Pass rate
87.5%
Above average — 15.0 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 224 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £26–£68
2006 BMW Alpina MOT pass rate
- 2006
- typical 128,000 mi
Most common fault
Suspension
26.7% of faults · 21.0% nationally
mostly worn arm bushes, split ball-joint boots and broken coil springs.
Which year to buy
- Best 2022 98.2% pass
- Avoid 2009 81.6% pass
Across the 23 years on record, a spread of 16.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 86.3%
- Typical mileage
- 128k mi
The 2006 BMW Alpina MOT pass rate is 87.5% of its MOT tests — 15.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW Alpina does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Suspension: 1.3× the national share
Suspension accounts for 26.7% of everything recorded on the 2006 BMW Alpina, against 21.0% nationally — 5.7 points above. Ask for the front and rear suspension to be checked on a ramp before you buy — worn bushes and broken springs are cheap to look at and expensive to discover at test time.
- 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 87.5% — 15.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 224 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
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 Alpina? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2006 BMW Alpina compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, so this figure is 15.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 86.3%. The median 2006 BMW Alpina in this dataset had covered 128,000 mi.
59% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 84.8% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 89.3% of the time, April–September 85.4%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources", noted on 4.91% of tests.
- 224 recorded tests behind this page.
- 87.5% overall pass rate, 86.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW Alpina, the average is 87.2% — best year 2022 (98.2%), worst 2009 (81.6%).
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
- 224
- Typical mileage (median)
- 128,000 mi
- Make and model
- BMW Alpina
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Number Plate Lamp
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the Alpina 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 (59% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Alpina
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 38 | 86.8% |
| West Midlands | 34 | 85.3% |
| East Midlands | 26 | 88.5% |
| East of England | 25 | 96.0% |
| North West | 24 | 83.3% |
| Yorkshire | 19 | 84.2% |
| Scotland | 18 | 94.4% |
| South West | 17 | 82.4% |
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 Alpina
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 Alpina
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 4.9% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 3.1% 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
“ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated”
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 Alpina through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £26–£68 — and 48% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £26–£68
- Cheapest common item: srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 80%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 48%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 224 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 Alpina, side by side
23 model years on record, from 2000 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 81.6% to 98.2% — a spread of 16.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 85.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2001 83.5% anti-lock braking system warning…
- 2002 86.8% washers not working
- 2003 87.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2004 87.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2005 87.9% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
- 2006 87.5%registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 83.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 87.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2009 81.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2010 87.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 87.3% shock absorbers has a serious…
- 2012 89.0% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 81.9% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2014 84.8% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2015 89.2% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 88.9% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2017 89.4% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2018 87.8% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2019 93.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 90.9% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 91.4% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2022 98.2% 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 2006 BMW Alpina 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
- Porsche 911 88.6%
- Porsche Boxster 85.8%
- Mercedes-Benz Sl 85.4%
- Bentley Continental 90.1%
- Porsche Cayman 83.8%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class 83.6%
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 Alpina 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 350 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 | 96 | 26.70% | 20.98% | +5.72 |
| Brakes | 83 | 23.10% | 20.89% | +2.21 |
| Tyres | 64 | 17.80% | 19.76% | −1.96 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 40 | 11.10% | 12.21% | −1.11 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 22 | 6.10% | 5.52% | +0.58 |
| Visibility | 12 | 3.30% | 4.97% | −1.67 |
| Non-component advisories | 12 | 3.30% | 4.18% | −0.88 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 10 | 2.80% | 5.57% | −2.77 |
| Road Wheels | 6 | 1.70% | 0.75% | +0.95 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 5 | 1.40% | 1.76% | −0.36 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 4.9% | £5–20 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 3.1% | £80–200 |
| Position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.7% | £5–25 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 2.2% | £18–45 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 1.3% | £3–12 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Major | 0.89% | £25–70 |
| Flexible brake hoses slightly damaged Brakes | Minor | 0.89% | £25–70 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 0.89% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.89% | £45–95 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 0.89% | £30–80 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 10.3% | £45–95 |
| Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened Suspension | Advisory | 9.4% | £180–450 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 9.4% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.9% | £40–150 |
| Flexible brake hoses excessively deteriorated Brakes | Advisory | 8.5% | £25–70 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 8.0% | £80–180 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 2 | 100.0% | 27,236 mi |
| 30-60k | 14 | 85.7% | 48,220 mi |
| 60-90k | 34 | 79.4% | 74,002 mi |
| 90-120k | 49 | 93.9% | 106,929 mi |
| 120k+ | 125 | 87.2% | 164,527 mi |
Source: 224 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 Alpina MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2006 BMW Alpina?
87.5% of the 224 2006 BMW Alpina tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 86.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2006 BMW Alpina?
The three most recorded items are registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (4.91%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.13%), position lamp with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning (2.68%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2006 BMW Alpina MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 87.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 BMW Alpina in this dataset had covered 128,000 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2006 BMW Alpina?
Diesel: 84.8% pass rate across 132 tests. Petrol: 91.3% pass rate across 92 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2006 BMW Alpina MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 89.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 85.4%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.