Pass rate
87.3%
Above average — 12.6 pts ahead of the 74.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 79 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £45–£112
2010 BMW 325 MOT pass rate
- 2010
- typical 84,362 mi
Only 79 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
29.0% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £40–£65 for Shock absorber leaking. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2011 88.6% pass
- Avoid 2003 73.2% pass
Across the 9 years on record, a spread of 15.4 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 85.7%
- Typical mileage
- 84k mi
The 2010 BMW 325 MOT pass rate is 87.3% of its MOT tests — 12.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 29.0% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.5× the national share
Tyres make up 29.0% of everything recorded on the 2010 BMW 325, against 19.8% nationally — 9.2 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 29.0%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. 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 74.7% and this one manages 87.3% — 12.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 11% 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 325? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2010 BMW 325 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.7%, so this figure is 12.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 85.7%. The median 2010 BMW 325 in this dataset had covered 84,362 mi.
72% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 87.7% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 91.1% of the time, April–September 82.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 7.59% of tests.
- 79 recorded tests behind this page.
- 87.3% overall pass rate, 85.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 325, the average is 80.4% — best year 2011 (88.6%), worst 2003 (73.2%).
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
- 79
- Typical mileage (median)
- 84,362 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 325
- 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 325 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 73% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (72% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 325
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 26 | 92.3% |
| South West | 24 | 75.0% |
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 2010 325
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 2010 325
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 7.6% 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 lights 2.5% 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 shock absorbers 2.5% 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.
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 2010 325 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £45–£112 — and 11% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £45–£112
- 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
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 11%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 79 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 325, side by side
9 model years on record, from 2001 to 2011. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.2% to 88.6% — a spread of 15.4 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 74.6% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 73.2% pins and bushes pin or bush…
- 2005 80.0% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 84.0% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 76.8% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2008 80.8% anti-lock braking system warning…
- 2009 80.1% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2010 87.3%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 88.6% position lamp not working
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 2010 BMW 325 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 2010 cars with a similar record
- Nissan 370 Z 86.6%
- Porsche Cayenne 86.5%
- Toyota Estima 85.9%
- Lexus IS250 85.6%
- Jaguar Xk 85.5%
- Jaguar Xkr 84.5%
Closest pass rates among 2010 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 2010 BMW 325 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 107 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 31 | 29.00% | 20.98% | +8.02 |
| Tyres | 31 | 29.00% | 19.76% | +9.24 |
| Brakes | 11 | 10.30% | 20.89% | −10.59 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 11 | 10.30% | 5.52% | +4.78 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 7 | 6.50% | 12.21% | −5.71 |
| Visibility | 6 | 5.60% | 4.97% | +0.63 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 5 | 4.70% | 1.76% | +2.94 |
| Non-component advisories | 3 | 2.80% | 4.18% | −1.38 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 0.90% | 5.57% | −4.67 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1 | 0.90% | 0.82% | +0.08 |
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 | 7.6% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 2.5% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 2.5% | £30–80 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 2.5% | £30–75 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £25–65 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim too low Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.3% | £30–80 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Rectified | 1.3% | £3–12 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.3% | £3–12 |
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 | 17.7% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 15.2% | £40–150 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 10.1% | £200–700 |
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Advisory | 10.1% | £30–75 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 8.9% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 6.3% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 6 | 83.3% | 23,652 mi |
| 30-60k | 12 | 91.7% | 46,356 mi |
| 60-90k | 24 | 95.8% | 74,142 mi |
| 90-120k | 21 | 81.0% | 102,735 mi |
| 120k+ | 16 | 81.3% | 148,161 mi |
Source: 79 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.
2010 325 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2010 BMW 325?
87.3% of the 79 2010 BMW 325 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.7% for cars first used in 2010. First-attempt pass rate: 85.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2010 BMW 325?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (7.59%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.53%), headlamp aim too high (2.53%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2010 BMW 325 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 83.3% of the time, falling to 81.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2010 BMW 325 in this dataset had covered 84,362 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2010 BMW 325?
Petrol: 87.7% pass rate across 57 tests. Diesel: 86.4% pass rate across 22 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2010 BMW 325 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 91.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 82.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.