Pass rate
79.4%
Around average — 6.8 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 476 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£55
2003 Lexus GS300 MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 108,128 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
27.5% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2008 84.7% pass
- Avoid 2000 78.2% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 6.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 75.4%
- Typical mileage
- 108k mi
The 2003 Lexus GS300 MOT pass rate is 79.4% of its MOT tests — 6.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.3× the national share
Suspension accounts for 27.5% of everything recorded on the 2003 Lexus Gs300, against 21.0% nationally — 6.5 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 79.4% — 6.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
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 Lexus GS300? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Lexus GS300 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 6.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 75.4%. The median 2003 Lexus GS300 in this dataset had covered 108,128 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 80.5% of the time, April–September 78.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 5.67% of tests.
- 476 recorded tests behind this page.
- 79.4% overall pass rate, 75.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Lexus GS300, the average is 80.6% — best year 2008 (84.7%), worst 2000 (78.2%).
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
- 476
- Typical mileage (median)
- 108,128 mi
- Make and model
- Lexus GS300
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 GS300 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 66% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Lexus GS300 is most common
Across all GS300 model years on record (2000–2009): 3,539 Lexus GS300 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 7,890 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 144 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) | 144 | 87.0% |
| 2 | London (SE) | 120 | 90.6% |
| 3 | London (E) | 108 | 88.7% |
| 4 | London (NW) | 100 | 81.0% |
| 5 | London (N) | 96 | 85.9% |
| 6 | Romford (RM) | 81 | 86.9% |
| 7 | Manchester (M) | 76 | 83.3% |
| 8 | Croydon (CR) | 75 | 85.6% |
| 9 | Wembley (HA) | 72 | 84.3% |
| 10 | Reading (RG) | 71 | 84.9% |
| 11 | Hayes (UB) | 67 | 89.4% |
| 12 | Dartford (DA) | 63 | 85.3% |
| 13 | Ilford (IG) | 62 | 81.8% |
| 14 | Hounslow (TW) | 61 | 87.8% |
| 15 | Ipswich (IP) | 59 | 69.9% |
| 16 | Guildford (GU) | 57 | 73.7% |
| 17 | Sheffield (S) | 54 | 78.7% |
| 18 | Peterborough (PE) | 52 | 78.2% |
| 19 | Basildon (SS) | 50 | 85.5% |
| 20 | Enfield (EN) | 50 | 87.0% |
The twenty areas with the most Lexus GS300 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 GS300
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 145 | 81.4% |
| London | 75 | 82.7% |
| East of England | 72 | 75.0% |
| West Midlands | 55 | 72.7% |
| North West | 31 | 77.4% |
| South West | 28 | 75.0% |
| Yorkshire | 25 | 84.0% |
| East Midlands | 22 | 95.5% |
| Scotland | 15 | 66.7% |
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 GS300
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 GS300
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 5.7% 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.
-
Check the lights 5.3% 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 battery 2.5% of tests
“battery(ies) insecure”
Check the battery is secure and its terminals are clean and tight — a loose battery is a fail on its own, and a weak one shows up as slow cranking on a cold morning.
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 GS300 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £21–£55 — and 43% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £21–£55
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £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
- 43%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 476 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 GS300, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2000 to 2009. Across them the pass rate runs from 78.2% to 84.7% — a spread of 6.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 78.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 82.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2002 79.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 79.4%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 82.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2005 79.8% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2006 79.1% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2007 82.6% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2008 84.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2009 83.1% headlamp lens slightly defective
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 Lexus GS300 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%
- Jaguar Xj 78.8%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 78.3%
- 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 Lexus GS300 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 1,129 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 | 314 | 27.50% | 20.98% | +6.52 |
| Brakes | 217 | 19.00% | 20.89% | −1.89 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 169 | 14.80% | 12.21% | +2.59 |
| Tyres | 154 | 13.50% | 19.76% | −6.26 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 122 | 10.70% | 5.52% | +5.18 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 63 | 5.50% | 5.57% | −0.07 |
| Visibility | 30 | 2.60% | 4.97% | −2.37 |
| Non-component advisories | 22 | 1.90% | 4.18% | −2.28 |
| Steering | 20 | 1.80% | 2.57% | −0.77 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 18 | 1.60% | 1.76% | −0.16 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 5.7% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.3% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.8% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.4% | £18–45 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.5% | £60–140 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.3% | £30–80 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.3% | £3–12 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.1% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.1% | £80–200 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.9% | £18–45 |
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 | 15.8% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 14.9% | £40–150 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 13.7% | £200–700 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.7% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.2% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.8% | £45–110 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 8 | 75.0% | 24,699 mi |
| 30-60k | 24 | 87.5% | 50,993 mi |
| 60-90k | 100 | 82.0% | 76,912 mi |
| 90-120k | 167 | 74.9% | 104,863 mi |
| 120k+ | 177 | 81.4% | 153,397 mi |
Source: 476 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 GS300 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Lexus GS300?
79.4% of the 476 2003 Lexus GS300 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 75.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Lexus GS300?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.67%), headlamp lens slightly defective (5.25%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (3.78%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Lexus GS300 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 75.0% of the time, falling to 81.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Lexus GS300 in this dataset had covered 108,128 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Lexus GS300 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 80.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 78.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.