BMW X5 years to avoid: the later ones

Based on 86,556 real MOT tests from DVSA records. Each year is compared against every other car first registered the same year — otherwise the numbers would only tell you that older cars fail more, which you knew.

The short answer

Avoid 2020. The worst is the 2020, which fails its MOT 26% more often than other cars of the same age. The 2014 is the strongest, failing 47% less often than average.

Found a BMW X5 you like?

Averages tell you what to expect. Its registration tells you what actually happened — every MOT, every advisory, and whether the mileage adds up.

Every X5 model year

Shaded rows are the years that differ most from other cars of the same age — worse, better.

MOT failure rate by registration year for the BMW X5
Registered	MOT tests	Fail rate	vs same-age cars
2002	1,402	30.7%	about average
2003	2,439	33.3%	about average
2004	3,352	32.7%	about average
2005	5,791	33.5%	about average
2006	3,585	33.7%	about average
2007	3,764	25.4%	28% better
2008	3,484	23.7%	32% better
2009	4,139	24.2%	28% better
2010	3,817	20.9%	35% better
2011	4,082	20.5%	32% better
2012	4,070	20.3%	27% better
2013	3,449	18.4%	28% better
2014	5,353	12.2%	47% better
2015	6,924	11.4%	42% better
2016	6,468	10.7%	37% better
2017	6,134	11.2%	22% better
2018	7,113	11.5%	about average
2019	8,452	11.6%	about average
2020 Worst	2,738	11.6%	26% worse

How this is worked out

Every MOT test recorded by DVSA in 2023 on a BMW X5, grouped by the year the car was first registered. Retests are excluded, so a car that failed and was fixed still counts as a failure. Each year's rate is then divided by the rate for all cars first registered that year — so 120 means 20% more failures than its contemporaries, not 20% more than a brand new car.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.