All generations and engines together · 6,008 MOT tests in the 2025 data
One of the best small SUVs per mile driven. Watch suspension and wheels. A solid used buy, provided its MOT history has no repeating suspension advisories.
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.
Mercedes-Benz issued a UK safety recall for EQA 250+ cars built between September 2021 and July 2024, after finding a short-circuit risk in the high-voltage battery that could, in a worst case, lead to a fire. Roughly 5,800 UK cars are covered. The fix is a free battery-management software update at a dealer; until it was applied, owners were told to charge no higher than 80%. Check the car's recall status against its build date rather than assuming an older car is automatically clear.
A May 2024 recall covers a large batch of EQA cars built between October 2020 and January 2024, where the backup function in the electric steering software might not work as intended, meaning power assistance could be reduced or, at worst, lost. It is a free software flash at a dealer with no parts needed. Given how many cars this touches, it is worth confirming on any used EQA from that build window that the update has actually gone through.
A November 2025 recall covers a circuit board fault in the front short-range sensor fitted to certain EQA cars (shared with several other Mercedes models), fixed free by replacing the sensor. Separately, some owners report the automatic emergency braking system triggering hard with nothing in the road ahead. Mercedes has not officially tied the two together, but a faulty sensor board is a plausible cause, and it is worth asking a seller whether the car has ever braked unexpectedly on its own.
A recurring gripe is the Mercedes Me app dropping its connection to the car, showing charge level or location data that is days or weeks old, or failing to trigger remote pre-conditioning at all. It is a software and connectivity issue rather than a mechanical one, but on a car where owners lean on the app to check charge state and warm the cabin before a journey, a flaky connection is a genuine daily annoyance. Fixes reported by owners are inconsistent: sometimes an app update helps, sometimes a dealer has to reset the car's telematics module.
A small recall covers early EQA and EQB cars built between December 2019 and November 2021, where the bolts on the front brake caliper housing might not have been tightened to the correct torque at the factory. The remedy is a free check and rework of the bolting at a dealer. Only a handful of UK cars were ever affected, so it will not apply to most used examples on sale now, but it costs nothing to check on an early car.
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.
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. 6,008 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 (Small SUVs), best MOT record first. Compare before you shortlist.