Pass rate
75.9%
Around average — 3.3 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 10,131 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £21–£59
2003 Toyota RAV4 MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 116,384 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
24.8% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 98.4% pass
- Avoid 2007 74.3% pass
Across the 24 years on record, a spread of 24.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 69.7%
- Typical mileage
- 116k mi
The 2003 Toyota RAV4 MOT pass rate is 75.9% of its MOT tests — 3.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 10.2% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
- 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 75.9% — 3.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
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 RAV4? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Toyota RAV4 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 3.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 69.7%. The median 2003 Toyota RAV4 in this dataset had covered 116,384 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 85% of tests, with a 76.2% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 76.1% of the time, April–September 75.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Headlamp lens slightly defective", noted on 9.42% of tests.
- 10,131 recorded tests behind this page.
- 75.9% overall pass rate, 69.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Toyota RAV4, the average is 86.6% — best year 2023 (98.4%), worst 2007 (74.3%).
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
- 10,131
- Typical mileage (median)
- 116,384 mi
- Make and model
- Toyota RAV4
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Headlight Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the RAV4 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (85% of tests).
Where the Toyota RAV4 is most common
Across all RAV4 model years on record (2000–2023): 142,988 Toyota RAV4 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 319,132 tests. Sheffield (S) has the most, with 3,633 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheffield (S) | 3,633 | 89.1% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 3,420 | 89.8% |
| 3 | Ashford (TN) | 2,822 | 85.7% |
| 4 | Peterborough (PE) | 2,747 | 86.6% |
| 5 | Reading (RG) | 2,684 | 86.3% |
| 6 | Derby (DE) | 2,433 | 91.5% |
| 7 | Nottingham (NG) | 2,375 | 86.7% |
| 8 | Exeter (EX) | 2,293 | 78.8% |
| 9 | Guildford (GU) | 2,236 | 85.7% |
| 10 | Bristol (BS) | 2,194 | 82.4% |
| 11 | Stockport (SK) | 2,084 | 87.6% |
| 12 | Crawley (RH) | 2,067 | 87.2% |
| 13 | Leicester (LE) | 2,018 | 88.3% |
| 14 | Manchester (M) | 1,997 | 87.4% |
| 15 | Brighton (BN) | 1,956 | 83.3% |
| 16 | London (NW) | 1,853 | 89.0% |
| 17 | Norwich (NR) | 1,831 | 86.2% |
| 18 | Coventry (CV) | 1,824 | 88.8% |
| 19 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 1,799 | 89.8% |
| 20 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 1,789 | 86.7% |
The twenty areas with the most Toyota RAV4 cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the RAV4
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 2,543 | 78.5% |
| South West | 2,168 | 71.1% |
| East of England | 1,127 | 76.9% |
| West Midlands | 888 | 79.2% |
| North West | 786 | 76.0% |
| Yorkshire | 785 | 75.0% |
| Wales | 523 | 74.2% |
| London | 480 | 82.3% |
| East Midlands | 457 | 77.0% |
| Scotland | 223 | 69.5% |
| North East | 151 | 68.2% |
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 RAV4
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 RAV4
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 9.4% 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 4.2% 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 2.8% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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 RAV4 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £21–£59 — and 53% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £21–£59
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 53%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 10,131 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 RAV4, side by side
24 model years on record, from 2000 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.3% to 98.4% — a spread of 24.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 74.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 75.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2002 75.3% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 75.9%headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 76.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 77.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 74.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 74.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 74.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 75.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 80.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 81.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 84.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 85.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 86.4% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2015 87.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 88.6% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2017 89.1% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2018 89.9% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2019 94.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 95.2% wipers blade defective
- 2021 95.1% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 96.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2023 98.4% 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 RAV4 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
- Land Rover Range Rover 76.0%
- SEAT Leon 75.8%
- Land Rover Discovery 76.1%
- Land Rover Defender 75.7%
- Rover 25 75.7%
- BMW 316 75.6%
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 RAV4 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 30,135 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 | 7,555 | 24.80% | 20.98% | +3.82 |
| Brakes | 6,753 | 22.20% | 20.89% | +1.31 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 4,607 | 15.10% | 12.21% | +2.89 |
| Tyres | 3,117 | 10.20% | 19.76% | −9.56 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2,889 | 9.50% | 5.52% | +3.98 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2,621 | 8.60% | 5.57% | +3.03 |
| Visibility | 1,154 | 3.80% | 4.97% | −1.17 |
| Non-component advisories | 614 | 2.00% | 4.18% | −2.18 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 493 | 1.60% | 1.76% | −0.16 |
| Steering | 332 | 1.10% | 2.57% | −1.47 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 9.4% | £5–25 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.8% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.2% | £80–200 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.3% | £3–12 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.9% | £30–80 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.8% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 2.7% | £45–120 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.7% | £25–65 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.7% | £5–25 |
| Linkage ball joints ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £18–45 |
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 | 18.6% | £80–180 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 14.7% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 14.0% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 12.3% | £200–700 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 11.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 10.8% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 32 | 90.6% | 25,420 mi |
| 30-60k | 468 | 84.6% | 50,069 mi |
| 60-90k | 1,755 | 80.3% | 77,651 mi |
| 90-120k | 3,223 | 76.7% | 105,773 mi |
| 120k+ | 4,649 | 72.6% | 148,544 mi |
Source: 10,131 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 RAV4 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Toyota RAV4?
75.9% of the 10,131 2003 Toyota RAV4 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 69.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Toyota RAV4?
The three most recorded items are headlamp lens slightly defective (9.42%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (4.84%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.24%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Toyota RAV4 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.6% of the time, falling to 72.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Toyota RAV4 in this dataset had covered 116,384 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Toyota RAV4?
Petrol: 76.2% pass rate across 8,639 tests. Diesel: 74.1% pass rate across 1,481 tests. LPG: 63.6% pass rate across 11 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Toyota RAV4 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 76.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 75.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.