2023 BMW 220I MOT pass rate

Pass rate

95.5%

Above average — 0.7 pts ahead of the 94.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 200 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £44–£109

Which year to buy

  • Best 2023 95.5% pass · this year
  • Avoid 2018 89.1% pass

Across the 6 years on record, a spread of 6.4 points. See every year →

First-attempt pass
95.3%
Typical mileage
19k mi

The 2023 BMW 220I MOT pass rate is 95.5% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 65.5% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2023 BMW 220I on the real record

95.5% of 2023 BMW 220I MOTs passed — 200 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 220I does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Tyres: 3.3× the national share

Tyres make up 65.5% of everything recorded on the 2023 BMW 220i, against 19.8% nationally — 45.7 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.

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 220I? Get an email when these numbers change .

Every BMW 220I first registered in 2023 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.

How does the 2023 BMW 220I compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 94.8%, so this figure is 0.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 95.3%. The median 2023 BMW 220I in this dataset had covered 18,918 mi.

The most common fuel recorded here is Petrol — 89% of tests, with a 94.9% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 95.8% of the time, April–September 95.1%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 2.00% of tests.

  • 200 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 95.5% overall pass rate, 95.3% on a first attempt.
  • Across every year of the BMW 220I, the average is 91.2% — best year 2023 (95.5%), worst 2018 (89.1%).

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
200
Typical mileage (median)
18,918 mi
Make and model
BMW 220I
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 220I MOT pass rate?

0-30k 96.3%
30-60k 91.9%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 83% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Petrol 94.9%
Hybrid 100.0%

Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (89% of tests).

Regional pass rates for the 220I

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 41 97.6%
Yorkshire 25 100.0%
South West 22 100.0%
Scotland 22 90.9%
North West 22 95.5%
East of England 17 88.2%
West Midlands 16 100.0%

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 220I

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 65.5%
+45.7 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Visibility 13.8%
+8.8 pts vs national national 5.0% Order bulbs & wipers
Lamps & electrics 6.9%
−5.3 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Identification 6.9%
+5.1 pts vs national national 1.8% Price identification parts
Show the other 2 fault categories
  • Emissions & leaks 3.4%
  • Road wheels 3.4%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2023 BMW 220I 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 220I

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.

  1. Check the windscreen 2.0% 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.

  2. Check the lights 0.5% of tests

    “front fog lamps not working”

    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.

  3. Check the number plates 0.5% of tests

    “registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements”

    Check both plates are present, legible and correctly spaced, with the postcode of the supplier and the BS AU 145e mark. A private plate in the wrong style is a fail before the car is even looked at.

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 220I through its MOT

Across the 8 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £44–£109 — and 15% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 8 common items
£44–£109
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
75%
Repairs that still cost under £30
15%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 200 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 220I, side by side

6 model years on record, from 2018 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 89.1% to 95.5% — a spread of 6.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.

  1. 2018 89.1% has a cut in excess of the…
  2. 2019 90.6% has a cut in excess of the…
  3. 2020 91.0% has a cut in excess of the…
  4. 2021 92.8% has a cut in excess of the…
  5. 2022 93.5% has a cut in excess of the…
  6. 2023 95.5%
    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 2023 BMW 220I 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 220I 8 failure items · 6 advisories · 6 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold

Every inspection category

Shares of the 29 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 19 65.50% 19.76% +45.74
Visibility 4 13.80% 4.97% +8.83
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2 6.90% 12.21% −5.31
Identification of the vehicle 2 6.90% 1.76% +5.14
Noise, emissions and leaks 1 3.40% 5.52% −2.12
Road Wheels 1 3.40% 0.75% +2.65

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 200 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 2.0% £80–200 Windscreen →
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres Major 1.5% £45–95 Tyres →
Fractured Road Wheels Major 0.50% £20–55 Wheel Hub Bearing Kit →
Front fog lamps not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 0.50% £3–15 Bulb →
Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Major 0.50% £45–95 Tyres →
Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 0.50% £30–80 Headlight Alignment →
Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks Major 0.50% £3–12 Indicator Bulb →
Registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements Identification of the vehicle Major 0.50% £20–80 Replacement Service Parts →

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
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Advisory 3.0% £45–95
Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres Advisory 2.0% £45–95
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres Advisory 1.0% £45–95
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 1.0% £45–95
Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Advisory 0.50% £45–95
Registration plates inscription illegible Identification of the vehicle Advisory 0.50% £20–80

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 163 96.3% 16,756 mi
30-60k 37 91.9% 38,413 mi

Source: 200 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 220I MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2023 BMW 220I?

95.5% of the 200 2023 BMW 220I tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 94.8% for cars first used in 2023. First-attempt pass rate: 95.3%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2023 BMW 220I?

The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.00%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.50%), fractured (0.50%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2023 BMW 220I MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 96.3% of the time, falling to 91.9% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2023 BMW 220I in this dataset had covered 18,918 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2023 BMW 220I?

Petrol: 94.9% pass rate across 178 tests. Hybrid: 100.0% pass rate across 22 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2023 BMW 220I MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 95.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 95.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.