Pass rate
81.9%
Around average — 8.8 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 1,420 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £27–£68
2008 BMW 630 MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 103,143 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Suspension
26.6% 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
- 78.8%
- Typical mileage
- 103k mi
The 2008 BMW 630 MOT pass rate is 81.9% of its MOT tests — 8.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.6% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.1× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 11.8% of everything recorded on the 2008 BMW 630, against 5.5% nationally — 6.3 points above. Suspension is still the single largest share at 26.6%, 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 73.1% and this one manages 81.9% — 8.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 18% 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 2008 BMW 630 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 8.8 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 78.8%. The median 2008 BMW 630 in this dataset had covered 103,143 mi.
98% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 81.9% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 82.3% of the time, April–September 81.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 3.31% of tests.
- 1,420 recorded tests behind this page.
- 81.9% overall pass rate, 78.8% 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
- 1,420
- Typical mileage (median)
- 103,143 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
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the 630 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 70% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (98% of tests).
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 | 400 | 81.8% |
| London | 218 | 83.5% |
| East of England | 145 | 78.6% |
| South West | 130 | 80.0% |
| North West | 120 | 82.5% |
| West Midlands | 118 | 87.3% |
| East Midlands | 92 | 80.4% |
| Yorkshire | 77 | 84.4% |
| Scotland | 59 | 76.3% |
| Wales | 34 | 82.4% |
| North East | 27 | 81.5% |
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 2008 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 2008 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 windscreen 3.3% 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 3.2% 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 lights 2.1% 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.
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 2008 630 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £27–£68 — and 18% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £27–£68
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 18%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 1,420 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 2008 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Jaguar Xk 82.0%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 81.5%
- Lexus RX400H 82.4%
- Jaguar Xkr 81.4%
- Audi Q7 81.2%
- Jaguar Xj 81.0%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 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 2,053 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 | 558 | 26.60% | 20.98% | +5.62 |
| Tyres | 436 | 20.80% | 19.76% | +1.04 |
| Brakes | 361 | 17.20% | 20.89% | −3.69 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 248 | 11.80% | 5.52% | +6.28 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 176 | 8.40% | 12.21% | −3.81 |
| Visibility | 110 | 5.30% | 4.97% | +0.33 |
| Non-component advisories | 81 | 3.90% | 4.18% | −0.28 |
| Steering | 35 | 1.70% | 2.57% | −0.87 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 25 | 1.20% | 1.76% | −0.56 |
| Road Wheels | 23 | 1.10% | 0.75% | +0.35 |
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 | 3.3% | £80–200 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.2% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.8% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.1% | £5–20 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £3–12 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.4% | £25–65 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.3% | £45–110 |
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 | 15.1% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 10.2% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 9.4% | £40–150 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 8.7% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 5.9% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 5.6% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 13 | 100.0% | 24,465 mi |
| 30-60k | 93 | 86.0% | 48,210 mi |
| 60-90k | 377 | 83.3% | 78,588 mi |
| 90-120k | 502 | 82.5% | 104,780 mi |
| 120k+ | 435 | 78.6% | 144,955 mi |
Source: 1,420 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.
2008 630 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 BMW 630?
81.9% of the 1,420 2008 BMW 630 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 78.8%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 BMW 630?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.31%), linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (3.24%), linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (3.24%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 BMW 630 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 78.6% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 BMW 630 in this dataset had covered 103,143 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2008 BMW 630?
Petrol: 81.9% pass rate across 1,390 tests. Diesel: 80.0% pass rate across 30 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2008 BMW 630 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 82.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 81.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.