Pass rate
92.4%
Above average — 1.2 pts ahead of the 91.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 79 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£87
2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 MOT pass rate
- 2021
- typical 30,495 mi
Only 79 tests of this exact model and year are in the DVSA data, below the 100 we ask for before a page goes in the index. The figures are still shown, because they are the only ones there are.
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
80.4% 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 →
Which year to buy
- Best 2021 92.4% pass · this year
- Avoid 2022 88.1% pass
Across the 3 years on record, a spread of 4.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 91.7%
- Typical mileage
- 30k mi
The 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 MOT pass rate is 92.4% of its MOT tests — 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 80.4% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 4.1× the national share
Tyres make up 80.4% of everything recorded on the 2021 BMW I4 Edrive40, against 19.8% nationally — 60.6 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 0% 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.
- Based on a small sample. 79 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 I4 EDRIVE40? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 91.2%, so this figure is 1.2 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 91.7%. The median 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 in this dataset had covered 30,495 mi.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint excessively worn", noted on 1.27% of tests.
- 79 recorded tests behind this page.
- 92.4% overall pass rate, 91.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW I4 EDRIVE40, the average is 88.3% — best year 2021 (92.4%), worst 2022 (88.1%).
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
- 79
- Typical mileage (median)
- 30,495 mi
- Make and model
- BMW I4 EDRIVE40
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the I4 EDRIVE40 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 42% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW I4 EDRIVE40 is most common
Across all I4 EDRIVE40 model years on record (2021–2023): 4,621 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 5,397 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 167 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) | 167 | 83.4% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 119 | 86.9% |
| 3 | Newcastle upon Tyne (NE) | 103 | 91.1% |
| 4 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 103 | 92.7% |
| 5 | Sheffield (S) | 97 | 81.9% |
| 6 | Glasgow (G) | 97 | 89.9% |
| 7 | Coventry (CV) | 95 | 91.6% |
| 8 | Northampton (NN) | 86 | 89.8% |
| 9 | Guildford (GU) | 82 | 89.8% |
| 10 | Leicester (LE) | 82 | 90.2% |
| 11 | Warrington (WA) | 81 | 88.0% |
| 12 | Nottingham (NG) | 80 | 85.3% |
| 13 | Doncaster (DN) | 76 | 89.5% |
| 14 | Manchester (M) | 75 | 79.8% |
| 15 | Bristol (BS) | 74 | 93.8% |
| 16 | Stockport (SK) | 74 | 94.9% |
| 17 | High Wycombe (HP) | 73 | 93.8% |
| 18 | Chelmsford (CM) | 72 | 88.1% |
| 19 | Reading (RG) | 71 | 85.5% |
| 20 | Blackburn (BB) | 69 | 88.6% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW I4 EDRIVE40 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 I4 EDRIVE40
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 29 | 93.1% |
| 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 2021 I4 EDRIVE40
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 2021 I4 EDRIVE40
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 suspension joints 1.3% 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 tyre tread 1.3% 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 2021 I4 EDRIVE40 through its MOT
Across the 6 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£87 — and 0% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 6 common items
- £41–£87
- Cheapest common item: ball joint excessively worn
- £18–£45
- Dearest common item: has a bulge, caused by separation or partial…
- £45–£95
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 100%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 0%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 79 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 I4 EDRIVE40, side by side
3 model years on record, from 2021 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 88.1% to 92.4% — a spread of 4.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2021 92.4%ball joint excessively worn
- 2022 88.1% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 92.1% tread depth below requirements of…
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 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 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 2021 cars with a similar record
- Ford Kuga 92.4%
- SEAT Ateca Fr 92.4%
- Volkswagen Touareg V6 92.4%
- Renault Arkana 92.4%
- Volkswagen Polo 92.5%
- Audi A6 92.5%
Closest pass rates among 2021 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 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 6 failure items · 6 advisories · 4 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 46 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 | 37 | 80.40% | 19.76% | +60.64 |
| Road Wheels | 5 | 10.90% | 0.75% | +10.15 |
| Suspension | 2 | 4.30% | 20.98% | −16.68 |
| Non-component advisories | 2 | 4.30% | 4.18% | +0.12 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £18–45 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Size/type of different sizes are fitted on the same axle. Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.3% | £45–95 |
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 | 29.1% | £45–95 |
| Badly distorted Road Wheels | Advisory | 6.3% | £20–55 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 5.1% | £45–95 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.8% | £45–95 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 2.5% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Child Seat fitted not allowing full inspection of adult belt Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.5% | £20–80 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 36 | 100.0% | 22,707 mi |
| 30-60k | 35 | 85.7% | 39,197 mi |
| 60-90k | 6 | 100.0% | 69,505 mi |
| 90-120k | 2 | 50.0% | 96,812 mi |
Source: 79 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.
2021 I4 EDRIVE40 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40?
92.4% of the 79 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 91.2% for cars first used in 2021. First-attempt pass rate: 91.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40?
The three most recorded items are ball joint excessively worn (1.27%), has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure (1.27%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.27%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 50.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2021 BMW I4 EDRIVE40 in this dataset had covered 30,495 mi.