Pass rate
86.8%
Above average — 9.6 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 152 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £54–£195
2012 BMW M6 MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 53,895 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
31.1% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2017 93.5% pass
- Avoid 2012 86.8% pass · this year
Across the 12 years on record, a spread of 6.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 85.5%
- Typical mileage
- 54k mi
The 2012 BMW M6 MOT pass rate is 86.8% of its MOT tests — 9.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 31.1% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Emissions & leaks: 3.6× the national share
Emissions & leaks make up 20.0% of everything recorded on the 2012 BMW M6, against 5.5% nationally — 14.5 points above. Tyres are still the single largest share at 31.1%, 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.
- 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 77.2% and this one manages 86.8% — 9.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- 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.
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 M6? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 BMW M6 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 9.6 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 85.5%. The median 2012 BMW M6 in this dataset had covered 53,895 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 88.7% of the time, April–September 85.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits", noted on 3.29% of tests.
- 152 recorded tests behind this page.
- 86.8% overall pass rate, 85.5% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW M6, the average is 89.9% — best year 2017 (93.5%), worst 2012 (86.8%).
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
- 152
- Typical mileage (median)
- 53,895 mi
- Make and model
- BMW M6
- 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 M6 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 76% so small gaps stay visible.
Where the BMW M6 is most common
Across all M6 model years on record (2005–2018): 2,264 BMW M6 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 4,150 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 71 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) | 71 | 92.9% |
| 2 | Slough (SL) | 58 | 93.2% |
| 3 | Reading (RG) | 56 | 81.5% |
| 4 | Guildford (GU) | 55 | 85.3% |
| 5 | Peterborough (PE) | 50 | 90.3% |
| 6 | High Wycombe (HP) | 47 | 92.3% |
| 7 | London (NW) | 46 | 98.8% |
| 8 | Ashford (TN) | 45 | 91.7% |
| 9 | Coventry (CV) | 44 | 91.0% |
| 10 | Romford (RM) | 43 | 88.4% |
| 11 | London (N) | 41 | 95.5% |
| 12 | London (E) | 38 | 96.5% |
| 13 | Milton Keynes (MK) | 38 | 96.5% |
| 14 | Hayes (UB) | 38 | 98.2% |
| 15 | Crawley (RH) | 37 | 79.7% |
| 16 | Hounslow (TW) | 37 | 96.9% |
| 17 | Sheffield (S) | 35 | 95.2% |
| 18 | Cardiff (CF) | 32 | 87.1% |
| 19 | Dartford (DA) | 32 | 93.1% |
| 20 | Leicester (LE) | 32 | 92.7% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW M6 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 M6
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 47 | 87.2% |
| London | 20 | 90.0% |
| East of England | 16 | 87.5% |
| South West | 15 | 93.3% |
| West Midlands | 15 | 100.0% |
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 2012 M6
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 2012 M6
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 3.3% of tests
“catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's 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 3.3% 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 1.3% of tests
“headlamp aim too high”
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 2012 M6 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £54–£195 — and 0% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £54–£195
- Cheapest common item: coil spring fractured or broken
- £25–£65
- Dearest common item: catalytic converter missing where one was…
- £120–£400
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 30%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 0%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 152 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 M6, side by side
12 model years on record, from 2005 to 2018. Across them the pass rate runs from 86.8% to 93.5% — a spread of 6.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 88.3% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2006 87.2% rigid brake pipes excessively…
- 2007 90.9% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2008 91.9% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2009 90.5% ball joint dust cover no longer…
- 2012 86.8%catalyst emissions carbon…
- 2013 87.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 91.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 90.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2016 89.2% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2017 93.5% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2018 92.9% has a cut in excess of the…
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 2012 BMW M6 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 2012 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2012 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 2012 BMW M6 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 90 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 | 28 | 31.10% | 19.76% | +11.34 |
| Brakes | 22 | 24.40% | 20.89% | +3.51 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 18 | 20.00% | 5.52% | +14.48 |
| Suspension | 9 | 10.00% | 20.98% | −10.98 |
| Non-component advisories | 4 | 4.40% | 4.18% | +0.22 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3 | 3.30% | 12.21% | −8.91 |
| Visibility | 2 | 2.20% | 4.97% | −2.77 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 2 | 2.20% | 1.76% | +0.44 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 1 | 1.10% | 5.57% | −4.47 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 1 | 1.10% | 0.82% | +0.28 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 3.3% | £60–250 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.3% | £25–65 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.6% | £60–250 |
| Catalyst emissions Lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 1.3% | £60–250 |
| Headlamp aim too high Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Rectified | 1.3% | £30–80 |
| Brake discs fractured Brakes | Major | 0.66% | £45–110 |
| Catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds default limits Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.66% | £60–250 |
| Catalytic converter missing where one was fitted as standard Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.66% | £120–400 |
| Catalytic converter obviously modified Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 0.66% | £120–400 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 0.66% | £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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.6% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 5.9% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 4.0% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 3.3% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 3.3% | £45–95 |
| Non-component advisories Nail in tyre Non-component advisories | Advisory | 2.6% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 25 | 84.0% | 23,553 mi |
| 30-60k | 81 | 86.4% | 50,089 mi |
| 60-90k | 44 | 88.6% | 68,513 mi |
| 90-120k | 2 | 100.0% | 103,301 mi |
Source: 152 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.
2012 M6 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 BMW M6?
86.8% of the 152 2012 BMW M6 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 85.5%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 BMW M6?
The three most recorded items are catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (3.29%), coil spring fractured or broken (3.29%), catalyst emissions carbon monoxide content at idle exceeds manufacturer's specified limits (2.63%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 BMW M6 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 84.0% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 BMW M6 in this dataset had covered 53,895 mi.
Does the season affect the 2012 BMW M6 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 88.7% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 85.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.