Pass rate
79.9%
Around average — 7.5 pts ahead of the 72.4% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 3,361 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £26–£69
2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls MOT pass rate
- 2005
- 2 trims combined
- typical 106,225 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
24.1% 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 →
7.8 pts down across model years — 9.6% in 2005, 1.8% in 2015.
Which year to buy
- Best 2018 86.3% pass
- Avoid 2009 75.6% pass
Across the 17 years on record, a spread of 10.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 76.0%
- Typical mileage
- 106k mi
The 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls MOT pass rate is 79.9% of its MOT tests — 7.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 24.1% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz Cls does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Beats its own age and mileage
Once you allow for how old and how far these cars have been driven, the expected pass rate is 72.4% and this one manages 79.9% — 7.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- When it fails, it costs. Only 32% 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.
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 Cls? Get an email when these numbers change .
Every Mercedes-Benz Cls first registered in 2005 is combined here — 2 trim and body variants in total — so the sample is as large as the DVSA data allows.
How does the 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 72.4%, so this figure is 7.5 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 76.0%. The median 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls in this dataset had covered 106,225 mi.
78% of the tests on this vehicle ran on Petrol, which passed 80.7% of the time. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 79.2% of the time, April–September 80.6%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Ball joint excessively worn", noted on 4.79% of tests.
- 3,361 recorded tests behind this page.
- 79.9% overall pass rate, 76.0% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz Cls, the average is 81.2% — best year 2018 (86.3%), worst 2009 (75.6%).
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
- 3,361
- Typical mileage (median)
- 106,225 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz Cls
- 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 Cls MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 69% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Petrol is the most common here (78% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the Cls
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 968 | 81.2% |
| East of England | 402 | 80.3% |
| London | 338 | 87.6% |
| South West | 335 | 71.6% |
| North West | 301 | 81.1% |
| West Midlands | 272 | 80.9% |
| East Midlands | 211 | 80.1% |
| Yorkshire | 187 | 75.9% |
| Scotland | 146 | 81.5% |
| Wales | 113 | 69.0% |
| North East | 86 | 76.7% |
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 2005 Cls
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 2005 Cls
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 4.8% 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 lights 3.8% of tests
“headlamp lens slightly defective”
Switch everything on and walk round the car: both headlamps on dip and main, every indicator, both brake lights, reverse, fog and the two number-plate lamps. A bulb is a few pounds and a five-minute job.
-
Check the windscreen 2.9% 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.
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 2005 Cls through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £26–£69 — and 32% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £26–£69
- Cheapest common item: malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or…
- £3–£12
- Dearest common item: windscreen damaged
- £80–£200
- Common items a careful owner can do at home
- 60%
- Repairs that still cost under £30
- 32%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 3,361 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 Cls, side by side
17 model years on record, from 2005 to 2021. Across them the pass rate runs from 75.6% to 86.3% — a spread of 10.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2005 79.9%ball joint excessively worn
- 2006 78.6% ball joint excessively worn
- 2007 77.4% ball joint excessively worn
- 2008 77.2% ball joint excessively worn
- 2009 75.6% ball joint excessively worn
- 2010 76.6% ball joint excessively worn
- 2011 80.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2012 80.4% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2013 80.0% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 81.3% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 84.7% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 84.6% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2017 85.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 86.3% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2019 85.9% fractured
- 2020 82.9% fractured
- 2021 82.0% fractured
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 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls 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 2005 cars with a similar record
- Lexus GS300 79.8%
- Lexus IS250 80.2%
- Jaguar Xj 79.6%
- Toyota Alphard 80.4%
- Toyota Prius 79.3%
- Subaru Impreza 80.8%
Closest pass rates among 2005 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 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls 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 7,399 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 | 1,808 | 24.10% | 20.89% | +3.21 |
| Suspension | 1,602 | 21.30% | 20.98% | +0.32 |
| Tyres | 1,202 | 16.00% | 19.76% | −3.76 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 850 | 11.30% | 12.21% | −0.91 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 677 | 9.00% | 5.52% | +3.48 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 417 | 5.60% | 5.57% | +0.03 |
| Visibility | 269 | 3.60% | 4.97% | −1.37 |
| Non-component advisories | 243 | 3.20% | 4.18% | −0.98 |
| Steering | 215 | 2.90% | 2.57% | +0.33 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 116 | 1.50% | 1.76% | −0.26 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Major | 4.8% | £18–45 |
| Ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated Suspension | Minor | 4.7% | £18–45 |
| Headlamp lens slightly defective Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 3.8% | £5–25 |
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 2.9% | £80–200 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.6% | £5–20 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.4% | £3–12 |
| Ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt Suspension | Major | 1.8% | £18–45 |
| Pins and bushes pin or bush excessively worn Suspension | Major | 1.7% | £40–150 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Major | 1.7% | £80–180 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.6% | £30–80 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm Tyres | Advisory | 18.3% | £45–95 |
| Rigid brake pipes excessively corroded Brakes | Advisory | 17.4% | £80–180 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 12.8% | £200–700 |
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 9.0% | £45–110 |
| Ball joint excessively worn Suspension | Advisory | 8.2% | £18–45 |
| Exhaust system system insecure Body, chassis, structure | Advisory | 7.4% | £45–120 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 43 | 93.0% | 18,558 mi |
| 30-60k | 299 | 85.3% | 47,892 mi |
| 60-90k | 772 | 82.8% | 77,581 mi |
| 90-120k | 1,050 | 79.0% | 104,870 mi |
| 120k+ | 1,183 | 77.2% | 148,705 mi |
Source: 3,361 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.
2005 Cls MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls?
79.9% of the 3,361 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 72.4% for cars first used in 2005. First-attempt pass rate: 76.0%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls?
The three most recorded items are ball joint excessively worn (4.79%), ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (4.67%), headlamp lens slightly defective (3.84%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 93.0% of the time, falling to 77.2% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls in this dataset had covered 106,225 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls?
Petrol: 80.7% pass rate across 2,619 tests. Diesel: 77.2% pass rate across 736 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2005 Mercedes-Benz Cls MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 79.2% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 80.6%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.