All generations and engines together · 199,865 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 87k
Middling among saloons and estates, by age and by mileage. Watch brakes and suspension. A fair used buy, provided its MOT history has no repeating brakes advisories.
Split by first-registration year. Cars registered in a changeover year can belong to either generation.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press, with how well each report stands up. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
Brakes are the measured MOT signature fault for this model, and owner reports back that up from a different angle: front discs and pads going through well before the mileage a heavy executive car should manage. Honest John's Ask HJ column has logged cars needing new front discs from as little as 12,500 miles, with a front disc-and-pad job running around £300 and closer to £650-700 for all four corners. It turns up on both W212 and W213 cars, with W213 owners also describing judder and vibration through the pedal. Put it down to the car's kerb weight and standard-fit discs rather than one single design flaw.
Owners of 2009-2012 W212 cars, on both the CDI diesel and CGI petrol engines, have reported timing chain tensioner failures and balance shaft wear even on fully serviced examples, sometimes ending in a full engine rebuild or replacement. Honest John logged a 2010 E200 CDI failing at 89,000 miles, with Mercedes covering 75% of a £4,153 bill, and a 2010 E200 CGI estate quoted £11,000 for a full engine swap at a similar mileage. There's no public recall, but the pattern of goodwill payouts suggests Mercedes knows these parts run marginal, especially on cars that have had extended service intervals rather than being serviced on time.
The self-levelling air suspension fitted to most E-Class saloons and estates is a well-known weak point across W211, W212 and W213 cars. Rubber air springs crack and leak, height sensors clog or their linkage snaps, and the compressor or valve block burns out from cycling too often, leaving the car sitting low or bouncing, most noticeable after it's been parked overnight in the cold. A single new air spring runs from around £650 fitted, more if the compressor or control unit goes too. It's simply treated as a wear item that fails earlier than buyers expect, not something Mercedes has ever recalled for.
Diesel E-Class models, particularly OM651-engined CDI cars, have a history of piezo injector failures bringing on rough running and warning lights, with some owners needing replacements within a few years of what looked like a healthy car. Later OM654-engined W213 diesels get NOx sensor failures instead, caused by exhaust heat, which trip the emissions light and can push the car towards limp mode if left. Petrol E-Class models are not affected by either issue.
A grab-bag of electrical niggles turns up repeatedly across generations: parking sensors that work intermittently or not at all, an auxiliary 12V battery that fails or drains even on newer, low-mileage W213 cars, and an infotainment system (COMAND or MBUX) that freezes or reboots itself, usually cleared by a software update or a full reset at a garage. None of it tends to be dangerous, but it chips away at confidence in an otherwise well-built car and isn't always cheap to chase down.
Mercedes has issued genuine recalls covering wiring faults on the E-Class. W212 cars built between July 2013 and December 2014 were recalled over a wiring defect linked to a fire risk, and W213 cars have had four separate recalls between 2022 and 2024 for the wiring harness not being properly secured to the body, affecting roughly 3,500 UK cars. Both are free dealer fixes, but only if the work has actually been carried out, and plenty of cars on the used market still haven't had it done.
Ranked from this model’s own MOT record, then from what owners report.
Saveable checklistThe physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
The physical checks its own defect data says are worth your time, most telling first.
These judge the seller’s upkeep rather than the model, and they are where the haggling money is.
Drawn from the reports above rather than the MOT data. These are the model-specific ones.
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. 83,108 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.
Same segment (Saloons & estates), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.
Head to head with the other popular cars in its class on reliability and common faults.