Pass rate
80.1%
Around average — 7.6 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,128 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £30–£77
2006 BMW 630 MOT pass rate
- 2006
- typical 114,993 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
23.0% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2010 87.1% pass
- Avoid 2011 77.4% pass
Across the 7 years on record, a spread of 9.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 76.2%
- Typical mileage
- 115k mi
The 2006 BMW 630 MOT pass rate is 80.1% of its MOT tests — 7.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 23.0% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.3× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 12.5% of everything recorded on the 2006 BMW 630, against 5.5% nationally — 7.0 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 23.0%, 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 72.5% and this one manages 80.1% — 7.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 24% 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 630? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2006 BMW 630 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, so this figure is 7.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 76.2%. The median 2006 BMW 630 in this dataset had covered 114,993 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 79.9% of the time, April–September 80.3%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Position lamp not working", noted on 3.29% of tests.
- 3,128 recorded tests behind this page.
- 80.1% overall pass rate, 76.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 630, the average is 80.2% — best year 2010 (87.1%), worst 2011 (77.4%).
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
- 3,128
- Typical mileage (median)
- 114,993 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 630
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Headlight Bulb
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 630 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 70% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW 630 is most common
Across all 630 model years on record (2005–2011): 4,621 BMW 630 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 9,910 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 165 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) | 165 | 87.7% |
| 2 | London (SE) | 133 | 84.0% |
| 3 | London (N) | 131 | 86.1% |
| 4 | London (E) | 124 | 89.8% |
| 5 | Romford (RM) | 113 | 90.5% |
| 6 | London (NW) | 101 | 79.4% |
| 7 | Hayes (UB) | 93 | 88.7% |
| 8 | Ashford (TN) | 85 | 81.0% |
| 9 | Slough (SL) | 84 | 83.1% |
| 10 | Bristol (BS) | 82 | 71.6% |
| 11 | Wembley (HA) | 82 | 84.6% |
| 12 | Croydon (CR) | 81 | 88.5% |
| 13 | Coventry (CV) | 74 | 84.1% |
| 14 | Reading (RG) | 73 | 84.4% |
| 15 | Kingston upon Thames (KT) | 69 | 88.1% |
| 16 | Hounslow (TW) | 69 | 83.2% |
| 17 | Enfield (EN) | 66 | 84.7% |
| 18 | Glasgow (G) | 65 | 81.3% |
| 19 | Northampton (NN) | 64 | 77.7% |
| 20 | Peterborough (PE) | 64 | 81.2% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 630 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 630
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 775 | 82.1% |
| London | 398 | 85.7% |
| East of England | 327 | 79.2% |
| North West | 302 | 76.2% |
| South West | 296 | 71.6% |
| West Midlands | 292 | 84.2% |
| Scotland | 194 | 79.9% |
| Yorkshire | 188 | 77.1% |
| East Midlands | 135 | 84.4% |
| Wales | 121 | 75.2% |
| North East | 100 | 76.0% |
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 2006 630
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 2006 630
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 lights 3.3% of tests
“position lamp not working”
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 windscreen 3.0% 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 suspension joints 2.6% 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 2006 630 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £30–£77 — and 24% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £30–£77
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 24%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,128 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 630, side by side
7 model years on record, from 2005 to 2011. Across them the pass rate runs from 77.4% to 87.1% — a spread of 9.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 77.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 80.1%position lamp not working
- 2007 80.5% position lamp not working
- 2008 81.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 83.8% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2010 87.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 77.4% coil spring fractured or broken
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 2006 BMW 630 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 2006 cars with a similar record
- Subaru Impreza 80.2%
- Lexus RX400H 80.3%
- Lexus IS250 80.5%
- Jaguar Xj 79.2%
- Lexus IS220 79.2%
- Toyota MR2 79.2%
Closest pass rates among 2006 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 2006 BMW 630 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 6,410 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 | 1,495 | 23.00% | 20.98% | +2.02 |
| Brakes | 1,453 | 22.30% | 20.89% | +1.41 |
| Tyres | 1,018 | 15.60% | 19.76% | −4.16 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 814 | 12.50% | 5.52% | +6.98 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 773 | 11.90% | 12.21% | −0.31 |
| Visibility | 264 | 4.10% | 4.97% | −0.87 |
| Non-component advisories | 219 | 3.40% | 4.18% | −0.78 |
| Steering | 211 | 3.20% | 2.57% | +0.63 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 100 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 63 | 1.00% | 0.82% | +0.18 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 3.3% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.0% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.6% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 2.2% | £45–110 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 2.0% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.0% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.0% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 1.6% | £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 | 20.3% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 16.8% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 14.6% | £80–180 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 13.1% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.9% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.9% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 15 | 93.3% | 22,736 mi |
| 30-60k | 155 | 89.7% | 49,417 mi |
| 60-90k | 562 | 83.1% | 77,978 mi |
| 90-120k | 999 | 79.6% | 105,043 mi |
| 120k+ | 1,392 | 78.1% | 147,139 mi |
Source: 3,128 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.
2006 630 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2006 BMW 630?
80.1% of the 3,128 2006 BMW 630 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 76.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2006 BMW 630?
The three most recorded items are position lamp not working (3.29%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.97%), ball joint excessively worn (2.62%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2006 BMW 630 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.3% of the time, falling to 78.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 BMW 630 in this dataset had covered 114,993 mi.
Does the season affect the 2006 BMW 630 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 79.9% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 80.3%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.