Pass rate
84.2%
Around average — 10.4 pts ahead of the 73.8% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 202 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £40–£117
2000 BMW 535 MOT pass rate
- 2000
- typical 126,478 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Brakes
21.8% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2016 89.5% pass
- Avoid 2002 80.3% pass
Across the 17 years on record, a spread of 9.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 82.2%
- Typical mileage
- 126k mi
The 2000 BMW 535 MOT pass rate is 84.2% of its MOT tests — 10.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.8% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 3.7× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 20.5% of everything recorded on the 2000 BMW 535, against 5.5% nationally — 15.0 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 21.8%, but at 20.9% 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.
- 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 73.8% and this one manages 84.2% — 10.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 17% 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 535? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2000 BMW 535 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.8%, so this figure is 10.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 82.2%. The median 2000 BMW 535 in this dataset had covered 126,478 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 83.9% of the time, April–September 84.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 4.46% of tests.
- 202 recorded tests behind this page.
- 84.2% overall pass rate, 82.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 535, the average is 85.8% — best year 2016 (89.5%), worst 2002 (80.3%).
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
- 202
- Typical mileage (median)
- 126,478 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 535
- 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 535 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 72% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW 535 is most common
Across all 535 model years on record (2000–2017): 12,690 BMW 535 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 27,000 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 479 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) | 479 | 91.3% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 304 | 88.5% |
| 3 | Reading (RG) | 277 | 84.0% |
| 4 | Coventry (CV) | 243 | 88.2% |
| 5 | Sheffield (S) | 226 | 90.2% |
| 6 | Leicester (LE) | 222 | 87.1% |
| 7 | Nottingham (NG) | 217 | 84.2% |
| 8 | Guildford (GU) | 213 | 86.7% |
| 9 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 204 | 85.7% |
| 10 | High Wycombe (HP) | 197 | 87.7% |
| 11 | Manchester (M) | 187 | 87.5% |
| 12 | Bristol (BS) | 185 | 79.4% |
| 13 | Doncaster (DN) | 179 | 88.8% |
| 14 | Slough (SL) | 178 | 89.9% |
| 15 | Derby (DE) | 177 | 86.9% |
| 16 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 176 | 89.3% |
| 17 | Northampton (NN) | 172 | 84.9% |
| 18 | Southampton (SO) | 169 | 83.2% |
| 19 | Romford (RM) | 168 | 91.4% |
| 20 | Poole (BH) | 160 | 82.0% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 535 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 535
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 67 | 82.1% |
| East of England | 36 | 83.3% |
| Yorkshire | 23 | 91.3% |
| North West | 21 | 85.7% |
| South West | 15 | 66.7% |
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 2000 535
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 2000 535
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 4.5% 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 suspension joints 3.5% 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.
-
Check the wipers and washers 2.5% of tests
“wipers blade defective”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
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 2000 535 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £40–£117 — and 17% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £40–£117
- Cheapest common item: individual direction indicators incorrect…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 50%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 17%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 202 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 535, side by side
17 model years on record, from 2000 to 2017. Across them the pass rate runs from 80.3% to 89.5% — a spread of 9.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 84.2%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2001 85.5% ball joint dust cover severely…
- 2002 80.3% headlamp aim too low
- 2004 81.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2005 81.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 82.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 82.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 82.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 82.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 82.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 86.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 87.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 87.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 88.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 89.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 89.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 88.3% 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 2000 BMW 535 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 2000 cars with a similar record
- Porsche 911 85.5%
- Subaru Impreza 82.3%
- Porsche Boxster 80.4%
- Mercedes-Benz Slk 80.3%
- Land Rover Range Rover 80.0%
- Rover Mini 79.4%
Closest pass rates among 2000 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 2000 BMW 535 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 439 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 | 97 | 21.80% | 20.89% | +0.91 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 91 | 20.50% | 5.52% | +14.98 |
| Suspension | 64 | 14.40% | 20.98% | −6.58 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 44 | 9.90% | 5.57% | +4.33 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 39 | 8.80% | 12.21% | −3.41 |
| Tyres | 30 | 6.80% | 19.76% | −12.96 |
| Visibility | 24 | 5.40% | 4.97% | +0.43 |
| Steering | 23 | 5.20% | 2.57% | +2.63 |
| Non-component advisories | 21 | 4.70% | 4.18% | +0.52 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 6 | 1.40% | 0.82% | +0.58 |
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 | 4.5% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.5% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 3.0% | £45–110 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 2.5% | £8–22 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £40–150 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.5% | £18–45 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.5% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.5% | £30–80 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.5% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 30.2% | £200–700 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 13.4% | £80–180 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 11.4% | £45–110 |
| Transmission oil leaks leaking excessively from transmission Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 6.9% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 6.9% | £45–95 |
| Integral vehicle structure condition corroded to the extent that the rigidity of the assembly is significantly reduced Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 6.4% | £180–450 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 10 | 100.0% | 46,770 mi |
| 60-90k | 28 | 82.1% | 79,390 mi |
| 90-120k | 46 | 80.4% | 103,488 mi |
| 120k+ | 102 | 85.3% | 154,692 mi |
Source: 202 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.
2000 535 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2000 BMW 535?
84.2% of the 202 2000 BMW 535 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.8% for cars first used in 2000. First-attempt pass rate: 82.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2000 BMW 535?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.46%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (3.47%), rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements (2.97%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2000 BMW 535 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 85.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2000 BMW 535 in this dataset had covered 126,478 mi.
Does the season affect the 2000 BMW 535 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 83.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 84.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.