Pass rate
88.4%
Above average — 2.4 pts ahead of the 86.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 352 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £31–£76
2017 BMW 418 MOT pass rate
- 2017
- typical 78,552 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
28.6% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£40 for Brake pads under 1.5 mm. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2017 88.4% pass · this year
- Avoid 2014 83.5% pass
Across the 4 years on record, a spread of 4.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 87.0%
- Typical mileage
- 79k mi
The 2017 BMW 418 MOT pass rate is 88.4% of its MOT tests — 2.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 28.6% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.4× the national share
Tyres make up 28.6% of everything recorded on the 2017 BMW 418, against 19.8% nationally — 8.8 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 28.6%, but at 20.9% 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 33% 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. 352 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 418? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2017 BMW 418 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 86.0%, so this figure is 2.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.0%. The median 2017 BMW 418 in this dataset had covered 78,552 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.1% of the time, April–September 87.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak", noted on 2.27% of tests.
- 352 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.4% overall pass rate, 87.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 418, the average is 85.6% — best year 2017 (88.4%), worst 2014 (83.5%).
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
- 352
- Typical mileage (median)
- 78,552 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 418
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Shock Absorber
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 418 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 77% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW 418 is most common
Across all 418 model years on record (2014–2017): 1,593 BMW 418 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 3,415 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 83 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) | 83 | 89.8% |
| 2 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 39 | 88.3% |
| 3 | Leicester (LE) | 39 | 81.6% |
| 4 | Manchester (M) | 38 | 85.5% |
| 5 | Sheffield (S) | 34 | 88.0% |
| 6 | Glasgow (G) | 34 | 88.0% |
| 7 | Nottingham (NG) | 34 | 89.2% |
| 8 | London (E) | 34 | 87.1% |
| 9 | Bristol (BS) | 31 | 81.4% |
| 10 | Coventry (CV) | 31 | 89.9% |
| 11 | Doncaster (DN) | 29 | 94.0% |
| 12 | Cardiff (CF) | 28 | 84.7% |
| 13 | Luton (LU) | 28 | 90.2% |
| 14 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 26 | 82.1% |
| 15 | Romford (RM) | 26 | 89.1% |
| 16 | Derby (DE) | 26 | 90.7% |
| 17 | Northampton (NN) | 25 | 85.2% |
| 18 | Preston (PR) | 25 | 89.8% |
| 19 | Peterborough (PE) | 24 | 88.2% |
| 20 | Bradford (BD) | 23 | 86.0% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 418 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 418
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 72 | 87.5% |
| North West | 42 | 88.1% |
| West Midlands | 42 | 92.9% |
| Yorkshire | 32 | 87.5% |
| London | 32 | 90.6% |
| Scotland | 29 | 75.9% |
| East of England | 29 | 89.7% |
| East Midlands | 29 | 93.1% |
| North East | 23 | 87.0% |
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 2017 418
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 2017 418
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 shock absorbers 2.3% 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.
-
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.
-
Check the brakes 1.4% 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.
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 2017 418 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £31–£76 — and 33% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £31–£76
- 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
- 33%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 352 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 418, side by side
4 model years on record, from 2014 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.5% to 88.4% — a spread of 4.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2014 83.5% linkage ball joint dust cover…
- 2015 84.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 86.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 88.4%shock absorbers has a serious…
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 2017 BMW 418 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 2017 cars with a similar record
- Skoda Citigo 88.4%
- Volvo S90 88.4%
- Ford C-Max 88.5%
- Volkswagen Up 88.3%
- Mercedes-Benz Glc 88.3%
- Peugeot 108 88.6%
Closest pass rates among 2017 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 2017 BMW 418 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 328 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 94 | 28.60% | 20.89% | +7.71 |
| Tyres | 94 | 28.60% | 19.76% | +8.84 |
| Suspension | 39 | 11.90% | 20.98% | −9.08 |
| Non-component advisories | 32 | 9.70% | 4.18% | +5.52 |
| Visibility | 23 | 7.00% | 4.97% | +2.03 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 19 | 5.80% | 12.21% | −6.41 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 18 | 5.50% | 5.52% | −0.02 |
| Road Wheels | 5 | 1.50% | 0.75% | +0.75 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 2 | 0.60% | 5.57% | −4.97 |
| Steering | 2 | 0.60% | 2.57% | −1.97 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £30–75 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.0% | £80–200 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.4% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 1.4% | £5–15 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Rectified | 1.1% | £5–15 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 0.85% | £30–80 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.85% | £5–25 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.85% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.85% | £8–22 |
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 | 15.6% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 11.1% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.7% | £45–110 |
| Non-component advisories Play in steering rack inner joint(s) Non-component advisories | Advisory | 4.3% | £120–300 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 4.0% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.1% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 13 | 92.3% | 23,742 mi |
| 30-60k | 81 | 90.1% | 48,005 mi |
| 60-90k | 134 | 89.6% | 75,046 mi |
| 90-120k | 88 | 85.2% | 104,786 mi |
| 120k+ | 36 | 86.1% | 133,872 mi |
Source: 352 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.
2017 418 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2017 BMW 418?
88.4% of the 352 2017 BMW 418 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 86.0% for cars first used in 2017. First-attempt pass rate: 87.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2017 BMW 418?
The three most recorded items are shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (2.27%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.99%), brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick (1.42%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2017 BMW 418 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 92.3% of the time, falling to 86.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2017 BMW 418 in this dataset had covered 78,552 mi.
Does the season affect the 2017 BMW 418 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.1% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.