BMW 840i common problems and MOT failures
What goes wrong on a used BMW 840i, year by year: known faults from UK buying guides, the parts flagged at MOT more than on other cars (from 7,941 MOTs done during 2023–2025), and what to check before you buy one.
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).
What usually goes wrong with a BMW 840i?
We haven’t found widely reported faults for the BMW 840i 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 840i MOT pass rate by year
Of the years since 2005 with plenty of MOT tests, the 2020 BMW 840i did best (86% passed first time, 1 point below all 2020 cars) and the 2022 did worst (85%, 4 points below all 2022 cars). Older cars fail more, so compare each year with all cars registered the same year.
| Year | Pass first time | All cars that year | MOT tests |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 85% | 89% -4 | 1,129 |
| 2021 | 84% | 87% -3 | 281 (small sample) |
| 2020 | 86% | 87% -1 | 3,788 |
| 2019 | 84% | 85% -1 | 758 |
| 1999 | 80% | 63% +17 | 334 (small sample) |
| 1998 | 80% | 65% +15 | 369 (small sample) |
| 1997 | 79% | 65% +14 | 519 |
| 1996 | 77% | 66% +11 | 270 (small sample) |
| 1995 | 79% | 67% +12 | 347 (small sample) |
| 1994 | 74% | 67% +7 | 146 (small sample) |
Looking at a BMW 840i?
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