Pass rate
76.7%
Around average — 4.1 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 120 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £36–£112
2003 Smart City Pulse MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 4 trims combined
- typical 70,971 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
21.3% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2003 76.7% pass · this year
- Avoid 2004 72.8% pass
Across the 2 years on record, a spread of 3.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.1%
- Typical mileage
- 71k mi
The 2003 Smart City Pulse MOT pass rate is 76.7% of its MOT tests — 4.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.3% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 1.7× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 21.1% of everything recorded on the 2003 Smart City Pulse, against 12.2% nationally — 8.9 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 21.3%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. Walk round the car with the lights on before the test: bulbs, indicators and number-plate lamps are the cheapest failures to prevent and among the most common.
- 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 76.7% — 4.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 120 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 Smart City Pulse? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Smart City Pulse first registered in 2003 is combined here — 4 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2003 Smart City Pulse compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 4.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.1%. The median 2003 Smart City Pulse in this dataset had covered 70,971 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 75.8% of the time, April–September 77.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits", noted on 6.67% of tests.
- 120 recorded tests behind this page.
- 76.7% overall pass rate, 71.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Smart City Pulse, the average is 74.4% — best year 2003 (76.7%), worst 2004 (72.8%).
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
- 120
- Typical mileage (median)
- 70,971 mi
- Make and model
- Smart City Pulse
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Emissions Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the City Pulse MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the City Pulse
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 30 | 70.0% |
| South West | 23 | 69.6% |
| West Midlands | 15 | 80.0% |
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 City Pulse
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 City Pulse
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 exhaust and emissions 6.7% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 6.7% 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 lights 5.0% of tests
“headlamp not working on dipped beam”
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.
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 City Pulse through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £36–£112 — and 44% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £36–£112
- Cheapest common item: washers jets misaligned
- £5–£15
- 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
- 44%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 120 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 City Pulse, side by side
2 model years on record, from 2003 to 2004. Across them the pass rate runs from 72.8% to 76.7% — a spread of 3.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 76.7%catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2004 72.8% headlamp aim projected beam image…
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 Smart City Pulse 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 3 Series 76.9%
- MG Tf 76.5%
- Toyota MR2 76.4%
- BMW 530 77.1%
- Land Rover Discovery 76.1%
- Land Rover Range Rover 76.0%
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 Smart City Pulse 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 337 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 | 73 | 21.30% | 20.98% | +0.32 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 72 | 21.10% | 12.21% | +8.89 |
| Brakes | 68 | 19.90% | 20.89% | −0.99 |
| Tyres | 35 | 10.20% | 19.76% | −9.56 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 31 | 9.10% | 5.52% | +3.58 |
| Visibility | 19 | 5.60% | 4.97% | +0.63 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 13 | 3.80% | 5.57% | −1.77 |
| Steering | 11 | 3.20% | 2.57% | +0.63 |
| Non-component advisories | 8 | 2.30% | 4.18% | −1.88 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 7 | 2.00% | 1.76% | +0.24 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 6.7% | £60–250 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 6.7% | £80–200 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.0% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.2% | £5–20 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Major | 2.5% | £25–70 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £30–80 |
| Horn not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £8–25 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.5% | £5–25 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.5% | £80–180 |
| Washers jets misaligned and not providing sufficient fluid to the windscreen Visibility | Major | 2.5% | £5–15 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 18.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 17.5% | £45–110 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 16.7% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 15.0% | £200–700 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.0% | £25–65 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.3% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 5 | 100.0% | 22,394 mi |
| 30-60k | 33 | 84.8% | 51,690 mi |
| 60-90k | 64 | 71.9% | 75,473 mi |
| 90-120k | 10 | 80.0% | 100,599 mi |
| 120k+ | 7 | 71.4% | 158,359 mi |
Source: 120 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 City Pulse MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Smart City Pulse?
76.7% of the 120 2003 Smart City Pulse tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 71.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Smart City Pulse?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (6.67%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (6.67%), headlamp not working on dipped beam (5.00%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Smart City Pulse MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 71.4% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Smart City Pulse in this dataset had covered 70,971 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 Smart City Pulse MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 75.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 77.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.