Pass rate
77.0%
Around average — 3.9 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 14,262 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £37–£99
2008 BMW 120 MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 115,477 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
27.5% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 93.8% pass
- Avoid 2004 75.7% pass
Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 18.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 71.4%
- Typical mileage
- 115k mi
The 2008 BMW 120 MOT pass rate is 77.0% of its MOT tests — 3.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.3× the national share
Brakes make up 27.5% of everything recorded on the 2008 BMW 120, against 20.9% nationally — 6.6 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- Beats its own age and mileage. Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 73.1% and this one manages 77.0% — 3.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 30% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
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 120? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2008 BMW 120 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 3.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 71.4%. The median 2008 BMW 120 in this dataset had covered 115,477 mi.
75% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 76.9% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 77.2% of the time, April–September 76.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 5.87% of tests.
- 14,262 recorded tests behind this page.
- 77.0% overall pass rate, 71.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 120, the average is 81.0% — best year 2022 (93.8%), worst 2004 (75.7%).
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
- 14,262
- Typical mileage (median)
- 115,477 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 120
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 120 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 67% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (75% of tests).
Where the BMW 120 is most common
Across all 120 model years on record (2004–2022): 66,250 BMW 120 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 148,355 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 2,342 cars tested there. Cars are counted by the postcode area of the MOT station, so this is where they were tested, not necessarily where their owners live.
| # | Postcode area | Cars | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham (B) | 2,342 | 86.7% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 1,503 | 82.4% |
| 3 | Sheffield (S) | 1,429 | 85.0% |
| 4 | Leicester (LE) | 1,367 | 82.9% |
| 5 | Reading (RG) | 1,301 | 81.3% |
| 6 | Nottingham (NG) | 1,243 | 79.2% |
| 7 | Coventry (CV) | 1,229 | 83.0% |
| 8 | Bristol (BS) | 1,145 | 76.1% |
| 9 | Manchester (M) | 1,139 | 84.0% |
| 10 | Guildford (GU) | 1,072 | 80.3% |
| 11 | Cardiff (CF) | 1,008 | 77.4% |
| 12 | Derby (DE) | 983 | 82.6% |
| 13 | Portsmouth (PO) | 975 | 77.9% |
| 14 | Plymouth (PL) | 957 | 75.7% |
| 15 | Ipswich (IP) | 919 | 79.4% |
| 16 | Northampton (NN) | 911 | 78.8% |
| 17 | Doncaster (DN) | 893 | 81.7% |
| 18 | Gloucester (GL) | 890 | 76.6% |
| 19 | Norwich (NR) | 866 | 79.6% |
| 20 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 855 | 84.2% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 120 cars in the record, sorted by car count — sort the columns for a different question. Cars tested at a station whose postcode area could not be resolved are counted in the model's total but in no area, so the shares add up to slightly under 100% even across every area, and an area's cars are a subset of the model's. Pass rate is blank below 30 tests in an area, where a percentage is noise rather than a finding. How this model's pass rate varies by postcode →
Regional pass rates for the 120
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 3,098 | 78.9% |
| South West | 2,146 | 70.1% |
| East of England | 2,030 | 76.8% |
| West Midlands | 1,487 | 81.3% |
| North West | 1,286 | 77.4% |
| East Midlands | 1,003 | 77.3% |
| Yorkshire | 984 | 78.6% |
| Wales | 721 | 73.2% |
| London | 583 | 86.1% |
| Scotland | 518 | 72.0% |
| North East | 405 | 78.0% |
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 2008 120
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 2008 120
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 5.9% 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 shock absorbers 3.8% 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.
-
Check the lights 2.6% 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.
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 2008 120 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£99 — and 30% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £37–£99
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 30%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 14,262 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 120, side by side
19 model years on record, from 2004 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 75.7% to 93.8% — a spread of 18.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2004 75.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2005 76.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 76.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 77.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 77.0%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 77.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 77.8% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2011 78.7% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2012 77.9% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2013 82.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 83.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 86.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 87.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 88.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 88.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 89.8% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2020 90.5% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 92.9% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 93.8% has a cut in excess of the…
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 2008 BMW 120 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 77.0%
- Saab 9-5 76.9%
- Mercedes-Benz Cls 77.2%
- Toyota Auris 76.7%
- Land Rover Discovery 76.7%
- Smart Mcc Fortwo 76.7%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 BMW 120 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 35,338 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 | 9,839 | 27.50% | 20.89% | +6.61 |
| Suspension | 8,146 | 22.70% | 20.98% | +1.72 |
| Tyres | 5,559 | 15.50% | 19.76% | −4.26 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3,504 | 9.80% | 12.21% | −2.41 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 3,127 | 8.70% | 5.52% | +3.18 |
| Visibility | 1,917 | 5.30% | 4.97% | +0.33 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1,658 | 4.60% | 5.57% | −0.97 |
| Non-component advisories | 711 | 2.00% | 4.18% | −2.18 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 614 | 1.70% | 1.76% | −0.06 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 263 | 0.70% | 0.82% | −0.12 |
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 | 5.9% | £80–200 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 3.8% | £30–75 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.6% | £5–20 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.5% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.1% | £40–150 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.7% | £3–12 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.7% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.6% | £30–80 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.6% | £5–25 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 1.5% | £5–15 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Advisory | 21.9% | £25–70 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 21.9% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 13.8% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 12.1% | £40–150 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 10.3% | £180–450 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 10.1% | £30–75 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 91 | 90.1% | 21,788 mi |
| 30-60k | 864 | 84.1% | 48,571 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,559 | 79.6% | 77,395 mi |
| 90-120k | 4,293 | 75.9% | 105,365 mi |
| 120k+ | 6,440 | 75.5% | 148,419 mi |
Source: 14,262 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.
2008 120 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 BMW 120?
77.0% of the 14,262 2008 BMW 120 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 71.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 BMW 120?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.87%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (3.79%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (2.63%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 BMW 120 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.1% of the time, falling to 75.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 BMW 120 in this dataset had covered 115,477 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 BMW 120?
Diesel: 76.9% pass rate across 10,761 tests. Petrol: 77.3% pass rate across 3,501 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 BMW 120 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 77.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 76.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.