2010 BMW Alpina MOT pass rate

Pass rate

87.2%

Above average — 12.5 pts ahead of the 74.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.

Across 321 recorded tests.

Typical repair bill £34–£91

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
85.7%
Typical mileage
112k mi

The 2010 BMW Alpina MOT pass rate is 87.2% of its MOT tests — 12.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Suspension is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.8% of what testers record.

MOT PASS RATES

The 2010 BMW Alpina on the real record

87.2% of 2010 BMW Alpina MOTs passed — 321 tests, 2023–2025

Pass rate

The answer from the DVSA's class-4 MOT records.

Check your postcode

MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW Alpina does in your corner of the country.

How one model's pass rate varies by postcode →

Expert verdict

Suspension: 1.3× the national share

Suspension accounts for 26.8% of everything recorded on the 2010 BMW Alpina, against 21.0% nationally — 5.8 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.

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 2010 BMW Alpina compare?

Cars of this age and mileage average 74.7%, so this figure is 12.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 85.7%. The median 2010 BMW Alpina in this dataset had covered 111,731 mi.

The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 78% of tests, with a 85.7% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 86.8% of the time, April–September 87.7%.

The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 3.43% of tests.

  • 321 recorded tests behind this page.
  • 87.2% overall pass rate, 85.7% 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
321
Typical mileage (median)
111,731 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

Windscreen

Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.

Does mileage affect the Alpina MOT pass rate?

0-30k 100.0%
30-60k 90.0%
60-90k 88.7%
90-120k 84.9%
120k+ 86.3%

Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 76% so small gaps stay visible.

Fuel type and reliability

Diesel 85.7%
Petrol 92.9%

Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (78% of tests).

Regional pass rates for the Alpina

Region Tests Pass rate
South East 69 87.0%
West Midlands 42 90.5%
East Midlands 39 87.2%
East of England 38 86.8%
Scotland 30 76.7%
South West 23 91.3%
Yorkshire 23 91.3%
North West 22 90.9%
North East 17 94.1%

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 2010 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.

Suspension 26.8%
+5.8 pts vs national national 21.0% Price suspension parts
Tyres 23.0%
+3.2 pts vs national national 19.8% Compare tyre prices
Brakes 20.2%
−0.7 pts vs national national 20.9% Price brakes parts
Lamps & electrics 11.1%
−1.1 pts vs national national 12.2% Order bulbs & wipers
Show the other 6 fault categories
  • Visibility 5.3%
  • Road wheels 3.5%
  • Advisories 3.3%
  • Emissions & leaks 3.0%
  • Body & chassis 2.0%
  • Identification 1.0%

Shares are of every item recorded on 2010 BMW Alpina tests — a composition, so they add to 100% across all sections, not per test.

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 2010 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.

  1. Check the windscreen 3.4% 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.

  2. Check the lights 2.5% 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.

  3. Check the shock absorbers 1.9% of tests

    “shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak”

    Press down hard on each corner of the car and let go. It should settle in one bounce; if it keeps rocking, or you can see oil weeping down a shock absorber, that is the fault a tester will find.

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 2010 Alpina through its MOT

Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £34–£91 — and 31% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.

Average repair across the 10 common items
£34–£91
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
31%

Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 321 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.

  1. 2000 85.1% registration plate lamp(s)…
  2. 2001 83.5% anti-lock braking system warning…
  3. 2002 86.8% washers not working
  4. 2003 87.9% registration plate lamp(s)…
  5. 2004 87.0% windscreen damaged but not…
  6. 2005 87.9% rbt (sp) efficiency below…
  7. 2006 87.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
  8. 2007 83.6% windscreen damaged but not…
  9. 2008 87.5% windscreen damaged but not…
  10. 2009 81.6% windscreen damaged but not…
  11. 2010 87.2%
    windscreen damaged but not…
  12. 2011 87.3% shock absorbers has a serious…
  13. 2012 89.0% windscreen damaged but not…
  14. 2013 81.9% has a cut in excess of the…
  15. 2014 84.8% tread depth below requirements of…
  16. 2015 89.2% windscreen damaged but not…
  17. 2016 88.9% has a cut in excess of the…
  18. 2017 89.4% has a cut in excess of the…
  19. 2018 87.8% has a cut in excess of the…
  20. 2019 93.7% windscreen damaged but not…
  21. 2020 90.9% has a cut in excess of the…
  22. 2021 91.4% has a cut in excess of the…
  23. 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 2010 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.

Compare 2010 with another year →

Compare two different cars instead →

Other 2010 cars with a similar record

Closest pass rates among 2010 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 2010 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 393 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 106 26.80% 20.98% +5.82
Tyres 91 23.00% 19.76% +3.24
Brakes 80 20.20% 20.89% −0.69
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 44 11.10% 12.21% −1.11
Visibility 21 5.30% 4.97% +0.33
Road Wheels 14 3.50% 0.75% +2.75
Non-component advisories 13 3.30% 4.18% −0.88
Noise, emissions and leaks 12 3.00% 5.52% −2.52
Body, chassis, structure 8 2.00% 5.57% −3.57
Identification of the vehicle 4 1.00% 1.76% −0.76

The exact failure items, in the tester's words

Share of the 321 tests on this vehicle that recorded each item
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost Part
Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility Minor 3.4% £80–200 Windscreen →
Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Minor 2.5% £5–20 Number Plate Lamp →
Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension Major 1.9% £30–75 Shock Absorber →
Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension Major 1.6% £25–65 Coil Spring →
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Major 1.6% £40–150 Suspension Component →
Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment Major 1.6% £5–25 Headlight Bulb →
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Major 1.3% £45–95 Tyres →
Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility Major 1.3% £8–22 Wiper Blade →
Ball joint excessively worn Suspension Major 0.93% £18–45 Ball Joint →
Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres Major 0.93% £45–95 Tyres →

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.

Items recorded as advisory on this vehicle
Recorded item Severity Tests Est. cost
Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres Advisory 11.2% £45–95
Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres Advisory 7.8% £45–95
Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes Advisory 7.2% £45–110
Shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak Suspension Advisory 5.9% £30–75
Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension Advisory 5.3% £40–150
Badly distorted Road Wheels Advisory 3.7% £20–55

Pass rate by mileage

Mileage Tests Pass rate Median odometer
0-30k 8 100.0% 22,754 mi
30-60k 30 90.0% 45,553 mi
60-90k 71 88.7% 74,101 mi
90-120k 73 84.9% 106,084 mi
120k+ 139 86.3% 148,357 mi

Source: 321 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.

2010 Alpina MOT questions

What is the MOT pass rate for a 2010 BMW Alpina?

87.2% of the 321 2010 BMW Alpina tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 74.7% for cars first used in 2010. First-attempt pass rate: 85.7%.

What are the most common MOT failures on a 2010 BMW Alpina?

The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (3.43%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (2.49%), shock absorbers has a serious fluid leak (1.87%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.

Does mileage affect the 2010 BMW Alpina MOT pass rate?

Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 86.3% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2010 BMW Alpina in this dataset had covered 111,731 mi.

Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2010 BMW Alpina?

Diesel: 85.7% pass rate across 251 tests. Petrol: 92.9% pass rate across 70 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.

Does the season affect the 2010 BMW Alpina MOT pass rate?

Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 86.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 87.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.