Pass rate
73.9%
Below average — 1.3 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 176 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £48–£128
2003 Renault Avantime MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 107,269 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
25.5% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2002 75.0% pass
- Avoid 2003 73.9% pass · this year
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 1.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 69.1%
- Typical mileage
- 107k mi
The 2003 Renault Avantime MOT pass rate is 73.9% of its MOT tests — 1.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 9.6% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 15% 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. 176 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 Renault Avantime? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Renault Avantime compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 1.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 69.1%. The median 2003 Renault Avantime in this dataset had covered 107,269 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 73.5% of the time, April–September 74.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements", noted on 8.52% of tests.
- 176 recorded tests behind this page.
- 73.9% overall pass rate, 69.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Renault Avantime, the average is 74.7% — best year 2002 (75.0%), worst 2003 (73.9%).
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
- 176
- Typical mileage (median)
- 107,269 mi
- Make and model
- Renault Avantime
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Brake Discs and Pads Set
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Avantime MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 52% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Avantime
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 48 | 79.2% |
| Yorkshire | 22 | 77.3% |
| East of England | 19 | 68.4% |
| London | 18 | 72.2% |
| Scotland | 17 | 70.6% |
| West Midlands | 15 | 66.7% |
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 Avantime
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 Avantime
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 windscreen 5.7% 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 5.1% 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.
-
Check the coil springs 4.5% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
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 Avantime through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £48–£128 — and 15% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £48–£128
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 15%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 176 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 Avantime, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2002 to 2003. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.9% to 75.0% — a spread of 1.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 75.0% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2003 73.9%rbt (sp) efficiency below…
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 Renault Avantime 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
- Toyota Corolla 73.9%
- Nissan Almera 73.9%
- Volkswagen Bora 74.0%
- Audi A4 74.1%
- Vauxhall Agila 74.1%
- Volkswagen Lupo 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 Renault Avantime 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 503 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 | 130 | 25.50% | 20.89% | +4.61 |
| Suspension | 122 | 23.90% | 20.98% | +2.92 |
| Tyres | 49 | 9.60% | 19.76% | −10.16 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 47 | 9.20% | 12.21% | −3.01 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 40 | 7.80% | 5.57% | +2.23 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 33 | 6.50% | 5.52% | +0.98 |
| Non-component advisories | 30 | 5.90% | 4.18% | +1.72 |
| Visibility | 26 | 5.10% | 4.97% | +0.13 |
| Steering | 16 | 3.10% | 2.57% | +0.53 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 10 | 2.00% | 1.76% | +0.24 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 8.5% | £45–110 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 5.7% | £80–200 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 5.1% | £80–180 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 4.5% | £25–65 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.4% | £80–250 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 3.4% | £5–15 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.8% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions emissions likely to be affected by an exhaust leak Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.3% | £60–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency less than 50% of the required value Brakes | Major | 2.3% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 19.3% | £45–110 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 15.9% | £25–65 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 13.1% | £180–450 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 12.5% | £45–95 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 10.2% | £45–120 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 9.7% | £200–700 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5 | 60.0% | 18,395 mi |
| 30-60k | 11 | 100.0% | 44,843 mi |
| 60-90k | 33 | 72.7% | 78,309 mi |
| 90-120k | 56 | 76.8% | 103,659 mi |
| 120k+ | 69 | 69.6% | 151,457 mi |
Source: 176 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 Avantime MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Renault Avantime?
73.9% of the 176 2003 Renault Avantime tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 69.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Renault Avantime?
The three most recorded items are rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (8.52%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.68%), rigid brake pipes excessively corroded (5.11%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Renault Avantime MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 60.0% of the time, falling to 69.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Renault Avantime in this dataset had covered 107,269 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Renault Avantime MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 73.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 74.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.