Pass rate
91.0%
Above average — 0.3 pts ahead of the 90.7% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 2,771 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £44–£101
2020 BMW M235I MOT pass rate
- 2020
- typical 26,631 mi
Most common fault
Tyres
56.9% 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 2022 92.3% pass
- Avoid 2016 83.0% pass
Across the 6 years on record, a spread of 9.3 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 90.2%
- Typical mileage
- 27k mi
The 2020 BMW M235I MOT pass rate is 91.0% of its MOT tests — about what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 56.9% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how BMW M235I does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 2.9× the national share
Tyres make up 56.9% of everything recorded on the 2020 BMW M235i, against 19.8% nationally — 37.1 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 8% 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 M235I? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2020 BMW M235I compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 90.7%, so this figure is 0.3 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 90.2%. The median 2020 BMW M235I in this dataset had covered 26,631 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 91.6% of the time, April–September 90.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords", noted on 1.77% of tests.
- 2,771 recorded tests behind this page.
- 91.0% overall pass rate, 90.2% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW M235I, the average is 91.3% — best year 2022 (92.3%), worst 2016 (83.0%).
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
- 2,771
- Typical mileage (median)
- 26,631 mi
- Make and model
- BMW M235I
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Tyres
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the M235I MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 77% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the M235I
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 499 | 89.0% |
| South East | 468 | 90.2% |
| North West | 448 | 89.7% |
| Yorkshire | 249 | 92.4% |
| East of England | 237 | 90.7% |
| West Midlands | 223 | 90.1% |
| South West | 186 | 91.4% |
| East Midlands | 169 | 94.1% |
| North East | 128 | 96.1% |
| London | 83 | 95.2% |
| Wales | 81 | 93.8% |
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 M235I
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 M235I
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 tyre tread 1.6% 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.
-
Check the windscreen 1.0% 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 number plates 0.4% of tests
“registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements”
Check both plates are present, legible and correctly spaced, with the postcode of the supplier and the BS AU 145e mark. A private plate in the wrong style is a fail before the car is even looked at.
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 M235I through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £44–£101 — and 8% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £44–£101
- Cheapest common item: wipers blade defective
- £8–£22
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 8%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 2,771 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 M235I, side by side
6 model years on record, from 2014 to 2022. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.0% to 92.3% — a spread of 9.3 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2014 85.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2015 86.1% catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2016 83.0% tread depth below requirements of…
- 2020 91.0%has a cut in excess of the…
- 2021 92.1% has a bulge, caused by separation…
- 2022 92.3% 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 2020 BMW M235I 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
- Ford Fiesta 91.0%
- Vauxhall Grandland X 91.0%
- Volkswagen Touran 91.0%
- Audi Q2 Technik 91.0%
- Volvo S90 Momentum + 91.0%
- Skoda Octavia 91.1%
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 M235I 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 1,324 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 | 755 | 56.90% | 19.76% | +37.14 |
| Brakes | 307 | 23.10% | 20.89% | +2.21 |
| Non-component advisories | 111 | 8.40% | 4.18% | +4.22 |
| Visibility | 56 | 4.20% | 4.97% | −0.77 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 25 | 1.90% | 12.21% | −10.31 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 22 | 1.70% | 1.76% | −0.06 |
| Suspension | 21 | 1.60% | 20.98% | −19.38 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 13 | 1.00% | 5.52% | −4.52 |
| Road Wheels | 8 | 0.60% | 0.75% | −0.15 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 6 | 0.50% | 5.57% | −5.07 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.8% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 1.6% | £45–95 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 1.0% | £80–200 |
| Has a bulge, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.94% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 0.76% | £45–95 |
| Registration plates does not conform to the specified requirements Identification of the vehicle | Major | 0.43% | £20–80 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Major | 0.36% | £45–95 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.32% | £8–22 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.29% | £8–22 |
| Brake pads worn down to wear indicator Brakes | Major | 0.25% | £18–45 |
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 | 8.5% | £18–45 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 3.7% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 2.7% | £45–95 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.1% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 1.9% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 1,670 | 91.9% | 20,139 mi |
| 30-60k | 1,037 | 89.8% | 39,601 mi |
| 60-90k | 62 | 85.5% | 65,932 mi |
Source: 2,771 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 M235I MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2020 BMW M235I?
91.0% of the 2,771 2020 BMW M235I tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 90.7% for cars first used in 2020. First-attempt pass rate: 90.2%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2020 BMW M235I?
The three most recorded items are has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.77%), tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (1.55%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (1.01%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2020 BMW M235I MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 91.9% of the time, falling to 85.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2020 BMW M235I in this dataset had covered 26,631 mi.
Does the season affect the 2020 BMW M235I MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 91.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 90.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.