Pass rate
70.7%
Below average — 1.9 pts behind the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 2,630 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £26–£80
2003 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 150,903 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
29.5% 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 →
15.4 pts down across model years — 16.0% in 2003, 0.6% in 2017.
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 89.3% pass
- Avoid 2003 70.7% pass · this year
Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 18.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 62.1%
- Typical mileage
- 151k mi
The 2003 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate is 70.7% of its MOT tests — 1.9 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 29.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.4× the national share
Suspension accounts for 29.5% of everything recorded on the 2003 Volvo Xc90, against 21.0% nationally — 8.5 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
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 XC90? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 Volvo XC90 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 1.9 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 62.1%. The median 2003 Volvo XC90 in this dataset had covered 150,903 mi.
82% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 70.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 70.9% of the time, April–September 70.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 11.18% of tests.
- 2,630 recorded tests behind this page.
- 70.7% overall pass rate, 62.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Volvo XC90, the average is 80.2% — best year 2020 (89.3%), worst 2003 (70.7%).
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
- 2,630
- Typical mileage (median)
- 150,903 mi
- Make and model
- Volvo XC90
- 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 XC90 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 (82% of tests).
Where the Volvo XC90 is most common
Across all XC90 model years on record (2003–2021): 90,072 Volvo XC90 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 210,478 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 2,296 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 | Birmingham (B) | 2,296 | 85.3% |
| 2 | Reading (RG) | 2,166 | 82.4% |
| 3 | Guildford (GU) | 2,065 | 77.4% |
| 4 | Ashford (TN) | 1,892 | 78.1% |
| 5 | Peterborough (PE) | 1,829 | 79.3% |
| 6 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 1,715 | 82.2% |
| 7 | High Wycombe (HP) | 1,590 | 79.6% |
| 8 | Nottingham (NG) | 1,582 | 79.4% |
| 9 | Crawley (RH) | 1,551 | 81.2% |
| 10 | Leicester (LE) | 1,506 | 83.2% |
| 11 | Southampton (SO) | 1,442 | 79.6% |
| 12 | Sheffield (S) | 1,418 | 81.6% |
| 13 | Oxford (OX) | 1,409 | 81.3% |
| 14 | London (NW) | 1,401 | 87.4% |
| 15 | Coventry (CV) | 1,311 | 84.2% |
| 16 | Chelmsford (CM) | 1,265 | 82.3% |
| 17 | Ipswich (IP) | 1,242 | 77.7% |
| 18 | Slough (SL) | 1,238 | 87.1% |
| 19 | London (SW) | 1,204 | 84.1% |
| 20 | London (W) | 1,185 | 80.7% |
The twenty areas with the most Volvo XC90 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 XC90
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 597 | 71.4% |
| East of England | 373 | 72.4% |
| South West | 290 | 63.8% |
| North West | 276 | 68.5% |
| West Midlands | 243 | 72.4% |
| Yorkshire | 205 | 69.3% |
| East Midlands | 187 | 69.5% |
| London | 180 | 75.6% |
| Scotland | 125 | 72.0% |
| Wales | 97 | 71.1% |
| North East | 57 | 80.7% |
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 XC90
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 XC90
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 11.2% 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 4.2% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 3.8% 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.
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 XC90 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £26–£80 — and 46% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £26–£80
- 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
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 46%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 2,630 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 XC90, side by side
19 model years on record, from 2003 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.7% to 89.3% — a spread of 18.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 70.7%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 70.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 71.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 72.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 72.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2008 74.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 75.9% position lamp not working
- 2010 76.7% position lamp not working
- 2011 77.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2012 79.9% position lamp not working
- 2013 80.3% position lamp not working
- 2014 80.7% position lamp not working
- 2015 83.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 84.2% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2017 86.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 88.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 88.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 89.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 88.9% has ply or cords exposed
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 XC90 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 Focus 70.6%
- MINI Mini 70.9%
- Rover 75 70.9%
- Suzuki Carry 70.5%
- Vauxhall Vectra 70.4%
- Renault Scenic 71.0%
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 XC90 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 9,916 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 | 2,964 | 29.50% | 20.98% | +8.52 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1,781 | 17.70% | 12.21% | +5.49 |
| Brakes | 1,708 | 17.00% | 20.89% | −3.89 |
| Tyres | 871 | 8.70% | 19.76% | −11.06 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 688 | 6.80% | 5.57% | +1.23 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 623 | 6.20% | 5.52% | +0.68 |
| Non-component advisories | 537 | 5.30% | 4.18% | +1.12 |
| Steering | 333 | 3.30% | 2.57% | +0.73 |
| Visibility | 256 | 2.50% | 4.97% | −2.47 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 155 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
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 | 11.2% | £5–20 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 8.2% | £5–25 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 6.5% | £5–25 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 5.3% | £80–250 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 4.8% | £30–80 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.2% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.1% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.1% | £40–150 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.8% | £80–200 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.6% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 27.9% | £40–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 20.6% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 16.3% | £200–700 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 14.8% | £120–300 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 13.9% | £45–110 |
| Coil spring corroded so that its cross sectional area is reduced and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 13.9% | £25–65 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 45 | 71.1% | 48,839 mi |
| 60-90k | 116 | 76.7% | 78,452 mi |
| 90-120k | 367 | 73.6% | 106,687 mi |
| 120k+ | 2,062 | 69.9% | 169,423 mi |
Source: 2,630 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 XC90 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 Volvo XC90?
70.7% of the 2,630 2003 Volvo XC90 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 62.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 Volvo XC90?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (11.18%), headlamp lens slightly defective (8.21%), position lamp not working (6.54%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 71.1% of the time, falling to 69.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 Volvo XC90 in this dataset had covered 150,903 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 Volvo XC90?
Diesel: 70.0% pass rate across 2,147 tests. Petrol: 73.8% pass rate across 470 tests. LPG: 76.9% pass rate across 13 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 Volvo XC90 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 70.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 70.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.