Pass rate
89.9%
Above average — 14.0 pts ahead of the 75.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 577 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £44–£113
2011 BMW 135 MOT pass rate
- 2011
- typical 61,546 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
27.7% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2016 94.9% pass
- Avoid 2008 84.7% pass
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 10.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 89.0%
- Typical mileage
- 62k mi
The 2011 BMW 135 MOT pass rate is 89.9% of its MOT tests — 14.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.9× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 16.0% of everything recorded on the 2011 BMW 135, against 5.5% nationally — 10.5 points above. Tyres are still the single largest share at 27.7%, but at 19.8% 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.
- 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 75.9% and this one manages 89.9% — 14.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 27% 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 135? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2011 BMW 135 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 75.9%, so this figure is 14.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 89.0%. The median 2011 BMW 135 in this dataset had covered 61,546 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 87.0% of the time, April–September 93.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 3.64% of tests.
- 577 recorded tests behind this page.
- 89.9% overall pass rate, 89.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 135, the average is 86.5% — best year 2016 (94.9%), worst 2008 (84.7%).
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
- 577
- Typical mileage (median)
- 61,546 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 135
- 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 135 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 76% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW 135 is most common
Across all 135 model years on record (2007–2016): 1,825 BMW 135 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 3,631 tests. Reading (RG) has the most, with 66 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 | Reading (RG) | 66 | 88.6% |
| 2 | Birmingham (B) | 58 | 91.3% |
| 3 | High Wycombe (HP) | 51 | 86.3% |
| 4 | Bristol (BS) | 49 | 85.1% |
| 5 | Guildford (GU) | 44 | 87.8% |
| 6 | Ashford (TN) | 39 | 85.9% |
| 7 | Brighton (BN) | 34 | 80.5% |
| 8 | Basildon (SS) | 33 | 88.0% |
| 9 | Enfield (EN) | 32 | 94.8% |
| 10 | Ipswich (IP) | 31 | 80.6% |
| 11 | Northampton (NN) | 30 | 83.3% |
| 12 | Portsmouth (PO) | 30 | 84.3% |
| 13 | Crawley (RH) | 29 | 83.6% |
| 14 | Gloucester (GL) | 29 | 84.5% |
| 15 | Sheffield (S) | 29 | 87.5% |
| 16 | London (N) | 29 | 95.7% |
| 17 | Peterborough (PE) | 28 | 86.8% |
| 18 | Maidstone (ME) | 26 | 89.8% |
| 19 | Derby (DE) | 25 | 80.7% |
| 20 | Nottingham (NG) | 25 | 86.0% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 135 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 135
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 180 | 88.3% |
| East of England | 78 | 92.3% |
| South West | 61 | 91.8% |
| Scotland | 52 | 84.6% |
| West Midlands | 48 | 95.8% |
| London | 43 | 90.7% |
| East Midlands | 39 | 92.3% |
| North West | 28 | 89.3% |
| Yorkshire | 26 | 80.8% |
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 2011 135
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 2011 135
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 3.6% 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 1.2% 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 tyre tread 1.0% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
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 2011 135 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £44–£113 — and 27% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £44–£113
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 27%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 577 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 135, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2007 to 2016. Across them the pass rate runs from 84.7% to 94.9% — a spread of 10.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2007 90.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 84.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 85.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 86.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 89.9%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 87.1% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2015 85.2% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2016 94.9% 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 2011 BMW 135 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 2011 cars with a similar record
- Audi A8 90.3%
- Porsche Boxster 91.5%
- Honda Fit 86.9%
- Porsche Cayenne 86.8%
- Lexus IS250 86.8%
- Porsche 911 93.4%
Closest pass rates among 2011 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 2011 BMW 135 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 434 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 | 121 | 27.70% | 19.76% | +7.94 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 70 | 16.00% | 5.52% | +10.48 |
| Suspension | 67 | 15.30% | 20.98% | −5.68 |
| Brakes | 58 | 13.30% | 20.89% | −7.59 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 50 | 11.40% | 12.21% | −0.81 |
| Visibility | 36 | 8.20% | 4.97% | +3.23 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 15 | 3.40% | 1.76% | +1.64 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 8 | 1.80% | 5.57% | −3.77 |
| Non-component advisories | 5 | 1.10% | 4.18% | −3.08 |
| Steering | 4 | 0.90% | 2.57% | −1.67 |
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 | 3.6% | £80–200 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £45–95 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 1.2% | £30–75 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.0% | £45–95 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.87% | £3–12 |
| Headlamp levelling device inoperative Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.69% | £5–25 |
| Rear fog lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.69% | £3–15 |
| Side repeaters not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.69% | £5–25 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.52% | £60–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 0.52% | £25–65 |
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 | 11.3% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 7.5% | £200–700 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 2.8% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 2.4% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 2.4% | £40–150 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.3% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 104 | 90.4% | 20,801 mi |
| 30-60k | 170 | 91.8% | 45,645 mi |
| 60-90k | 198 | 90.4% | 74,442 mi |
| 90-120k | 83 | 84.3% | 101,675 mi |
| 120k+ | 22 | 90.9% | 150,475 mi |
Source: 577 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.
2011 135 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2011 BMW 135?
89.9% of the 577 2011 BMW 135 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 75.9% for cars first used in 2011. First-attempt pass rate: 89.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2011 BMW 135?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.64%), has ply or cords exposed (1.21%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (1.21%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2011 BMW 135 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.4% of the time, falling to 90.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2011 BMW 135 in this dataset had covered 61,546 mi.
Does the season affect the 2011 BMW 135 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 87.0% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 93.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.