Pass rate
90.0%
Above average — 0.7 pts behind the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 110 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £41–£157
2020 BMW M2 MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 20,927 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
31.7% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2017 91.0% pass
- Avoid 2016 89.4% pass
Across the 5 years on record, a spread of 1.6 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 90.3%
- Typical mileage
- 21k mi
The 2020 BMW M2 MOT pass rate is 90.0% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 31.7% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 3.2× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 17.5% of everything recorded on the 2020 BMW M2, against 5.5% nationally — 12.0 points above. Tyres are still the single largest share at 31.7%, but at 19.8% 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.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 12% 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. 110 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 M2? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2020 BMW M2 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 0.7 points behind what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 90.3%. The median 2020 BMW M2 in this dataset had covered 20,927 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 88.7% of the time, April–September 91.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits", noted on 1.82% of tests.
- 110 recorded tests behind this page.
- 90.0% overall pass rate, 90.3% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW M2, the average is 90.3% — best year 2017 (91.0%), worst 2016 (89.4%).
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
- 110
- Typical mileage (median)
- 20,927 mi
- Make and model
- BMW M2
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Emissions Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the M2 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 81% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW M2 is most common
Across all M2 model years on record (2016–2020): 5,763 BMW M2 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 10,566 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 174 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) | 174 | 95.5% |
| 2 | Peterborough (PE) | 153 | 93.3% |
| 3 | Reading (RG) | 144 | 88.7% |
| 4 | Guildford (GU) | 139 | 90.2% |
| 5 | Chelmsford (CM) | 105 | 92.5% |
| 6 | Sheffield (S) | 102 | 89.2% |
| 7 | Crawley (RH) | 102 | 94.9% |
| 8 | Cardiff (CF) | 98 | 93.0% |
| 9 | Leicester (LE) | 97 | 93.1% |
| 10 | Coventry (CV) | 97 | 95.5% |
| 11 | Nottingham (NG) | 93 | 86.4% |
| 12 | High Wycombe (HP) | 93 | 93.4% |
| 13 | Glasgow (G) | 92 | 85.6% |
| 14 | Ashford (TN) | 87 | 94.4% |
| 15 | Bristol (BS) | 84 | 83.5% |
| 16 | Basildon (SS) | 81 | 93.7% |
| 17 | Gloucester (GL) | 79 | 89.8% |
| 18 | Derby (DE) | 79 | 93.3% |
| 19 | Edinburgh (EH) | 78 | 85.4% |
| 20 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 77 | 89.5% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW M2 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 M2
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 38 | 86.8% |
| Scotland | 27 | 96.3% |
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 2020 M2
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 2020 M2
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 exhaust and emissions 1.8% of tests
“catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits”
Listen for a blow at idle and have someone rev it gently. Then look at the tailpipe smoke: blue is oil, white when warm is coolant, black is over-fuelling. Any of those and the emissions test is the least of it.
-
Check the coil springs 1.8% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the lights 1.8% of tests
“malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction”
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 2020 M2 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £41–£157 — and 12% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £41–£157
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd…
- £60–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 40%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 12%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 110 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 M2, side by side
5 model years on record, from 2016 to 2020. Across them the pass rate runs from 89.4% to 91.0% — a spread of 1.6 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2016 89.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 91.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2018 90.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2019 90.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 90.0%catalyst emissions lambda reading…
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 2020 BMW M2 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 2020 cars with a similar record
- Land Rover Range Rover Evoque 90.0%
- Vauxhall Crossland 90.0%
- Fiat 500 Star 90.0%
- Mitsubishi L200 Barbarian X 90.0%
- Volvo S60 R-Design + 90.0%
- Vauxhall Corsa 89.9%
Closest pass rates among 2020 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 2020 BMW M2 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 9 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 63 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 | 20 | 31.70% | 19.76% | +11.94 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 11 | 17.50% | 5.52% | +11.98 |
| Brakes | 10 | 15.90% | 20.89% | −4.99 |
| Non-component advisories | 7 | 11.10% | 4.18% | +6.92 |
| Suspension | 6 | 9.50% | 20.98% | −11.48 |
| Visibility | 3 | 4.80% | 4.97% | −0.17 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3 | 4.80% | 1.76% | +3.04 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 2 | 3.20% | 12.21% | −9.01 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 1.60% | 5.57% | −3.97 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £60–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.8% | £25–65 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.8% | £3–12 |
| Registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements Identification of the vehicle | Major | 1.8% | £20–80 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 0.91% | £18–45 |
| Brake performance not tested unable to be tested Brakes | Major | 0.91% | £60–150 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.91% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.91% | £60–250 |
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 | 7.3% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 6.4% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 5.5% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 4.5% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 2.7% | £45–95 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 1.8% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 85 | 89.4% | 18,224 mi |
| 30-60k | 25 | 92.0% | 35,498 mi |
Source: 110 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.
2020 M2 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 BMW M2?
90.0% of the 110 2020 BMW M2 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 90.3%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 BMW M2?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits (1.82%), catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (1.82%), catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (1.82%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 BMW M2 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 89.4% of the time, falling to 92.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 BMW M2 in this dataset had covered 20,927 mi.
Does the season affect the 2020 BMW M2 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 88.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 91.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.