Pass rate
89.7%
Above average — 1.5 pts behind the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 273 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£98
2021 BMW 216D MOT pass rate
- 2021
- 2 trims combined
- typical 41,557 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
47.2% 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 2019 91.1% pass
- Avoid 2018 86.5% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 4.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 89.1%
- Typical mileage
- 42k mi
The 2021 BMW 216D MOT pass rate is 89.7% of its MOT tests — 1.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 47.2% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.4× the national share
Tyres make up 47.2% of everything recorded on the 2021 BMW 216d, against 19.8% nationally — 27.4 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 18% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 273 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 216D? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every BMW 216D first registered in 2021 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2021 BMW 216D compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 1.5 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 89.1%. The median 2021 BMW 216D in this dataset had covered 41,557 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 90.2% of the time, April–September 89.4%.
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 2.56% of tests.
- 273 recorded tests behind this page.
- 89.7% overall pass rate, 89.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 216D, the average is 88.7% — best year 2019 (91.1%), worst 2018 (86.5%).
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
- 273
- Typical mileage (median)
- 41,557 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 216D
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 216D MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 72% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW 216D is most common
Across all 216D model years on record (2018–2021): 1,639 BMW 216D cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 2,811 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 62 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) | 62 | 84.1% |
| 2 | Leicester (LE) | 41 | 84.5% |
| 3 | Peterborough (PE) | 41 | 93.1% |
| 4 | Coventry (CV) | 39 | 94.6% |
| 5 | Manchester (M) | 38 | 89.4% |
| 6 | Northampton (NN) | 37 | 88.7% |
| 7 | Doncaster (DN) | 36 | 91.1% |
| 8 | Nottingham (NG) | 34 | 89.4% |
| 9 | Blackburn (BB) | 34 | 90.0% |
| 10 | Glasgow (G) | 33 | 86.2% |
| 11 | Stoke On Trent (ST) | 28 | 88.4% |
| 12 | Guildford (GU) | 27 | 84.9% |
| 13 | Hayes (UB) | 27 | 92.5% |
| 14 | Derby (DE) | 26 | 87.2% |
| 15 | Liverpool (L) | 24 | 90.9% |
| 16 | Cardiff (CF) | 23 | 89.5% |
| 17 | Sheffield (S) | 22 | 92.7% |
| 18 | Stockport (SK) | 22 | 86.8% |
| 19 | Croydon (CR) | 21 | 93.3% |
| 20 | Swindon (SN) | 21 | 87.2% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 216D 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 216D
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 75 | 92.0% |
| North West | 45 | 88.9% |
| West Midlands | 28 | 82.1% |
| Scotland | 28 | 85.7% |
| South West | 19 | 100.0% |
| East of England | 17 | 88.2% |
| London | 17 | 88.2% |
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 2021 216D
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 2021 216D
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 brakes 1.1% of tests
“brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick”
Look through the spokes of each wheel at the pad — less than 3mm of friction material, or a lip on the disc edge, is the usual failure. Check the handbrake holds on a slope with a few clicks, not at the top of its travel.
-
Check the wipers and washers 1.1% of tests
“washers provides insufficient washer liquid”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
-
Check the lights 0.7% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 2021 216D through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£98 — and 18% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £41–£98
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot split or…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 18%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 273 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 216D, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2018 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 86.5% to 91.1% — a spread of 4.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2018 86.5% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2019 91.1% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2020 88.2% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 89.7%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 2021 BMW 216D 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- Hyundai Kona Ultimate Gdi 89.7%
- Peugeot Rifter 89.7%
- Audi Q4 E-Tron 89.8%
- Kia Sportage GT-Ln Crdi 89.8%
- Mercedes-Benz Cla 89.6%
- Mercedes-Benz E 89.6%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 BMW 216D 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 176 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 | 83 | 47.20% | 19.76% | +27.44 |
| Brakes | 46 | 26.10% | 20.89% | +5.21 |
| Non-component advisories | 22 | 12.50% | 4.18% | +8.32 |
| Visibility | 9 | 5.10% | 4.97% | +0.13 |
| Suspension | 7 | 4.00% | 20.98% | −16.98 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2 | 1.10% | 5.57% | −4.47 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 2 | 1.10% | 5.52% | −4.42 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 1.10% | 1.76% | −0.66 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2 | 1.10% | 0.82% | +0.28 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 1 | 0.60% | 12.21% | −11.61 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £18–45 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 1.1% | £5–15 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.73% | £45–95 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 0.73% | £80–250 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.73% | £3–12 |
| Service brake performance excessively binding Brakes | Major | 0.73% | £60–150 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.73% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.73% | £80–200 |
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 | 15.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.1% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.8% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 4.4% | £20–80 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.3% | £45–110 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.9% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 74 | 94.6% | 22,490 mi |
| 30-60k | 128 | 89.1% | 42,873 mi |
| 60-90k | 40 | 87.5% | 75,306 mi |
| 90-120k | 21 | 85.7% | 101,982 mi |
| 120k+ | 10 | 80.0% | 147,215 mi |
Source: 273 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.
2021 216D MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 BMW 216D?
89.7% of the 273 2021 BMW 216D tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 89.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 BMW 216D?
The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.56%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.10%), has ply or cords exposed (1.10%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 BMW 216D MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 94.6% of the time, falling to 80.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 BMW 216D in this dataset had covered 41,557 mi.
Does the season affect the 2021 BMW 216D MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 90.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 89.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.