MOT pass rate · 2025 data
Mercedes-Benz CLA MOT pass rate
The Mercedes-Benz CLA passed 83.53% of its 72,854 initial MOT tests in 2025 — above the 77.3% average across all cars tested that year. That is 6.2 percentage points better than average.
How the Mercedes-Benz CLA holds up with age
Every car fails the MOT more often as it gets older. What matters when you are buying is how steeply that happens for this particular model. These are the 2025 pass rates for the Mercedes-Benz CLA grouped by the vehicle's age at the time of the test.
| Age at test | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| 3–5 years | 27,070 | 88.25% |
| 6–10 years | 39,012 | 81.34% |
| 11 years and over | 6,322 | 76.1% |
The Mercedes-Benz CLA drops 12.2 percentage points between its early years and the 11-plus bracket, which is a steep decline. On an older example, the MOT history is worth reading closely before you buy.
Why the Mercedes-Benz CLA fails its MOT
Across every Mercedes-Benz CLA that failed its 2025 MOT, the most common area of failure was tyres, accounting for 36.35% of all recorded failure items. These are the areas worth having checked before you buy, and worth budgeting for on an older example.
| Failure area | Share of failure items | Recorded items |
|---|---|---|
| Tyres | 36.35% | 8,189 |
| Suspension | 17.64% | 3,973 |
| Brakes | 14.05% | 3,166 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 8.16% | 1,839 |
| Visibility | 7.99% | 1,801 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 5.65% | 1,272 |
How the Mercedes-Benz CLA compares
Ranked on pass rate, the Mercedes-Benz CLA sits 259th of 651 models in this data , and 21st of the 37 Mercedes-Benz models covered . Mercedes-Benz as a whole averaged 80.28%, so this model runs 3.3 points ahead of its own brand average.
What this means when buying a used Mercedes-Benz CLA
A pass rate is a population average, not a verdict on the specific car in front of you. The average Mercedes-Benz CLA came to its 2025 test at 60,094 miles and 6.6 years old. Most examples tested were petrol, though 37.12% were diesel.
The useful check is the individual car's own MOT record: how many times it has failed, what for, and whether advisories keep reappearing. A recurring advisory on corrosion, suspension or brakes tells you far more than a model-wide average, and a mileage that does not move consistently between tests is a warning in itself.
Check a specific Mercedes-Benz CLA
Run the registration through a free MOT history check to see that car's test results, advisories and recorded mileages. For the risks an MOT never covers — outstanding finance, insurance write-off records, stolen markers and ownership history — a full car history check brings them together in one £15 report.
Also useful: mileage check · write-off check · free car check
Other Mercedes-Benz models
- Mercedes-Benz A-Class 77.86% pass rate · 233,512 tests
- Mercedes-Benz GLA 85.48% pass rate · 86,803 tests
- Mercedes-Benz Vito 73.61% pass rate · 84,511 tests
- Mercedes-Benz GLC 88.01% pass rate · 81,421 tests
- Mercedes-Benz B-Class 74.91% pass rate · 60,783 tests
- Mercedes-Benz SLK 75.48% pass rate · 54,115 tests
Models with a similar pass rate
- Land Rover Range 83.61% pass rate
- Ford Kuga 83.58% pass rate
- Volkswagen Tiguan 83.85% pass rate
- BMW 118 83.02% pass rate
- Audi Q3 84.17% pass rate
- Volkswagen UP 84.36% pass rate
Figures aggregated from the DVSA MOT Anonymised data set for 2025, class 4 initial tests only, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Retests are excluded, so these are first-time pass rates.