Pass rate
74.3%
Below average — 1.7 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 378 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £29–£76
2003 Mazda Eunos MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 109,418 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
21.6% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2002 78.0% pass
- Avoid 2001 70.8% pass
Across the 8 years on record, a spread of 7.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 69.2%
- Typical mileage
- 109k mi
The 2003 Mazda Eunos MOT pass rate is 74.3% of its MOT tests — 1.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mazda Eunos does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.9× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 16.1% of everything recorded on the 2003 Mazda Eunos, against 5.5% nationally — 10.6 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 21.6%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- 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.
- Based on a small sample. 378 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 Mazda Eunos? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Mazda Eunos compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 1.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 69.2%. The median 2003 Mazda Eunos in this dataset had covered 109,418 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 73.5% of the time, April–September 74.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 6.08% of tests.
- 378 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.3% overall pass rate, 69.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mazda Eunos, the average is 74.9% — best year 2002 (78.0%), worst 2001 (70.8%).
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
- 378
- Typical mileage (median)
- 109,418 mi
- Make and model
- Mazda Eunos
- 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 Eunos MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 62% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Eunos
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 87 | 70.1% |
| East of England | 73 | 72.6% |
| Yorkshire | 47 | 80.9% |
| South West | 43 | 74.4% |
| Wales | 36 | 66.7% |
| West Midlands | 32 | 81.3% |
| North West | 26 | 84.6% |
| East Midlands | 18 | 83.3% |
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 Eunos
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 Eunos
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 6.1% 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 4.2% 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 the steering 3.2% of tests
“steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
With the wheels straight, rock the steering wheel gently with the engine off — more than about an inch of free play before the wheels move is worth investigating. Split rack gaiters are cheap to replace and commonly recorded.
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 Eunos through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £29–£76 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £29–£76
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter missing or no longer…
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 378 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 Eunos, side by side
8 model years on record, from 2000 to 2007. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.8% to 78.0% — a spread of 7.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 73.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2001 70.8% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2002 78.0% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 74.3%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 75.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2005 75.0% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2006 76.6% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2007 76.8% track rod end ball joint dust…
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 Eunos 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
- BMW X5 74.3%
- Jaguar S-Type 74.3%
- Audi A4 74.1%
- Vauxhall Agila 74.1%
- Volkswagen Lupo 74.1%
- Volvo S60 74.1%
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 Eunos 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 958 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 211 | 21.60% | 20.89% | +0.71 |
| Suspension | 178 | 18.30% | 20.98% | −2.68 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 157 | 16.10% | 5.52% | +10.58 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 124 | 12.70% | 12.21% | +0.49 |
| Tyres | 88 | 9.00% | 19.76% | −10.76 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 75 | 7.70% | 5.57% | +2.13 |
| Steering | 51 | 5.20% | 2.57% | +2.63 |
| Visibility | 30 | 3.10% | 4.97% | −1.87 |
| Non-component advisories | 22 | 2.30% | 4.18% | −1.88 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 22 | 2.30% | 1.76% | +0.54 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 6.1% | £18–45 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.2% | £3–15 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.2% | £5–20 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 4.2% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 4.0% | £45–110 |
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 3.2% | £120–300 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £18–45 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 2.6% | £60–150 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.4% | £25–65 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.4% | £5–25 |
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 | 27.5% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 16.7% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 12.2% | £45–95 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 7.1% | £25–65 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.1% | £45–110 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 5.3% | £180–450 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5 | 80.0% | 21,501 mi |
| 30-60k | 28 | 78.6% | 52,416 mi |
| 60-90k | 64 | 81.3% | 78,364 mi |
| 90-120k | 143 | 70.6% | 105,481 mi |
| 120k+ | 135 | 74.1% | 159,630 mi |
Source: 378 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 Eunos MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Mazda Eunos?
74.3% of the 378 2003 Mazda Eunos tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 69.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Mazda Eunos?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (6.08%), rear fog lamp not working (4.23%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (4.23%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Mazda Eunos MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 80.0% of the time, falling to 74.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Mazda Eunos in this dataset had covered 109,418 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Mazda Eunos MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 73.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 74.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.