Pass rate
74.3%
Below average — 2.1 pts ahead of the 72.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 565 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £29–£80
2004 BMW 1 Series MOT pass rate
- 2004
- typical 126,284 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
22.1% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 91.2% pass
- Avoid 2004 74.3% pass · this year
Across the 17 years on record, a spread of 16.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 68.4%
- Typical mileage
- 126k mi
The 2004 BMW 1 Series MOT pass rate is 74.3% of its MOT tests — 2.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 22.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 1 Series does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 1.9× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 10.7% of everything recorded on the 2004 BMW 1 Series, against 5.5% nationally — 5.2 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 22.1%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a BMW 1 Series? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2004 BMW 1 Series compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.2%, so this figure is 2.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 68.4%. The median 2004 BMW 1 Series in this dataset had covered 126,284 mi.
50% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 76.1% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 75.1% of the time, April–September 73.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 6.55% of tests.
- 565 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.3% overall pass rate, 68.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 1 Series, the average is 84.7% — best year 2020 (91.2%), worst 2004 (74.3%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 565
- Typical mileage (median)
- 126,284 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 1 Series
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the 1 Series MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 63% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (50% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 1 Series
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 147 | 75.5% |
| South West | 86 | 65.1% |
| West Midlands | 76 | 78.9% |
| East of England | 71 | 74.6% |
| London | 47 | 87.2% |
| East Midlands | 42 | 73.8% |
| North West | 42 | 71.4% |
| Yorkshire | 27 | 66.7% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2004 1 Series
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2004 1 Series
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the windscreen 6.5% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the lights 5.3% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the shock absorbers 3.4% of tests
“shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”
Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2004 1 Series through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £29–£80 — and 43% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £29–£80
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 43%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 565 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the 1 Series, side by side
17 model years on record, from 2004 to 2020. Across them the pass rate runs from 74.3% to 91.2% — a spread of 16.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2004 74.3%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2005 76.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 77.3% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 76.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 77.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 77.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 78.7% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2011 80.8% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2012 79.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 81.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 89.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 90.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 89.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 90.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 89.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 91.2% windscreen damaged but not…
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2004 BMW 1 Series with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2004 cars with a similar record
- Volkswagen Passat 74.3%
- Audi A4 74.2%
- Mazda Mx-5 74.2%
- Toyota Corolla 74.1%
- Jaguar S-Type 74.1%
- Volkswagen Bora 74.0%
Closest pass rates among 2004 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2004 BMW 1 Series 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 1,646 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 374 | 22.10% | 20.89% | +1.21 |
| Suspension | 359 | 21.20% | 20.98% | +0.22 |
| Tyres | 225 | 13.30% | 19.76% | −6.46 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 217 | 12.80% | 12.21% | +0.59 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 182 | 10.70% | 5.52% | +5.18 |
| Visibility | 102 | 6.00% | 4.97% | +1.03 |
| Non-component advisories | 61 | 3.60% | 4.18% | −0.58 |
| Steering | 46 | 2.70% | 2.57% | +0.13 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 45 | 2.70% | 5.57% | −2.87 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 35 | 2.10% | 0.82% | +1.28 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 6.5% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 5.3% | £5–20 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 4.8% | £3–12 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 3.4% | £30–75 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.0% | £40–150 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.6% | £5–25 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.6% | £45–110 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 2.5% | £5–15 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.3% | £18–45 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Major | 2.3% | £25–70 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 23.2% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 21.6% | £200–700 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Advisory | 15.0% | £25–70 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 12.6% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 11.9% | £45–110 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 10.4% | £30–75 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 26 | 80.8% | 48,152 mi |
| 60-90k | 80 | 82.5% | 78,603 mi |
| 90-120k | 138 | 75.4% | 106,966 mi |
| 120k+ | 321 | 71.3% | 158,354 mi |
Source: 565 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2004 1 Series MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2004 BMW 1 Series?
74.3% of the 565 2004 BMW 1 Series tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.2% for cars first used in 2004. First-attempt pass rate: 68.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2004 BMW 1 Series?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (6.55%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (5.31%), srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault (4.78%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2004 BMW 1 Series MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 80.8% of the time, falling to 71.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2004 BMW 1 Series in this dataset had covered 126,284 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2004 BMW 1 Series?
Petrol: 76.1% pass rate across 284 tests. Diesel: 72.3% pass rate across 278 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2004 BMW 1 Series MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 75.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 73.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.