Pass rate
92.5%
Above average — 19.9 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 53 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £35–£107
2003 Noble M12 MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 3 trims combined
- typical 30,468 mi
Only 53 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
Suspension
23.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2003 92.5% pass · this year
- Avoid 2003 92.5% pass · this year
Across the 1 years on record, a spread of 0 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 92.3%
- Typical mileage
- 30k mi
The 2003 Noble M12 MOT pass rate is 92.5% of its MOT tests — 19.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Identification: 5.4× the national share
Identification accounts for 9.5% of everything recorded on the 2003 Noble M12, against 1.8% nationally — 7.7 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 23.8%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. A missing or unreadable VIN plate is an administrative failure — usually easy to fix, but it stops the test.
- 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 92.5% — 19.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 23% 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 Noble M12? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Noble M12 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 Noble M12 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 19.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 92.3%. The median 2003 Noble M12 in this dataset had covered 30,468 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Horn not working", noted on 3.77% of tests.
- 53 recorded tests behind this page.
- 92.5% overall pass rate, 92.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Noble M12, the average is 92.5% — best year 2003 (92.5%), worst 2003 (92.5%).
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
- 53
- Typical mileage (median)
- 30,468 mi
- Make and model
- Noble M12
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Horn
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the M12 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
What fails a 2003 M12
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 M12
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 horn 3.8% of tests
“horn not working”
Press it. That is the whole check, and a surprising number of cars fail on it.
-
Check the number plates 3.8% of tests
“registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements”
Check both plates are present, legible and correctly spaced, with the postcode of the supplier and the BS AU 145e mark. A private plate in the wrong style is a fail before the car is even looked at.
-
Check the exhaust and emissions 1.9% of tests
“catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
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 M12 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £35–£107 — and 23% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £35–£107
- Cheapest common item: horn not working
- £8–£25
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 23%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 53 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 →
Compare the 2003 Noble M12 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 M3 87.7%
- Porsche 911 85.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.2%
- Honda S2000 83.5%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 81.7%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
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 Noble M12 10 failure items · 3 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 21 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 | 5 | 23.80% | 20.98% | +2.82 |
| Brakes | 4 | 19.00% | 20.89% | −1.89 |
| Tyres | 3 | 14.30% | 19.76% | −5.46 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3 | 14.30% | 12.21% | +2.09 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 9.50% | 1.76% | +7.74 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1 | 4.80% | 5.52% | −0.72 |
| Visibility | 1 | 4.80% | 4.97% | −0.17 |
| Steering | 1 | 4.80% | 2.57% | +2.23 |
| Speedometer and speed limiter | 1 | 4.80% | 0.00% | +4.80 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horn not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.8% | £8–25 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 3.8% | £60–150 |
| Registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements Identification of the vehicle | Major | 3.8% | £20–80 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.9% | £60–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.9% | £25–65 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.9% | £5–25 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.9% | £45–110 |
| Service brake performance efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.9% | £60–150 |
| Speedometer not sufficiently illuminated Speedometer and speed limiter | Minor | 1.9% | £20–80 |
| Steering column has excessive movement up and down Steering | Major | 1.9% | £60–200 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 5.7% | £25–65 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 5.7% | £45–95 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 1.9% | £20–55 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 23 | 91.3% | 18,527 mi |
| 30-60k | 25 | 96.0% | 38,041 mi |
| 60-90k | 4 | 75.0% | 69,245 mi |
Source: 53 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 M12 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Noble M12?
92.5% of the 53 2003 Noble M12 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 92.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Noble M12?
The three most recorded items are horn not working (3.77%), parking brake performance inoperative on one side (3.77%), registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements (3.77%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Noble M12 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.3% of the time, falling to 75.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Noble M12 in this dataset had covered 30,468 mi.