Pass rate
75.7%
Around average — 3.1 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 16,084 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £29–£72
2003 Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 2 trims combined
- typical 123,049 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
20.3% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 100.0% pass
- Avoid 2000 74.7% pass
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 25.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 69.5%
- Typical mileage
- 123k mi
The 2003 Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate is 75.7% of its MOT tests — 3.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Land Rover Defender does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Steering: 4.6× the national share
Steering accounts for 11.8% of everything recorded on the 2003 Land Rover Defender, against 2.6% nationally — 9.2 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 20.3%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Ask for the steering to be checked for play with the wheels on the ground, not on a jack.
- 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 75.7% — 3.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 31% 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 Land Rover Defender? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Land Rover Defender 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 Land Rover Defender compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 3.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 69.5%. The median 2003 Land Rover Defender in this dataset had covered 123,049 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 100% of tests, with a 75.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 76.0% of the time, April–September 75.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt", noted on 4.17% of tests.
- 16,084 recorded tests behind this page.
- 75.7% overall pass rate, 69.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Land Rover Defender, the average is 80.3% — best year 2023 (100.0%), worst 2000 (74.7%).
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
- 16,084
- Typical mileage (median)
- 123,049 mi
- Make and model
- Land Rover Defender
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Defender MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 66% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (100% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Defender
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 3,335 | 70.4% |
| South East | 2,897 | 76.8% |
| East of England | 1,755 | 79.1% |
| North West | 1,528 | 74.9% |
| West Midlands | 1,494 | 79.8% |
| Scotland | 1,312 | 73.6% |
| Wales | 1,197 | 75.9% |
| Yorkshire | 1,097 | 78.4% |
| East Midlands | 955 | 77.7% |
| North East | 401 | 76.8% |
| London | 113 | 79.6% |
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 Defender
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 Defender
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 suspension joints 4.2% of tests
“track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or 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 windscreen 3.5% 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 shock absorbers 2.6% of tests
“shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
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 Defender through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £29–£72 — and 31% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £29–£72
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 31%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 16,084 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 Defender, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.7% to 100.0% — a spread of 25.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 74.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 75.0% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2002 75.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2003 75.7%track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2004 76.2% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2005 76.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 76.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 77.3% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2008 78.6% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2009 77.9% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2010 78.9% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2011 79.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 81.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 82.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
- 2014 85.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 90.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 85.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 92.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 93.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 94.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 100.0% window excessively tinted but not…
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 Land Rover Defender 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
- Rover 25 75.7%
- SEAT Leon 75.8%
- Toyota Avensis 75.6%
- BMW 316 75.6%
- Mercedes-Benz Clk 75.5%
- Toyota RAV4 75.9%
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 Land Rover Defender 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 43,324 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 | 8,892 | 20.30% | 20.98% | −0.68 |
| Brakes | 7,581 | 17.30% | 20.89% | −3.59 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5,638 | 12.90% | 5.52% | +7.38 |
| Steering | 5,180 | 11.80% | 2.57% | +9.23 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4,547 | 10.40% | 5.57% | +4.83 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 4,444 | 10.10% | 12.21% | −2.11 |
| Tyres | 2,184 | 5.00% | 19.76% | −14.76 |
| Visibility | 2,124 | 4.80% | 4.97% | −0.17 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1,890 | 4.30% | 0.82% | +3.48 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 844 | 1.90% | 1.76% | +0.14 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 4.2% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.5% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £30–75 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.3% | £5–25 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.0% | £3–15 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 1.9% | £80–180 |
| Stop lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.8% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 1.6% | £5–15 |
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 | 23.1% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 17.0% | £80–180 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.5% | £45–110 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 7.7% | £20–55 |
| Shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush Suspension | Advisory | 7.7% | £30–75 |
| Transmission oil leaks leaking excessively from transmission Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 6.8% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 158 | 89.2% | 20,281 mi |
| 30-60k | 907 | 80.4% | 48,635 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,445 | 78.3% | 77,024 mi |
| 90-120k | 4,097 | 75.6% | 105,098 mi |
| 120k+ | 8,439 | 74.2% | 163,249 mi |
Source: 16,084 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 Defender MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Land Rover Defender?
75.7% of the 16,084 2003 Land Rover Defender tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 69.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Land Rover Defender?
The three most recorded items are track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (4.17%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.53%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (3.17%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.2% of the time, falling to 74.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Land Rover Defender in this dataset had covered 123,049 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Land Rover Defender?
Diesel: 75.7% pass rate across 16,060 tests. Petrol: 80.0% pass rate across 20 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Land Rover Defender MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 76.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 75.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.