Pass rate
82.2%
Around average — 9.6 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 90 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £54–£154
2003 Morgan Plus MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 2 trims combined
- typical 22,774 mi
Only 90 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.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Lamps & electrics
18.8% of faults · 12.2% nationally
Which year to buy
- Best 2010 96.3% pass
- Avoid 2003 82.2% pass · this year
Across the 22 years on record, a spread of 14.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 79.5%
- Typical mileage
- 23k mi
The 2003 Morgan Plus MOT pass rate is 82.2% of its MOT tests — 9.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Lamps & electrics is the biggest single reason it fails, at 18.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 3.4× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 18.8% of everything recorded on the 2003 Morgan Plus, against 5.5% nationally — 13.3 points above. Lamps & electrics are still the single largest share at 18.8%, but at 12.2% 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.
- 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 82.2% — 9.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 33% 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 Morgan Plus? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Morgan Plus 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 Morgan Plus compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 9.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 79.5%. The median 2003 Morgan Plus in this dataset had covered 22,774 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 76.5% of the time, April–September 85.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt", noted on 5.56% of tests.
- 90 recorded tests behind this page.
- 82.2% overall pass rate, 79.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Morgan Plus, the average is 92.3% — best year 2010 (96.3%), worst 2003 (82.2%).
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
- 90
- Typical mileage (median)
- 22,774 mi
- Make and model
- Morgan Plus
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Steering Rack
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Plus MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 62% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the Morgan Plus is most common
Across all Plus model years on record (2000–2021): 2,134 Morgan Plus cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 4,540 tests. Worcester (WR) has the most, with 147 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 | Worcester (WR) | 147 | 94.4% |
| 2 | Ashford (TN) | 144 | 90.3% |
| 3 | Bristol (BS) | 122 | 95.9% |
| 4 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 89 | 85.6% |
| 5 | Gloucester (GL) | 84 | 94.0% |
| 6 | Exeter (EX) | 80 | 90.9% |
| 7 | Doncaster (DN) | 66 | 97.9% |
| 8 | Reading (RG) | 60 | 90.4% |
| 9 | Salisbury (SP) | 54 | 91.1% |
| 10 | Guildford (GU) | 52 | 82.6% |
| 11 | Chelmsford (CM) | 51 | 94.2% |
| 12 | Crewe (CW) | 49 | 94.2% |
| 13 | Ipswich (IP) | 46 | 87.5% |
| 14 | Perth (PH) | 45 | 93.7% |
| 15 | Preston (PR) | 40 | 100.0% |
| 16 | Stevenage (SG) | 39 | 97.8% |
| 17 | Oxford (OX) | 29 | 88.6% |
| 18 | Birmingham (B) | 26 | 100.0% |
| 19 | Coventry (CV) | 25 | 86.4% |
| 20 | Leicester (LE) | 25 | 97.8% |
The twenty areas with the most Morgan Plus 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 Plus
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 34 | 79.4% |
| South West | 20 | 75.0% |
| East of England | 17 | 88.2% |
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 Plus
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 Plus
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 steering 5.6% 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.
-
Check the lights 2.2% of tests
“lamp inoperative”
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 wipers and washers 2.2% of tests
“wipers blade defective”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the 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 Plus through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £54–£154 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £54–£154
- Cheapest common item: stop lamp all not working
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter missing or no longer…
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 90 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 Plus, side by side
22 model years on record, from 2000 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 82.2% to 96.3% — a spread of 14.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 90.0% service brake imbalance across an…
- 2001 91.6% steering rack gaiter missing or…
- 2002 89.2% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2003 82.2%steering rack gaiter missing or…
- 2004 92.9% steering rack gaiter missing or…
- 2005 94.6% hose chafing
- 2006 90.8% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2007 95.7% headlamp aim projected beam image…
- 2008 92.7% wipers blade defective
- 2009 91.4% service brake performance…
- 2010 96.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 93.0% service brake imbalance across an…
- 2012 92.0% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2013 93.2% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2014 92.3% direction indicator tell-tale…
- 2015 95.9% service brake performance…
- 2016 89.5% service brake performance…
- 2017 92.6% service brake performance…
- 2018 91.5% steering rack gaiter missing or…
- 2019 93.6% steering rack gaiter missing or…
- 2020 90.4% steering rack gaiter missing or…
- 2021 92.6% parking brake performance…
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 Morgan Plus 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 Morgan Plus 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 64 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 | 12 | 18.80% | 12.21% | +6.59 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 12 | 18.80% | 5.52% | +13.28 |
| Brakes | 9 | 14.10% | 20.89% | −6.79 |
| Tyres | 9 | 14.10% | 19.76% | −5.66 |
| Steering | 9 | 14.10% | 2.57% | +11.53 |
| Suspension | 5 | 7.80% | 20.98% | −13.18 |
| Visibility | 5 | 7.80% | 4.97% | +2.83 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2 | 3.10% | 0.82% | +2.28 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 1.60% | 5.57% | −3.97 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 5.6% | £120–300 |
| Lamp inoperative Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.2% | £3–15 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.2% | £45–110 |
| Stop lamp all not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.2% | £3–12 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 2.2% | £8–22 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.1% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.1% | £60–250 |
| Damaged Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 1.1% | £40–120 |
| Emissions not tested unable to be completed Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.1% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.1% | £30–80 |
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 | 10.0% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.7% | £45–95 |
| Service brake performance excessively fluctuating Brakes | Advisory | 3.3% | £60–150 |
| Flexible brake hoses ferrule excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 2.2% | £25–70 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.2% | £45–95 |
| Swivel pins and bushes swivel pin and/or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 2.2% | £40–150 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 59 | 83.1% | 16,043 mi |
| 30-60k | 15 | 86.7% | 44,255 mi |
| 60-90k | 10 | 70.0% | 68,916 mi |
| 90-120k | 5 | 80.0% | 97,920 mi |
| 120k+ | 1 | 100.0% | 138,372 mi |
Source: 90 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 Plus MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Morgan Plus?
82.2% of the 90 2003 Morgan Plus tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 79.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Morgan Plus?
The three most recorded items are steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (5.56%), lamp inoperative (2.22%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (2.22%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Morgan Plus MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.1% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Morgan Plus in this dataset had covered 22,774 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Morgan Plus MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 76.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 85.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.