Pass rate
88.6%
Above average — 12.7 pts ahead of the 75.9% that cars this age and mileage manage.
Across 149 recorded tests.
Typical repair bill £34–£92
2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class MOT pass rate
- 2011
- typical 64,607 mi
Most common fault
Brakes
20.6% of faults · 20.9% nationally
mostly worn pads and discs, corroded pipes and a handbrake that will not hold.
Which year to buy
- Best 2020 96.2% pass
- Avoid 2015 83.5% pass
Across the 10 years on record, a spread of 12.7 points. See every year →
- First-attempt pass
- 87.4%
- Typical mileage
- 65k mi
The 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class MOT pass rate is 88.6% of its MOT tests — 12.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. Brakes is the biggest single reason it fails, at 20.6% of what testers record.
Check your postcode
MOT pass rates are national — type your postcode to see how Mercedes-Benz G-Class does in your corner of the country.
Expert verdict
Steering: 4.4× the national share
Steering accounts for 11.2% of everything recorded on the 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class, against 2.6% nationally — 8.6 points above. Brakes are still the single largest share at 20.6%, but at 20.9% nationally that one is ordinary. Ask for the steering to be checked for play with the wheels on the ground, not on a jack.
- 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 75.9% and this one manages 88.6% — 12.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict.
- Based on a small sample. 149 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 G-Class? Get an email when these numbers change .
How does the 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class compare?
Cars of this age and mileage average 75.9%, so this figure is 12.7 points ahead of what its age and mileage predict. On a first attempt, before any retests, the figure drops to 87.4%. The median 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class in this dataset had covered 64,607 mi.
The most common fuel recorded here is Diesel — 61% of tests, with a 89.0% pass rate. Pass rates also shift with the test month: tests recorded October–March passed 84.8% of the time, April–September 92.9%.
The single most recorded failure item is "Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view", noted on 6.71% of tests.
- 149 recorded tests behind this page.
- 88.6% overall pass rate, 87.4% on a first attempt.
- Across every year of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the average is 87.9% — best year 2020 (96.2%), worst 2015 (83.5%).
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
- 149
- Typical mileage (median)
- 64,607 mi
- Make and model
- Mercedes-Benz G-Class
- Updated
- 2026-11-05
Source: DVSA anonymised MOT test data (2023–2025), OGL v3.0.
Top part to budget for
Windscreen
Typically a garage job — get quotes before committing.
Does mileage affect the G-Class MOT pass rate?
Pass rate by odometer reading. Bar lengths start at 77% so small gaps stay visible.
Fuel type and reliability
Pass rate by fuel type. Diesel is the most common here (61% of tests).
Regional pass rates for the G-Class
| Region | Tests | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| South East | 53 | 92.5% |
| London | 22 | 72.7% |
| East of England | 20 | 90.0% |
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 2011 G-Class
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 2011 G-Class
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 windscreen 6.7% 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 suspension joints 3.4% of tests
“drag link end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated,”
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 2.7% of tests
“registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources”
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.
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 2011 G-Class through its MOT
Across the 10 items that are recorded most often on this model, the average repair comes to £34–£92 — and 42% of those repairs are parts that cost under £30.
- Average repair across the 10 common items
- £34–£92
- 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
- 42%
Estimates from typical UK parts prices, weighted by how often each item appears in 149 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 G-Class, side by side
10 model years on record, from 2011 to 2020. Across them the pass rate runs from 83.5% to 96.2% — a spread of 12.7 points. The bar under each year is the item that failed it most often.
- 2011 88.6%windscreen damaged but not…
- 2012 84.5% malfunction indicator lamp…
- 2013 89.8% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2014 86.6% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2015 83.5% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2016 88.1% coil spring fractured or broken
- 2017 87.3% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2018 90.0% has a cut in excess of the…
- 2019 90.9% windscreen damaged but not…
- 2020 96.2% door condition cannot be opened…
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 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class 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 2011 cars with a similar record
Closest pass rates among 2011 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 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class 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 160 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 | 33 | 20.60% | 20.89% | −0.29 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 27 | 16.90% | 12.21% | +4.69 |
| Suspension | 23 | 14.40% | 20.98% | −6.58 |
| Visibility | 19 | 11.90% | 4.97% | +6.93 |
| Steering | 18 | 11.20% | 2.57% | +8.63 |
| Tyres | 16 | 10.00% | 19.76% | −9.76 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 16 | 10.00% | 5.52% | +4.48 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 4 | 2.50% | 5.57% | −3.07 |
| Non-component advisories | 2 | 1.20% | 4.18% | −2.98 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 2 | 1.20% | 0.82% | +0.38 |
The exact failure items, in the tester's words
| Recorded item | Severity | Tests | Est. cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view Visibility | Minor | 6.7% | £80–200 |
| Drag link end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt Steering | Minor | 3.4% | £18–45 |
| Registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Minor | 2.7% | £5–20 |
| Malfunction indicator lamp inoperative or indicates a malfunction Noise, emissions and leaks | Major | 2.0% | £3–12 |
| Position lamp not working Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 2.0% | £5–25 |
| Wipers does not clear the windscreen effectively Visibility | Major | 2.0% | £8–22 |
| Exhaust system has a major leak of exhaust gases Body, chassis, structure | Major | 1.3% | £45–120 |
| Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Major | 1.3% | £30–80 |
| Srs malfunction indicator lamp warning lamp indicates a fault Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | Major | 1.3% | £3–12 |
| Steering box leaking oil Steering | Minor | 1.3% | £60–200 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brake discs in such a condition that it is seriously weakened Brakes | Advisory | 7.4% | £45–110 |
| Engine oil leaks leaking excessively from engine Noise, emissions and leaks | Advisory | 5.4% | £200–700 |
| Shock absorbers has an excessively worn bush Suspension | Advisory | 5.4% | £30–75 |
| Individual direction indicators incorrect colour Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | Advisory | 4.7% | £3–12 |
| Brake discs significantly and obviously worn Brakes | Advisory | 4.0% | £45–110 |
| Brake pads less than 1.5 mm thick Brakes | Advisory | 4.0% | £18–45 |
Pass rate by mileage
| Mileage | Tests | Pass rate | Median odometer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-30k | 17 | 100.0% | 24,144 mi |
| 30-60k | 49 | 87.8% | 41,218 mi |
| 60-90k | 59 | 86.4% | 74,949 mi |
| 90-120k | 21 | 85.7% | 107,724 mi |
| 120k+ | 3 | 100.0% | 130,340 mi |
Source: 149 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.
2011 G-Class MOT questions
What is the MOT pass rate for a 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class?
88.6% of the 149 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class tests in this dataset passed, against a national average of 75.9% for cars first used in 2011. First-attempt pass rate: 87.4%.
What are the most common MOT failures on a 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class?
The three most recorded items are windscreen damaged but not adversely affecting driver's view (6.71%), drag link end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt (3.36%), registration plate lamp(s) inoperative in the case of multiple lamps or light sources (2.68%). Percentages are the share of tests on this vehicle that recorded the item.
Does mileage affect the 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class MOT pass rate?
Yes. Cars under 30,000 miles passed 100.0% of the time, falling to 100.0% for those over 120,000 miles. The median 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class in this dataset had covered 64,607 mi.
Which fuel type is most reliable for a 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class?
Diesel: 89.0% pass rate across 91 tests. Petrol: 87.9% pass rate across 58 tests. Shares are of the tests on this vehicle that recorded each fuel type.
Does the season affect the 2011 Mercedes-Benz G-Class MOT pass rate?
Tests recorded in the winter months (October–March) passed 84.8% of the time; summer months (April–September) passed 92.9%. Brakes, tyres and lights are tested harder in bad weather, but the difference is small on most models.