2016 BMW 318: MOT pass rate and reliability

84.4% of 2016 BMW 318s pass the MOT first time, measured across 831 DVSA tests on that model year alone. The average one had covered 73,818 miles.

How the 2016 compares

  • Against all BMW 318s (85.5%, 9,054 tests): -1.1 points
  • Against all 2016 cars (80.9%): +3.5 points
  • National first-time pass rate, all cars and years: 77%

Every BMW 318 model year

Pass rates fall as cars age, so the only fair comparison for a 2016 car is other cars of the same age. The full run for the BMW 318:

Year Pass rate Tests Avg mileage
2016 84.4% 831 73,818
2017 84.9% 2,713 69,619
2018 86.9% 2,864 57,733
2019 88.6% 1,555 52,433
2020 84.9% 524 50,761

What this means if you are buying a 2016 318

The 2016 sits close to the BMW 318 average, so there is no strong model-year signal either way. Judge the individual car on its own history. Check the exact car with the free MOT history checker before you buy, and run its VIN and mileage through our free VIN decoder and clocking check.

What a 10-year-old car fails on

A 2016 car is 10 years old now, and age drives the failure mix more than the badge does. Across all cars tested, these are the categories that actually cause failures:

  • Lights and electrical: 10.36% of all cars tested
  • Suspension: 8.65% of all cars tested
  • Tyres: 6.23% of all cars tested
  • Brakes: 6.1% of all cars tested
  • Visibility: wipers, washers, glass: 4.65% of all cars tested
  • Body, chassis and structure: 3.18% of all cars tested

That is a shade above the middle of the range, still ordinary wear rather than a red flag, but worth checking against the service book for the car's age. On a 2016 BMW 318 the average at test was 73,818 miles, so treat anything far above that as a car that has worked harder than its peers, and anything far below as one worth checking for the faults that come from standing still.

The strongest year for this model is 2019 at 88.6%, and the weakest in our data is 2016 at 84.4%. That 4.2 point spread across the model's life is why comparing a 2016 car against a newer one tells you very little.

Nearby model years

All BMW 318 MOT data · Every model