BMW 318 MOT reliability

BMW 318s passed their MOT first time 83% of the time across 8,821 tests in 2025.

Example photo of a BMW 318 — Photo: Kieran White from Manchester, England · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

First-time pass rate

83%

MOTs analysed

8,821

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

2020 diesel

454 MOTs

Passed first time 87%. Typical mileage 54,781 (most between 41,669 and 71,948).

2021: 100% → 2022: 90% → 2023: 84% → 2024: 82% → 2025: 87%

Most common failures

Brake pads: less than 1.5 mm thick (2.6%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (2.0%)
Ball joint excessively worn (1.8%)
Condition: has ply or cords exposed (1.5%)
Condition: has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (1.3%)

2020 ed

3 MOTs

These figures come from only 3 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 33%. Typical mileage 98,689 (most between 70,539 and 98,797).

2023: 100% → 2024: 75% → 2025: 33%

Most common failures

Condition: has ply or cords exposed (33.3%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (33.3%)

2020 petrol

3 MOTs

These figures come from only 3 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 25,980 (most between 17,390 and 35,208).

2021: 100% → 2022: 100% → 2023: 100% → 2024: 75% → 2025: 100%

Where 2020 318s fail

Wheels & tyres

5.3%

Brakes

3.1%

Suspension & axles

2.0%

Visibility & wipers

2.0%

Lights & electrics

1.8%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

1.1%

Steering

0.4%

Body, structure & corrosion

0.2%

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.