BMW 216 MOT reliability

BMW 216s passed their MOT first time 76% of the time across 4,613 tests in 2025.

First-time pass rate

76%

MOTs analysed

4,613

Still licensed (GB)

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Body type

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Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age. Years with very few MOTs can show extreme pass rates, even 0% or 100%, so give more weight to years with more tests.

In detail:

First registered

2017 diesel

1,460 MOTs

Passed first time 77%. Typical mileage 70,914 (most between 53,900 and 92,525).

2017: 100% → 2018: 50% → 2019: 93% → 2020: 90% → 2021: 89% → 2022: 85% → 2023: 82% → 2024: 80% → 2025: 77%

Most common failures

Headlamp aim: projected beam image is obviously incorrect (3.0%)
Malfunction indicator lamp: inoperative or indicates a malfunction (2.9%)
Pins and bushes: pin or bush excessively worn (2.7%)
Headlamp: not working on dipped beam (2.3%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (2.3%)

Where 2017 216s fail

Lights & electrics

8.5%

Wheels & tyres

7.1%

Suspension & axles

6.6%

Brakes

4.2%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

3.1%

Visibility & wipers

2.3%

Body, structure & corrosion

0.5%

Steering

0.5%

Looking at a particular car?

See its own MOT history, mileage and red flags, compared with these figures. Free.

Based on 2025 initial MOT tests in DVSA's anonymised MOT dataset (cars and light vans). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Model details: Vehicle data by VehiclesDB.