Pass rate
74.6%
Below average — 2.0 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,608 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £34–£103
2003 Volvo S80 MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 127,493 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
24.6% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
6.5 pts down across model years — 8.7% in 2002, 2.2% in 2015.
Which year to buy
- Best 2016 90.1% pass
- Avoid 2003 74.6% pass · this year
Across the 17 years on record, a spread of 15.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 68.0%
- Typical mileage
- 127k mi
The 2003 Volvo S80 MOT pass rate is 74.6% of its MOT tests — 2.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.6% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Fewer problems with tyres
Tyres are 12.5% of this car’s recorded faults, against 19.8% nationally — the mirror image of the usual story on a car of this age.
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 Volvo S80? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Volvo S80 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 2.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 68.0%. The median 2003 Volvo S80 in this dataset had covered 127,493 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 58% of tests, with a 75.9% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.2% of the time, April–September 75.1%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 8.52% of tests.
- 1,608 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.6% overall pass rate, 68.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volvo S80, the average is 80.0% — best year 2016 (90.1%), worst 2003 (74.6%).
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
- 1,608
- Typical mileage (median)
- 127,493 mi
- Make and model
- Volvo S80
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 S80 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 (58% of tests).
Where the Volvo S80 is most common
Across all S80 model years on record (2000–2016): 10,309 Volvo S80 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 25,085 tests. Peterborough (PE) has the most, with 340 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 | Peterborough (PE) | 340 | 82.1% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 289 | 85.3% |
| 3 | Nottingham (NG) | 232 | 79.9% |
| 4 | Sheffield (S) | 228 | 82.4% |
| 5 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 211 | 82.0% |
| 6 | Doncaster (DN) | 208 | 82.4% |
| 7 | Manchester (M) | 203 | 80.3% |
| 8 | Leicester (LE) | 202 | 81.1% |
| 9 | Glasgow (G) | 188 | 80.2% |
| 10 | Chester (CH) | 168 | 76.5% |
| 11 | Derby (DE) | 168 | 82.3% |
| 12 | Northampton (NN) | 167 | 84.4% |
| 13 | York (YO) | 162 | 76.3% |
| 14 | Preston (PR) | 157 | 83.2% |
| 15 | Ipswich (IP) | 156 | 78.3% |
| 16 | Liverpool (L) | 156 | 83.5% |
| 17 | Coventry (CV) | 153 | 82.1% |
| 18 | Warrington (WA) | 133 | 78.3% |
| 19 | Reading (RG) | 132 | 80.1% |
| 20 | Norwich (NR) | 131 | 81.9% |
The twenty areas with the most Volvo S80 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 S80
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 313 | 76.7% |
| East of England | 203 | 74.9% |
| North West | 194 | 77.3% |
| Yorkshire | 174 | 71.8% |
| South West | 160 | 70.6% |
| Scotland | 131 | 69.5% |
| East Midlands | 122 | 80.3% |
| West Midlands | 112 | 75.0% |
| Wales | 77 | 74.0% |
| North East | 71 | 71.8% |
| London | 51 | 76.5% |
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 S80
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 S80
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 8.5% 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 3.0% of tests
“pins and bushes pin or bush 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 S80 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £34–£103 — and 40% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £34–£103
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 40%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,608 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 S80, side by side
17 model years on record, from 2000 to 2016. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.6% to 90.1% — a spread of 15.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 76.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 74.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 76.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 74.6%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 74.9% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2005 75.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 79.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 78.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 80.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 80.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 83.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2011 83.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 81.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2013 82.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2014 85.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2015 85.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2016 90.1% 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 Volvo S80 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
- Saab 9-3 74.6%
- Audi A6 74.5%
- Toyota Land Cruiser 74.7%
- BMW 525 74.7%
- BMW X5 74.3%
- Jaguar S-Type 74.3%
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 Volvo S80 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 4,167 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 | 1,040 | 24.60% | 20.98% | +3.62 |
| Brakes | 813 | 19.30% | 20.89% | −1.59 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 635 | 15.00% | 12.21% | +2.79 |
| Tyres | 526 | 12.50% | 19.76% | −7.26 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 352 | 8.30% | 5.57% | +2.73 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 207 | 4.90% | 5.52% | −0.62 |
| Non-component advisories | 178 | 4.20% | 4.18% | +0.02 |
| Steering | 146 | 3.50% | 2.57% | +0.93 |
| Visibility | 139 | 3.30% | 4.97% | −1.67 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 131 | 3.10% | 1.76% | +1.34 |
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 | 8.5% | £5–20 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 4.7% | £80–250 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 4.5% | £45–110 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.2% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 3.0% | £80–250 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.0% | £40–150 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.3% | £30–80 |
| Parking brake performance inoperative on one side Brakes | Major | 2.2% | £60–150 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.1% | £5–25 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 22.9% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.3% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 11.8% | £45–110 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.9% | £25–65 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 8.5% | £45–95 |
| Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle | Advisory | 7.8% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 7 | 85.7% | 23,355 mi |
| 30-60k | 52 | 84.6% | 44,490 mi |
| 60-90k | 249 | 78.7% | 76,673 mi |
| 90-120k | 393 | 75.8% | 105,388 mi |
| 120k+ | 881 | 72.9% | 167,500 mi |
Source: 1,608 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 S80 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Volvo S80?
74.6% of the 1,608 2003 Volvo S80 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 68.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Volvo S80?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (8.52%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (4.66%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (4.54%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Volvo S80 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 85.7% of the time, falling to 72.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Volvo S80 in this dataset had covered 127,493 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Volvo S80?
Petrol: 75.9% pass rate across 938 tests. Diesel: 72.8% pass rate across 662 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Volvo S80 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 75.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.