2003 Subaru Legacy: MOT pass rate and reliability

69% of 2003 Subaru Legacies pass the MOT first time, measured across 210 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 111,751 miles.

How the 2003 compares

  • Against all Subaru Legacies (69.4%, 5,139 tests): -0.4 points
  • Against all 2003 cars (64.7%): +4.3 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every Subaru Legacy model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 2003 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the Subaru Legacy:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
2003 69% 210 111,751
2004 68.2% 465 122,610
2005 65.7% 551 123,675
2006 64.6% 587 118,064
2007 73.6% 443 116,026
2008 65.1% 361 117,722
2009 66.2% 376 106,673
2010 68.1% 432 108,435
2011 70.7% 430 105,456
2012 74.5% 251 95,729

What this means if you are buying a 2003 Legacy

The 2003 sits close to the Subaru Legacy average, so there is no strong model-year signal either way. Judge the individual car on its own history. Check the exact car with the free MOT history checker before you buy, and run its VIN and mileage through our free VIN decoder and clocking check.

What a 23-year-old car fails on

A 2003 car is 23 years old now, and age drives the failure mix more than the badge does. Across all cars tested, these are the categories that actually cause failures:

  • Lights and electrical: 10.36% of all cars tested
  • Suspension: 8.65% of all cars tested
  • Tyres: 6.23% of all cars tested
  • Brakes: 6.1% of all cars tested
  • Visibility: wipers, washers, glass: 4.65% of all cars tested
  • Body, chassis and structure: 3.18% of all cars tested

That is high mileage, so timing belts, clutches, suspension bushes and corrosion are the items worth budgeting for rather than the MOT itself. On a 2003 Subaru Legacy the average at test was 111,751 miles, so treat anything far above that as a car that has worked harder than its peers, and anything far below as one worth checking for the faults that come from standing still.

The strongest year for this model is 2012 at 74.5%, and the weakest in our data is 2006 at 64.6%. That 9.9 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 2003 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All Subaru Legacy MOT data · Every model