Pass rate
91.1%
Above average — 7.1 pts ahead of the 84.0% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 2,763 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £60–£155
2016 BMW 730 MOT pass rate
- 2016
- typical 79,365 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
38.7% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Part only £55–£85 for Tread depth below 1.6 mm. What fitting it takes →
2.5 pts down across model years — 7.4% in 2004, 4.9% in 2020.
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 95.2% pass
- Avoid 2006 79.0% pass
Across the 19 years on record, a spread of 16.2 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 90.4%
- Typical mileage
- 79k mi
The 2016 BMW 730 MOT pass rate is 91.1% of its MOT tests — 7.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 38.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.0× the national share
Tyres make up 38.7% of everything recorded on the 2016 BMW 730, against 19.8% nationally — 18.9 points above. Check all four tyres yourself, including the inner shoulders, and look at the date stamp — a tyre can pass on tread and still be six years old.
- 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 84.0% and this one manages 91.1% — 7.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 5% 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 730? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2016 BMW 730 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 84.0%, so this figure is 7.1 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 90.4%. The median 2016 BMW 730 in this dataset had covered 79,365 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 91.3% of the time, April–September 91.0%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 2.75% of tests.
- 2,763 recorded tests behind this page.
- 91.1% overall pass rate, 90.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW 730, the average is 87.0% — best year 2021 (95.2%), worst 2006 (79.0%).
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
- 2,763
- Typical mileage (median)
- 79,365 mi
- Make and model
- BMW 730
- 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 730 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 82% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW 730 is most common
Across all 730 model years on record (2003–2021): 15,156 BMW 730 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 30,754 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 713 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) | 713 | 91.9% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 443 | 88.3% |
| 3 | Coventry (CV) | 318 | 89.4% |
| 4 | Manchester (M) | 301 | 89.6% |
| 5 | Romford (RM) | 301 | 93.7% |
| 6 | Sheffield (S) | 299 | 87.2% |
| 7 | London (E) | 298 | 96.1% |
| 8 | Leicester (LE) | 292 | 89.5% |
| 9 | Northampton (NN) | 282 | 90.0% |
| 10 | Glasgow (G) | 281 | 87.2% |
| 11 | Luton (LU) | 256 | 92.6% |
| 12 | Doncaster (DN) | 249 | 87.2% |
| 13 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 244 | 84.8% |
| 14 | London (NW) | 240 | 93.9% |
| 15 | Wembley (HA) | 236 | 93.5% |
| 16 | Ilford (IG) | 235 | 93.4% |
| 17 | London (N) | 233 | 98.1% |
| 18 | Nottingham (NG) | 230 | 86.7% |
| 19 | Reading (RG) | 219 | 86.8% |
| 20 | Ipswich (IP) | 213 | 84.8% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW 730 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 730
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 668 | 92.1% |
| East of England | 363 | 88.7% |
| London | 340 | 95.3% |
| North West | 290 | 91.4% |
| West Midlands | 290 | 92.4% |
| Yorkshire | 206 | 90.8% |
| Scotland | 165 | 86.7% |
| East Midlands | 163 | 90.2% |
| South West | 116 | 86.2% |
| North East | 97 | 92.8% |
| Wales | 65 | 87.7% |
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 2016 730
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 2016 730
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 2.8% 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 tyre pressures and valves 0.8% of tests
“tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative”
Set the pressures to the figures on the door pillar, not the tyre wall, and check the valves do not hiss. A leaking valve is a two-minute fix that fails a test.
-
Check the tyre tread 0.6% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
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 2016 730 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £60–£155 — and 5% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £60–£155
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £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
- 5%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 2,763 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 730, side by side
19 model years on record, from 2003 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 79.0% to 95.2% — a spread of 16.2 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 82.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2004 81.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 80.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2006 79.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2007 82.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 80.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 85.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 86.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 84.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 85.4% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2014 86.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 91.1%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 91.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 92.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 93.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 93.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2021 95.2% 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 2016 BMW 730 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 2016 cars with a similar record
- MINI Paceman 90.9%
- Toyota Prius 91.4%
- Porsche Macan 91.4%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 91.4%
- Honda Cr-V 90.7%
- Mazda Mx-5 90.7%
Closest pass rates among 2016 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 2016 BMW 730 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 1,557 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 606 | 38.70% | 19.76% | +18.94 |
| Brakes | 292 | 18.70% | 20.89% | −2.19 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 128 | 8.20% | 5.57% | +2.63 |
| Visibility | 124 | 7.90% | 4.97% | +2.93 |
| Suspension | 109 | 7.00% | 20.98% | −13.98 |
| Non-component advisories | 94 | 6.00% | 4.18% | +1.82 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 76 | 4.90% | 12.21% | −7.31 |
| Road Wheels | 47 | 3.00% | 0.75% | +2.25 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 42 | 2.70% | 5.52% | −2.82 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 39 | 2.50% | 1.76% | +0.74 |
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 | 2.8% | £80–200 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 1.6% | £80–250 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.1% | £45–95 |
| Tyre pressure monitoring system malfunctioning or obviously inoperative Tyres | Major | 0.83% | £45–95 |
| Joints constant velocity boot split or insecure, no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Body, chassis, structure | Major | 0.80% | £80–250 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.69% | £45–95 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.62% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 0.58% | £45–95 |
| Fixing missing Road Wheels | Major | 0.51% | £20–55 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.47% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 12.2% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 3.9% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 3.2% | £45–110 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.2% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 2.1% | £40–150 |
| Flexible couplings excessively deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 1.7% | £80–250 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 74 | 95.9% | 23,931 mi |
| 30-60k | 659 | 91.2% | 48,201 mi |
| 60-90k | 984 | 90.7% | 74,954 mi |
| 90-120k | 642 | 91.4% | 102,591 mi |
| 120k+ | 389 | 91.8% | 156,983 mi |
Source: 2,763 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.
2016 730 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2016 BMW 730?
91.1% of the 2,763 2016 BMW 730 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 84.0% for cars first used in 2016. First-attempt pass rate: 90.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2016 BMW 730?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.75%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (1.59%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.12%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2016 BMW 730 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 95.9% of the time, falling to 91.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2016 BMW 730 in this dataset had covered 79,365 mi.
Does the season affect the 2016 BMW 730 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 91.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 91.0%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.