Pass rate
72.4%
Below average — 0.2 pts behind the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 5,157 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £65–£187
2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara MOT pass rate
- 2003
- 2 trims combined
- typical 100,495 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
20.1% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2014 89.8% pass
- Avoid 2002 71.4% pass
Across the 16 years on record, a spread of 18.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 64.8%
- Typical mileage
- 100k mi
The 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara MOT pass rate is 72.4% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Suzuki Grand Vitara does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 3.2× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 18.0% of everything recorded on the 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara, against 5.6% nationally — 12.4 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 20.1%, 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 29% 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 Suzuki Grand Vitara? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Suzuki Grand Vitara 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 Suzuki Grand Vitara compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 0.2 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 64.8%. The median 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara in this dataset had covered 100,495 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 81% of tests, with a 72.8% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 72.5% of the time, April–September 72.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 9.62% of tests.
- 5,157 recorded tests behind this page.
- 72.4% overall pass rate, 64.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Suzuki Grand Vitara, the average is 75.4% — best year 2014 (89.8%), worst 2002 (71.4%).
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
- 5,157
- Typical mileage (median)
- 100,495 mi
- Make and model
- Suzuki Grand Vitara
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the Grand Vitara MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 61% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (81% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Grand Vitara
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 1,126 | 68.5% |
| South East | 980 | 75.8% |
| East of England | 555 | 75.0% |
| West Midlands | 501 | 73.9% |
| Yorkshire | 422 | 72.5% |
| North West | 421 | 70.8% |
| Wales | 410 | 69.0% |
| East Midlands | 290 | 72.8% |
| Scotland | 181 | 69.6% |
| North East | 149 | 73.2% |
| London | 122 | 82.8% |
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 Grand Vitara
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 Grand Vitara
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 lights 5.9% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
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 windscreen 4.4% 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 corrosion 2.8% of tests
“component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength”
Look under the sills, around the jacking points and where the suspension mounts meet the body. Flaking, holed or crumbly metal fails; a brown stain on sound metal does not.
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 Grand Vitara through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £65–£187 — and 29% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £65–£187
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 30%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 29%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 5,157 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 Grand Vitara, side by side
16 model years on record, from 2000 to 2015. Across them the pass rate runs from 71.4% to 89.8% — a spread of 18.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2001 73.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 71.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 72.4%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 71.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 71.8% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 72.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 74.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 74.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 77.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 78.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 79.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 80.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 85.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 89.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 89.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
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 Suzuki Grand Vitara 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
- Ford Fiesta 72.4%
- Audi Tt 72.4%
- Renault Megane Scenic 72.4%
- Vauxhall Astra 72.5%
- Peugeot 106 72.5%
- Audi A3 72.3%
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 Suzuki Grand Vitara 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 16,565 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 | 3,394 | 20.10% | 20.98% | −0.88 |
| Brakes | 3,228 | 19.10% | 20.89% | −1.79 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 3,044 | 18.00% | 5.57% | +12.43 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,942 | 11.50% | 12.21% | −0.71 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 1,612 | 9.60% | 5.52% | +4.08 |
| Tyres | 1,446 | 8.60% | 19.76% | −11.16 |
| Non-component advisories | 633 | 3.80% | 4.18% | −0.38 |
| Visibility | 621 | 3.70% | 4.97% | −1.27 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 341 | 2.00% | 0.82% | +1.18 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 304 | 1.80% | 1.76% | +0.04 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 9.6% | £80–250 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 6.5% | £80–250 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.9% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.4% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.3% | £5–20 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.9% | £5–25 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 2.8% | £180–450 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.8% | £45–120 |
| Prescribed areas prescribed area strength or continuity significantly reduced Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 2.7% | £40–120 |
| Chassis condition or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of a body mounting Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.5% | £180–450 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 20.0% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 18.3% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 11.7% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.5% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.0% | £40–150 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 7.3% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 49 | 89.8% | 22,424 mi |
| 30-60k | 460 | 79.3% | 49,242 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,365 | 75.2% | 76,352 mi |
| 90-120k | 1,673 | 71.0% | 104,266 mi |
| 120k+ | 1,503 | 69.3% | 144,075 mi |
Source: 5,157 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 Grand Vitara MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara?
72.4% of the 5,157 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 64.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (9.62%), joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (6.46%), headlamp lens slightly defective (5.86%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.8% of the time, falling to 69.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara in this dataset had covered 100,495 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara?
Petrol: 72.8% pass rate across 4,187 tests. Diesel: 70.6% pass rate across 965 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 72.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 72.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.