Pass rate
70.9%
Below average — 1.7 pts behind the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 49,167 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £40–£113
2003 MINI Mini MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 2 trims combined
- typical 106,405 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
24.7% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
9.8 pts down across model years — 10.4% in 2001, 0.6% in 2012.
Which year to buy
- Best 2017 94.3% pass
- Avoid 2001 68.2% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 26.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 62.0%
- Typical mileage
- 106k mi
The 2003 MINI Mini MOT pass rate is 70.9% of its MOT tests — 1.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 9.5% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
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 MINI Mini? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every MINI Mini 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 MINI Mini compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 1.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.0%. The median 2003 MINI Mini in this dataset had covered 106,405 mi.
97% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 70.9% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 70.9% of the time, April–September 70.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 10.22% of tests.
- 49,167 recorded tests behind this page.
- 70.9% overall pass rate, 62.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the MINI Mini, the average is 76.0% — best year 2017 (94.3%), worst 2001 (68.2%).
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
- 49,167
- Typical mileage (median)
- 106,405 mi
- Make and model
- MINI Mini
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Mini MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 60% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (97% of tests).
Where the MINI Mini is most common
Across all Mini model years on record (2001–2018): 432,690 MINI Mini cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 1,024,160 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 12,469 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) | 12,469 | 80.6% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 8,603 | 76.4% |
| 3 | Ashford (TN) | 8,284 | 75.9% |
| 4 | Sheffield (S) | 8,094 | 79.1% |
| 5 | Guildford (GU) | 7,916 | 75.4% |
| 6 | Reading (RG) | 7,908 | 77.5% |
| 7 | Bristol (BS) | 7,771 | 71.9% |
| 8 | Nottingham (NG) | 7,493 | 74.2% |
| 9 | Portsmouth (PO) | 7,414 | 72.6% |
| 10 | Leicester (LE) | 6,849 | 77.6% |
| 11 | Brighton (BN) | 6,736 | 71.5% |
| 12 | Coventry (CV) | 6,553 | 77.9% |
| 13 | Chelmsford (CM) | 6,270 | 78.2% |
| 14 | Oxford (OX) | 6,155 | 75.7% |
| 15 | Crawley (RH) | 5,827 | 76.1% |
| 16 | Northampton (NN) | 5,778 | 73.8% |
| 17 | Gloucester (GL) | 5,760 | 73.2% |
| 18 | Norwich (NR) | 5,729 | 74.6% |
| 19 | Manchester (M) | 5,711 | 78.2% |
| 20 | Southampton (SO) | 5,522 | 74.2% |
The twenty areas with the most MINI Mini 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 Mini
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 12,108 | 72.8% |
| South West | 6,953 | 65.9% |
| East of England | 5,851 | 72.8% |
| West Midlands | 4,829 | 72.7% |
| North West | 4,586 | 69.9% |
| Yorkshire | 3,842 | 69.7% |
| East Midlands | 3,307 | 70.3% |
| Scotland | 2,248 | 67.4% |
| London | 2,197 | 78.8% |
| Wales | 1,841 | 66.4% |
| North East | 1,393 | 71.6% |
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 Mini
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 Mini
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 10.2% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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 6.0% 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 brake pipes 3.6% of tests
“rigid brake pipes excessively corroded”
Brake pipes run under the car, usually in front of the rear wheels. Flaking or crusty metal is what fails; a light dusting of surface rust does not. Worth asking a garage to look while it is on a ramp.
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 Mini through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £40–£113 — and 38% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £40–£113
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 38%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 49,167 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 Mini, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2001 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.2% to 94.3% — a spread of 26.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 68.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 69.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 70.9%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 70.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 70.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 71.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 72.0% position lamp not working
- 2008 73.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 74.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 79.6% position lamp not working
- 2011 81.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 83.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 84.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 86.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 91.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 89.7% wipers does not clear the…
- 2017 94.3% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2018 85.9% has a bulge, caused by separation…
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 MINI Mini 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 75 70.9%
- Renault Scenic 71.0%
- Toyota Previa 71.1%
- Volvo XC90 70.7%
- Toyota Hilux 71.2%
- Ford Focus 70.6%
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 MINI Mini 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 175,682 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 | 43,836 | 24.70% | 20.89% | +3.81 |
| Suspension | 32,769 | 18.40% | 20.98% | −2.58 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 26,362 | 14.80% | 12.21% | +2.59 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 17,819 | 10.00% | 5.52% | +4.48 |
| Tyres | 16,864 | 9.50% | 19.76% | −10.26 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 14,112 | 7.90% | 5.57% | +2.33 |
| Steering | 9,414 | 5.30% | 2.57% | +2.73 |
| Visibility | 6,856 | 3.90% | 4.97% | −1.07 |
| Non-component advisories | 4,320 | 2.40% | 4.18% | −1.78 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3,330 | 1.90% | 1.76% | +0.14 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 10.2% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 6.0% | £80–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 4.9% | £80–250 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.9% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.6% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 4.3% | £80–250 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 3.6% | £80–180 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.4% | £5–25 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.0% | £45–110 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 28.8% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 26.8% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 14.7% | £45–110 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.9% | £180–450 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.5% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 533 | 84.8% | 22,185 mi |
| 30-60k | 3,243 | 78.5% | 49,003 mi |
| 60-90k | 10,870 | 73.4% | 77,271 mi |
| 90-120k | 18,381 | 70.0% | 105,273 mi |
| 120k+ | 16,077 | 68.2% | 141,403 mi |
Source: 49,167 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 Mini MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 MINI Mini?
70.9% of the 49,167 2003 MINI Mini tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 62.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 MINI Mini?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (10.22%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.98%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (4.94%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 MINI Mini MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 84.8% of the time, falling to 68.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 MINI Mini in this dataset had covered 106,405 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 MINI Mini?
Petrol: 70.9% pass rate across 47,866 tests. Diesel: 68.6% pass rate across 1,300 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 MINI Mini MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 70.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 70.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.