Pass rate
71.2%
Below average — 1.4 pts behind the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,693 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £52–£144
2003 Toyota Hilux MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 153,750 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
25.9% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 87.8% pass
- Avoid 2004 70.6% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 17.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 63.5%
- Typical mileage
- 154k mi
The 2003 Toyota Hilux MOT pass rate is 71.2% of its MOT tests — 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 25.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Toyota Hilux does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Body & chassis: 3.3× the national share
Body & chassis accounts for 18.5% of everything recorded on the 2003 Toyota Hilux, against 5.6% nationally — 12.9 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 25.9%, 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 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 Toyota Hilux? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Toyota Hilux compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 1.4 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 63.5%. The median 2003 Toyota Hilux in this dataset had covered 153,750 mi.
99% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 71.2% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 71.6% of the time, April–September 70.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 6.28% of tests.
- 3,693 recorded tests behind this page.
- 71.2% overall pass rate, 63.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Toyota Hilux, the average is 78.8% — best year 2020 (87.8%), worst 2004 (70.6%).
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
- 3,693
- Typical mileage (median)
- 153,750 mi
- Make and model
- Toyota Hilux
- 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 Hilux 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. Diesel is the most common here (99% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Hilux
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South West | 956 | 65.6% |
| South East | 747 | 75.5% |
| East of England | 457 | 72.4% |
| West Midlands | 319 | 72.1% |
| North West | 253 | 71.9% |
| East Midlands | 247 | 73.3% |
| Wales | 235 | 68.5% |
| Yorkshire | 232 | 75.4% |
| Scotland | 142 | 69.7% |
| North East | 75 | 73.3% |
| London | 30 | 86.7% |
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 Hilux
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 Hilux
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
“rear fog lamp not working”
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 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 suspension joints 4.6% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
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 Hilux through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £52–£144 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £52–£144
- Cheapest common item: rear fog lamp not working
- £3–£15
- Dearest common item: component mounting prescribed areas…
- £180–£450
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,693 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 Hilux, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.6% to 87.8% — a spread of 17.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 72.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 71.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2002 71.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 71.2%joints constant velocity boot…
- 2004 70.6% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 71.4% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2006 71.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2007 72.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2008 71.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 72.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 72.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 72.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 74.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 75.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 76.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 78.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2016 80.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 85.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 86.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 87.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 85.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 87.6% headlamp aim too high
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 Toyota Hilux 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
- Audi A2 71.3%
- Jaguar X-Type 71.4%
- Renault Scenic 71.0%
- MINI Mini 70.9%
- Volvo V70 71.5%
- Rover 75 70.9%
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 Toyota Hilux 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 12,127 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 | 3,187 | 25.90% | 20.98% | +4.92 |
| Brakes | 2,293 | 18.60% | 20.89% | −2.29 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2,273 | 18.50% | 5.57% | +12.93 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,727 | 14.00% | 12.21% | +1.79 |
| Tyres | 651 | 5.30% | 19.76% | −14.46 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 597 | 4.80% | 5.52% | −0.72 |
| Steering | 530 | 4.30% | 2.57% | +1.73 |
| Visibility | 493 | 4.00% | 4.97% | −0.97 |
| Non-component advisories | 193 | 1.60% | 4.18% | −2.58 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 183 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
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 | 6.3% | £80–250 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 5.9% | £3–15 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.8% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 5.7% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.6% | £18–45 |
| Component mounting prescribed areas prescribed area excessively corroded significantly reducing structural strength Suspension | Major | 4.0% | £180–450 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.7% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.4% | £5–25 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.2% | £45–110 |
| Service brake imbalance across an axle Brakes | Major | 3.1% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 16.6% | £80–180 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 15.9% | £20–55 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 10.6% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.6% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 9.3% | £18–45 |
| Chassis condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 8.4% | £180–450 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 10 | 80.0% | 17,148 mi |
| 30-60k | 118 | 78.0% | 47,397 mi |
| 60-90k | 319 | 76.5% | 79,143 mi |
| 90-120k | 559 | 73.2% | 105,384 mi |
| 120k+ | 2,654 | 69.9% | 182,911 mi |
Source: 3,693 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 Hilux MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Toyota Hilux?
71.2% of the 3,693 2003 Toyota Hilux tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 63.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Toyota Hilux?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (6.28%), rear fog lamp not working (5.88%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (5.85%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Toyota Hilux MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 80.0% of the time, falling to 69.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Toyota Hilux in this dataset had covered 153,750 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Toyota Hilux?
Diesel: 71.2% pass rate across 3,661 tests. Petrol: 71.0% pass rate across 31 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Toyota Hilux MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 71.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 70.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.