All generations and engines together · 66,153 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 67k
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 31,651 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
The CLA shares its shell with the A-Class and GLA, and a blocked sunroof drain channel lets water track down the A-pillar into the front footwell, where it can soak the SAM control unit under the dash. Owners report damp carpets, a musty smell, random warning lights, and in bad cases electric window or starting faults. Turns up from around four years old onward, worse on cars that have never had the drains cleared. A drain clean-out is cheap; a soaked SAM module needing replacement and reprogramming runs into four figures.
A rattle lasting a second or two on a cold start, on both the four-cylinder petrol and the diesel engines, sometimes settling as oil pressure builds and sometimes not. On higher-mileage cars a stretched chain or worn tensioner is the eventual diagnosis. Reported from around 40k miles onward. Catch it early and a chain and tensioner replacement is a few hundred pounds; ignore it and you risk proper engine damage.
Owners describe hesitation pulling away and jerky changes between 1st and 3rd gear at low speed, reported on both the dry-clutch DCT fitted to lower-power CLA 200/220 cars and the wet-clutch 7G-DCT on higher-power models. Some have had the valve body replaced under warranty without it curing the fault, suggesting it's partly a software trait rather than pure wear. Shows up from new in some cars; if it's still there out of warranty, a clutch pack or mechatronic repair can run into the low thousands.
A long-running owner complaint: clonks and knocks from the front end, usually pinned on lower control arm/wishbone bushes and anti-roll bar links and bushes as the rubber ages, generally from around 40-70k miles and worse on rough UK roads. This lines up with the measured MOT data for the CLA, where suspension is the standout advisory category for the model, so the clonk owners hear at speed bumps is backed up by what testers are actually failing the car for. Bushes and links are a few hundred pounds at an independent garage; full control arms cost more.
Diesel CLAs (200d/220d) can throw EGR and NOx sensor fault codes that drop the car into limp mode, sometimes with an AdBlue warning alongside. Owners report repeat EGR valve cleans or sensor swaps that don't fully cure it. Reported from around 60k miles, worse on cars doing mostly short runs. An EGR valve or NOx sensor is a few hundred pounds; a blocked or failed DPF is more, into four figures if it needs full replacement. Does not apply to petrol cars.
Built from the two sections above.
Same segment (Saloons & estates), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.