Pass rate
81.4%
Around average — 8.8 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 59 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £49–£153
2003 Mitsubishi 3000 MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 96,905 mi
Only 59 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Most common fault
Suspension
20.0% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2003 81.4% pass · this year
- Avoid 2005 68.2% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 13.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 78.0%
- Typical mileage
- 97k mi
The 2003 Mitsubishi 3000 MOT pass rate is 81.4% of its MOT tests — 8.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.0% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mitsubishi 3000 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 3.5× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 19.3% of everything recorded on the 2003 Mitsubishi 3000, against 5.6% nationally — 13.7 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 20.0%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Look underneath for corrosion near the jacking points and suspension mounts; surface rust is normal, flaking metal is not.
- 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 81.4% — 8.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 7% 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 Mitsubishi 3000? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Mitsubishi 3000 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 8.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 78.0%. The median 2003 Mitsubishi 3000 in this dataset had covered 96,905 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated", noted on 8.47% of tests.
- 59 recorded tests behind this page.
- 81.4% overall pass rate, 78.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mitsubishi 3000, the average is 72.6% — best year 2003 (81.4%), worst 2005 (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
- 59
- Typical mileage (median)
- 96,905 mi
- Make and model
- Mitsubishi 3000
- 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 3000 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 62% so small gaps stay visible.
What fails a 2003 3000
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 3000
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 8.5% 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 windscreen 8.5% 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 battery 6.8% 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 3000 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £49–£153 — and 7% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £49–£153
- Cheapest common item: position lamp incorrect colour
- £5–£25
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 7%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 59 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 3000, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2002 to 2005. Across them the pass rate runs from 68.2% to 81.4% — a spread of 13.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 72.4% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2003 81.4%ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2004 68.5% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2005 68.2% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
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 Mitsubishi 3000 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%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
- Subaru Impreza 80.0%
- Honda S2000 83.5%
- Jaguar Xj 78.8%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 78.3%
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 Mitsubishi 3000 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 133 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 | 27 | 20.00% | 20.98% | −0.98 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 26 | 19.30% | 5.57% | +13.73 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 20 | 14.80% | 12.21% | +2.59 |
| Brakes | 18 | 13.30% | 20.89% | −7.59 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 16 | 11.90% | 5.52% | +6.38 |
| Tyres | 8 | 5.90% | 19.76% | −13.86 |
| Visibility | 7 | 5.20% | 4.97% | +0.23 |
| Steering | 5 | 3.70% | 2.57% | +1.13 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 4 | 3.00% | 1.76% | +1.24 |
| Non-component advisories | 2 | 1.50% | 4.18% | −2.68 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 8.5% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 8.5% | £80–200 |
| Battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 6.8% | £60–140 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.4% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.4% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.4% | £60–250 |
| Emissions not tested unable to be completed Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.4% | £60–250 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.4% | £45–120 |
| Position lamp incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.4% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint likely to become detached Suspension | Major | 1.7% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 11.9% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 11.9% | £80–180 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.5% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 8.5% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.8% | £18–45 |
| Chassis condition or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 6.8% | £180–450 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 1 | 100.0% | 52,441 mi |
| 60-90k | 26 | 84.6% | 76,013 mi |
| 90-120k | 20 | 70.0% | 103,367 mi |
| 120k+ | 12 | 91.7% | 163,542 mi |
Source: 59 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 3000 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Mitsubishi 3000?
81.4% of the 59 2003 Mitsubishi 3000 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 78.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Mitsubishi 3000?
The three most recorded items are ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (8.47%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (8.47%), battery(ies) insecure but not likely to fall from carrier (6.78%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Mitsubishi 3000 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 91.7% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Mitsubishi 3000 in this dataset had covered 96,905 mi.