2023 BMW 128TI MOT pass rate

2023
typical 16,736 mi

Pass rate

97.8%

Above average — 3.0 pts ahead of the 94.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 184 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £43–£93

Most common fault

Tyres

74.3% of faults · 19.8% nationally

mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.

Every failure, with what it costs →

Which year to buy

Best 2023 97.8% pass · this year
Avoid 2021 92.7% pass

Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 5.1 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass: 97.8%
Typical mileage: 17k mi

The 2023 BMW 128TI MOT pass rate is 97.8% of its MOT tests — 3.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 74.3% of what testers record.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 128TI does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Tyres: 3.8× the national share

Tyres make up 74.3% of everything recorded on the 2023 BMW 128ti, against 19.8% nationally — 54.5 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.

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 94.8% and this one manages 97.8% — 3.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
When it fails, it costs. Only 0% 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

How does the 2023 BMW 128TI compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 94.8%, so this figure is 3.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 97.8%. The median 2023 BMW 128TI in this dataset had covered 16,736 mi.

Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 98.5% of the time, April–September 96.2%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords", noted on 1.09% of tests.

184 recorded tests behind this page.
97.8% overall pass rate, 97.8% on a first attempt.
Across every year of the BMW 128TI, the average is 93.5% — best year 2023 (97.8%), worst 2021 (92.7%).

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: 184
Typical mileage (median): 16,736 mi
Make and model: BMW 128TI
Updated: 2026-11-05

Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.

Top part to budget for

Tyres

Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.

Does mileage affect the 128TI MOT pass rate?

0-30k 98.2%

30-60k 94.1%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 86% so small gaps stay visible.

Regional pass rates for the 128TI

Region	Tests	Pass rate
North West	33	100.0%
South East	29	100.0%
West Midlands	25	84.0%
Yorkshire	24	100.0%
South West	22	100.0%
Scotland	15	100.0%

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 2023 128TI

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.

Tyres 74.3%

+54.5 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices

Advisories 11.4%

+7.2 pts vs national national 4.2% Price advisories parts

Brakes 8.6%

−12.3 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts

Suspension 2.9%

−18.1 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts

Show the other 1 fault category

Lamps & electrics 2.9%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2023 BMW 128TI tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 2023 128TI

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 lights 0.5% of tests

“headlamp aim too high”

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.

What testers look for →

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 2023 128TI through its MOT

Across the 5 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £43–£93 — and 0% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 5 common items: £43–£93
Cheapest common item: headlamp aim too high: £30–£80
Dearest common item: has a cut in excess of the requirements deep…: £45–£95
Common items a careful owner can do at home: 80%
Repairs that still cost under £30: 0%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 184 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 128TI, side by side

4 model years on record, from 2020 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 92.7% to 97.8% — a spread of 5.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

2020 93.7% has a cut in excess of the…
2021 92.7% has a cut in excess of the…
2022 94.5% has a cut in excess of the…
2023 97.8%
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 2023 BMW 128TI 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.

Compare 2023 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2023 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2023 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 2023 BMW 128TI 5 failure items · 6 advisories · 5 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold

Every inspection category

Shares of the 35 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
Tyres	26	74.30%	19.76%	+54.54
Non-component advisories	4	11.40%	4.18%	+7.22
Brakes	3	8.60%	20.89%	−12.29
Suspension	1	2.90%	20.98%	−18.08
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment	1	2.90%	12.21%	−9.31

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 184 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item	Severity	Tests	Est. cost	Part
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres	Major	1.1%	£45–95	Tyres →
Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres	Rectified	0.54%	£45–95	Tyres →
Has a lump, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres	Major	0.54%	£45–95	Tyres →
Has ply or cords exposed Tyres	Major	0.54%	£45–95	Tyres →
Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment	Rectified	0.54%	£30–80	Headlight Alignment →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item	Severity	Tests	Est. cost
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres	Advisory	5.4%	£45–95
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres	Advisory	2.2%	£45–95
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres	Advisory	2.2%	£45–95
Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes	Advisory	1.6%	£18–45
Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres	Advisory	1.1%	£45–95
Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories	Advisory	1.1%	£20–80

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage	Tests	Pass rate	Median odometer
0-30k	167	98.2%	16,459 mi
30-60k	17	94.1%	37,236 mi

Source: 184 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.

2023 128TI MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2023 BMW 128TI?

97.8% of the 184 2023 BMW 128TI tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 94.8% for cars first used in 2023. First-attempt pass rate: 97.8%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2023 BMW 128TI?

The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.09%), has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (0.54%), has a lump, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (0.54%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2023 BMW 128TI MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 98.2% of the time, falling to 94.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2023 BMW 128TI in this dataset had covered 16,736 mi.

Does the season affect the 2023 BMW 128TI MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 98.5% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 96.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.