Mercedes-Benz SL MOT pass rates & common failures

Every completed first-attempt MOT on a Mercedes-Benz SL in Great Britain in 2025 — 20,861 tests. Figures cover every SL first-tested in 2025, all trims grouped. How the SL ages, what it fails on, and what mileage is normal, computed directly from the official DVSA record of every test.

Pass rate 2025
83.0%
10.7 points above the class-4 average (72.3%); unadjusted for age — the age-matched comparison is below
Tests analysed
20,861
first tests, 2025
Arrived with a dangerous fault
4.4%
of SL first tests; national 7.3%
Typical mileage at 10 years
41,250
middle half: 26,250–53,750 miles (2,500-mile-band midpoints)

How many Mercedes-Benz SL cars are still on the road?

At the end of 2025, DVLA's register held 21,930 Mercedes-Benz SL cars that were taxed or on SORN: 14,192 taxed and 7,738 on SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification — kept, but declared off the road by the keeper). The MOT figures above count tests; these count cars, across the whole United Kingdom, cars only. Mercedes-Benz SL vans, where they exist, are counted by DVLA as goods vehicles and are not in these figures.

Still taxed, end of 2025
14,192
64.7% of the 21,930 SL cars taxed or on SORN; 51 model variants grouped
On SORN, end of 2025
7,738
declared off the road by their keepers — 35.3% of that total

How the numbers are moving

The number of taxed SL cars peaked at 19,000 at the end of 2016 and has since fallen by 4,808 (25.3%) to 14,192 at the end of 2025. Cars on SORN went from 2,432 at the end of 2014 to 7,738 at the end of 2025, up 218.2%. A car leaves the taxed count when it is scrapped, exported or declared off the road; the year-end counts do not say which.

Taxed SL cars, year by year

Cars of this model taxed and on the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025.

05k10k15k20k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)Taxed SL cars, year 2014: 19kTaxed SL cars, year 2015: 19kTaxed SL cars, year 2016: 19kTaxed SL cars, year 2017: 19kTaxed SL cars, year 2018: 18kTaxed SL cars, year 2019: 18kTaxed SL cars, year 2020: 17kTaxed SL cars, year 2021: 17kTaxed SL cars, year 2022: 16kTaxed SL cars, year 2023: 15kTaxed SL cars, year 2024: 15kTaxed SL cars, year 2025: 14k14k
View this chart as a table
YearTaxed SL cars
201418,802
201518,887
201619,000
201718,746
201818,360
201918,099
202017,450
202116,902
202216,472
202315,443
202414,537
202514,192

SL cars on SORN, year by year

Cars of this model declared off the road at the end of each year, 2014–2025. Its own scale — SORN counts are a fraction of the taxed count.

02k4k6k8k2014201620182020202220242025Year (count at the end of the year)SL cars on SORN, year 2014: 2kSL cars on SORN, year 2015: 3kSL cars on SORN, year 2016: 3kSL cars on SORN, year 2017: 4kSL cars on SORN, year 2018: 4kSL cars on SORN, year 2019: 5kSL cars on SORN, year 2020: 6kSL cars on SORN, year 2021: 6kSL cars on SORN, year 2022: 6kSL cars on SORN, year 2023: 7kSL cars on SORN, year 2024: 7kSL cars on SORN, year 2025: 8k8k
View this chart as a table
YearSL cars on SORN
20142,432
20152,840
20163,289
20173,885
20184,414
20194,904
20205,730
20215,757
20226,204
20236,806
20247,394
20257,738

Which model years survive

Taxed SL cars at the end of 2025 by year of manufacture, and each year's share of the 14,192 taxed in all. Every build year holding at least 1% has its own row; the rest share one. 9 taxed SL cars have no recorded year of manufacture and are not in the table, so the rows add up to 14,183. A build year's count depends on how many were sold that year as well as how many have lasted.

Year of manufacture Taxed, end of 2025Share of taxed SL cars
20201981.4%
20193322.3%
20183362.4%
20175193.7%
20166334.5%
20156954.9%
20149566.7%
20139907.0%
20123712.6%
20111921.4%
20102792.0%
20093662.6%
20085503.9%
20075393.8%
20065543.9%
20058035.7%
20041,2298.7%
20031,3579.6%
20025684.0%
20011781.3%
20003272.3%
19993312.3%
19983892.7%
19974303.0%
19963892.7%
19953342.4%
19942451.7%
All other build years (22 years, each under 1%)930.7%

Population source: Department for Transport / DVLA vehicle licensing statistics, table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026; counts of the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, United Kingdom, cars only, excluding cars recorded with no model name. SortedCars groups DVLA's model names SL CLASS, AMG SL, SL680 MAYBCH MONOGRAM SRS 4M A under this model. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, DVLA or the Department for Transport.

How the SL ages

First-time pass rate by vehicle age, SL vs all cars, 2025.

Mercedes-Benz SLAll cars
50%60%70%80%90%100%3579111315171920Vehicle age (years)Mercedes-Benz SL, vehicle age 8: 92.5%Mercedes-Benz SL, vehicle age 9: 89.2%Mercedes-Benz SL, vehicle age 10: 86.7%Mercedes-Benz SL, vehicle age 11: 85.5%Mercedes-Benz SL, vehicle age 12: 81%Mercedes-Benz SL, vehicle age 17: 84.1%Mercedes-Benz SL, vehicle age 18: 81.2%Mercedes-Benz SL, vehicle age 19: 82.1%Mercedes-Benz SL, vehicle age 20: 81.9%All cars, vehicle age 3: 88.5%All cars, vehicle age 4: 87.2%All cars, vehicle age 5: 86%All cars, vehicle age 6: 83.5%All cars, vehicle age 7: 80.9%All cars, vehicle age 8: 78.2%All cars, vehicle age 9: 74.9%All cars, vehicle age 10: 71.9%All cars, vehicle age 11: 68.6%All cars, vehicle age 12: 65.8%All cars, vehicle age 13: 63.5%All cars, vehicle age 14: 61.2%All cars, vehicle age 15: 59.3%All cars, vehicle age 16: 58.3%All cars, vehicle age 17: 57.2%All cars, vehicle age 18: 57.4%All cars, vehicle age 19: 57%All cars, vehicle age 20: 57.6%Mercedes-Benz SL 81.9%All cars 57.6%
View this chart as a table
Age (years)SL testsSL pass rateAll cars
863792.5%78.2%
976689.2%74.9%
1078886.7%71.9%
111,07785.5%68.6%
121,15281.0%65.8%
1774484.1%57.2%
1876881.2%57.4%
1977782.1%57.0%
201,08381.9%57.6%

Better or worse than the average car?

The SL's pass rate minus the all-cars pass rate at each age, in percentage points. Bars above zero: the SL beats the average car of that age. Below zero: it trails.

SL ahead
-28-14+0+14+28Age 8: +14.3 points vs the average carAge 9: +14.3 points vs the average car9Age 10: +14.8 points vs the average carAge 11: +16.9 points vs the average car11Age 12: +15.2 points vs the average carAge 17: +26.9 points vs the average car17Age 18: +23.8 points vs the average carAge 19: +25.1 points vs the average car19Age 20: +24.3 points vs the average car20Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)Gap (points)
8+14.3
9+14.3
10+14.8
11+16.9
12+15.2
17+26.9
18+23.8
19+25.1
20+24.3

The SL fleet on the road, by age

How many took a first MOT in 2025 at each age — the shape of the SL fleet still in use.

05001k1k2kAge 8: 6378Age 9: 766Age 10: 78810Age 11: 1kAge 12: 1k12Age 17: 744Age 18: 76818Age 19: 777Age 20: 1k20Vehicle age (years)
View this chart as a table
Age (years)First tests
8637
9766
10788
111,077
121,152
17744
18768
19777
201,083

What an SL fails on

Where the failure items land when an SL fails or needs a fix at test, 2025. Use it as a pre-purchase checklist: these are the areas to look at first.

Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment21.2%
Suspension20.4%
Tyres17.0%
Brakes15.3%
Visibility7.7%
Noise, emissions and leaks7.1%
Body, chassis, structure3.0%
Steering2.4%

Share of all failure items, 2025 — the 8 biggest categories shown (94.0% of the items); smaller categories are not listed.

The advisories to watch

Where testers most often write "keep an eye on this" for a SL, 2025 — the faults in the post.

Brakes: 32.0% of advisories32.0%Tyres: 27.1% of advisories27.1%Suspension: 21.7% of advisories21.7%Noise, emissions and leaks: 7.0% of advisories7.0%Non-component advisories: 3.2% of advisoriesBody, chassis, structure: 2.4% of advisories
BrakesTyresSuspensionNoise, emissions and leaksNon-component advisoriesBody, chassis, structure
View this chart as a table
CategoryShare of advisories
Brakes32.0%
Tyres27.1%
Suspension21.7%
Noise, emissions and leaks7.0%
Non-component advisories3.2%
Body, chassis, structure2.4%

What mileage is normal for an SL?

Mileage recorded at test by vehicle age, 2025. The line is the typical (median) SL; the shaded band holds the middle half. A car far outside the band, in either direction, is worth questions the recorded history can answer.

Typical SL (median)
0k25k50k75k100k810121820Vehicle age (years)Age 8: typical 31,250 miles (middle half 21,250–41,250)Age 9: typical 36,250 miles (middle half 26,250–48,750)Age 10: typical 41,250 miles (middle half 26,250–53,750)Age 11: typical 46,250 miles (middle half 33,750–63,750)Age 12: typical 48,750 miles (middle half 33,750–63,750)Age 17: typical 63,750 miles (middle half 46,250–86,250)Age 18: typical 68,750 miles (middle half 48,750–91,250)Age 19: typical 73,750 miles (middle half 53,750–96,250)Age 20: typical 73,750 miles (middle half 56,250–96,250)73k mi

Mileage values are midpoints of 2,500-mile bands.

View this chart as a table
Age (years)Lower quarterTypical (median)Upper quarter
821,25031,25041,250
926,25036,25048,750
1026,25041,25053,750
1133,75046,25063,750
1233,75048,75063,750
1746,25063,75086,250
1848,75068,75091,250
1953,75073,75096,250
2056,25073,75096,250

What fails at each age

The SL's failure mix by age band, 2025 — each band's top categories at their true share of that band's failure items; the pale remainder is everything else. How the mix shifts with age is the point of the chart.

TyresSuspensionLamps, reflectors and electrical equipmentVisibilityNoise, emissions and leaksBrakesEverything else
View this chart as a table
Age bandCategoryShare of the band's failure items
6-9 yrsTyres49.6%
6-9 yrsSuspension18.4%
6-9 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment9.0%
6-9 yrsVisibility7.9%
6-9 yrsNoise, emissions and leaks4.5%
6-9 yrsEverything else10.6%
10-13 yrsTyres34.6%
10-13 yrsSuspension23.4%
10-13 yrsNoise, emissions and leaks10.3%
10-13 yrsBrakes9.5%
10-13 yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment8.1%
10-13 yrsEverything else14.1%
14+ yrsSuspension22.7%
14+ yrsLamps, reflectors and electrical equipment18.8%
14+ yrsBrakes18.4%
14+ yrsTyres14.1%
14+ yrsNoise, emissions and leaks7.1%
14+ yrsEverything else18.9%

More vehicles we've checked

How these figures are computed. Every number on this page is calculated by SortedCars from the DVSA anonymised MOT results dataset (every MOT test in Great Britain — 2025 for single-year figures; trend figures state their span, currently 2023–2025). Where a figure comes from a sample or uses banded values (mileage is banded to 2,500 miles), the page says so beside the figure. Test class 4 only, first tests only — retests are excluded. Class 4 is the car MOT class and also covers car-derived vans, pickups and motorhomes tested to the same standard; where this page says "cars" it means class 4. Pass rate = passes ÷ (passes + failures + pass-after-rectification): a vehicle that failed and was fixed during the visit counts as a fail. Pass rates describe fleets, not individual machines: they reflect how cars were driven, maintained and used as well as how they were built, and beyond recorded mileage none of that is in the data. A well-kept example of a model with a weak average can still pass; a neglected example of a strong one can still fail. No figure is shown for any group with fewer than 500 tests. Alias spellings of a make in the DVSA file are counted under one make name, and all trims and variants of a model are grouped under one model name, using SortedCars' grouping tables. The taxed and SORN counts on this page are the one exception: they are not computed from MOT records but taken from the Department for Transport's vehicle licensing statistics (DfT/DVLA table VEH0124, updated 15 July 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0), which count the cars on DVLA's register that were taxed or on SORN at the end of each year shown, UK-wide, cars only. They describe a model as a whole, grouped under SortedCars' model names, and say nothing about any one car. “Dangerous” is DVSA's statutory defect category (in force since May 2018): a defect posing an immediate risk to road safety — driving the vehicle before repair is an offence. What these figures are for. These statistics are general information about groups of vehicles. They are not advice, a valuation or a recommendation to buy, avoid or price any particular vehicle, and no decision about one car should rest on them alone — check the car itself and its own records. We take care over the calculations, but we cannot guarantee they are complete, current or free of error, and we accept no liability for loss arising from reliance on them. This does not limit any liability that cannot lawfully be limited — see our Terms & Conditions. If you believe any figure on this page is inaccurate, contact us. SortedCars is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the DVSA or DVLA. DVSA publishes the raw test records; the statistics on this page are SortedCars' own calculations from them. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.