Pass rate
84.4%
Around average — 10.4 pts ahead of the 74.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 179 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£101
2009 BMW 6 Series MOT pass rate
- 2009
- typical 106,836 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
24.9% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2019 91.2% pass
- Avoid 2006 80.0% pass
Across the 14 years on record, a spread of 11.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 82.1%
- Typical mileage
- 107k mi
The 2009 BMW 6 Series MOT pass rate is 84.4% of its MOT tests — 10.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 6 Series does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.0× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 11.2% of everything recorded on the 2009 BMW 6 Series, against 5.5% nationally — 5.7 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 24.9%, 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.
- 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 74.0% and this one manages 84.4% — 10.4 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 6% 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 6 Series? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2009 BMW 6 Series compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 74.0%, 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 82.1%. The median 2009 BMW 6 Series in this dataset had covered 106,836 mi.
64% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 81.7% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 82.7% of the time, April–September 87.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 5.59% of tests.
- 179 recorded tests behind this page.
- 84.4% overall pass rate, 82.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 6 Series, the average is 87.8% — best year 2019 (91.2%), worst 2006 (80.0%).
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
- 179
- Typical mileage (median)
- 106,836 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 6 Series
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
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 6 Series MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 71% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (64% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 6 Series
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 50 | 84.0% |
| London | 21 | 90.5% |
| South West | 20 | 85.0% |
| East Midlands | 18 | 94.4% |
| Yorkshire | 16 | 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 2009 6 Series
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 2009 6 Series
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 5.6% 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 suspension joints 2.2% of tests
“linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt”
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 coil springs 1.7% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
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 2009 6 Series through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£101 — and 6% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £41–£101
- Cheapest common item: headlamp not working on dipped beam
- £5–£25
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 6%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 179 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 6 Series, side by side
14 model years on record, from 2005 to 2020. Across them the pass rate runs from 80.0% to 91.2% — a spread of 11.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 83.5% position lamp not working
- 2006 80.0% position lamp not working
- 2007 81.6% position lamp not working
- 2008 80.8% ball joint excessively worn
- 2009 84.4%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 83.1% track rod end ball joint has…
- 2011 83.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 84.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 83.2% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 85.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 87.5% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2018 90.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 91.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 90.7% 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 2009 BMW 6 Series 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 2009 cars with a similar record
- Jaguar Xk 83.8%
- Lexus IS250 83.7%
- Lexus RX450H 83.6%
- Jaguar Xkr 83.2%
- Toyota Iq 82.9%
- Lexus RX400H 82.9%
Closest pass rates among 2009 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 2009 BMW 6 Series 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 233 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 | 58 | 24.90% | 20.98% | +3.92 |
| Tyres | 52 | 22.30% | 19.76% | +2.54 |
| Brakes | 45 | 19.30% | 20.89% | −1.59 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 26 | 11.20% | 5.52% | +5.68 |
| Visibility | 17 | 7.30% | 4.97% | +2.33 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 15 | 6.40% | 12.21% | −5.81 |
| Non-component advisories | 10 | 4.30% | 4.18% | +0.12 |
| Steering | 5 | 2.10% | 2.57% | −0.47 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 4 | 1.70% | 1.76% | −0.06 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 0.40% | 5.57% | −5.17 |
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 | 5.6% | £80–200 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.7% | £25–65 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.1% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Major | 1.1% | £18–45 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp not working on dipped beam Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.1% | £5–25 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.1% | £18–45 |
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 | 17.3% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 12.3% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 12.3% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.9% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 5.0% | £18–45 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 3.9% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 4 | 100.0% | 25,591 mi |
| 30-60k | 8 | 100.0% | 46,586 mi |
| 60-90k | 41 | 90.2% | 72,797 mi |
| 90-120k | 68 | 79.4% | 105,301 mi |
| 120k+ | 58 | 82.8% | 143,320 mi |
Source: 179 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.
2009 6 Series MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2009 BMW 6 Series?
84.4% of the 179 2009 BMW 6 Series tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.0% for cars first used in 2009. First-attempt pass rate: 82.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2009 BMW 6 Series?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (5.59%), linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.23%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (1.68%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2009 BMW 6 Series MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 82.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2009 BMW 6 Series in this dataset had covered 106,836 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2009 BMW 6 Series?
Diesel: 81.7% pass rate across 115 tests. Petrol: 89.1% pass rate across 64 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2009 BMW 6 Series MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 82.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.