Pass rate
75.1%
Around average — 2.0 pts ahead of the 73.1% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 205 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £46–£126
2008 Mercedes-Benz 320 MOT pass rate
- 2008
- typical 127,781 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
26.7% 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
- 68.9%
- Typical mileage
- 128k mi
The 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320 MOT pass rate is 75.1% of its MOT tests — 2.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 26.7% 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 26.7% of everything recorded on the 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320, against 20.9% nationally — 5.8 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. 205 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 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320 compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 73.1%, so this figure is 2.0 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 68.9%. The median 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320 in this dataset had covered 127,781 mi.
Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 74.2% of the time, April–September 76.7%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated", noted on 6.83% of tests.
- 205 recorded tests behind this page.
- 75.1% overall pass rate, 68.9% 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
- 205
- Typical mileage (median)
- 127,781 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
Body Panel Repair
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the 320 MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 57% so small gaps stay visible.
Regional pass rates for the 320
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 43 | 88.4% |
| North West | 25 | 80.0% |
| East of England | 24 | 70.8% |
| South West | 23 | 65.2% |
| West Midlands | 21 | 71.4% |
| Scotland | 19 | 78.9% |
| Wales | 16 | 62.5% |
| Yorkshire | 15 | 60.0% |
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 2008 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 2008 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 4.9% 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 windscreen 4.4% of tests
“windscreen damaged”
Check the driver’s side of the screen within the swept area for chips and cracks; anything larger than 10mm in the driver’s central view is a fail. Most chips can be resin-repaired for far less than a new screen.
-
Check the coil springs 2.9% 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.
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 2008 320 through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £46–£126 — and 7% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £46–£126
- Cheapest common item: registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the…
- £5–£20
- Dearest common item: joints constant velocity boot severely…
- £80–£250
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 7%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 205 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 2008 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 2008 cars with a similar record
- Toyota Avensis 75.1%
- Volkswagen Tiguan 75.2%
- Volkswagen Eos 75.2%
- Toyota RAV4 74.9%
- Toyota YARIS 75.3%
- Saab 9-3 75.3%
Closest pass rates among 2008 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 2008 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 425 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 | 115 | 26.70% | 20.89% | +5.81 |
| Suspension | 82 | 19.00% | 20.98% | −1.98 |
| Tyres | 62 | 14.40% | 19.76% | −5.36 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 47 | 10.90% | 5.52% | +5.38 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 36 | 8.40% | 12.21% | −3.81 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 22 | 5.10% | 5.57% | −0.47 |
| Non-component advisories | 20 | 4.60% | 4.18% | +0.42 |
| Visibility | 19 | 4.40% | 4.97% | −0.57 |
| Steering | 16 | 3.70% | 2.57% | +1.13 |
| Road Wheels | 6 | 1.40% | 0.75% | +0.65 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated Body, chassis, structure | Minor | 6.8% | £80–250 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.9% | £18–45 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 4.4% | £80–200 |
| Track rod end ball joint has excessive play Steering | Major | 3.4% | £18–45 |
| Coil spring fractured or broken Suspension | Major | 2.9% | £25–65 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Major | 2.9% | £45–95 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.4% | £5–20 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 2.4% | £80–180 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 1.9% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.9% | £40–150 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 19.0% | £200–700 |
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 17.6% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 17.1% | £80–180 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 7.8% | £18–45 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 6.8% | £45–110 |
| Has a tear, caused by separation or partial failure of its structure Tyres | Advisory | 6.3% | £45–95 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30-60k | 6 | 66.7% | 45,661 mi |
| 60-90k | 38 | 65.8% | 78,113 mi |
| 90-120k | 49 | 79.6% | 106,121 mi |
| 120k+ | 112 | 76.8% | 158,455 mi |
Source: 205 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.
2008 320 MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320?
75.1% of the 205 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320 tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 73.1% for cars first used in 2008. First-attempt pass rate: 68.9%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320?
The three most recorded items are joints constant velocity boot severely deteriorated (6.83%), ball joint excessively worn (4.88%), windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (4.39%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320 MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 66.7% of the time, falling to 76.8% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320 in this dataset had covered 127,781 mi.
Does the season affect the 2008 Mercedes-Benz 320 MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 74.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 76.7%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.