BMW 1 Series vs Ford Focus

The BMW 1 Series has the better MOT record of the two — 16.0% fail rate versus 20.6% for the Ford Focus across comparable years. The biggest single difference is suspension, where the Focus records failures noticeably more often.

16.0%
1 Series fail rate
20.6%
Focus fail rate
4.61pp
Difference

Side by side

MOT figures compared
MetricBMW 1 SeriesFord Focus
MOT tests analysed2,288,9816,079,104
Pass rate84.0%79.4%
Fail rate16.0%20.6%
Fail rate compared (lower is better) BMW 1 Series 16.0% Ford Focus 20.6%
Overall MOT fail rate across comparable model years.

Where they differ

Failure-area share, by category
Category1 SeriesFocus
Suspension4.1%9.1%
Lighting & signalling7.6%12.5%
Visibility3.5%3.6%
Brakes4.5%4.5%
Tyres6.3%6.3%

Methodology & source. Dataset: DVSA MOT testing data (2021,2022,2023,2024,2025). Data last updated 2026-07-27. Figures reflect MOT-testable defects only — read the methodology for how these are calculated and what they don't measure.

See the full data