Pass rate
80.6%
Around average — 8.2 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 129 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £37–£99
2005 BMW 7 Series MOT pass rate
- 2005
- typical 129,299 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
21.2% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 95.5% pass
- Avoid 2005 80.6% pass · this year
Across the 18 years on record, a spread of 14.9 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 78.2%
- Typical mileage
- 129k mi
The 2005 BMW 7 Series MOT pass rate is 80.6% of its MOT tests — 8.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 21.2% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW 7 Series does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 2.3× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 12.5% of everything recorded on the 2005 BMW 7 Series, against 5.5% nationally — 7.0 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 21.2%, 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 72.4% and this one manages 80.6% — 8.2 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 7 Series? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2005 BMW 7 Series compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 8.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 78.2%. The median 2005 BMW 7 Series in this dataset had covered 129,299 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 74% of tests, with a 77.9% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 81.3% of the time, April–September 80.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 10.85% of tests.
- 129 recorded tests behind this page.
- 80.6% overall pass rate, 78.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 7 Series, the average is 90.4% — best year 2022 (95.5%), worst 2005 (80.6%).
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
- 129
- Typical mileage (median)
- 129,299 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 7 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 7 Series 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. Diesel is the most common here (74% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 7 Series
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 38 | 84.2% |
| East Midlands | 16 | 75.0% |
| London | 15 | 93.3% |
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 2005 7 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 2005 7 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 10.8% 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 3.9% 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.
-
Check the lights 3.9% of tests
“srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault”
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 2005 7 Series through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£99 — and 24% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £37–£99
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 24%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 129 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 7 Series, side by side
18 model years on record, from 2005 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 80.6% to 95.5% — a spread of 14.9 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 80.6%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 85.0% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2007 86.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 81.3% position lamp not working
- 2009 83.5% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2010 87.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 83.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 85.9% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 84.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 87.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 81.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 91.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 91.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 92.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 93.4% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2020 93.6% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 93.5% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 95.5% 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 2005 BMW 7 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 2005 cars with a similar record
- Toyota Alphard 80.4%
- Subaru Impreza 80.8%
- Lexus IS250 80.2%
- Mercedes-Benz Cls 79.9%
- Lexus GS300 79.8%
- Jaguar Xj 79.6%
Closest pass rates among 2005 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 2005 BMW 7 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 328 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 | 71 | 21.20% | 20.89% | +0.31 |
| Suspension | 67 | 20.00% | 20.98% | −0.98 |
| Tyres | 57 | 17.00% | 19.76% | −2.76 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 42 | 12.50% | 5.52% | +6.98 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 34 | 10.10% | 12.21% | −2.11 |
| Visibility | 22 | 6.60% | 4.97% | +1.63 |
| Non-component advisories | 15 | 4.50% | 4.18% | +0.32 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 8 | 2.40% | 5.57% | −3.17 |
| Steering | 7 | 2.10% | 2.57% | −0.47 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5 | 1.50% | 0.82% | +0.68 |
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 | 10.8% | £80–200 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 3.9% | £18–45 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 3.9% | £18–45 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 3.9% | £3–12 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.1% | £5–25 |
| Linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 3.1% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.3% | £25–65 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.3% | £30–80 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 2.3% | £80–250 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.3% | £5–25 |
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 | 24.0% | £45–95 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 20.2% | £200–700 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 18.6% | £40–150 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 13.9% | £80–180 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Advisory | 11.6% | £25–70 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.5% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 3 | 100.0% | 18,941 mi |
| 30-60k | 1 | 100.0% | 30,640 mi |
| 60-90k | 14 | 78.6% | 71,194 mi |
| 90-120k | 39 | 82.1% | 106,749 mi |
| 120k+ | 72 | 79.2% | 157,471 mi |
Source: 129 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.
2005 7 Series MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 BMW 7 Series?
80.6% of the 129 2005 BMW 7 Series tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 78.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 BMW 7 Series?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (10.85%), ball joint excessively worn (3.88%), linkage ball joint dust cover ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (3.88%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 BMW 7 Series MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 79.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 BMW 7 Series in this dataset had covered 129,299 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2005 BMW 7 Series?
Diesel: 77.9% pass rate across 95 tests. Petrol: 88.2% pass rate across 34 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2005 BMW 7 Series MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 81.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 80.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.