Pass rate
85.1%
Above average — 7.9 pts ahead of the 77.2% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 6,437 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £33–£80
2012 BMW Z4 MOT pass rate
- 2012
- typical 62,342 mi
Check your postcode
Most common fault
Tyres
34.5% of faults · 19.8% nationally
mostly tread below the limit, cuts and sidewall bulges.
Which year to buy
- Best 2023 100.0% pass
- Avoid 2005 75.5% pass
Across the 20 years on record, a spread of 24.5 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 82.7%
- Typical mileage
- 62k mi
The 2012 BMW Z4 MOT pass rate is 85.1% of its MOT tests — 7.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Tyres is the biggest single reason it fails, at 34.5% of what testers record.
Expert verdict
Tyres: 1.7× the national share
Tyres make up 34.5% of everything recorded on the 2012 BMW Z4, against 19.8% nationally — 14.7 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.
- 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 85.1% — 7.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 35% 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 Z4? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2012 BMW Z4 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 77.2%, so this figure is 7.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 82.7%. The median 2012 BMW Z4 in this dataset had covered 62,342 mi.
100% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 85.0% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 84.6% of the time, April–September 85.5%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 2.17% of tests.
- 6,437 recorded tests behind this page.
- 85.1% overall pass rate, 82.7% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the BMW Z4, the average is 83.2% — best year 2023 (100.0%), worst 2005 (75.5%).
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
- 6,437
- Typical mileage (median)
- 62,342 mi
- Make and model
- BMW Z4
- Updated
- 2026-11-07
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 Z4 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 73% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (100% of tests).
Where the BMW Z4 is most common
Across all Z4 model years on record (2003–2023): 54,485 BMW Z4 cars tested in a recordable postcode area, across 121,304 tests. Birmingham (B) has the most, with 1,477 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) | 1,477 | 85.4% |
| 2 | Sheffield (S) | 1,129 | 85.0% |
| 3 | Reading (RG) | 1,094 | 83.5% |
| 4 | Peterborough (PE) | 1,084 | 84.1% |
| 5 | Guildford (GU) | 1,054 | 83.3% |
| 6 | Nottingham (NG) | 1,031 | 82.0% |
| 7 | Leicester (LE) | 1,023 | 83.5% |
| 8 | Coventry (CV) | 1,023 | 85.6% |
| 9 | Bristol (BS) | 953 | 79.0% |
| 10 | Ashford (TN) | 858 | 81.3% |
| 11 | Chelmsford (CM) | 821 | 84.2% |
| 12 | Gloucester (GL) | 808 | 81.5% |
| 13 | Derby (DE) | 800 | 85.5% |
| 14 | Brighton (BN) | 798 | 81.0% |
| 15 | Northampton (NN) | 793 | 83.5% |
| 16 | Southampton (SO) | 784 | 82.1% |
| 17 | Cardiff (CF) | 752 | 80.8% |
| 18 | Ipswich (IP) | 746 | 82.9% |
| 19 | Crawley (RH) | 739 | 83.6% |
| 20 | Portsmouth (PO) | 737 | 81.1% |
The twenty areas with the most BMW Z4 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 Z4
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 1,380 | 84.3% |
| East of England | 740 | 87.0% |
| South West | 736 | 82.9% |
| North West | 731 | 85.1% |
| West Midlands | 643 | 87.7% |
| Yorkshire | 512 | 86.1% |
| Scotland | 495 | 83.4% |
| East Midlands | 475 | 84.4% |
| Wales | 285 | 81.8% |
| North East | 220 | 86.4% |
| London | 220 | 88.6% |
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 Z4
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 Z4
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 windscreen 2.2% 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 coil springs 1.3% 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 wipers and washers 0.9% of tests
“wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively”
Run the wipers with the screen wet: they should clear it in one sweep without smearing or juddering. Top the washer bottle up and check both jets hit the screen.
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 Z4 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £33–£80 — and 35% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £33–£80
- Cheapest common item: individual direction indicators with a…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 90%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 35%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 6,437 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 Z4, side by side
20 model years on record, from 2003 to 2023. Across them the pass rate runs from 75.5% to 100.0% — a spread of 24.5 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2003 77.5% srs malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2004 78.3% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2005 75.5% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2006 79.5% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2007 80.7% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2008 79.4% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2009 85.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2010 84.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2011 85.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 85.1%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2013 85.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 87.1% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2015 87.4% has ply or cords exposed
- 2016 86.7% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2017 86.8% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2019 91.3% has ply or cords exposed
- 2020 92.7% has ply or cords exposed
- 2021 92.5% has ply or cords exposed
- 2022 93.8% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2023 100.0% no single leading item
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 Z4 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
- Toyota GT86 84.9%
- Honda Insight 84.7%
- Honda Jazz 85.5%
- Toyota Prius 85.6%
- MINI COOPER 84.6%
- Mazda Mx-5 85.6%
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 Z4 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 5,762 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 | 2,007 | 34.50% | 19.76% | +14.74 |
| Brakes | 1,485 | 25.50% | 20.89% | +4.61 |
| Suspension | 580 | 10.00% | 20.98% | −10.98 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 557 | 9.60% | 12.21% | −2.61 |
| Visibility | 389 | 6.70% | 4.97% | +1.73 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 209 | 3.60% | 5.52% | −1.92 |
| Road Wheels | 183 | 3.10% | 0.75% | +2.35 |
| Non-component advisories | 177 | 3.00% | 4.18% | −1.18 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 110 | 1.90% | 5.57% | −3.67 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 65 | 1.10% | 1.76% | −0.66 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.2% | £80–200 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Major | 1.5% | £45–95 |
| Has ply or cords exposed Tyres | Major | 1.4% | £45–95 |
| Fractured Road Wheels | Major | 1.3% | £20–55 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 1.3% | £25–65 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 0.90% | £8–22 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.87% | £5–20 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 0.84% | £5–15 |
| Individual direction indicators with a multiple light source up to 1/2 not functioning Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 0.78% | £3–12 |
| Wipers blade defective Visibility | Minor | 0.73% | £8–22 |
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 | 12.5% | £45–95 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 10.6% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 7.8% | £45–95 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 6.2% | £18–45 |
| Tread depth tread pattern not visible over the whole tread area when minimum depth required is 1.0mm Tyres | Advisory | 2.1% | £45–95 |
| Has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords Tyres | Advisory | 2.0% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 556 | 90.5% | 22,451 mi |
| 30-60k | 2,424 | 86.7% | 46,367 mi |
| 60-90k | 2,477 | 83.7% | 73,447 mi |
| 90-120k | 829 | 81.3% | 100,768 mi |
| 120k+ | 151 | 82.1% | 135,793 mi |
Source: 6,437 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 Z4 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2012 BMW Z4?
85.1% of the 6,437 2012 BMW Z4 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 77.2% for cars first used in 2012. First-attempt pass rate: 82.7%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2012 BMW Z4?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (2.17%), has a cut in excess of the requirements deep enough to reach the ply or cords (1.52%), has ply or cords exposed (1.35%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2012 BMW Z4 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 90.5% of the time, falling to 82.1% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2012 BMW Z4 in this dataset had covered 62,342 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2012 BMW Z4?
Petrol: 85.0% pass rate across 6,416 tests. Diesel: 95.2% pass rate across 21 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2012 BMW Z4 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 84.6% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 85.5%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.