Pass rate
90.7%
Above average — 0.0 pts in line with the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 602 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £34–£79
2020 BMW 318D MOT pass rate
- 2020
- 2 trims combined
- typical 45,366 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
50.9% 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 2022 91.1% pass
- Avoid 2021 88.2% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 2.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 89.9%
- Typical mileage
- 45k mi
The 2020 BMW 318D MOT pass rate is 90.7% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 50.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 318D does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.6× the national share
Tyres make up 50.9% of everything recorded on the 2020 BMW 318d, against 19.8% nationally — 31.1 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 12% 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 318D? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every BMW 318D first registered in 2020 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2020 BMW 318D compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 0.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 89.9%. The median 2020 BMW 318D in this dataset had covered 45,366 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.8% of the time, April–September 92.9%.
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 2.66% of tests.
- 602 recorded tests behind this page.
- 90.7% overall pass rate, 89.9% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 318D, the average is 89.2% — best year 2022 (91.1%), worst 2021 (88.2%).
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
- 602
- Typical mileage (median)
- 45,366 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 318D
- 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 318D MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 81% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the 318D
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 114 | 86.8% |
| North West | 105 | 90.5% |
| South East | 69 | 92.8% |
| West Midlands | 64 | 87.5% |
| Yorkshire | 57 | 89.5% |
| East of England | 44 | 90.9% |
| South West | 41 | 92.7% |
| North East | 32 | 96.9% |
| Wales | 30 | 90.0% |
| East Midlands | 28 | 100.0% |
| London | 18 | 94.4% |
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 2020 318D
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 2020 318D
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 1.5% 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.
-
Check the brakes 1.2% 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 suspension joints 0.8% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
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 2020 318D through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £34–£79 — and 12% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £34–£79
- 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
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 12%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 602 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 318D, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2020 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 88.2% to 91.1% — a spread of 2.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2020 90.7%has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 88.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2022 91.1% tread depth below requirements of…
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 2020 BMW 318D 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- Peugeot 2008 90.7%
- Skoda Fabia 90.7%
- Jaguar F-Pace 90.7%
- Nissan X-Trail 90.7%
- Citroen C4 Cactus 90.7%
- Abarth 595 90.7%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 BMW 318D 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 395 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 | 201 | 50.90% | 19.76% | +31.14 |
| Brakes | 101 | 25.60% | 20.89% | +4.71 |
| Non-component advisories | 31 | 7.80% | 4.18% | +3.62 |
| Visibility | 17 | 4.30% | 4.97% | −0.67 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 16 | 4.10% | 12.21% | −8.11 |
| Suspension | 10 | 2.50% | 20.98% | −18.48 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 6 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
| Road Wheels | 6 | 1.50% | 0.75% | +0.75 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5 | 1.30% | 5.52% | −4.22 |
| Steering | 2 | 0.50% | 2.57% | −2.07 |
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 | 2.7% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.5% | £30–80 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.2% | £18–45 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.0% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 0.83% | £18–45 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.66% | £3–12 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.66% | £45–95 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.50% | £45–95 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 0.50% | £5–15 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 0.50% | £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 | 17.9% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 8.5% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.3% | £45–110 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 2.7% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.7% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 151 | 93.4% | 22,331 mi |
| 30-60k | 265 | 89.4% | 44,023 mi |
| 60-90k | 155 | 89.7% | 72,599 mi |
| 90-120k | 29 | 93.1% | 99,234 mi |
| 120k+ | 2 | 100.0% | 138,866 mi |
Source: 602 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.
2020 318D MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 BMW 318D?
90.7% of the 602 2020 BMW 318D tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 89.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 BMW 318D?
The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.66%), headlamp aim too high (1.50%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.16%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 BMW 318D MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.4% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 BMW 318D in this dataset had covered 45,366 mi.
Does the season affect the 2020 BMW 318D MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 92.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.