BMW ownership costs & problem years

BMW models ranked by owner data

13 BMW nameplates carry enough federal data to score: 10,559 owner complaints and 158 recall campaigns in total. The strongest average across its model years is the M2 at 92/100; the weakest is the 1 Series at 65/100.

ModelAvg scoreVerdictYears scoredBest yearWorst yearComplaintsRecalls
M292BUY12024202410
4 Series90BUY22021202102
Alpina XB790BUY12025202501
7 Series87BUY420122011736
X3 M87BUY5202320213180
2 Series85BUY320162015248
X585BUY5201320123,0800
X184BUY3201320149240
X5 M84BUY7202020214161
X375BUY5201220151,3900
5 Series70BUY9201720111,89843
3 Series69CAUTION11201320112,17379
1 Series65CAUTION32013201126218

Average score is the mean across the model years we hold data for. Complaint counts are raw NHTSA totals and rise with how many cars were sold — the score itself corrects for that. Methodology.

Every BMW model we hold data for

BMW 1 Series3 model years indexedBMW 2 Series12 model years indexedBMW 3 Series15 model years indexedBMW 4 Series12 model years indexedBMW 5 Series13 model years indexedBMW 6 Series3 model years indexedBMW 7 Series9 model years indexedBMW 8 Series5 model years indexedBMW Alpina B82 model years indexedBMW Alpina XB72 model years indexedBMW M22 model years indexedBMW M2351 model years indexedBMW M240i1 model years indexedBMW X113 model years indexedBMW X315 model years indexedBMW X3 M5 model years indexedBMW X515 model years indexedBMW X5 M11 model years indexed

Sources: NHTSA complaints and recalls, EPA fuel economy · Methodology · Calculators · Updated 2026-10-04