MOT Risk Index.co.uk

BMW X1 — MOT statistics 2024

The BMW X1 failed 17.25% of 107,276 first MOT attempts in 2024 ("first-time", excluding retests). Adjusted for the age of the fleet, its initial-failure ratio is 75.1 (100 = expected for its age profile). This car fails its MOT about 25% less often than expected for its age.

MOT risk index 75.1, 95% CI 74.1–76.1 (100 = national average) 100 75.1 0 200
Index
75.1
100 = age-normal
Raw fail rate
17.25%
n = 107,276
Dangerous /100
7
national ≈11
Diesel − petrol
+9.8 pp
fail-rate gap
Rank
215 of 761
lower index = better

Age-adjusted peer: Audi Q3 (index 75.0) — the two published results are 0.1 index points apart.

BMW X1 common problems: what actually fails the MOT

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment are well below the reference at 3.6 per 100 tests, against 8.6 per 100 tests across UK vehicles of the same ages.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

BMW X1 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
Tyres8.643,2427.81.10×1.08–1.11
Visibility5.326,8696.10.87×0.87–0.89
Suspension4.723,5527.50.62×0.61–0.63
Brakes4.221,2486.60.64×0.63–0.65
Lamps & electrical3.618,2308.60.42×0.42–0.43
Body & structure1.25,9312.10.57×0.54–0.57
Named defects — items per 100 initial tests, this family vs UK national average; this model measured on 503,065 tests, 2019-2024, national column 2024
What failedper 100 tests (this family)per 100 tests (UK average)ratio family / UKWhat to check
Tyre seriously damagedA tyre seriously damaged3.382.541.33×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Tyre cords visible or damagedA tyre cords visible or damaged1.891.631.16×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Windscreen or window damaged or seriously…Windscreen or window damaged or seriously discoloured but not adversely affecting driver's view2.312.360.98×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Windscreen washers not working or not providing…Windscreen washers not working or not providing sufficient fluid to clear the windscreen1.291.620.80×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Wiper blade defectiveWiper blade defective0.751.260.60×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 requirements2.733.590.76×Check tyre tread depth across the full width
Brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mma brake lining or pad worn below 1.5mm1.282.150.60×Feel for brake judder and pulling on the test drive
Suspension pin, bush or joint excessively wornA suspension pin, bush or joint excessively worn3.364.870.69×Listen for knocks over bumps — worn joints show up on the test
Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the…Wiper blade missing or obviously not clearing the windscreen0.652.220.29×Check wipers, washers and windscreen chips in the driver's view
Aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down…The aim of a headlamp is not within limits laid down in the requirements0.762.570.30×Try every light and switch — lamps are a top failure

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

BMW X1 MOT advisories: what gets flagged

Tyres are highest at 40.0 per 100 tests; Identification is lowest at 0.8 per 100 tests — the gap is 39.2 per 100 tests.

higher bar = flagged more oftenadvisory items per 100 initial tests

BMW X1 MOT advisories: what gets flagged — 2024 UK MOT data
Advisory rates table
GroupAdvisories per 100
Tyres40
Brakes18.8
Suspension9.7
Non-component advisories8.3
Identification0.8
Emissions & leaks0.8

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

Tyres, brakes and suspension: BMW X1 against cars of the same age

AgePartBMW X1Same age, petrol and dieselDifference
3 yearsTyres5.234.171.06
3 yearsBrakes0.711.77-1.06
3 yearsSuspension0.190.63-0.44
4 yearsTyres4.64.540.06
4 yearsBrakes0.952.43-1.48
4 yearsSuspension0.391.21-0.82
5 yearsTyres4.975.06-0.09
5 yearsBrakes1.353.09-1.74
5 yearsSuspension0.832.19-1.36
6 yearsTyres5.55.54-0.04
6 yearsBrakes1.993.81-1.82
6 yearsSuspension1.813.72-1.91
7 yearsTyres6.115.950.16
7 yearsBrakes2.724.55-1.83
7 yearsSuspension3.295.68-2.39
8 yearsTyres6.836.310.52
8 yearsBrakes3.715.38-1.67
8 yearsSuspension4.777.78-3.01

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 failed22.3%14,310
It passed15.5%318,779

A failed test raises next year's chance of failing again by 6.8 percentage points. The failure most likely to come back is seat belts and supplementary restraint systems — 27.4% 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 500,179 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 only73.5fails less often than expected
Age and annual mileage72.4fails less often than vehicles driven as much
Share doing under 3,000 miles a year3.8%a normal spread of use

Mileage changes little here (-1.1 points): this fleet is driven about as much as the vehicles it is compared with. 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 X1 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 X1Same class, same ageDifferenceTests
3 years10.27%11.72%-1.45 pp76,685
4 years10.47%13.35%-2.87 pp68,464
5 years11.68%15.13%-3.45 pp68,053
6 years14.05%17.39%-3.35 pp61,271
7 years16.62%20.2%-3.58 pp52,288
8 years19.4%23.27%-3.86 pp44,546
9 years23.15%26.78%-3.63 pp37,272
10 years25%30.1%-5.09 pp32,471
11 years26.49%33.52%-7.03 pp24,716
12 years28.76%36.52%-7.76 pp17,102
13 years29.98%38.93%-8.96 pp11,276
14 years30.34%40.86%-10.52 pp5,135
15 years30.82%42.31%-11.49 pp425

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 X1 perform as it gets older?

The X1 at age 15 is well below the reference at 30.9%, against 41.6% for all vehicles of the same age.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

How does the BMW X1 perform as it gets older? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · failure-rate scale 0–47%.

Takeaway: a 10-year-old X1 has roughly a 26% chance of failing its MOT.

Data table
AgeBMW X1All vehiclesGap
310.8%12.4%-1.6 pp
49.4%13.1%-3.7 pp
510.3%15.1%-4.9 pp
613.1%17.5%-4.4 pp
714.1%20.2%-6.1 pp
814.4%23.3%-9.0 pp
920.2%26.5%-6.4 pp
1026.5%30.1%-3.6 pp
1126.1%33.2%-7.1 pp
1230.0%35.7%-5.7 pp
1329.5%38.2%-8.6 pp
1430.2%40.4%-10.3 pp
1530.9%41.6%-10.7 pp

Is a BMW X1 ULEZ compliant?

The share of classifiable 2024 BMW X1 MOT tests likely ULEZ compliant by first-registration date is 69.6%.

Based on 107,207 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 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 536
3–5 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 29,662
6–7 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 28,624
8 years100.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 12,487
9 years50.0%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 4,618
10–14 years3.3%
Check a registration with TfL
n = 30,856
15–17 yearsSuppressed — sample below publication threshold
Check a registration with TfL
n = 424
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

BMW X1 petrol vs diesel: which ages best

Diesel is highest at 20.5%; Petrol is lowest at 10.7% — the gap is 9.8 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BMW X1 petrol vs diesel: which ages best — 2024 UK MOT data
Fuel split table
FuelTests% failingGap vs best
Diesel71,50620.5%+9.8 pp
Petrol32,75710.7%+0.0 pp
Hybrid3,01111.8%+1.1 pp

Chart sample sizes: n=72k · n=33k · n=3,011.

How dangerous are BMW X1 MOT failures?

Major defects are well below the reference at 16.9 per 100 tests, against 52.8 per 100 tests nationally.

higher bar = fails more oftenrate per 100 tests

How dangerous are BMW X1 MOT failures? — 2024 UK MOT data
Severity table
SeverityThis family /100National /100Family / national
Minor4.9414.220.35×
Major16.8852.750.32×
Dangerous7.4911.150.67×

Chart values: Minor 4.9 · Major 16.9 · Dangerous 7.5.

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 X1 MOT matter?

Jul is highest at 17.3%; Jun is lowest at 15.7% — the gap is 1.5 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Does the month of a BMW X1 MOT matter? — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart scale: 14%–33%.

bars: BMW X1 · dashed: all class-4 cars

Month-by-month table
MonthBMW X1All vehiclesGap
Jan16.64%31.12%-14.5 pp
Feb15.75%29.99%-14.2 pp
Mar15.92%28.26%-12.3 pp
Apr16.36%29.78%-13.4 pp
May16.17%28.79%-12.6 pp
Jun15.74%28.15%-12.4 pp
Jul17.26%29.33%-12.1 pp
Aug16.72%29.2%-12.5 pp
Sep16.45%28.19%-11.7 pp
Oct16.85%30.34%-13.5 pp
Nov16.91%30.58%-13.7 pp
Dec15.92%29.33%-13.4 pp

Takeaway: the spread between best and worst month is 1.5 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 X1 average mileage by age

At age 8, the middle half of X1s runs from 47,172 miles to 79,479 miles, against 62,380 miles as the median.

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

Bars: BMW X1 · dashed: all class-4 cars — 2024 UK MOT data

Chart axes: car age, years · odometer scale 0–143k mi.

Does high mileage mean more BMW X1 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, 9.9% of those with under 40,000 miles failed first time versus 25.5% of those with over 140,000 miles.Inside this age group, higher mileage goes with more failures.

Does high mileage mean more BMW X1 MOT failures at the same age? — 2024 UK MOT data
BMW X1: first-time failure by mileage within each age group (2024)
AgeOdometer% failing95% intervalTests
3–5<40k miles9.1%8.7–9.5%21,755
3–540-70k miles12.9%12.2–13.7%6,882
3–570-100k miles13.8%11.7–16.2%899
3–5100-140k miles19.4%13.1–27.9%108 (rough estimate)
6–9<40k miles9.9%9.4–10.5%11,813
6–940-70k miles14.1%13.6–14.6%21,561
6–970-100k miles18.5%17.8–19.3%9,515
6–9100-140k miles21.8%20.2–23.5%2,468
6–9140k+ miles25.5%21.2–30.3%357 (rough estimate)
10–14<40k miles13.7%11.7–15.9%1,047
10–1440-70k miles20.6%19.6–21.7%6,076
10–1470-100k miles28.1%27.3–28.9%11,441
10–14100-140k miles32.8%31.9–33.8%9,539
10–14140k+ miles34%32.3–35.8%2,744
15+70-100k miles21.8%14.8–30.8%101 (rough estimate)
15+100-140k miles27.3%21.7–33.8%205 (rough estimate)
15+140k+ miles53.3%43.1–63.3%90 (rough estimate)

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

Mileage by age (p25 / median / p75)
Agep25Medianp75Tests
316,41624,25733,9388,062
419,60127,85838,1727,826
524,87934,16945,48613,774
631,73643,40456,75914,695
741,05454,86170,70513,929
847,17262,38079,47912,487
954,05770,02287,5074,618
1061,96979,59597,9687,719
1166,30585,442104,5637,186
1276,31894,679115,2475,367
1382,859102,901125,5135,902
1489,164110,042132,6974,682
1596,341115,867136,402424

A typical 8-year-old X1 has ~62,380 miles on the clock. Much more — ask why; much less — check for gaps in the MOT history.

Where in Britain the BMW X1 fails its MOT most

Llandrindod Wells area is highest at 24.1%; Bromley area is lowest at 9.4% — the gap is 14.7 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BMW X1 line: median · band: middle half of the fleet (p25–p75) — 2024 UK MOT data
Toughest areas% failingvs model overall
Llandrindod Wells (LD)24.14%+7.7 pp
Dundee (DD)23.93%+7.5 pp
Aberdeen (AB)21.91%+5.5 pp
Kirkcaldy (KY)21.74%+5.3 pp
Truro (TR)21.29%+4.9 pp
Easiest areas% failingvs model overall
Bromley (BR)9.41%-7.0 pp
Enfield (EN)9.93%-6.5 pp
Twickenham (TW)11.36%-5.0 pp
Dumfries (DG)11.62%-4.8 pp
Kingston upon Thames (KT)12.24%-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 mot centre density this model fails 2.7 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.29, n=113 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest terrain gradient this model fails 1.2 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.24, n=67 areas with ≥800 tests).

In areas with the highest frost days this model fails 1.6 pp more often than in the lowest fifth (r=0.22, n=113 areas with ≥800 tests).

BMW X1 Why do areas differ? — 2024 UK MOT data
Values shown in the quintile chart
FactorLow QHigh QGapCorrelation
MOT centre density14.3%16.9%+2.6 ppr=0.29
Terrain gradient16.2%17.3%+1.1 ppr=0.24
Frost days16.0%17.6%+1.6 ppr=0.22

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
MOT centre density (per 10k vehicles)0.29411314.316.9+2.758.5
Terrain gradient (% grade)0.2396716.217.3+1.20.53.7
Frost days (days/year)0.22311316.017.6+1.611.638
Road-salt proxy (g/m²-yr)0.22011315.417.5+2.1221.2670.1
Urban share (0–1)-0.18211316.214.2-2.00.41
Distance to coast (km)-0.17211317.816.5-1.36.279.5
Income deprivation (score)0.0909715.816.3+0.50.10.2

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: 13%–21% failing.

BMW X1 survival: which cars are still on the road

By age 15 is well below the reference at 0.6%, against 100.0% at the ages 4–6 reference level.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BMW X1 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 %
376,685100%10.27%
468,464100%10.47%
568,053100%11.68%
661,27192.9%14.05%
752,28879.3%16.62%
844,54667.6%19.4%
937,27256.5%23.15%
1032,47149.3%25%
1124,71637.5%26.49%
1217,10225.9%28.76%
1311,27617.1%29.98%
145,1357.8%30.34%
154250.6%30.82%

By age 14, only about 8% as many cars of this family present for MOT as at ages 4–6 (reference n≈65,929); survivors still fail at 30.3% vs 10.5% at age 4. Older cars that still appear are a selected subset — weaker ones have already left.

How many miles does a BMW X1 last?

100,000+ miles is highest at 10.5%; 150,000+ miles is lowest at 1.2% — the gap is 9.3 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

OdometerTests ≥ thresholdShare of sample
100,000+ miles52,33810.46%
150,000+ miles5,9071.18%

Of 500,271 tests of this family with a usable odometer in 2024, 10.5% had reached 100k miles, 1.2% had reached 150k miles. This is a cross-section of cars still presenting for MOT, not a full birth cohort.

How many years is a BMW X1 likely to last?

Bought at age 5 is highest at 4.8 years; Bought at age 12 is lowest at 1.5 years — the gap is 3.3 years.

bigger number = longer remaining lifeyears on the observed survival curve

Age nowTypical mileage (p50)Expected years left
5—4.8
8—3.4
10—at least 2.3
12—at least 1.5

estimateEstimate only — not a warranty: a typical 10-year-old example of this family has at least 2.3 expected years of further MOT-present life. The curve is observed only until age 14, so the true figure is likely higher.

BMW X1 faults that come together

Body & structure + Emissions & leaks stand out at 25.32×, against 1.00× if the faults were independent.

above 1.0× = more than expectedbelow 1.0× = less

Group AGroup BTogetherLift
Body, chassis, structureNoise, emissions and leaks77225.32×
Road WheelsSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems3413.22× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSteering859.67× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSteering219.14× (rough estimate)
SteeringSuspension2238.37× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems2007.76× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSteering336.69× (rough estimate)
BrakesSteering1556.18× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems346.16× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleNoise, emissions and leaks316.14× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSuspension9986.06×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentRoad Wheels2246.03× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksRoad Wheels486.02× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems575.79× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSteering1295.61× (rough estimate)
BrakesRoad Wheels2275.6× (rough estimate)
BrakesSuspension2,6245.58×
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentNoise, emissions and leaks4455.58× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureBrakes8605.55×
BrakesSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems1535.45× (rough estimate)
BrakesNoise, emissions and leaks4665.36× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureRoad Wheels765.35× (rough estimate)
Body, chassis, structureLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment7435.23×
Identification of the vehicleLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment1215.14× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsSuspension2134.95× (rough estimate)
BrakesLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment1,9844.89×
Noise, emissions and leaksSuspension4424.78× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentSuspension2,0134.67×
Body, chassis, structureIdentification of the vehicle424.67× (rough estimate)
BrakesIdentification of the vehicle1194.64× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSuspension1334.46× (rough estimate)
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsVisibility1583.54× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibility2,2373.46×
Identification of the vehicleSuspension943.45× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsVisibility2203.41× (rough estimate)
Road WheelsTyres2823.36× (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleVisibility1373.36× (rough estimate)
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentTyres2,7993.33×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsTyres1943.33× (rough estimate)
BrakesTyres3,0403.32×
Identification of the vehicleTyres1753.29× (rough estimate)
SteeringTyres1593.06× (rough estimate)
Noise, emissions and leaksVisibility4213.04× (rough estimate)
SuspensionTyres2,9283.01×
Noise, emissions and leaksTyres5342.96×
SteeringVisibility1182.96× (rough estimate)
BrakesVisibility2,0052.85×
Body, chassis, structureVisibility6762.74×
Body, chassis, structureTyres8632.69×
SuspensionVisibility1,9352.59×
TyresVisibility3,4942.39×
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systemsSteering13too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleRoad Wheels13too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSeat belts and supplementary restraint systems8too few (rough estimate)
Identification of the vehicleSteering7too few (rough estimate)

Defects in «Body, chassis, structure» and «Noise, emissions and leaks» appear together 25.32× more often than chance (772 co-occurrences in the same test; lift≥1.3, n≥500).

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 X1?

Cars driven under 5,000 miles a year is well below the reference at 11.0%, against 20.0% for cars driven 8,000–12,000 miles a year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

BandFail %Tests
<5k miles/year11.01%49,545
8–12k miles/year19.95%131,936
Gap (low − normal)-8.93 pp—
By fuel and age

Diesel

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
58.626,31213.616,258-4.98 pp
68.966,06916.2218,306-7.26 pp
710.485,33619.1918,408-8.72 pp
811.554,49321.8116,820-10.26 pp
913.583,69726.0914,900-12.52 pp
1015.933,13228.313,345-12.36 pp
1116.352,37929.8710,215-13.52 pp
1218.331,63732.347,230-14.01 pp
1319.411,05134.154,796-14.74 pp
1416.849433.262,180-16.46 pp

Petrol

AgeLow-use fail %nNormal fail %nGap pp
57.346,91912.754,856-5.41 pp
68.83,97713.572,616-4.77 pp
79.091,88116.311,018-7.22 pp
811.941,00518.76533-6.82 pp
913.9138123.56191-9.65 pp
1015.8231620.57141-4.74 pp
1113.4826730.5395-17.04 pp

At matched ages 5–14, cars averaging under 5k miles/year fail at 11.0% vs 19.9% for 8–12k miles/year — 8.9 pp lower (n_low=49,545, n_normal=131,936). 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. Diesel alone: 11.9% low-use vs 21.4% normal (-9.5 pp).

Which BMW X1 engine is best?

diesel 1.8–2.0 is highest at 102.3; petrol 1.8–2.0 is lowest at 84.0 — the gap is 18.3 points.

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

Engine bands against this model's own failure rate at the same ages
FuelCapacityvs own age normRaw fail %Tests
petrol1.8–2.0 litre8410.31%76,409
petrol1.2–1.5 litre97.510.79%29,260
diesel1.8–2.0 litre102.318.05%393,171

Splitting this model by fuel alone hides the thing that actually differs. Within the same badge, the diesel 1.8–2.0 runs at 102.3 against this model's own age norm while the petrol 1.8–2.0 runs at 84 — a spread of 18.3 points between two cars that share a name.

Read this one with more care than the rest of the page. Age is held constant, but who buys which engine is not: the largest capacity in a range is often a performance or executive variant that is garaged, cherished and lightly driven, while the smallest is frequently a fleet or entry car worked hard from new. The gap below is real in the test records; how much of it is the engine and how much is the owner, this data cannot separate. Bands under 100 tests are not shown; bands under 5,000 tests are rough estimates.

Best year for a BMW X1, and the years to avoid

Build year 2014 is highest at 115.9; Build year 2016 is lowest at 87.4 — the gap is 28.5 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 X1 build year vs the same model at the same age · 100 = as expected — 2024 UK MOT data
BMW X1 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
20209691.2–100.89.65%15,853no different
201999.896.8–102.710.44%41,897no different
2018103.7101.3–106.211.72%60,484worse
201793.591.5–95.411.46%73,315better
201687.485.6–89.211.91%76,187better
2015102.499.4–105.416.1%28,149no different
2014115.9113.6–118.220.97%47,509worse
2013105.7103.6–107.821.76%43,849worse
2012107.7105.4–11024.78%33,603worse
2011101.499.4–103.425.6%37,533no different
201097.895.7–99.926.52%30,478better
2009104.197–111.229.61%2,779no different

The best build year here is 2016 and the weakest is 2014. 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 — 7 of 12 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 X1 MOT repair costs

The MOT-failure repair budget per test runs from £27.54 to £52.33, against £54.85 for the test itself.

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

MOT repairs, budget
£28–52
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
Suspension4.7 (nat. 15.36)Suspension coil spring (single corner)£180£8.46
Tyres8.6 (nat. 8.7)Tyre (single mid-range 16" fitted)£90£7.74
Brakes4.2 (nat. 11.25)Front brake pads (parts + labour, typical hatchback)£150£6.30
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment3.6 (nat. 18.09)Battery replacement (standard 12V lead-acid)£140£5.04

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 £28 to £52, 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 X1 running costs for a fleet

Vehicles failing at age 10 stand out at 26.0%, against 10.0% at age 5, tested in the same year.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fails per 100 at age 5
10
vehicles needing work
At age 10
26
other cars of this model tested at age 10 in 2024
Repairs per 100
£2,754
plus £5,485 in test fees
Off the road
1d
median; 41.45% cleared same day
Failure rate and typical odometer by age
AgeFailsMedian odometerTestsGap vs age 5
310.78%24,2578,062+0.5 pp
49.4%27,8587,826-0.9 pp
510.28%34,16913,774+0.0 pp
613.07%43,40414,695+2.8 pp
714.1%54,86113,929+3.8 pp
814.38%62,38012,487+4.1 pp
920.16%70,0224,618+9.9 pp
1026.48%79,5957,719+16.2 pp
1126.05%85,4427,186+15.8 pp
1229.96%94,6795,367+19.7 pp
1329.53%102,9015,902+19.3 pp
1430.16%110,0424,682+19.9 pp
1530.9%115,867424+20.6 pp

The number a fleet manager needs is not the failure rate, it is the year the car starts costing more. Between cars aged 9 and cars aged 10, both tested in 2024, the failure rate of this model is 6.32 percentage points higher — the steepest one-year step in this cross-section of different cars, and a natural planning point for replacement.

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 X1 rust problems: where they corrode

Age-standardised corrosion susceptibility is well below the reference at 0.35×, against 1.00× for the national age-standardised rate.

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

How it rusts
0.35×
0.27% of tests record a corrosion defect vs 0.77% typical — age-standardised
Salt Belt exposure
59th
percentile among the models published here, from its tests across 113 postcode areas

This BMW X1 fails on corrosion much less often than average once age is held constant, and its owners live in areas that are about typical for the models we publish. Both point the same way and reinforce each other: it resists corrosion even though its owners live in saltier areas than most.

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 X1 advisory become a failure?

Suspension is highest at 13.2%; Non-component advisories are lowest at 0.0% — the gap is 13.2 percentage points.

higher = more likelypercentage is the observed transition probability

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

BMW X1 chance the same component fails at the next MOT, given an advisory now — 2024 UK MOT data
BMW X1, advisory → failure conversion by component group, chained tests 2019–2024. Chart labels and rates: Suspension 13.2% · Body & chassis 8.7% · Tyres 8.4% · Brakes 7.2% · Steering 3.9% · Noise, emissions, leaks 2.8% · Identification of the veh… 2% · Seat belts & restraints 1.8%.
Advisory today → failure at the next test, with how long you have
ComponentFails next timeTypical lead timeMiles of warningAdvisories tracked
Suspension13.2%12 months7,22121,793
Body, chassis, structure8.6%12 months7,2171,953
Tyres8.3%12 months7,13387,384
Brakes7.2%12 months7,02444,239
Steering3.9%12 months7,1041,022
Noise, emissions and leaks2.8%11.9 months8,4172,501
Identification of the vehicle2.0%12.1 months8,3052,759
Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems1.8%12 months6,034846
Road wheels1.4%12 months7,668562
Non-component advisories0.0%——28,343

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 13 in 100 cars, and the median gap is 12 months and roughly 7,221 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 X1?

Suspension after a failure at age 12-14 is highest at 13.7%; Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment after a passed at age <3 are lowest at 1.1% — the gap is 12.5 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 4.0% · Visibility 3.2% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 1.1%39,123
<3advisoryTyres 5.1% · Visibility 3.8% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 1.5%11,854
<3failureTyres 5.2% · Visibility 4.6% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.1%5,828
3-5passedTyres 4.3% · Visibility 3.5% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 1.6%100,694
3-5advisoryTyres 6.0% · Visibility 4.9% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 2.3%40,215
3-5failureTyres 6.3% · Visibility 5.4% · Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment 3.0%18,235
6-8passedTyres 5.7% · Suspension 4.4% · Visibility 4.3%54,291
6-8advisoryTyres 8.2% · Suspension 6.5% · Visibility 6.3%31,659
6-8failureTyres 9.4% · Suspension 6.9% · Visibility 6.8%20,598
9-11passedTyres 6.8% · Suspension 6.4% · Visibility 5.6%26,325
9-11advisoryTyres 9.2% · Suspension 9.0% · Visibility 7.6%20,051
9-11failureSuspension 10.6% · Tyres 10.2% · Brakes 9.6%15,812
12-14passedSuspension 7.2% · Visibility 6.8% · Tyres 5.8%3,853
12-14advisorySuspension 10.5% · Visibility 9.2% · Tyres 8.5%3,663
12-14failureSuspension 13.7% · Visibility 11.5% · Brakes 10.7%3,300

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 X1 ownership: what six years of MOTs show

The ten-day re-test pass rate is highest at 56.4%; The later re-test pass rate is lowest at 2.1% — the gap is 54.3 percentage points.

higher = larger sharecompare shares in percentage points

Fixed same day
41.45%
of failures re-tested
Fails /10k miles
0.241
miles actually driven
Clean streaks
47.6%
3+ tests, nothing noted
Odometer anomaly
0.698%
reading went backwards

Failing is usually a same-week event, not a disaster. Of 63,695 failures followed through to their re-test, 41.45% were repaired and passed the same day and 56.43% within ten days; the median gap is 1 day. 114,447 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 6,462 miles a year across 101,115 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. 47.6% of these cars strung together three or more tests with nothing recorded at all, while 17.41% 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: 0.698% of 101,142 chains show a reading lower than the previous test, with a median drop of 14,864 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 X1 safety recalls and how to check yours

DVSA recall campaigns stand out at 42.

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

recall campaigns launched per year

BMW X1 recall campaigns launched per year — 2024 UK MOT data
Campaigns launched per year for the BMW X1. Source: DVSA vehicle safety recalls. Chart values: 2012: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2015: 0 · 2016: 0 · 2017: 5 · 2018: 4 · 2019: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2021: 1 · 2022: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2026: 1.
Most recent safety recall campaigns for the BMW X1
ReferenceLaunchedVehiclesConcern
R/2025/32712/01/202638,466Replace the Driver’s Airbag – Takata PSDI-5
R/2025/34918/12/20251,233Takata Driver and/or Passenger Airbag Recall (Global VINs)
R/2025/34918/12/20257Takata Driver and/or Passenger Airbag Recall (Global VINs)
R/2025/44323/10/2025127Seat Belt Rear Outer Seats
R/2025/44323/10/2025219Seat Belt Rear Outer Seats
All 42 campaigns
ReferenceLaunchedBuild datesVehiclesConcern
R/2025/32712/01/202619/08/2009 – 25/06/201538,466Replace the Driver’s Airbag – Takata PSDI-5
R/2025/34918/12/202507/07/2009 – 29/05/20151,233Takata Driver and/or Passenger Airbag Recall (Global VINs)
R/2025/34918/12/202520/02/2016 – 27/10/20177Takata Driver and/or Passenger Airbag Recall (Global VINs)
R/2025/44323/10/202501/08/2025 – 07/10/2025127Seat Belt Rear Outer Seats
R/2025/44323/10/202501/08/2025 – 07/10/2025219Seat Belt Rear Outer Seats
R/2025/39823/09/202518/06/2025 – 29/07/2025352Front Seat Belt Retractor
R/2025/01520/01/202517/09/2024 – 21/10/20241,322Checking the B-Pillar U11
R/2024/41424/10/202428/04/2023 – 13/06/202433Hydraulic Brake System Unit Replacement
R/2024/40321/10/202430/11/2009 – 01/04/2015100Check Driver’s Airbag for Conversion Takata SDI & PSDI-5
R/2024/38313/09/202430/05/2022 – 28/06/202421,244Integrated Braking System
R/2024/30001/08/202406/02/2024 – 06/02/20241Checking the Seat Mechanism of the Left Front Seat U11
R/2024/27708/07/202422/04/2024 – 07/05/20246Replacing the Backrest Frame of the Front Left Seat
R/2024/19101/05/202420/12/2010 – 20/12/20101Replace VANOS bolts N51 N52 N55
R/2024/11907/03/202429/06/2022 – 07/07/20238,202Integrated Braking System
R/2023/17219/06/202330/01/2018 – 30/01/20184,923On some diesel vehicles glycol leakage from the EGR-Cooler may occur. In very rare cases
R/2023/12701/05/202309/11/2021 – 21/12/20221,963In rare cases the lower section of the outer seat belts may have been trapped behind the l
R/2023/01624/01/202322/06/2016 – 12/04/20174A possible degradation of the propellant tablets could lead to an over-aggressive combusti
R/2022/34028/11/202230/06/2022 – 15/09/202277One or both of the front panoramic sunroof drain tubes may be cracked this could result in
R/2022/28003/10/202212/05/2022 – 12/05/20221The high-pressure fuel rail may not have been produced according to specifications
R/2022/25522/08/202207/11/2014 – 23/05/2018322,745Undetected EGR System leaks may cause thermal activity in the intake manifold
R/2022/20601/08/202210/07/2011 – 22/05/2015319,399THE EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION COOLER MAY LEAK OVER TIME AND CAUSE THERMAL INCIDENT
R/2022/08930/03/202211/01/2022 – 18/02/20222,018THE MICRO GAS GENERATOR WITHIN THE FRONT SEATBELT'S RETRACTOR MAY HAVE BEEN DAMAGED
R/2021/44229/12/202121/10/2021 – 22/10/202138THE MATERIAL QUALITY OF THE SCREWS USED FOR SEAT BELTS AND REAR SEATS MAY NOT BE TO SPECIF
R/2020/28314/12/202029/02/2020 – 29/09/20202,665REMAINING PARTICLES IN THE CELLS OF THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY CAN CAUSE A SHORT CIRCUIT
R/2020/29822/10/202008/06/2020 – 25/07/2020871REMAINING PARTICLES IN THE CELLS OF THE HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY CAN CAUSE A SHORT CIRCUIT
R/2020/17917/08/202025/03/2015 – 02/05/201771,128THE EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION MODULE COOLER COULD LEAK OVER TIME
R/2020/16208/06/202018/03/2020 – 19/03/2020189THE AIR BAG CONTROL UNIT MAY HAVE BEEN EQUIPPED WITH A DEFECTIVE SENSOR FOR THE ROLLOVER D
R/2019/28801/04/202002/04/2019 – 02/04/201919THE STEERING GEAR TIE ROD MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ASSEMBLED WITH THE REQUIRED SPHERICAL WASHER
R/2019/07104/03/201905/10/2018 – 18/01/20193,722REAR LIGHTS MAY BE FIXED WITH INCORRECT SECURING NUTS
R/2018/34107/12/201804/05/2011 – 22/05/2015225,449EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION MODULE COOLER COULD LEAK
R/2018/21120/08/201816/05/2018 – 08/06/20184,025SOFTWARE FAULT WITH CRANKSHAFT SENSOR
R/2018/17109/07/201824/04/2018 – 01/05/2018100FRONT AXLE SWIVEL BEARINGS MAY NOT HAVE BEEN PRODUCED TO SPECIFICATION
R/2018/13207/06/201819/08/2009 – 15/06/2011311,848PLUG IN CONTACT CABLE MAY MALFUNCTION
R/2017/17105/06/201711/06/2016 – 10/01/20177,948FRONT PASSENGER AIRBAG MAYNOT DEPLOY CORRECTLY
R/2017/13211/04/201730/12/2010 – 29/04/201110,849DRIVESHAFT UNIVERSAL JOINT MAY BREAK
R/2017/11410/04/201701/12/2009 – 13/10/201136,410PLUG IN CONTACT CABLE MAY MALFUNCTION
R/2017/05207/02/201713/09/2016 – 05/12/20162AIRBAG MAY NOT DEPLOY
R/2017/01110/01/201708/08/2016 – 14/11/2016668AIRBAGS MAY NOT DEPLOY
R/2014/06828/07/201401/09/2009 – 30/11/20112,967ENGINE EMERGENCY MODE MAY BE ACTIVATED DURING DRIVING
R/2013/08005/07/201301/02/2013 – 30/06/20134LOSS OF DRIVE
R/2013/02404/04/201336ENGINE MAY CUT OUT
R/2012/08130/07/201201/11/2011 – 31/03/2012701EPS MAY NOT PERFORM AS SPECIFIED

DVSA lists 42 safety recall campaigns for the BMW X1, covering roughly 1,402,082 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 X1 technical service bulletins: what dealers are told

US market, BMW X1 and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of bulletins, not a UK failure rate.

NHTSA manufacturer communications are 362.

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
201421
  • Electrical system (115)
  • Equipment (113)
  • Engine and cooling (45)
  • Engine (29)
  • Structure (28)
  • Adaptive and mobility equipment (24)
  • Powertrain (16)
  • Petrol fuel system (14)
201531
201661
201739
201849
201936
202031
202116
202211
202333
202415
202512
20267

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 X1 owner complaints: what goes wrong

US market, BMW X1 and its variants, model years 2015–2022 only. A count of owner complaints, not a UK failure rate; NHTSA has no UK denominator.

Transmission (not MOT-tested) is highest at 101; Brakes are lowest at 42 — the gap is 59.

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
Transmission (not MOT-tested)10119.6%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Lamps & electrical9217.9%3.6#5complained about, fails occasionally
Engine (not MOT-tested)8216.0%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Body & structure6813.2%1.2#6complained about, fails occasionally
Restraints6111.9%not in top 6—complained about, rarely an MOT failure
Brakes428.2%4.2#4complained about, fails occasionally

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
Known HVAC-produced moisture drainage issue that cause water to get trapped inside the system and cabin air filter housing, causing significant mold or mildew to grow on the filter itself and spread spores through cabin ventilation system and contaminates air inside cabin which poses serious health hazards.
NHTSA complaint, filed 01/05/2026
Odometer Fraud. The contact purchased a 2016 BMW X1. The contact stated that it was discovered that there was a mileage discrepancy. The vehicle was a dealer sale. At the time of purchase, the vehicle mileage was 81,295, and at the time of registration, it was discovered that the mileage was 135,400.
NHTSA complaint, filed 06/09/2025 · ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

US owners have filed 514 complaints about the equivalent BMW X1 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including 21 that mention a crash, 10 a fire and 35 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 X1 inspection results in other countries

Netherlands APK is well below the reference at 28.5%, 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)17.25%26.01%-8.8 pp107,276
NetherlandsAPK28.5%50.8%-22.3 pp13,976
NorwayPKK27.5%33.7%-6.2 pp10,772
FinlandKatsastus24.7%26.3%-1.6 pp3,560

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
210Tyre pressure not at the correct value2,258failure
205Tyre with insufficient tread1,059failure
516Dipped headlight incorrectly aimed873failure
AC1Tyre down to 1.6–2.5 mm of tread816advisory
AC5Mechanical brake parts showing wear286advisory
203Tyre damaged276failure
RA2Excessive leak of other fluids232advisory
391Wipers leave insufficient visibility212failure

Worth dwelling on how mundane the top of that list is: tyre pressure, tread depth, headlight aim. The Dutch APK records 0.562 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 X1 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.; Statens vegvesen — Periodisk kjøretøykontroll (PKK) 2024, CC BY 4.0; Traficom — Periodic inspections of cars by model / by model and fault object 2024, CC BY 4.0. Adapted; licences and full notice.

BMW X1 MOT: quick answers

BMW X1 MOT Risk Index is well below the reference at 75.1, 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 X1 first-time MOT pass rate?
82.75% of first attempts passed in 2024 (107,276 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 17.25% figure is the first-time initial failure rate, using 107,276 primary tests as the denominator (first-time, excluding retests). The age-adjusted MOT initial-failure ratio 75.1 is shown separately because raw rates compare fleet age as well as cars.

Compare the BMW X1 with other cars

Land Rover Range Rover Evoque is highest at 75.5; BMW X5 is lowest at 73.5 — the gap is 2.0 points.

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

Same brand

All BMW MOT statisticsBMW X5 MOT statsBMW 3 Series MOT stats

Similar risk

Audi Q3 (index 75.0)Land Rover Range Rover Evoque (index 75.5)BMW X5 (index 73.5)

Same size class

how MINI Countryman compareshow Renault Trafic compareshow Ford Ranger compares

By build year

BMW X1 2009BMW X1 2010BMW X1 2011BMW X1 2012BMW X1 2013BMW X1 2014BMW X1 2015BMW X1 2016BMW X1 2017BMW X1 2018BMW X1 2019BMW X1 2020

By area

BMW X1 MOT failure rate by postcode area

By failure group

BMW X1 body, chassis and structure failuresBMW X1 brakes failuresBMW X1 vehicle identification failuresBMW X1 lamps, reflectors and electrics failuresBMW X1 noise, emissions and leaks failuresBMW X1 road wheels failuresBMW X1 seat belts and airbags failuresBMW X1 steering failuresBMW X1 suspension failuresBMW X1 tyres failuresBMW X1 visibility failures

Inspections abroad

BMW X1 in NorwayBMW X1 in FinlandBMW X1 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-x1:dvsa-2024-v2. Full method: methodology.

Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). BMW X1 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-x1/ · Published 2026-07-30.