Pass rate
74.7%
Below average — 2.1 pts ahead of the 72.6% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 2,396 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£109
2003 BMW 525 MOT pass rate
- 2003
- typical 135,927 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
21.4% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Part only £35–£75 for Suspension pin or bush excessively worn. What fitting it takes →
2.9 pts down across model years — 4.1% in 2001, 1.2% in 2014.
Which year to buy
- Best 2015 87.7% pass
- Avoid 2000 73.4% pass
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 14.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 68.8%
- Typical mileage
- 136k mi
The 2003 BMW 525 MOT pass rate is 74.7% of its MOT tests — 2.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.4% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 1.9× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 10.6% of everything recorded on the 2003 BMW 525, against 5.5% nationally — 5.1 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 21.4%, but at 21.0% nationally that one is ordinary. A smoky diesel or a leaking joint fails on emissions more often than on wear, so ask for a recent emissions printout.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 23% 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 525? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2003 BMW 525 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.6%, so this figure is 2.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 68.8%. The median 2003 BMW 525 in this dataset had covered 135,927 mi.
55% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 76.2% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.7% of the time, April–September 74.8%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 4.92% of tests.
- 2,396 recorded tests behind this page.
- 74.7% overall pass rate, 68.8% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 525, the average is 79.8% — best year 2015 (87.7%), worst 2000 (73.4%).
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
- 2,396
- Typical mileage (median)
- 135,927 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 525
- 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 525 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 64% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (55% of tests).
Where the BMW 525 is most common
Across all 525 model years on record (2000–2017): 20,940 BMW 525 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 46,356 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 902 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) | 902 | 87.8% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 550 | 81.5% |
| 3 | Coventry (CV) | 387 | 80.4% |
| 4 | Leicester (LE) | 382 | 82.2% |
| 5 | Northampton (NN) | 376 | 80.9% |
| 6 | Sheffield (S) | 349 | 82.4% |
| 7 | Reading (RG) | 346 | 78.2% |
| 8 | Manchester (M) | 335 | 79.4% |
| 9 | London (E) | 333 | 91.3% |
| 10 | Nottingham (NG) | 323 | 78.4% |
| 11 | Slough (SL) | 316 | 87.6% |
| 12 | Bristol (BS) | 302 | 73.9% |
| 13 | Doncaster (DN) | 295 | 80.5% |
| 14 | Romford (RM) | 293 | 90.3% |
| 15 | Luton (LU) | 290 | 87.9% |
| 16 | London (N) | 287 | 87.3% |
| 17 | Guildford (GU) | 285 | 75.6% |
| 18 | Ipswich (IP) | 280 | 74.0% |
| 19 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 275 | 79.9% |
| 20 | Southampton (SO) | 273 | 75.0% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 525 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 525
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 733 | 75.0% |
| South West | 270 | 65.6% |
| East of England | 260 | 73.1% |
| North West | 222 | 75.2% |
| London | 216 | 85.6% |
| West Midlands | 210 | 77.6% |
| Yorkshire | 140 | 73.6% |
| Scotland | 118 | 72.0% |
| East Midlands | 101 | 72.3% |
| Wales | 85 | 75.3% |
| North East | 41 | 82.9% |
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 2003 525
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 2003 525
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 4.9% 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 4.2% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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 suspension joints 4.1% of tests
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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 2003 525 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£109 — and 23% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £41–£109
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: steering rack gaiter missing or no longer…
- £120–£300
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 23%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 2,396 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 525, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2000 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 73.4% to 87.7% — a spread of 14.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 73.4% headlamp aim too low
- 2001 75.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2002 76.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2003 74.7%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2004 75.7% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 77.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 78.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 79.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 80.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 80.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 82.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 83.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 81.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 84.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 85.5% 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 2003 BMW 525 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 2003 cars with a similar record
- Toyota Land Cruiser 74.7%
- Saab 9-3 74.6%
- Audi A6 74.5%
- Jaguar S-Type 74.3%
- Audi A4 74.1%
- Vauxhall Agila 74.1%
Closest pass rates among 2003 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 2003 BMW 525 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 6,685 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 | 1,462 | 21.40% | 20.98% | +0.42 |
| Brakes | 1,385 | 20.30% | 20.89% | −0.59 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 893 | 13.10% | 12.21% | +0.89 |
| Tyres | 799 | 11.70% | 19.76% | −8.06 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 726 | 10.60% | 5.52% | +5.08 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 360 | 5.30% | 5.57% | −0.27 |
| Non-component advisories | 344 | 5.00% | 4.18% | +0.82 |
| Visibility | 321 | 4.70% | 4.97% | −0.27 |
| Steering | 269 | 3.90% | 2.57% | +1.33 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 126 | 1.80% | 1.76% | +0.04 |
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 | 4.9% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.2% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.1% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.9% | £5–25 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.7% | £45–110 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.6% | £40–150 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.8% | £18–45 |
| Steering rack gaiter missing or no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Steering | Major | 2.8% | £120–300 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.5% | £18–45 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.3% | £80–180 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 21.7% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 18.2% | £80–180 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.6% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.9% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.8% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.6% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 8 | 75.0% | 20,370 mi |
| 30-60k | 71 | 93.0% | 46,895 mi |
| 60-90k | 261 | 80.5% | 77,161 mi |
| 90-120k | 470 | 77.2% | 105,384 mi |
| 120k+ | 1,521 | 72.6% | 168,146 mi |
Source: 2,396 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.
2003 525 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2003 BMW 525?
74.7% of the 2,396 2003 BMW 525 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.6% for cars first used in 2003. First-attempt pass rate: 68.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2003 BMW 525?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.92%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (4.22%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (4.13%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2003 BMW 525 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 75.0% of the time, falling to 72.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2003 BMW 525 in this dataset had covered 135,927 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2003 BMW 525?
Petrol: 76.2% pass rate across 1,317 tests. Diesel: 72.8% pass rate across 1,071 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2003 BMW 525 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 74.8%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.