BMW i3 reliability
MOT tests in 2025, published 22 Jun 2026. DVSA publishes a new year each summer.
86.9% of the 26,184 BMW i3 cars three years and over tested in 2025 passed their MOT first time. Cars of the same ages passed 81.7% of the time, so the i3 did better than average.
That ranks it 49 of 248 models overall and 9 of 12 BMW models. How the score works.
Against cars of the same age
Each year's pass rate against all cars first used that year. Bars past the tick did better than average for their age.
| Item | BMW i3 | All cars that year |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 88.2% | 88.5% |
| 2021 | 91.0% | 87.2% |
| 2020 | 88.7% | 86.0% |
| 2019 | 88.5% | 83.5% |
| 2018 | 88.7% | 80.9% |
| 2017 | 84.2% | 78.2% |
| 2016 | 81.8% | 74.9% |
| 2015 | 82.1% | 71.9% |
| 2014 | 79.4% | 68.6% |
Source: DVSA, tests in 2025, published 22 June 2026.
Where it fails
The share of BMW i3 cars tested with a failure in each area, against all cars. For the exact items, see the BMW i3 MOT check.
| Item | BMW i3 | All cars |
|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 5.3% | 6.2% |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 3.4% | 10.6% |
| Visibility | 2.7% | 4.3% |
| Suspension | 1.6% | 9.0% |
| Brakes | 1.0% | 6.2% |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 0.5% | 1.0% |
Source: DVSA, tests in 2025, published 22 June 2026.
Checking one car?
These figures describe groups of cars. A vehicle history report shows the full MOT history, mileage, outstanding finance, write-offs and stolen records for one registration.
Figures from the DVSA anonymised MOT testing data for MOT tests in 2025, published by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency. Analysis by Motoring Insider. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. How we work out these figures.
Every dataset we use is listed on our data sources page, with the credit lines on our attribution page.