BMW Z4 MOT reliability

BMW Z4s passed their MOT first time 78% of the time across 35,187 tests in 2025. 33,511 are still licensed in Great Britain.

Example photo of a BMW Z4 — Photo: Matti Blume · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

First-time pass rate

78%

MOTs analysed

35,187

Still licensed (GB)

33,511

Body type

Roadster

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 petrol

1,528 MOTs

Passed first time 91%. Typical mileage 25,712 (most between 18,107 and 34,191).

2020: 100% → 2021: 73% → 2022: 95% → 2023: 92% → 2024: 90% → 2025: 91%

Most common failures

Condition: has ply or cords exposed (3.3%)
Condition: has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.0%)
Headlamp aim: too high (1.0%)
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (0.7%)
Registration plates: does not conform to the specified requirements (0.4%)

Where 2020 Z4s fail

Wheels & tyres

6.5%

Lights & electrics

1.8%

Visibility & wipers

0.7%

Suspension & axles

0.5%

Brakes

0.3%

Body, structure & corrosion

0.1%

Exhaust, emissions & leaks

0.1%

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.