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BMW · MOT reliability data

BMW 3 Series

The 3 Series is BMW's highest-volume model and a common company car choice. Here's how it actually performs on DVSA's own data.

75.8%

MOT pass rate

Executive saloon / estate

Segment

Petrol, diesel, plug-in hybrid

Fuel types available

Source: DS Auto Labs analysis of DVSA's anonymised 2025 MOT test results (Open Government Licence v3.0): 471,176 first-time tests of BMW 3 Series cars of all ages (test class 4, cars and light vans). A pass means a clean first-time pass; a car that failed and was repaired at the test station before passing counts as not passed, and aborted tests are excluded. Age is the car's age at the 2025 test.

What to know

In 2025, BMW 3 Series cars passed their MOT first time 75.8% of the time, across 471,176 tests. That is 3.5 points below BMW's overall brand average of 79.3% and 3.4 points above the national average of 72.4%.

Age explains much of the difference between models. Pass rates fall steeply as cars get older, for every make, so a model with many old cars on the road looks worse than it is, and a recent model looks better. This compares the BMW 3 Series with the typical UK car of the same age.

MOT pass rate by vehicle age, 2025 first-time tests
Car ageBMW 3 SeriesAll UK carsTests
3-5 years86.7%87.2%53,078
6-9 years84.9%79.3%110,839
10-13 years74.1%67.9%126,836
14+ years68.0%59.3%179,913

Allowing for the age mix of the cars tested, a typical UK car would be expected to pass about 69.5% of the time. The BMW 3 Series passed at 75.8%, which is 6.3 points above that expected rate.

A model average says little about one particular car, so check its own MOT history for repeated advisories, past failures and mileage.

Check a specific 3 Series's MOT history, tax status, and advisories by registration number.

Check MOT history

See how the BMW range compares overall, with model-by-model pass rates.

View BMW brand page