BMW M4 MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a BMW M4 in Great Britain in 2025 — 13,620 tests. Figures cover every M4 first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the M4 ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
87.8%
15.5 points above the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
13,620
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
4.8%
of M4 first tests; national 7.3%
Typical mileage at 10 years
58,750
middle half: 43,750–71,250 miles (2,500-mile-band midpoints)

How many BMW M4 cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 21,245 BMW M4 cars that were taxed or on SORN: 20,019 taxed and 1,226 on SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification — kept, but declared off the road by the keeper). The MOT figures above count tests; these count cars, across the whole United Kingdom, cars only. BMW M4 vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures.

Still taxed, end of 2025
20,019
94.2% of the 21,245 M4 cars taxed or on SORN; 15 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
1,226
declared off the road by their keepers — 5.8% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed M4 cars is still rising: 20,019 at the end of 2025, up 874 (4.6%) on the end of 2024, and the highest in the years shown. Cars on SORN went from 14 at the end of 2014 to 1,226 at the end of 2025, up 8657.1%. A car leaves the taxed count when it is scrapped, exported or declared off the road; the year-end counts do not say which.

Taxed M4 cars, year by year

Cars of this model taxed and on the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025.

05k10k15k20k25k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Taxed M4 cars, year 2014: 1kTaxed M4 cars, year 2015: 3kTaxed M4 cars, year 2016: 5kTaxed M4 cars, year 2017: 7kTaxed M4 cars, year 2018: 9kTaxed M4 cars, year 2019: 11kTaxed M4 cars, year 2020: 12kTaxed M4 cars, year 2021: 14kTaxed M4 cars, year 2022: 16kTaxed M4 cars, year 2023: 18kTaxed M4 cars, year 2024: 19kTaxed M4 cars, year 2025: 20k20k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed M4 cars
20141,192
20153,454
20165,398
20177,194
20189,270
201910,684
202011,851
202113,549
202216,447
202318,141
202419,145
202520,019

M4 cars on SORN, year by year

Cars of this model declared off the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025. Its own scale — SORN counts are a fraction of the taxed count.

05001k2k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)M4 cars on SORN, year 2014: 14M4 cars on SORN, year 2015: 25M4 cars on SORN, year 2016: 71M4 cars on SORN, year 2017: 218M4 cars on SORN, year 2018: 273M4 cars on SORN, year 2019: 461M4 cars on SORN, year 2020: 438M4 cars on SORN, year 2021: 509M4 cars on SORN, year 2022: 702M4 cars on SORN, year 2023: 912M4 cars on SORN, year 2024: 1kM4 cars on SORN, year 2025: 1k1k
View this chart as a table
YearM4 cars on SORN
201414
201525
201671
2017218
2018273
2019461
2020438
2021509
2022702
2023912
20241,105
20251,226

Which model years survive

Taxed M4 cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 20,019 taxed in all. Every build year holding at least 1% has its own row; the rest share one. A build year's count depends on how many were sold that year as well as how many have lasted.

Year of manufacture Taxed, end of 2025Share of taxed M4 cars
20251,1996.0%
20241,3176.6%
20231,9859.9%
20222,92014.6%
20211,9789.9%
20201,2146.1%
20191,6178.1%
20181,9549.8%
20171,7949.0%
20161,5507.7%
20151,6438.2%
20148484.2%

Population source: Department for Transport / DVLA vehicle licensing statistics, table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026; counts of the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, United Kingdom, cars only, excluding cars recorded with no model name. SortedCars groups DVLA's model name M4 under this model. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, DVLA or the Department for Transport.

How the M4 ages

First-time pass rate by vehicle age, M4 vs all cars, 2025.

BMW M4All cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)BMW M4, vehicle age 3: 93.6%BMW M4, vehicle age 4: 91.7%BMW M4, vehicle age 5: 89.4%BMW M4, vehicle age 6: 86.5%BMW M4, vehicle age 7: 86.1%BMW M4, vehicle age 8: 86.1%BMW M4, vehicle age 9: 86%BMW M4, vehicle age 10: 86%BMW M4, vehicle age 11: 87.5%All cars, vehicle age 3: 88.5%All cars, vehicle age 4: 87.2%All cars, vehicle age 5: 86%All cars, vehicle age 6: 83.5%All cars, vehicle age 7: 80.9%All cars, vehicle age 8: 78.2%All cars, vehicle age 9: 74.9%All cars, vehicle age 10: 71.9%All cars, vehicle age 11: 68.6%All cars, vehicle age 12: 65.8%All cars, vehicle age 13: 63.5%All cars, vehicle age 14: 61.2%All cars, vehicle age 15: 59.3%All cars, vehicle age 16: 58.3%All cars, vehicle age 17: 57.2%All cars, vehicle age 18: 57.4%All cars, vehicle age 19: 57%All cars, vehicle age 20: 57.6%BMW M4 87.5%All cars 57.6%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)M4 testsM4 pass rateAll cars
31,44893.6%88.5%
495491.7%87.2%
51,14989.4%86.0%
61,70886.5%83.5%
71,98486.1%80.9%
81,92586.1%78.2%
91,68286.0%74.9%
101,79186.0%71.9%
1190587.5%68.6%

Better or worse than the average car?

The M4's pass rate minus the all-cars pass rate at each age, in percentage points. Bars above zero: the M4 beats the average car of that age. Below zero: it trails.

M4 ahead
-20-10+0+10+20Age 3: +5.1 points vs the average car3Age 4: +4.5 points vs the average carAge 5: +3.4 points vs the average car5Age 6: +3.0 points vs the average carAge 7: +5.2 points vs the average car7Age 8: +7.9 points vs the average carAge 9: +11.1 points vs the average car9Age 10: +14.1 points vs the average carAge 11: +18.9 points vs the average car11Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
3+5.1
4+4.5
5+3.4
6+3.0
7+5.2
8+7.9
9+11.1
10+14.1
11+18.9

The M4 fleet on the road, by age

How many took a first MOT in 2025 at each age — the shape of the M4 fleet still in use.

05001k1k2kAge 3: 1k3Age 4: 954Age 5: 1k5Age 6: 1kAge 7: 1k7Age 8: 1kAge 9: 1k9Age 10: 1kAge 11: 90511Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
31,448
4954
51,149
61,708
71,984
81,925
91,682
101,791
11905

What an M4 fails on

Where the failure items land when an M4 fails or needs a fix at test, 2025. Use it as a pre-purchase checklist: these are the areas to look at first.

Tyres46.6%
Suspension19.8%
Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment8.8%
Brakes5.7%
Identification of the vehicle5.7%
Noise, emissions and leaks5.5%
Visibility4.5%
Road Wheels1.8%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (98.5% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

Where testers most often write "keep an eye on this" for a M4, 2025 — the faults in the post.

Tyres: 57.6% of advisories57.6%Brakes: 21.7% of advisories21.7%Non-component advisories: 7.1% of advisoriesSuspension: 6.0% of advisoriesNoise, emissions and leaks: 5.5% of advisoriesBody, chassis, structure: 0.6% of advisories
TyresBrakesNon-component advisoriesSuspensionNoise, emissions and leaksBody, chassis, structure
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Tyres57.6%
Brakes21.7%
Non-component advisories7.1%
Suspension6.0%
Noise, emissions and leaks5.5%
Body, chassis, structure0.6%

What mileage is normal for an M4?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) M4; the shaded band holds the middle half. A car far outside the band, in either direction, is worth questions the recorded history can answer.

Typical M4 (median)
0k25k50k75k100k357911Vehicle age (years)Age 3: typical 18,750 miles (middle half 13,750–26,250)Age 4: typical 23,750 miles (middle half 16,250–33,750)Age 5: typical 28,750 miles (middle half 21,250–38,750)Age 6: typical 33,750 miles (middle half 23,750–43,750)Age 7: typical 38,750 miles (middle half 28,750–51,250)Age 8: typical 46,250 miles (middle half 33,750–56,250)Age 9: typical 51,250 miles (middle half 38,750–66,250)Age 10: typical 58,750 miles (middle half 43,750–71,250)Age 11: typical 61,250 miles (middle half 48,750–78,750)61k mi

Mileage values are midpoints of 2,500-mile bands.

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
313,75018,75026,250
416,25023,75033,750
521,25028,75038,750
623,75033,75043,750
728,75038,75051,250
833,75046,25056,250
938,75051,25066,250
1043,75058,75071,250
1148,75061,25078,750

What fails at each age

The M4's failure mix by age band, 2025 — each band's top categories at their true share of that band's failure items; the pale remainder is everything else. How the mix shifts with age is the point of the chart.

TyresIdentification of the vehicleSuspensionLamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentBrakesNoise, emissions and leaksEverything else
View this chart as a table
Age bandCategoryShare of the band's failure items
3-5 yrsTyres63.5%
3-5 yrsIdentification of the vehicle9.4%
3-5 yrsSuspension8.4%
3-5 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment5.2%
3-5 yrsBrakes3.7%
3-5 yrsEverything else9.8%
6-9 yrsTyres50.8%
6-9 yrsSuspension25.7%
6-9 yrsBrakes5.6%
6-9 yrsNoise, emissions and leaks4.8%
6-9 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment4.1%
6-9 yrsEverything else9.0%
10-13 yrsTyres38.4%
10-13 yrsSuspension19.6%
10-13 yrsNoise, emissions and leaks10.6%
10-13 yrsBrakes9.4%
10-13 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment8.2%
10-13 yrsEverything else13.8%

More vehicles we've checked

How these figures are computed. Every number on this page is calculated by SortedCars from the DVSA anonymised MOT results dataset (every MOT test in Great Britain — 2025 for single-year figures; trend figures state their span, currently 2023–2025). Where a figure comes from a sample or uses banded values (mileage is banded to 2,500 miles), the page says so beside the figure. Test class 4 only, first tests only — retests are excluded. Class 4 is the car MOT class and also covers car-derived vans, pickups and motorhomes tested to the same standard; where this page says "cars" it means class 4. Pass rate = passes ÷ (passes + failures + pass-after-rectification): a vehicle that failed and was fixed during the visit counts as a fail. Pass rates describe fleets, not individual machines: they reflect how cars were driven, maintained and used as well as how they were built, and beyond recorded mileage none of that is in the data. A well-kept example of a model with a weak average can still pass; a neglected example of a strong one can still fail. No figure is shown for any group with fewer than 500 tests. Alias spellings of a make in the DVSA file are counted under one make name, and all trims and variants of a model are grouped under one model name, using SortedCars' grouping tables. The taxed and SORN counts on this page are the one exception: they are not computed from MOT records but taken from the Department for Transport's vehicle licensing statistics (DfT/DVLA table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0), which count the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, UK-wide, cars only. They describe a model as a whole, grouped under SortedCars' model names, and say nothing about any one car. “Dangerous” is DVSA's statutory defect category (in force since May 2018): a defect posing an immediate risk to road safety — driving the vehicle before repair is an offence. What these figures are for. These statistics are general information about groups of vehicles. They are not advice, a valuation or a recommendation to buy, avoid or price any particular vehicle, and no decision about one car should rest on them alone — check the car itself and its own records. We take care over the calculations, but we cannot guarantee they are complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for loss arising from reliance on them. This does not limit any liability that cannot lawfully be limited — see our Terms & Conditions. If you believe any figure on this page is inaccurate, contact us. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the DVSA or DVLA. DVSA publishes the raw test records; the statistics on this page are SortedCars' own calculations from them. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.