BMW 735 MOT reliability

BMW 735s passed their MOT first time 74% of the time across 397 tests in 2025.

First-time pass rate

74%

MOTs analysed

397

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

2003 petrol

32 MOTs

These figures come from 32 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 59%. Typical mileage 108,482 (most between 86,072 and 144,479).

2005: 100% → 2006: 89% → 2007: 87% → 2008: 82% → 2009: 78% → 2010: 76% → 2011: 70% → 2012: 64% → 2013: 61% → 2014: 64% → 2015: 71% → 2016: 68% → 2017: 68% → 2018: 60% → 2019: 64% → 2020: 59% → 2021: 62% → 2022: 59% → 2023: 61% → 2024: 73% → 2025: 59%

Most common failures

Anti-lock braking system: warning lamp indicates an ABS fault (9.4%)
Position lamp: not working (9.4%)
SRS malfunction indicator lamp: warning lamp indicates a fault (9.4%)
Ball joint excessively worn (6.3%)
Engine oil leaks: leaking excessively from engine (6.3%)

Where 2003 735s fail

Lights & electrics

18.8%

Brakes

15.6%

Wheels & tyres

12.5%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

9.4%

Seat belts & other equipment

9.4%

Suspension & axles

9.4%

Visibility & wipers

6.3%

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.