Pass rate
88.1%
Above average — 2.6 pts behind the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 16,989 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £45–£105
2020 BMW 330 MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 44,110 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
56.3% 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 →
0.5 pts down across model years — 6.1% in 2016, 5.6% in 2020.
Which year to buy
- Best 2019 89.6% pass
- Avoid 2003 73.8% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 15.8 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 86.7%
- Typical mileage
- 44k mi
The 2020 BMW 330 MOT pass rate is 88.1% of its MOT tests — 2.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 56.3% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 330 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.8× the national share
Tyres make up 56.3% of everything recorded on the 2020 BMW 330, against 19.8% nationally — 36.5 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 10% 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 330? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2020 BMW 330 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 2.6 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 86.7%. The median 2020 BMW 330 in this dataset had covered 44,110 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Hybrid — 92% of tests, with a 87.9% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 88.1% of the time, April–September 88.1%.
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 2.63% of tests.
- 16,989 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.1% overall pass rate, 86.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 330, the average is 88.9% — best year 2019 (89.6%), worst 2003 (73.8%).
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
- 16,989
- Typical mileage (median)
- 44,110 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 330
- 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 330 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 77% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Hybrid is the most common here (92% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 330
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 3,503 | 87.6% |
| North West | 2,352 | 87.2% |
| West Midlands | 1,975 | 87.5% |
| Yorkshire | 1,789 | 88.1% |
| East of England | 1,677 | 88.0% |
| East Midlands | 1,484 | 90.2% |
| South West | 1,223 | 86.3% |
| Scotland | 993 | 84.9% |
| London | 815 | 94.0% |
| North East | 633 | 92.9% |
| Wales | 545 | 88.4% |
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 330
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 330
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 2.6% 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 tyre tread 1.1% 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.
-
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 330 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £45–£105 — and 10% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £45–£105
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 10%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 16,989 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 330, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2001 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.8% to 89.6% — a spread of 15.8 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2001 84.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 78.9% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2003 73.8% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2005 80.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 80.6% position lamp with a multiple…
- 2007 74.0% position lamp with a multiple…
- 2008 86.7% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2011 81.9% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2012 82.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 85.5% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2014 82.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 89.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 89.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 89.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 89.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 88.1%has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 89.3% 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 2020 BMW 330 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
- Renault Clio 88.1%
- Mercedes-Benz Eqc 88.0%
- Fiat TIPO 88.0%
- Kia Sportage GT-Line Crdi 88.2%
- MG Zs Excite Vti-Tech 87.9%
- Toyota Hilux 87.8%
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 330 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 8,976 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 | 5,138 | 56.30% | 19.76% | +36.54 |
| Non-component advisories | 890 | 9.70% | 4.18% | +5.52 |
| Visibility | 844 | 9.20% | 4.97% | +4.23 |
| Suspension | 608 | 6.70% | 20.98% | −14.28 |
| Brakes | 432 | 4.70% | 20.89% | −16.19 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 314 | 3.40% | 12.21% | −8.81 |
| Road Wheels | 242 | 2.70% | 0.75% | +1.95 |
| Steering | 188 | 2.10% | 2.57% | −0.47 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 186 | 2.00% | 5.52% | −3.52 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 134 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
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 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.6% | £80–200 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 1.2% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.90% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 0.85% | £18–45 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.72% | £8–22 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.68% | £30–80 |
| Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 0.52% | £18–45 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 0.39% | £5–15 |
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 | 15.5% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.5% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 2.5% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.4% | £20–80 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.2% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.0% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 4,050 | 89.6% | 21,911 mi |
| 30-60k | 8,475 | 87.8% | 43,874 mi |
| 60-90k | 3,421 | 87.9% | 72,115 mi |
| 90-120k | 859 | 85.4% | 100,718 mi |
| 120k+ | 181 | 89.0% | 136,833 mi |
Source: 16,989 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 330 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 BMW 330?
88.1% of the 16,989 2020 BMW 330 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 86.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 BMW 330?
The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (2.63%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.60%), has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (1.18%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 BMW 330 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.6% of the time, falling to 89.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 BMW 330 in this dataset had covered 44,110 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2020 BMW 330?
Hybrid: 87.9% pass rate across 15,668 tests. Diesel: 90.5% pass rate across 1,304 tests. Petrol: 82.4% pass rate across 17 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2020 BMW 330 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 88.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 88.1%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.