Pass rate
75.4%
Around average — 2.9 pts ahead of the 72.5% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 232 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £37–£100
2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 MOT pass rate
- 2006
- typical 126,733 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
27.7% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Part only £25–£55 for Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded. What fitting it takes →
Which year to buy
- Best 2007 78.5% pass
- Avoid 2009 70.4% pass
Across the 7 years on record, a spread of 8.1 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 70.1%
- Typical mileage
- 127k mi
The 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 MOT pass rate is 75.4% of its MOT tests — 2.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 27.7% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz 320 does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Brakes: 1.3× the national share
Brakes make up 27.7% of everything recorded on the 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320, against 20.9% nationally — 6.8 points above. Have the discs and pads measured rather than glanced at, and ask whether the handbrake holds on a slope.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 7% of this model’s typical repairs come in under £30 in parts — the failures here tend to be the kind that need a garage rather than a bulb.
- Based on a small sample. 232 tests back this page. That is enough to publish and to index, not enough to treat the decimal places as precise — read the pattern, not the second digit.
Written from this page's own figures: fault shares against the national composition, the like-for-like pass rate, and the priced repair list. How these are worked out
Watching a Mercedes-Benz 320? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.5%, so this figure is 2.9 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 70.1%. The median 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 in this dataset had covered 126,733 mi.
96% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Diesel, which passed 75.7% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 76.3% of the time, April–September 74.2%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint excessively worn", noted on 5.17% of tests.
- 232 recorded tests behind this page.
- 75.4% overall pass rate, 70.1% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz 320, the average is 75.0% — best year 2007 (78.5%), worst 2009 (70.4%).
Figures count every completed test on this vehicle-year in the dataset, including retests. See methodology for the exact definition.
This page's data
- Tests analysed
- 232
- Typical mileage (median)
- 126,733 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz 320
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Ball Joint
Usually a DIY or independent-garage job.
Does mileage affect the 320 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 52% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (96% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the 320
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| West Midlands | 35 | 65.7% |
| East of England | 32 | 78.1% |
| Yorkshire | 28 | 78.6% |
| East Midlands | 26 | 76.9% |
| South East | 23 | 78.3% |
| South West | 19 | 73.7% |
| North West | 19 | 84.2% |
| Wales | 15 | 73.3% |
| Scotland | 15 | 80.0% |
Regions come from the postcode area recorded at the test station. Areas on region borders are assigned to the region with the majority of their population.
What fails a 2006 320
Everything a tester recorded on this vehicle, grouped into the inspection sections that produced it. The notch on each bar is the national share, so you can see at a glance whether this car is unusual or just ordinary.
A test can record several items, so these percentages do not add up to 100%. The exact strings, with prices, are in the full DVSA record at the bottom of this page.
Before your test
Three checks worth doing on a 2006 320
These are not generic tips — they are the faults recorded most often on this exact model, rewritten as things you can check yourself. All three take about ten minutes and cost nothing.
-
Check the suspension joints 5.2% of tests
“ball joint excessively worn”
With the car parked on level ground, rock the top of each front wheel in and out while someone watches the suspension arm. Clunks, or rubber boots split and greasy, are what testers record here.
-
Check the coil springs 3.5% of tests
“coil spring fractured or broken”
Look up inside each wheel arch with a torch, all the way round the spring. A snapped spring usually breaks at the very bottom coil, where a quick glance will not reach.
-
Check the tyre tread 2.6% of tests
“tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm”
Check all four tyres cold, including the inner shoulder where wear hides — 1.6mm across the central three-quarters is the legal limit, and most testers fail at 1.6mm without argument.
Shares are the proportion of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item, so they overlap: one test can record several.
What it costs to get a 2006 320 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £37–£100 — and 7% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £37–£100
- Cheapest common item: washers provides insufficient washer liquid
- £5–£15
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 70%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 7%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 232 MOT tests on this vehicle. They exclude diagnostics, retest fees and garage labour where the part is a DIY fit, and they are not figures from the DVSA dataset. Older and higher-mileage examples cost more than the average. How these estimates are built → · All MOT repair costs → · Cheapest cars to put through a test →
Every year of the 320, side by side
7 model years on record, from 2000 to 2009. Across them the pass rate runs from 70.4% to 78.5% — a spread of 8.1 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2000 77.6% headlamp lens slightly defective
- 2004 71.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2005 72.2% registration plate lamp(s)…
- 2006 75.4%ball joint excessively worn
- 2007 78.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2008 75.1% joints constant velocity boot…
- 2009 70.4% ball joint excessively worn
Colour is the pass rate on a fixed scale, so a block means the same thing on any model. Each year links to its own page with the full fault breakdown.
Compare the 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 with another year
The raw pass rate mostly measures age. The year comparison adds the like-for-like figure, the mileage bands and the repair bill.
Other 2006 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2006 cars with at least 2,000 tests, so a small sample cannot flatter itself into the list. See the full rankings: best and worst MOT pass rates.
The full DVSA record for the 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 10 failure items · 6 advisories · 10 inspection categories · mileage brackets · all of it in the page, none of it above the fold
Every inspection category
Shares of the 529 individual items recorded on this vehicle, and the same share across all cars nationally. A single test can record several items, so a row is not a percentage of tests.
| Category | Items | This car | Nationally | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brakes | 147 | 27.70% | 20.89% | +6.81 |
| Suspension | 139 | 26.20% | 20.98% | +5.22 |
| Tyres | 67 | 12.60% | 19.76% | −7.16 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 54 | 10.20% | 5.52% | +4.68 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 40 | 7.50% | 12.21% | −4.71 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 26 | 4.90% | 5.57% | −0.67 |
| Non-component advisories | 20 | 3.80% | 4.18% | −0.38 |
| Steering | 14 | 2.60% | 2.57% | +0.03 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 12 | 2.30% | 1.76% | +0.54 |
| Visibility | 10 | 1.90% | 4.97% | −3.07 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 5.2% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 3.5% | £25–65 |
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 3.0% | £80–250 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 2.6% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 2.2% | £40–150 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.2% | £80–180 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.7% | £18–45 |
| Rbt (sp) efficiency below requirements Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £45–110 |
| Washers provides insufficient washer liquid Visibility | Major | 1.7% | £5–15 |
Severity is as recorded: Major and Dangerous fail the test outright; Minor and Advisory do not. Costs are estimates from typical UK parts prices — see how they are built.
What testers noted without failing the car
Advisories are the early warnings — the same parts a year or two before they fail. Reading them is how you tell a car that has been maintained from one that has been patched.
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 26.7% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 18.5% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 18.5% | £45–95 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 11.6% | £40–150 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 9.1% | £18–45 |
| Wheel bearings has excessive play Suspension | Advisory | 7.3% | £20–55 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 5 | 60.0% | 57,000 mi |
| 60-90k | 30 | 76.7% | 78,916 mi |
| 90-120k | 59 | 78.0% | 103,127 mi |
| 120k+ | 137 | 74.5% | 161,077 mi |
Source: 232 recorded tests on this vehicle-year. Every row above is recomputed from the same DVSA extract as the rest of the page — see the methodology.
2006 320 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320?
75.4% of the 232 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.5% for cars first used in 2006. First-attempt pass rate: 70.1%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320?
The three most recorded items are ball joint excessively worn (5.17%), coil spring fractured or broken (3.45%), joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (3.02%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 60.0% of the time, falling to 74.5% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 in this dataset had covered 126,733 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320?
Diesel: 75.7% pass rate across 222 tests. Petrol: 70.0% pass rate across 10 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2006 Mercedes-Benz 320 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 76.3% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 74.2%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.