Pass rate
89.0%
Above average — 16.4 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 127 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £29–£98
2003 TVR Tamora MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 36,389 mi
Most common fault
Lamps & electrics
28.6% of faults · 12.2% nationally
Part only £6–£18 for Registration plate lamp inoperative (multiple lamps). What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2005 100.0% pass
- Avoid 2003 89.0% pass · this year
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 11 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 87.7%
- Typical mileage
- 36k mi
The 2003 TVR Tamora MOT pass rate is 89.0% of its MOT tests — 16.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Lamps & electrics is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how TVR Tamora does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Lamps & electrics: 2.3× the national share
Lamps & electrics make up 28.6% of everything recorded on the 2003 TVR Tamora, against 12.2% nationally — 16.4 points above. 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 89.0% — 16.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 35% 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 TVR Tamora? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 TVR Tamora compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 16.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.7%. The median 2003 TVR Tamora in this dataset had covered 36,389 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 92.5% of the time, April–September 87.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 3.94% of tests.
- 127 recorded tests behind this page.
- 89.0% overall pass rate, 87.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the TVR Tamora, the average is 93.1% — best year 2005 (100.0%), worst 2003 (89.0%).
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
- 127
- Typical mileage (median)
- 36,389 mi
- Make and model
- TVR Tamora
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Tamora MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 78% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the Tamora
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| East of England | 37 | 89.2% |
| South East | 20 | 95.0% |
| West Midlands | 19 | 89.5% |
| North West | 16 | 93.8% |
| Yorkshire | 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 Tamora
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 Tamora
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 3.9% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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 suspension joints 1.6% of tests
“track rod end ball joint has excessive play”
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.
-
Check the steering 0.8% of tests
“attachment bracket and mounting attachment bracket/mounting likely to become detached”
With the wheels straight, rock the steering wheel gently with the engine off — more than about an inch of free play before the wheels move is worth investigating. Split rack gaiters are cheap to replace and commonly recorded.
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 Tamora through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £29–£98 — and 35% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £29–£98
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 35%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 127 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 Tamora, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2002 to 2005. Across them the pass rate runs from 89.0% to 100.0% — a spread of 11 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2002 95.3% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2003 89.0%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 90.3% catalyst emissions lambda reading…
- 2005 100.0% headlamp not working on dipped…
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 TVR Tamora 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 M3 87.7%
- Porsche 911 85.5%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.2%
- Honda S2000 83.5%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 81.7%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
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 TVR Tamora 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 63 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 18 | 28.60% | 12.21% | +16.39 |
| Suspension | 10 | 15.90% | 20.98% | −5.08 |
| Brakes | 9 | 14.30% | 20.89% | −6.59 |
| Tyres | 8 | 12.70% | 19.76% | −7.06 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 8 | 12.70% | 5.52% | +7.18 |
| Steering | 4 | 6.30% | 2.57% | +3.73 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 4.80% | 1.76% | +3.04 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2 | 3.20% | 5.57% | −2.37 |
| Visibility | 1 | 1.60% | 4.97% | −3.37 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.9% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.4% | £30–80 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.4% | £45–110 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.6% | £5–25 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 1.6% | £18–45 |
| Attachment bracket and mounting attachment bracket/mounting likely to become detached Suspension | Major | 0.79% | £40–150 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.79% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Rectified | 0.79% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.79% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.79% | £60–250 |
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 | 3.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.4% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.4% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 2.4% | £40–150 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 2.4% | £20–80 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Advisory | 1.6% | £3–12 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 38 | 86.8% | 23,930 mi |
| 30-60k | 65 | 87.7% | 42,115 mi |
| 60-90k | 19 | 100.0% | 69,815 mi |
| 90-120k | 2 | 100.0% | 94,820 mi |
Source: 127 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 Tamora MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 TVR Tamora?
89.0% of the 127 2003 TVR Tamora tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 87.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 TVR Tamora?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (3.94%), headlamp aim too high (2.36%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (2.36%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 TVR Tamora MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 86.8% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 TVR Tamora in this dataset had covered 36,389 mi.
Does the season affect the 2003 TVR Tamora MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 92.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.