BMW 120 MOT reliability

BMW 120s passed their MOT first time 71% of the time across 38,572 tests in 2025.

First-time pass rate

71%

MOTs analysed

38,572

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

2022 diesel

108 MOTs

Passed first time 91%. Typical mileage 26,433 (most between 19,927 and 32,298).

2024: 91% → 2025: 91%

Most common failures

Condition: has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (3.7%)
Condition: has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (1.9%)
Condition: has ply or cords exposed (1.9%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (1.9%)
Headlamp aim: too high (0.9%)

Where 2022 120s fail

Wheels & tyres

8.3%

Lights & electrics

0.9%

Visibility & wipers

0.9%

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.