Pass rate
74.5%
Below average — 1.9 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 106 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £59–£152
2003 Kia Sportage MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 75,761 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
22.5% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2024 95.9% pass
- Avoid 2007 67.0% pass
Across the 21 years on record, a spread of 28.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 70.0%
- Typical mileage
- 76k mi
The 2003 Kia Sportage MOT pass rate is 74.5% of its MOT tests — 1.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.5% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Kia Sportage does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 2.1× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 11.7% of everything recorded on the 2003 Kia Sportage, against 5.6% nationally — 6.1 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 22.5%, 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 26% 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. 106 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 Kia Sportage? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Kia Sportage compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 1.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 70.0%. The median 2003 Kia Sportage in this dataset had covered 75,761 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 73.9% of the time, April–September 75.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 6.60% of tests.
- 106 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.5% overall pass rate, 70.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Kia Sportage, the average is 83.3% — best year 2024 (95.9%), worst 2007 (67.0%).
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
- 106
- Typical mileage (median)
- 75,761 mi
- Make and model
- Kia Sportage
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Headlight Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Sportage MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 57% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Sportage
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 33 | 84.8% |
| South West | 21 | 81.0% |
| East of England | 17 | 76.5% |
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 Sportage
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 Sportage
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 6.6% 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 windscreen 6.6% 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 corrosion 4.7% of tests
“chassis condition or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting”
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.
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 Sportage through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £59–£152 — and 26% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £59–£152
- Cheapest common item: anti-lock braking system warning lamp…
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: chassis condition or chassis has excessive…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 26%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 106 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 Sportage, side by side
21 model years on record, from 2003 to 2024. Across them the pass rate runs from 67.0% to 95.9% — a spread of 28.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 74.5%headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 67.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 67.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 67.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 70.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 71.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 73.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 73.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 73.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 74.9% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2014 80.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 81.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 84.0% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2017 85.8% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2018 87.7% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2019 88.7% brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick
- 2020 89.7% wipers does not clear the…
- 2021 90.4% wipers does not clear the…
- 2022 92.6% wipers does not clear the…
- 2023 95.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2024 95.9% has a cut in excess of the…
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 Kia Sportage 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
- Audi A6 74.5%
- Saab 9-3 74.6%
- BMW X5 74.3%
- Jaguar S-Type 74.3%
- Toyota Land Cruiser 74.7%
- BMW 525 74.7%
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 Kia Sportage 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 345 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 | 79 | 22.50% | 20.98% | +1.52 |
| Brakes | 70 | 19.90% | 20.89% | −0.99 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 45 | 12.80% | 12.21% | +0.59 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 41 | 11.70% | 5.57% | +6.13 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 32 | 9.10% | 5.52% | +3.58 |
| Tyres | 22 | 6.30% | 19.76% | −13.46 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 20 | 5.70% | 1.76% | +3.94 |
| Steering | 13 | 3.70% | 2.57% | +1.13 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 12 | 3.40% | 0.82% | +2.58 |
| Visibility | 11 | 3.10% | 4.97% | −1.87 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.6% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 6.6% | £80–200 |
| Anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an ABS fault Brakes | Major | 4.7% | £3–15 |
| Chassis condition or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.7% | £180–450 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 4.7% | £60–150 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.8% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.8% | £25–65 |
| Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 3.8% | £40–120 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 2.8% | £180–450 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.8% | £30–80 |
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 | 23.6% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 23.6% | £80–180 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 16.0% | £20–80 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 12.3% | £45–95 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 12.3% | £20–55 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.4% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 32 | 65.6% | 47,273 mi |
| 60-90k | 49 | 77.6% | 75,124 mi |
| 90-120k | 18 | 77.8% | 100,386 mi |
| 120k+ | 7 | 85.7% | 130,026 mi |
Source: 106 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 Sportage MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Kia Sportage?
74.5% of the 106 2003 Kia Sportage tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 70.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Kia Sportage?
The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (6.60%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (6.60%), anti-lock braking system warning lamp indicates an abs fault (4.72%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Kia Sportage MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 65.6% of the time, falling to 85.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Kia Sportage in this dataset had covered 75,761 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Kia Sportage MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 73.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 75.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.