MOT Risk Index.co.uk

BMW M4 — MOT statistics 2024

The BMW M4 failed 12.68% of 12,459 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 63.9 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 36% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 63.9, 95% CI 61.0–66.9 (100 = national average) 100 63.9 0 200
Index
63.9
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
12.68%
n = 12,459
Dangerous /100
8
national ≈11
Rank
157 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: Honda HR-V (index 64.4) — the two published results are 0.5 index points apart.

BMW M4 common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are well below the reference at 1.1 per 100 tests, against 5.1 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

BMW M4 common problems: what actually fails the MOT — 2024 UK MOT data

family vs national — matched to UK vehicles of the same ages — top component groups, per 100 tests. Legend: This family · National avg. Combined labels: family / national average. A gap here reflects how these vehicles are driven, used and maintained as well as how they were built — an MOT defect is a test outcome, not a breakdown.

Component-group comparison table

Each ratio carries a 95% interval. With 6 groups compared here, roughly one apparent difference in twenty is chance alone.

GroupThis familyCases behind itUK, same agesFamily / national
Tyres10.86,2037.21.51×1.48–1.55
Visibility2.81,5905.40.52×0.49–0.54
Suspension2.61,4774.10.64×0.60–0.67
Identification1.58350.35.77×5.23–6.00
Lamps & electrical1.16305.00.22×0.20–0.24
Brakes1.16284.70.24×0.22–0.25
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 57,282 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Tyre cords visible or damagedA tyre cords visible or damaged5.791.633.55×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Number plate does not conform to the specified…Number plate does not conform to the specified requirements1.240.206.17×Ask the seller about: Number plate does not conform to the specified requirements
Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged3.072.541.21×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Wheel with a loose or missing wheel nut, bolt or…A wheel with a loose or missing wheel nut, bolt or stud0.250.300.84×Ask the seller about: A wheel with a loose or missing wheel nut, bolt or stud
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view1.522.360.64×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Wiper blade defectiveWiper blade defective0.341.260.27×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Spring or spring component fractured or seriously…A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened1.712.860.60×Ask the seller about: A spring or spring component fractured or seriously weakened
Windscreen washers not working or not providing…Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen0.431.620.27×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the…Tyre tread depth not in accordance with the requirements1.563.590.43×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn0.534.870.11×Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test

Named defects ranked by how much more often they appear than the national average — not by raw rate.

BMW M4 MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 28.0 per 100 tests; Body & structure are lowest at 0.2 per 100 tests — the gap is 27.8 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

BMW M4 MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres28
Brakes7.8
Non-component advisories3.9
Emissions & leaks1.3
Suspension1.2
Body & structure0.2

Advisories are wear the tester noted but didn't fail — what will need money soon.

Tyres, brakes and suspension: BMW M4 against cars of the same age

AgePartBMW M4Same age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres84.173.83
3 yearsBrakes0.411.77-1.36
3 yearsSuspension0.440.63-0.19
4 yearsTyres7.554.543.01
4 yearsBrakes0.442.43-1.99
4 yearsSuspension1.121.21-0.09
5 yearsTyres6.925.061.86
5 yearsBrakes0.613.09-2.48
5 yearsSuspension2.222.190.03
6 yearsTyres7.145.541.60
6 yearsBrakes0.993.81-2.82
6 yearsSuspension3.213.72-0.51
7 yearsTyres6.585.950.63
7 yearsBrakes1.14.55-3.45
7 yearsSuspension3.775.68-1.91
8 yearsTyres6.536.310.22
8 yearsBrakes1.125.38-4.26
8 yearsSuspension3.937.78-3.85

Failing items per 100 initial tests, 2019-2024. The comparison group is every petrol or diesel car tested at the same age, so weight and drivetrain show up rather than fleet age.

If a car like this fails, does it fail again?

A failure rate does not say whether a failure is a one-off or the start of something. This follows the same vehicles into their next ordinary MOT a year later — retests after a repair are excluded, because they follow a failure by definition. 2019-2024.

After this year's testFails next yearVehicles followed
It failed14.6%1,245
It passed12.3%36,480

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 2.3 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is visibility — 16.9% of those vehicles fail again next year. Some of this is the vehicle and some is the owner: a car that was let go once tends to be let go again. One caveat: a car that fails may be sold or scrapped rather than tested again, so these figures describe the vehicles that came back.

Adjusted for how much these are actually driven

The headline index adjusts for the fleet's age. Wear, though, follows mileage: a three-year-old taxi and a three-year-old garage queen sit in the same age band. These two rows compare every car with vehicles of the same age, and then with vehicles of the same age and the same annual mileage, 2019-2024, on 56,752 tests. Both stand on the six-year corpus so they are measured on identical data — compare them with each other, not with the headline index above, which is measured on 2024 alone.

Standardised forIndexReading
Age only69.1fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage78.2fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year9.8%a normal spread of use

Mileage matters here: matching on how much these are driven moves the figure by 9.1 points — this fleet is driven less than the vehicles it is measured against, so the age-only view flatters it — but it does not change which side of normal the car sits on. One limit to keep in mind: mileage is partly a result of how often a car breaks down — one that spends weeks in the workshop covers fewer miles — so the mileage-matched figure can understate a real weakness. Tests with no usable odometer reading are left out of it.

How the BMW M4 compares with cars of its own age and size

Not against the whole fleet — against cars of the same size class tested at the same age, 2019-2024.

AgeBMW M4Same class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years12.19%10.76%+1.43 pp10,793
4 years11.62%12.35%-0.73 pp11,140
5 years12.53%14.18%-1.65 pp10,753
6 years13.68%16.1%-2.42 pp8,861
7 years14.25%18.27%-4.02 pp6,702
8 years13.9%20.56%-6.66 pp4,654
9 years12.1%23.12%-11.02 pp2,851
10 years13.87%25.61%-11.73 pp937

Raw first-time failure rates within each age, so fleet age cannot flatter either side. A positive difference means this model fails more often than its own class at that age.

How does the BMW M4 perform as it gets older?

The M4 at age 10 is well below the reference at 13.9%, against 30.1% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the BMW M4 perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–36%.

Takeaway: a 10-year-old M4 has roughly a 14% chance of failing its MOT.

Data table
AgeBMW M4All vehiclesGap
38.7%12.4%-3.7 pp
412.3%13.1%-0.8 pp
512.0%15.1%-3.2 pp
612.9%17.5%-4.6 pp
714.4%20.2%-5.8 pp
813.8%23.3%-9.6 pp
912.4%26.5%-14.1 pp
1013.9%30.1%-16.2 pp

Is a BMW M4 ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 BMW M4 MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 100.0%.

Based on 12,457 classifiable initial MOT tests. This describes the tested fleet, not a specific car. MOT data do not record Euro class, so likely compliance is inferred from fuel and first-registration date. For the only authoritative answer, check the registration with TfL's official ULEZ checker.

higher = larger share likely compliantinferred from fuel and first-registration date; not a recorded Euro class

Age-band estimate from classifiable initial MOT tests
Vehicle age at testLikely ULEZ-compliant shareTests
Under 3 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 90
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 3,839
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 3,970
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 1,745
9 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 1,876
10–14 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 937
15–17 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
18 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
19 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0
20+ yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 0

How dangerous are BMW M4 MOT failures?

Major defects are well below the reference at 10.4 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are BMW M4 MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor2.6514.220.19×
Major10.3952.750.20×
Dangerous8.3711.150.75×

Chart values: Minor 2.6 · Major 10.4 · Dangerous 8.4.

Per 100 tests on this family. National average: Minor 14.2 · Major 52.8 · Dangerous 11.2 per 100.

Does the month of a BMW M4 MOT matter?

Dec is highest at 13.4%; Jan is lowest at 12.2% — the gap is 1.2 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of a BMW M4 MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 11%–33%.

bars: BMW M4 · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthBMW M4All vehiclesGap
Jan12.2%31.12%-18.9 pp
Feb12.44%29.99%-17.5 pp
Mar13.02%28.26%-15.2 pp
Apr12.99%29.78%-16.8 pp
May12.23%28.79%-16.6 pp
Jun12.55%28.15%-15.6 pp
Jul12.28%29.33%-17.0 pp
Aug12.62%29.2%-16.6 pp
Sep13.11%28.19%-15.1 pp
Oct12.55%30.34%-17.8 pp
Nov12.88%30.58%-17.7 pp
Dec13.4%29.33%-15.9 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 1.2 percentage points — booking month barely matters for this family. Seasonality partly reflects registration-date clustering, not weather.

Before reading the shape: most of it is not about cars. Britain changes its registration plates twice a year, and 18.9% of these cars were first registered in March with another17.1% in September — 36% in two months against the 17% an even spread would give. An MOT falls due three years after first registration, so the buying calendar becomes the testing calendar. That shapes how many cars are tested each month — not how often they fail: the busiest months here are not the worst ones, so read the failure line on its own and the volume behind it separately.

BMW M4 average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of M4s runs from 34,625 miles to 60,305 miles, against 46,846 miles as the median.

further right = more milesmedian is the typical car; band is p25–p75

Bars: BMW M4 · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–77k mi.

Does high mileage mean more BMW M4 MOT failures at the same age?

Within the same age group, split by odometer (2024 MOTs), so this separates wear from age: at ages 6–9, 11.3% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 12.4% of those with 100,000–140,000 miles.No clear mileage gap inside this age group, among cars still being tested.

Does high mileage mean more BMW M4 MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
BMW M4: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles10.4%9.4–11.5%3,314
3–540-70k miles16.4%13.4–19.9%495 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles11.3%10.3–12.5%3,283
6–940-70k miles14.9%13.8–16.1%3,500
6–970-100k miles15.1%12.7–18%713
6–9100-140k miles12.4%7–20.8%89 (rough estimate)
10–14<40k miles5.7%3–10.5%157 (rough estimate)
10–1440-70k miles13.7%11–17%502
10–1470-100k miles19.7%15.1–25.3%233 (rough estimate)

line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75)

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
312,62418,10526,119938
415,81322,63330,5621,145
520,20728,23936,8981,756
625,37634,84545,1142,021
729,85440,17751,5421,949
834,62546,84660,3051,745
941,64253,94467,3511,876
1046,08959,61473,629937

A typical 8-year-old M4 has ~46,846 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the BMW M4 fails its MOT most

Dundee area is highest at 22.4%; London N area is lowest at 6.8% — the gap is 15.6 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BMW M4 line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75) — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Dundee (DD)22.41%+9.7 pp
Truro (TR)20.12%+7.4 pp
Aberdeen (AB)19.48%+6.8 pp
Kirkcaldy (KY)19.06%+6.4 pp
Portsmouth (PO)17.96%+5.3 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
London N (N)6.82%-5.9 pp
London E (E)7.51%-5.2 pp
Harrow (HA)7.77%-4.9 pp
Nottingham (NG)8.41%-4.3 pp
Enfield (EN)8.48%-4.2 pp

Why do areas differ?

For each external factor we correlate the area fail rate with the factor across postcode areas that have ≥800 tests of this family, then compare the bottom vs top fifth (quintile) of the factor. Correlation, not causation — factors travel together (the north is colder and often poorer; urban areas are denser and less salted). Road surface condition is joined now, for the 91 English areas the DfT publishes, and it explains nothing: the correlation with suspension failures is −0.01 and with body and structure failures 0.07. Potholes wreck wheels and tyres between tests, but by the time a car reaches the bay the road it drives on leaves no measurable trace.

In areas with the highest income deprivation this model fails 3.5 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.53, n=17 areas with ≥800 tests).

In the most coastal fifth of areas this model fails 1.0 pp more often than in the most inland fifth (r=-0.34, n=17 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest urban share this model fails 1.4 pp less often than in the lowest fifth (r=-0.32, n=17 areas with ≥800 tests).

BMW M4 Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
Income deprivation15.4%11.9%-3.5 ppr=-0.53
Distance to coast12.3%11.3%-1.0 ppr=-0.34
Urban share12.5%11.1%-1.4 ppr=-0.32

Factors that only mean something combined

Some conditions are useless on their own and informative multiplied together. Frost days alone say little — Britain barely freezes. Salt tonnage alone says little — it tracks frost. Distance to the sea alone says little. Multiply the first two and divide by the third and you get an index of how hard an area attacks a car's underside, and it lines up with the corrosion defects we actually record. We built five such combinations and tested each against our own data. Three survived; two did not, and the failures are listed here on purpose — a proxy that was never checked is decoration. One survivor only survived on the second attempt: built from a crude stand-in for street parking it failed outright, and rebuilt from the census — terraced streets carrying more cars than they have driveways — it works, and carries information the salt index does not.

Composite area indicators, each tested against a defect rate we measure
CompositeBuilt fromTested againstrVerdict
Underbody corrosionfrost days × salt load ÷ (distance to coast + 1)share of tests with a corrosion defect+0.42holds (116 areas)
Tyre wearrain days × annual miles ÷ age at first tyre advisoryshare of tests failing on tyres+0.45holds (116 areas)
Overnight corrosionterraced housing × cars per household × frost daysshare with a corrosion defect+0.41holds (102 areas) — and adds signal beyond the first index
Deferred maintenancedeprivation × advisory-to-failure conversion ÷ labour ratecars repeating the same advisory−0.26fails (118 areas)
Powertrain stressengine capacity ÷ kerb weightsuspension, brake and emissions failures−0.16fails (22 models)

The deprivation result is the one worth dwelling on. The intuition that poorer areas defer repairs is strong enough that most people treat it as established. We tested it twice — once on raw failure rates (r = 0.04) and again, more fairly, on whether an advisory turns into a failure — and it did not hold any of the three times we tried it — on raw failure rates, on advisory-to-failure conversion, and again with deprivation measured properly inside each nation rather than England alone. We are closing it. What does predict local failure rates is the density of test centres, which is a statement about testing, not about cars.

All external-factor correlations (machine-readable)
Factorrn areasLow-Q fail %High-Q fail %Gap ppLow-Q factorHigh-Q factor
Income deprivation (score)-0.5321715.411.9-3.50.10.2
Distance to coast (km)-0.3391712.311.3-1.014.896.1
Urban share (0–1)-0.3181712.511.1-1.40.50.9
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)-0.3091713.511.1-2.45.37.3
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)-0.2581712.910.6-2.3280402
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.1091012.912.1-0.80.61.8
Frost days (days/year)0.0161713.213.0-0.214.722.7

Deprivation uses England IMD 2019 income score only (Scotland SIMD is a different scale). Salt proxy is a simplified NWSRG-style dry-salt sum from air Tmin; coastalness is distance from the area centroid to the nearest coastline.

Every dot is a postcode area — size = how many were tested there, colour = share failing. These figures are not age-adjusted: coastal and rural areas often run older fleets and salted roads, so higher raw fail rates do not automatically mean a worse local stock of this model.

Map labels: Scotland · N. England · Wales · London · S. West. Colour scale: 9%–18% failing.

BMW M4 survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 10 is well below the reference at 9.1%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BMW M4 survival: which cars are still on the road — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · survival vs ages 4–6 · scale 0–105%.

Survival vs fail rate by age
AgeTestsSurvival vs ages 4–6Fail %
310,793100%12.19%
411,140100%11.62%
510,753100%12.53%
68,86186.4%13.68%
76,70265.4%14.25%
84,65445.4%13.9%
92,85127.8%12.1%
109379.1%13.87%

By age 10, only about 9% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈10,251); survivors still fail at 13.9% vs 11.6% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many years is a BMW M4 likely to last?

Bought at age 5 is highest at 2.8 years; Bought at age 10 is lowest at 0.5 years — the gap is 2.3 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—2.8
8—at least 1.3
10—at least 0.5

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has at least 0.5 expected years of further MOT-present life. The curve is observed only until age 10, so the true figure is likely higher.

BMW M4 faults that come together

Brakes + Emissions & leaks stand out at 13.84×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks3713.84× (rough estimate)
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment369.76× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks206.53× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment266.16× (rough estimate)
BrakesSuspension586.01× (rough estimate)
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle235.94× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension504.75× (rough estimate)
BrakesVisibility413.8× (rough estimate)
BrakesTyres1113.58× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility393.31× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension253.27× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleTyres1133.18× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleVisibility383.07× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsTyres223.03× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres722.94× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility252.93× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres952.81× (rough estimate)
TyresVisibility2642.66× (rough estimate)
SuspensionVisibility762.46× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSuspension242.17× (rough estimate)
SuspensionTyres1842.08× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks17too few (rough estimate)
SteeringTyres16too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks15too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSuspension15too few (rough estimate)
SteeringSuspension10too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureTyres9too few (rough estimate)
Road WheelsVisibility8too few (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres8too few (rough estimate)
BrakesRoad Wheels7too few (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels6too few (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility6too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment5too few (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels5too few (rough estimate)
BrakesSteering5too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSuspension5too few (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureVisibility5too few (rough estimate)
SteeringVisibility5too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Brakes» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 13.84× more often than chance (37 co-occurrences in the same test; 55 pairs compared).

Lift = how many times more often both groups appear on the same test than if independent. A pair is listed from 5 tests with both faults; the lift is shown from 20, and called above chance only when its 95% interval excludes 1 (see rough estimates).

Is low mileage better for a BMW M4?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 10.7%, against 16.0% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year10.66%11,044
8–12k miles/year15.97%6,944
Gap (low − normal)-5.31 pp—
By fuel and age

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
510.273,61215.852,335-5.57 pp
610.782,91316.461,835-5.68 pp
711.252,14317.231,358-5.99 pp
811.161,48815.07916-3.91 pp
99.5788813500-3.43 pp
108.3931018.9164-10.52 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 10.7% vs 16.0% for 8–12k miles/year — 5.3 pp lower (n_low=11,044, n_normal=6,944). In this family low annual use is associated with fewer MOT fails, not more — the ‘garage queen’ penalty is not visible in overall fail rates.

Best year for a BMW M4, and the years to avoid

Build year 2015 is highest at 105.2; Build year 2017 is lowest at 97.0 — the gap is 8.2 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected

BMW M4 build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
BMW M4 by build year, tests 2019–2024. Below 100 is better than the model's own age norm.
Every build year with its confidence interval
Build yearvs own age norm95% CIRaw fail %TestsVerdict
2020103.591.4–115.511.95%2,377no different
2019101.593.7–109.311.9%5,454no different
2018104.197.8–110.412.69%8,372no different
20179791.8–102.312.21%10,614no different
2016100.895.6–10613.1%11,020no different
2015105.2100.1–110.313.66%11,936worse
201499.792.8–106.613.34%5,980no different

The best build year here is 2015 and the weakest is 2015. Comparing build years sounds simple and is not: within a single year of testing, a car's build year and its age are the same number, so a naive comparison of years is a comparison of ages wearing a disguise. Each year below is measured against the same model at the same age in other cohorts, across six years of testing — 1 of 7 years come out distinguishable from their own model's age norm.

Two limits worth knowing before you act on this. Age, test year and build year are locked together by arithmetic, so the test-year effect is taken from the observed national failure level of each year rather than estimated — it is an adjustment, not a solution.

BMW M4 MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £17.59 to £33.42, against £54.85 for the test itself.

bigger number = costs morepounds per test, MOT-failing faults only

MOT repairs, budget
£18–33
per test, repairs only
The test itself
£54.85
statutory cap, unchanged since 2010
How the figure is built: chance of failing × typical price of that repair
ComponentFails per 100 testsTypical repairIts priceContribution
Tyres10.8 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£9.72
Suspension2.6 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£4.68
Brakes1.1 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£1.65
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment1.1 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£1.54

Multiply how often each component fails on this model by what that repair usually costs, and you get the amount an owner should expect to budget per test for MOT-failing faults only — roughly £18 to £33, on top of the test fee itself. It is a budgeting figure, not a quote: the spread between a set of pads and a set of discs is most of the range.

Prices are modal quotes from a hand-kept catalogue of published UK garage guides — we do not scrape the booking sites, their terms forbid it, so this list is short and updated by hand with a source and date against each line. Each line prices one typical repair in that group, not a full remedy, and only groups our catalogue actually covers are counted. The contrast worth noticing is the second card: the legal maximum for the test has been £54.85 since 2010, while the repairs it uncovers have followed inflation the whole time.

For scale from a different direction: Warrantywise, which sees used-car warranty claims rather than test failures, puts the average claim at £2,052 across the ten highest-claim models it ranks and £539 for Honda, the lowest-claim make in its index (Warrantywise index 2026, 1.6 million claims, cars aged 3–15). Those sit an order of magnitude above the figures in this table, and the gap is the point: a warranty claim is a gearbox or an engine, which almost never fails an MOT, while the faults that do fail one are corrosion, lamps and tyres, which no warranty pays for. The two numbers answer different questions and neither replaces the other.

BMW M4 running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 14.0%, against 12.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
12
vehicles needing work (rough estimate: 1,756 tests)
At age 10
14
other cars of this model tested at age 10 in 2024 (rough estimate: 937 tests)
Repairs per 100
£1,759
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
1d
median; 24.75% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
38.74%18,105938-3.2 pp
412.31%22,6331,145+0.3 pp
511.96%28,2391,756+0.0 pp
612.86%34,8452,021+0.9 pp
714.37%40,1771,949+2.4 pp
813.75%46,8461,745+1.8 pp
912.42%53,9441,876+0.5 pp
1013.87%59,614937+1.9 pp

No single year stands out as the point where this model starts costing more: the year-to-year steps in its failure rate are too small or rest on too few tests to name one (D1 rule: a step is named only with at least 2,000 tests on both sides and a jump above 3 percentage points).

Repair spend uses the same modal prices as the section above, so it inherits the same limits: one typical repair per component group, not a full remedy. Downtime is the gap between the failed test and the passed re-test, which is the window a vehicle is legally off the road.

BMW M4 rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at <0.1×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

above 1.0× = rusts more than averagebelow 1.0× = rusts less

How it rusts
<0.1×
0% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
43rd
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 17 postcode areas

This BMW M4 virtually never fails on corrosion once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are about typical for the models we publish.

Corrosion is the one failure mode that is as much about geography as about the car. We keep the two apart on purpose: a model can look rusty simply because it is popular in Scotland, and a model can look clean simply because it is bought in Surrey. Blending them into a single score would hide which of the two is doing the work.

Exposure is this model's tests weighted by an area corrosion index built from frost days, salt load and distance to the coast — the composite validated at r = 0.42 against corrosion defects we actually record. It is published as a rank, not a raw score, because every mainstream model skews towards low-corrosion areas for the simple reason that most of Britain's cars are in the south. Susceptibility is standardised to the national age profile, so an old fleet does not get labelled a rusty model.

Does a BMW M4 advisory become a failure?

Tyres are highest at 10.0%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 10.0 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now

BMW M4 chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
BMW M4, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Tyres 10% · Brakes 2.9% · Non-component 0%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Tyres10.0%12 months5,0026,691
Brakes2.9%12.1 months4,9121,944
Non-component advisories0.0%——1,538

This is the question an advisory note actually raises, and it needs six years of test history to answer. We followed the same vehicles from one MOT to the next across 2019–2024 and measured how often a component that was merely advised came back as a genuine failure at the next test.

Read it as a budgeting horizon, not a prophecy: the most likely component above turns into a failure for about 10 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 5,002 miles. The rest were repaired, sold, scrapped, or simply held. Rows with fewer than 500 tracked advisories are not shown.

What will fail next on a BMW M4?

Tyres after a advisory at age <3 are highest at 11.0%; Suspension after a passed at age <3 is lowest at 0.7% — the gap is 10.2 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

Probability of each component failing at the next test, by age and last result
AgeLast testMost likely next failuresCars tracked
<3passedTyres 7.0% · Visibility 1.8% · Suspension 0.7%5,288
<3advisoryTyres 10.9% · Visibility 2.7% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 0.9%950
<3failureTyres 6.6% · Visibility 2.7% · Suspension 1.3%896
3-5passedTyres 6.1% · Suspension 2.3% · Visibility 2.1%18,696
3-5advisoryTyres 10.3% · Suspension 3.3% · Visibility 3.3%3,819
3-5failureTyres 7.2% · Suspension 3.7% · Visibility 3.6%3,114
6-8passedTyres 4.9% · Suspension 3.1% · Visibility 2.3%7,652
6-8advisoryTyres 8.9% · Suspension 4.8% · Visibility 3.2%1,995
6-8failureTyres 6.6% · Suspension 5.1% · Visibility 4.2%1,591
9-11passedTyres 4.9%205 (rough estimate)
9-11advisoryTyres 9.2%65 (rough estimate)
9-11failureVisibility 9.9%71 (rough estimate)

The same chains, cut differently: given a car's age and how its last test went, which component most often causes trouble at the following one.

The pattern that repeats across every family: a failure at one test roughly doubles the chance of a failure on the same component at the next one, and an advisory sits about half-way between a clean pass and a failure. Age bands in years; probabilities are per car, not per defect item.

BMW M4 ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 72.3%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 2.9% — the gap is 69.4 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
24.75%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.241
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
70.16%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
0.476%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 5,746 failures followed through to their re-test, 24.75% were repaired and passed the same day and 72.33% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 9,479 defect items were cleared in the process.

Per mile driven, not per year. Dividing failures by the miles that actually went onto the odometers between consecutive tests gives 0.241 failures per 10,000 miles, on a median of 4,610 miles a year across 11,959 chains. This is the number to compare between models — an annual rate quietly rewards cars that barely leave the drive.

Two populations hide inside one model. 70.16% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 5.67% carried the same advisory three times or more — the same fault, noted, ignored, noted again. When you buy used you are buying one of those two histories, and the MOT record shows which.

Odometer anomalies: 0.476% of 11,965 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 6,226 miles. We call this an anomaly and not fraud on purpose — instrument swaps, imports, unit mix-ups and keying errors all land in the same bucket. Obvious typos (drops under 100 miles or over 90% of the reading) are already excluded.

BMW M4 safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 13.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

recall campaigns launched per year

BMW M4 recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the BMW M4. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2015: 1 · 2016: 0 · 2017: 2 · 2018: 0 · 2019: 2 · 2020: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2022: 0 · 2023: 3 · 2024: 0 · 2025: 2.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the BMW M4
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2025/34918/12/2025178Takata Driver and/or Passenger Airbag Recall (Global VINs)
R/2025/34918/12/202555Takata Driver and/or Passenger Airbag Recall (Global VINs)
R/2023/07120/03/2023538On certain vehicles the Body Domain Controller (BDC) control unit may have an incorrect se
R/2023/01624/01/20235,046A possible degradation of the propellant tablets could lead to an over-aggressive combusti
R/2023/01624/01/20232,083A possible degradation of the propellant tablets could lead to an over-aggressive combusti
All 13 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2025/34918/12/202509/04/2014 – 21/06/2017178Takata Driver and/or Passenger Airbag Recall (Global VINs)
R/2025/34918/12/202504/02/2014 – 20/04/201755Takata Driver and/or Passenger Airbag Recall (Global VINs)
R/2023/07120/03/202327/07/2022 – 27/07/2022538On certain vehicles the Body Domain Controller (BDC) control unit may have an incorrect se
R/2023/01624/01/202304/12/2013 – 29/06/20175,046A possible degradation of the propellant tablets could lead to an over-aggressive combusti
R/2023/01624/01/202301/07/2014 – 29/06/20172,083A possible degradation of the propellant tablets could lead to an over-aggressive combusti
R/2021/05422/02/202106/11/2020 – 06/11/2020139THE INTEGRATED BRAKE SYSTEM HYDRAULIC UNIT MAY HAVE BEEN PRODUCED INCORRECTLY
R/2020/35207/12/202004/03/2020 – 05/06/202024THE DAMPING ELEMENTS MAY BE MISSING FROM SOME INJECTORS WHICH COULD AFFECT FUEL LINES AND
R/2020/35207/12/202002/03/2020 – 08/06/202024THE DAMPING ELEMENTS MAY BE MISSING FROM SOME INJECTORS WHICH COULD AFFECT FUEL LINES AND
R/2019/01221/01/201929/06/2016 – 30/09/2016973THE CFK DRIVE SHAFT 3 HOLE FLANGE WITH A PUSHING PIECE IS NOT PRODUCED WITH SUFFICIENT LON
R/2019/01221/01/201909/03/2016 – 30/09/2016973THE CFK DRIVE SHAFT 3 HOLE FLANGE WITH A PUSHING PIECE IS NOT PRODUCED WITH SUFFICIENT LON
R/2017/24401/09/201707/07/2017 – 18/07/201750FRONT SEAT FIXING MECHANISM MAY BE INSECURE
R/2017/01110/01/201708/08/2016 – 14/11/2016668AIRBAGS MAY NOT DEPLOY
R/2015/24002/12/201509/05/2015 – 11/09/20156DRIVESHAFT MAY FAIL

DVSA lists 13 safety recall campaigns for the BMW M4, covering roughly 10,757 vehicles in total. A recall is the manufacturer fixing a fault for free, so an open recall on your car costs nothing to clear.

Counter-intuitive, and measured on our own data: across the 25 families published here, more recalls go with a lower MOT Risk Index (r = −0.52). Heavily recalled models are not worse cars in the test bay — an active manufacturer removes the fault before it becomes an MOT failure.

Check whether a specific car has an outstanding recall — free, by registration — at DVSA's recall service. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls (check-vehicle-recalls.service.gov.uk), OGL.

BMW M4 technical service bulletins: what dealers are told

US market, BMW M4 and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.

NHTSA manufacturer communications are 330.

bigger number = more recorded dealer communicationsnot affected vehicles or confirmed faults

These are the issues the manufacturer fixes quietly: service communications sent to dealers without a public recall campaign. They show what the service network has been told even when the issue never became news.

United States · NHTSA manufacturer communications

US technical service bulletins by communication year; leading subjects cover the full file
Communication yearBulletinsLeading subjects across all years
201419
  • Equipment (136)
  • Electrical system (83)
  • Structure (34)
  • Adaptive and mobility equipment (27)
  • Visibility (17)
  • Engine (14)
  • Engine and cooling (14)
  • Seats (14)
201547
201653
201730
201846
201928
202016
202142
202222
202316
20246
20254
20261

Caveat worth stating plainly: this is NHTSA data about US-specification cars. British cars sold under the same name often use different gearboxes, engines and equipment, so a bulletin may describe a component that was never fitted here. The file counts dealer communications, not affected vehicles or confirmed failures, and it cannot tell you whether an individual UK car has the issue. A communication can carry more than one subject tag, so topic counts do not have to add up to the total. Source: NHTSA Manufacturer Communications API (US-market vehicles; queried model years 2015-2022). Licence: U.S. Government work / public domain · retrieved 2026-09-25.

BMW M4 owner complaints: what goes wrong

US market, BMW M4 and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.

Engine (not MOT-tested) is highest at 16; Visibility is lowest at 2 — the gap is 14.

bigger number = more recorded casescompare like-for-like scope, not sample size alone

Owner complaints (US) against actual MOT failures (UK) for the same component groups
ComponentComplaintsShareMOT fail items per 100MOT rankAgreement
Engine (not MOT-tested)1634.8%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Transmission (not MOT-tested)1430.4%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Suspension715.2%2.6#3complained about and fails often
Lamps & electrical510.9%1.1#5complained about, fails occasionally
Brakes36.5%1.1#6complained about, fails occasionally
Visibility24.3%2.8#2complained about and fails often

Two different populations answering two different questions: the MOT records what an inspector can measure once a year, the complaint file records what annoyed or frightened an owner on the road. A component high in one column and absent from the other is the interesting case — driver-assistance and electronics dominate complaints while almost never appearing as an MOT failure item.

What the reports actually say
I WAS DRIVING LIKE I NORMALLY DO TO WORK AND MY TRANSMISSION TEMPERATURE WARNING LIGHT CAME ON AND THE CAR WENT LIMP AND A FEW MOMENTS LATER THE CLUTCH TEMPERATURE WARNING LIGHT CAME ON ALSO. IT STOPPED DOING IT FOR A WHILE AND NOW IT DOES IT VERY OFTEN BUT DOES NOT PUT A CODE IN THE CARS COMPUTER DATABASE SO IT CAN'T BE TRACKED. THIS HAPPENS OFTEN A IN CITY WITH LIGHTS ETC AND SOMETIMES ON THE HIGHWAYS ALSO.
NHTSA complaint, filed 07/30/2020 · POWER TRAIN
THE VEHICLE MODEL IS KNOWN TO FAIL AT THE CRANK HUB. BMW REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE AND MAKE NECESSARY REPAIRS AT NO COST. IT HAS BEEN KNOWN TO HAPPEN RANDOMLY, EVEN JUST DRIVING IN A PARKING LOT. IF THIS WERE TO HAPPEN GOING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS, IT CAN POTENTIALLY LEAD TO DEVASTATING CONSEQUENCES NOT ONLY FOR THE DRIVER AND PASSENGERS OF THE BMW, BUT AS WELL AS TRAFFIC SURROUNDING THE VEHICLE.
NHTSA complaint, filed 12/18/2019 · ENGINE

US owners have filed 46 complaints about the equivalent BMW M4 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 0 that mention a crash, 3 a fire and 2 an injury. These are owner reports, not verified findings — but they are the only large public record of what drivers themselves notice, and they cover the years between MOT tests.

Caveat worth stating plainly: US-specification cars, self-selected reporters, no denominator — complaint counts scale with how many cars were sold there and how motivated owners are to file. The mechanical gap matters as much as the statistical one: American cars of the same name often carry different gearboxes, engines and equipment — automatics where Britain buys manuals — so a drivetrain complaint filed in Ohio may describe a part that was never fitted here. Read the ranking inside a model, not between models, and treat drivetrain entries with particular caution. Source: NHTSA ODI consumer complaints (US market, public domain) — US-spec vehicles, indicative only.

BMW M4 inspection results in other countries

Netherlands APK is well below the reference at 22.9%, against 50.8% nationally.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Same model, different national inspection regimes
CountryTestThis model failsNational averagePositionSample
United KingdomMOT (class 4)12.68%26.01%-13.3 pp12,459
NetherlandsAPK22.9%50.8%-27.9 pp507

The verdict is consistent across every regime where the difference is clear, which is the strongest form this comparison takes: independent inspectorates, different rulebooks, same direction of travel.

The exact faults Netherlands records — APK defect codes, 2024
CodeFaultRecordedType
205Tyre with insufficient tread40failure
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value36failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread29advisory
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed23failure
203Tyre damaged14failure
RA4Waarschuwingsinrichting controlesysteem bandenspanning geeft7advisory
RA2Excessive leak of other fluids7advisory
188Stofhoes fuseekogel beschadigd en dicht niet af6failure

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 0.408 defects per inspection against a much higher national failure rate than Britain's, and the reason is not that Dutch cars are worse — it is that the two regimes draw the line between "note it" and "fail it" in different places. Codes are the RDW's own; the English wording here is our translation of the Dutch original.

Britain is not the only country that inspects every car every year, and the BMW M4 is on the road in all of them. Each national regime writes its own rules, so the pass rates below are not comparable to each other — what does travel across a border is whether a model sits above or below its own country's average.

Rows with fewer than 500 inspections are not published. Sources: RDW open data — Meldingen Keuringsinstantie + Geconstateerde Gebreken + Gekentekende voertuigen (2024), CC0. Not an RDW endorsement.. Adapted; licences and full notice.

BMW M4 MOT: quick answers

BMW M4 MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 63.9, against 100 for a car with the same age profile.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

What is the BMW M4 first-time MOT pass rate?
87.32% of first attempts passed in 2024 (12,459 tests). This is the first-time figure: retests after repair are excluded. Basis: first-time, excluding retests.
Why does this number differ from other sites?
Other sites often report a pass rate that includes retests or counts all attempts. Our 12.68% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 12,459 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 63.9 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the BMW M4 with other cars

Lexus IS is highest at 65.1; BMW M4 is lowest at 63.9 — the gap is 1.2 points.

below 100 is betterabove 100 is worse100 = normal for this model at that age

Same brand

All BMW MOT statisticsBMW Z4 MOT statsBMW X6 MOT stats

Similar risk

Honda HR-V (index 64.4)BMW Z4 (index 64.7)Lexus IS (index 65.1)

Same size class

how Bentley Continental compareshow Chevrolet Spark compareshow Jaguar F-Type compares

By build year

BMW M4 2014BMW M4 2015BMW M4 2016BMW M4 2017BMW M4 2018BMW M4 2019BMW M4 2020

By area

BMW M4 MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

BMW M4 body, chassis and structure failuresBMW M4 brakes failuresBMW M4 vehicle identification failuresBMW M4 lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresBMW M4 noise, emissions and leaks failuresBMW M4 road wheels failuresBMW M4 seat belts and airbags failuresBMW M4 steering failuresBMW M4 suspension failuresBMW M4 tyres failuresBMW M4 visibility failures

Inspections abroad

BMW M4 in the Netherlands


Data details & how to cite

Scope: class-4 vehicles (cars), initial tests only, outcomes pass / fail / fixed-on-the-spot at the station (PRS counts towards the failure rate — the defect was present at arrival). Index = observed initial failures ÷ failures expected for this fleet's exact age profile, ×100; margin of error is a 95% confidence interval. Covers ALL generations together — a 3-year-old and a 15-year-old are very different cars; a generation split is on the roadmap. Dataset release dataset_release_id=dvsa-2024-v2, frozen baseline; headline claim_id=family-stats:bmw-m4:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). BMW M4 MOT statistics 2024 (data release dvsa-2024-v2; downloadable dataset motriskindex-families-2024-v5, doi:10.5281/zenodo.22975051). https://motriskindex.co.uk/cars/bmw-m4/ · Published 2026-07-30.