7% |
| 14 | Leicester (LE) | 89 | 82.4% |
| 15 | Portsmouth (PO) | 82 | 73.7% |
| 16 | Ipswich (IP) | 79 | 77.8% |
| 17 | Nottingham (NG) | 76 | 79.2% |
| 18 | Southampton (SO) | 75 | 76.9% |
| 19 | Swindon (SN) | 75 | 80.6% |
| 20 | Oxford (OX) | 75 | 86.9% |
The twenty areas with the most Jaguar XK8 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 XK8
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 485 | 80.4% |
| East of England | 287 | 81.5% |
| South West | 259 | 73.4% |
| West Midlands | 240 | 77.5% |
| North West | 166 | 78.9% |
| Yorkshire | 147 | 81.6% |
| Scotland | 117 | 78.6% |
| East Midlands | 113 | 87.6% |
| London | 77 | 81.8% |
| Wales | 58 | 74.1% |
| North East | 47 | 87.2% |
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 XK8
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 XK8
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 3.0% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 corrosion 2.2% of tests
“component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
-
Check the windscreen 2.1% 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 XK8 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £45–£126 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £45–£126
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,996 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 XK8, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2000 to 2008. Across them the pass rate runs from 77.0% to 82.1% — a spread of 5.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 77.0% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2001 80.6% anti-lock braking system warning…
- 2002 79.8% anti-lock braking system warning…
- 2003 79.6%malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2004 82.1% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2005 82.0% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2006 80.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2007 79.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2008 80.8% 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 Jaguar XK8 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 Impreza 80.0%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 78.3%
- Lexus IS200 78.0%
- BMW Z4 77.5%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 81.7%
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 Jaguar XK8 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 3,658 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 | 1,142 | 30.70% | 20.98% | +9.72 |
| Brakes | 736 | 19.80% | 20.89% | −1.09 |
| Tyres | 449 | 12.10% | 19.76% | −7.66 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 306 | 8.20% | 5.57% | +2.63 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 274 | 7.40% | 5.52% | +1.88 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 267 | 7.20% | 12.21% | −5.01 |
| Visibility | 135 | 3.60% | 4.97% | −1.37 |
| Steering | 127 | 3.40% | 2.57% | +0.83 |
| Non-component advisories | 114 | 3.10% | 4.18% | −1.08 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 108 | 2.90% | 0.82% | +2.08 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.0% | £3–12 |
| Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault Brakes | Major | 2.9% | £3–15 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £180–450 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.1% | £80–200 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.9% | £40–150 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.6% | £25–65 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.4% | £60–250 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.4% | £18–45 |
| Shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush Suspension | Major | 1.2% | £30–75 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.9% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 8.7% | £80–180 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 8.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.2% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.0% | £40–150 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 5.4% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 47 | 91.5% | 23,618 mi |
| 30-60k | 464 | 85.3% | 47,485 mi |
| 60-90k | 671 | 80.6% | 75,604 mi |
| 90-120k | 505 | 77.6% | 102,406 mi |
| 120k+ | 307 | 70.0% | 141,898 mi |
Source: 1,996 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 XK8 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Jaguar XK8?
79.6% of the 1,996 2003 Jaguar XK8 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 76.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Jaguar XK8?
The three most recorded items are malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction (3.01%), anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an abs fault (2.91%), component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (2.20%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Jaguar XK8 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.5% of the time, falling to 70.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Jaguar XK8 in this dataset had covered 82,832 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Jaguar XK8?
Petrol: 79.8% pass rate across 1,984 tests. LPG: 41.7% pass rate across 12 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Jaguar XK8 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 80.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 79.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.