Pass rate
82.5%
Around average — 9.9 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 189 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £46–£122
2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 3 trims combined
- typical 100,127 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Lamps & electrics
25.9% of faults · 12.2% nationally
Part only £6–£18 for Registration plate lamp inoperative (multiple lamps). What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2002 91.3% pass
- Avoid 2012 65.0% pass
Across the 21 years on record, a spread of 26.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 79.4%
- Typical mileage
- 100k mi
The 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee MOT pass rate is 82.5% of its MOT tests — 9.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Lamps & electrics is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.9% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 2.1× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 25.9% of everything recorded on the 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee, against 12.2% nationally — 13.7 points above. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
- 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 82.5% — 9.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Failures here tend to be cheap ones. 66% of the repairs this model fails on cost under £30 in parts. The pass rate matters less than what a bad afternoon at the test centre actually costs you.
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 Mazda Bongo Friendee? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Mazda Bongo Friendee 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 Mazda Bongo Friendee compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 9.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 79.4%. The median 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee in this dataset had covered 100,127 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 92% of tests, with a 82.8% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 82.4% of the time, April–September 82.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Rear fog lamp not working", noted on 5.82% of tests.
- 189 recorded tests behind this page.
- 82.5% overall pass rate, 79.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mazda Bongo Friendee, the average is 78.5% — best year 2002 (91.3%), worst 2012 (65.0%).
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
- 189
- Typical mileage (median)
- 100,127 mi
- Make and model
- Mazda Bongo Friendee
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Bongo Friendee 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 (92% of tests).
Where the Mazda Bongo Friendee is most common
Across all Bongo Friendee model years on record (2000–2021): 1,064 Mazda Bongo Friendee cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 2,556 tests. Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) has the most, with 139 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 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 139 | 94.7% |
| 2 | Halifax (HX) | 85 | 96.1% |
| 3 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 40 | 87.9% |
| 4 | Bristol (BS) | 34 | 68.9% |
| 5 | Plymouth (PL) | 33 | 78.2% |
| 6 | Southampton (SO) | 33 | 89.3% |
| 7 | Portsmouth (PO) | 26 | 68.2% |
| 8 | Stockport (SK) | 23 | 80.9% |
| 9 | Brighton (BN) | 22 | 69.6% |
| 10 | Gloucester (GL) | 18 | 69.5% |
| 11 | Exeter (EX) | 17 | 62.5% |
| 12 | Reading (RG) | 17 | 77.3% |
| 13 | Carlisle (CA) | 17 | 82.9% |
| 14 | Ashford (TN) | 15 | 75.0% |
| 15 | Cardiff (CF) | 14 | 60.0% |
| 16 | Newton Abbot (TQ) | 14 | 78.9% |
| 17 | Newport (NP) | 14 | 77.1% |
| 18 | Sheffield (S) | 14 | 83.9% |
| 19 | Dorchester (DT) | 13 | 65.7% |
| 20 | Poole (BH) | 13 | 64.7% |
The twenty areas with the most Mazda Bongo Friendee 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 Bongo Friendee
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 47 | 78.7% |
| North East | 36 | 94.4% |
| South East | 33 | 78.8% |
| Yorkshire | 26 | 88.5% |
| North West | 16 | 81.3% |
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 Bongo Friendee
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 Bongo Friendee
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 5.8% 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 corrosion 4.2% 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 3.2% 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 Bongo Friendee through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £46–£122 — and 66% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £46–£122
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp with a multiple light source up to…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 66%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 189 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 Bongo Friendee, side by side
21 model years on record, from 2000 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 65.0% to 91.3% — a spread of 26.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 83.5% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2001 83.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 91.3% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 82.5%rear fog lamp not working
- 2004 89.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2005 77.7% component mounting prescribed…
- 2006 74.7% component mounting prescribed…
- 2007 74.1% component mounting prescribed…
- 2008 66.2% component mounting prescribed…
- 2009 65.9% component mounting prescribed…
- 2010 72.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2011 68.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2012 65.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 72.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2014 67.4% component mounting prescribed…
- 2015 70.3% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2016 75.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2017 78.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2019 88.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2020 88.9% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2021 87.3% position lamp not working
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 Mazda Bongo Friendee 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
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 81.7%
- Honda S2000 83.5%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
- Subaru Impreza 80.0%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.2%
- Porsche 911 85.5%
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 Mazda Bongo Friendee 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 308 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 81 | 25.90% | 12.21% | +13.69 |
| Suspension | 58 | 18.50% | 20.98% | −2.48 |
| Brakes | 45 | 14.40% | 20.89% | −6.49 |
| Tyres | 36 | 11.50% | 19.76% | −8.26 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 29 | 9.30% | 5.52% | +3.78 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 22 | 7.00% | 5.57% | +1.43 |
| Visibility | 14 | 4.50% | 4.97% | −0.47 |
| Non-component advisories | 10 | 3.20% | 4.18% | −0.98 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 7 | 2.20% | 1.76% | +0.44 |
| Steering | 6 | 1.90% | 2.57% | −0.67 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.8% | £3–15 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 4.2% | £180–450 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.2% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.7% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.2% | £80–200 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.1% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.1% | £5–20 |
| Stop lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.1% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.6% | £18–45 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.6% | £180–450 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.1% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 9.5% | £200–700 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.5% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.3% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 4.2% | £40–150 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 3.2% | £180–450 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 22 | 90.9% | 50,222 mi |
| 60-90k | 51 | 86.3% | 72,943 mi |
| 90-120k | 61 | 86.9% | 102,354 mi |
| 120k+ | 55 | 70.9% | 153,332 mi |
Source: 189 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 Bongo Friendee MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee?
82.5% of the 189 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 79.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee?
The three most recorded items are rear fog lamp not working (5.82%), component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength (4.23%), headlamp lens slightly defective (4.23%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.9% of the time, falling to 70.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee in this dataset had covered 100,127 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee?
Petrol: 82.8% pass rate across 174 tests. Diesel: 80.0% pass rate across 15 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Mazda Bongo Friendee MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 82.4% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 82.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.