Mercedes-Benz CLS MOT reliability

Mercedes-Benz CLSs passed their MOT first time 76% of the time across 59 tests in 2025. 19,273 are still licensed in Great Britain.

Example photo of a Mercedes-Benz CLS — Photo: Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

These figures come from 59 MOT tests. That's a fairly small number of cars, so they may not be typical of these cars as a whole.

First-time pass rate

76%

MOTs analysed

59

Still licensed (GB)

19,273

Body type

–

Pass rate by year of first registration

Older cars fail more often, so compare a car with others of the same age. Years with very few MOTs can show extreme pass rates, even 0% or 100%, so give more weight to years with more tests.

In detail:

First registered

2008 diesel

7 MOTs

These figures come from only 7 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

Passed first time 86%. Typical mileage 108,582 (most between 87,235 and 137,051).

2009: 100% → 2010: 88% → 2011: 80% → 2012: 80% → 2013: 78% → 2014: 75% → 2015: 74% → 2016: 72% → 2017: 69% → 2018: 68% → 2019: 64% → 2020: 67% → 2021: 64% → 2022: 58% → 2023: 80% → 2024: 88% → 2025: 86%

Most common failures

Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (14.3%)

2008 petrol

5 MOTs

These figures come from only 5 MOT tests. With so few cars, a single pass or fail changes the percentages a lot, so treat them as a rough guide rather than a true average.

Passed first time 100%. Typical mileage 97,321 (most between 82,621 and 132,118).

2009: 0% → 2010: 80% → 2011: 81% → 2012: 79% → 2013: 79% → 2014: 76% → 2015: 79% → 2016: 79% → 2017: 79% → 2018: 75% → 2019: 71% → 2020: 80% → 2021: 40% → 2022: 100% → 2023: 100% → 2024: 60% → 2025: 100%

Most common failures

Where 2008 CLSs fail

Suspension & axles

14.3%

Looking at a particular car?

See its own MOT history, mileage and red flags, compared with these figures. Free.

Based on 2025 initial MOT tests in DVSA's anonymised MOT dataset (cars and light vans). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Model details: Vehicle data by VehiclesDB.