BMW 3 MOT reliability

BMW 3s passed their MOT first time 76% of the time across 132 tests in 2025.

Example photo of a BMW 3 — Photo: Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

First-time pass rate

76%

MOTs analysed

132

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

2014 hybrid

42 MOTs

These figures come from 42 MOT tests. That's a fairly small number of cars, so they may not be typical of these cars as a whole.

Passed first time 79%. Typical mileage 75,936 (most between 62,278 and 101,236).

2016: 100% → 2017: 90% → 2018: 84% → 2019: 86% → 2020: 88% → 2021: 81% → 2022: 86% → 2023: 83% → 2024: 80% → 2025: 79%

Most common failures

Ball joint: has excessive play (2.4%)
Brake discs: significantly and obviously worn (2.4%)
Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick (2.4%)
Brake performance not tested: unable to be tested (2.4%)
Condition: has a lump, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (2.4%)

2014 diesel

2 MOTs

These figures come from only 2 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

Passed first time 100%. Typical mileage 114,252 (most between 105,578 and 122,926).

2017: 0% → 2018: 100% → 2019: 100% → 2020: 100% → 2021: 100% → 2022: 100% → 2023: 100% → 2024: 100% → 2025: 100%

Where 2014 3s fail

Wheels & tyres

4.8%

Lights & electrics

4.8%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

4.8%

Suspension & axles

4.8%

Brakes

2.4%

Steering

2.4%

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.