Used car guide · 2018–2021

BMW 225XE common problems and MOT failures

What goes wrong on a used BMW 225XE, year by year: known faults from UK buying guides, the parts flagged at MOT more than on other cars (from 9,234 MOTs done during 2023–2025), and what to check before you buy one.

9,234MOTs done in 2023–2025, all years of this model
2019best year at its MOT

Pick the year

Most years have their own guide. The year is when the car was first registered (it’s on the logbook, or check the reg below).

2021202020192018

What usually goes wrong with a BMW 225XE?

We haven’t found widely reported faults for the BMW 225XE in the UK buying guides we use yet. That doesn’t mean it has none, so check the car carefully and look at the MOT weak spots below.

BMW 225XE MOT pass rate by year

Of the years since 2005 with plenty of MOT tests, the 2019 BMW 225XE did best (88% passed first time, 3 points above all 2019 cars) and the 2020 did worst (87%, 0 points above all 2020 cars). Older cars fail more, so compare each year with all cars registered the same year.

YearPass first timeAll cars that yearMOT tests
202186%87% -1488 (small sample)
202087%87% +01,655
201988%85% +34,384
201886%83% +32,707

Looking at a BMW 225XE?

Check the actual car: its own MOT history and what to ask the seller. Free, no sign-up.

Where this comes from: MOT figures are the DVSA’s anonymised results for every MOT test done in Great Britain during 2023–2025, grouped by the year each car was first registered. How many are on the road is from the Department for Transport’s vehicle licensing statistics. Known faults are from UK buying guides, in our own words, with links. How we score