CarCostCheck

Mercedes Sl

Reliability, running costs, and MOT data across 30 years from 50,180 real MOT tests.

Avg Pass Rate

89%

Total Tests

50,180

Best Year

2019 (97%)

Years Covered

30

How reliable is the Mercedes Sl?

vs national average+7% (82% avg)
vs Mercedes brand average+2% (87% avg)
Best to worst year spread16 percentage points
Reliability trendImproving over years

Mercedes Sl by Year

YearPass RateTestsAvg Mileage
201997%85119,987 mi
201893%1,02225,750 mi
201794%1,84730,630 mi
201695%2,24036,109 mi
201592%2,22240,591 mi
201492%2,89247,357 mi
201389%2,79649,450 mi
201290%1,13650,476 mi
201192%57950,602 mi
201088%95562,402 mi
200987%1,22263,020 mi
200890%1,94065,610 mi
200788%1,79271,215 mi
200687%1,83273,640 mi
200588%2,43075,394 mi
200488%4,03677,676 mi
200386%5,17375,808 mi
200288%2,08374,421 mi
200190%52878,534 mi
200086%95584,195 mi
199987%1,61784,924 mi
199886%2,01889,595 mi
199787%2,11793,418 mi
199688%1,77893,971 mi
199585%1,62799,248 mi
199488%1,24493,271 mi
199388%46285,167 mi
199287%31290,571 mi
199186%28878,703 mi
199081%18688,429 mi

Checking a specific Mercedes Sl?

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About the Mercedes Sl

The Mercedes Sl has been tested 50,180 times in 2024 MOT data across 30 model years (1990 to 2019), with an average pass rate of 89%. That's comfortably above the national average of 82%, making it a reliable choice. Available as petrol.

Best and Worst Years

The 2019 model is the most reliable with a 97% pass rate from 851 tests. The 1990 model has the lowest at 81%. With a 16 point spread, choosing the right year makes a big difference to reliability.

Reliability Trend

Newer MERCEDES SLs show better MOT pass rates than older ones, with an average improvement of 4 percentage points.

Mileage Across Years

The oldest model in our data (1990) averages 88,429 miles, while the newest (2019) averages 19,987 miles.

Click any year in the table above to see detailed running costs, individual reliability data, and comparisons with similar cars.