2008 Mercedes-Benz CLK 1.8L Petrol · C175 PER

A pattern of late-life advisory wear has begun to emerge on this CLK, with the most recent MOT on 12 February 2026 returning a pass but flagging three items simultaneously. Across the eight tests on record since 2019, the early years (2019 to 2022) were completely free of advisories, while 2023 onwards has seen a steady accumulation of minor defects. The 2024 test was the last clean pass; from 2025 onwards every test has recorded advisories, and the 2026 result tripled that count in a single visit with brake hose deterioration on the offside front and inner edge wear on both front tyres. This is not a record of catastrophic failure, but the trajectory is clearly one of progressive component ageing rather than stable roadworthiness, and a buyer should expect further advisories at the next test. The mileage profile is notably light for the vehicle's age, with 92,102 miles accumulated over eighteen years, equating to roughly 5,100 miles per year on average. There are no significant gaps in the annual MOT testing cadence from 2019 through 2026, which suggests the car has been in regular use and not laid up for extended periods, although the modest annual mileage does mean that rubber components, brake hoses, suspension bushes and tyre sidewalls will have aged through time and UV exposure as much as through use. Tyre wear advisories in particular on a low-mileage car tend to reflect age-hardening of the compound and sidewall cracking rather than tread depletion from driving, which is consistent with the 2023 advisory noting perished rear tyres. The advisories on brake hoses deserve close attention at a pre-purchase inspection. Both offside front and both rear hoses were flagged as slightly deteriorated across 2025 and 2026, with the offside front noted twice in successive years. Mercedes-Benz of this era uses rubber hoses that can blister and crack internally as they age, and on a test drive a buyer should press the brake pedal firmly several times from rest and listen for any spongy delay or pumping required to build pressure, and should also look under the wheel arches with the wheels turned for any dampness or weeping at the hose unions and along the flexible sections. The 2025 advisory on the offside front upper ball joint with slight play is a specific suspension concern: on a road test, listen for a clonking or rattling noise from the front suspension over speed humps and uneven surfaces, and feel for any vagueness or shimmy in the steering, particularly under braking. Because the play was described as slight and the joint faces upwards, it warrants re-inspection rather than immediate replacement, but it is a known wear point on the W209 and W208 CLK platforms and should be monitored annually. The 2022 minor advisory for a damaged lower windscreen is purely cosmetic and irrelevant to structural integrity, but the 2026 tyre advisories are more pressing. Inner-edge wear on both front tyres simultaneously is characteristic of geometry misalignment rather than simple camber or toe deterioration with age, so a four-wheel alignment check should be considered alongside the tyre renewal. The front inner shoulder is also where Mercedes-Benz CLK cars of this generation commonly wear due to worn front suspension bushes and ball joints transmitting geometry changes to the contact patch, which ties back to the 2025 ball joint advisory. With an average of just over 5,000 miles a year, the major mechanical assemblies such as the engine and automatic transmission are unlikely to be heavily stressed, but the time-aged ancillary components — brake hoses, suspension joints, tyres, and likely the coolant hoses, subframe mounting bushes and anti-roll bar drop links that have not yet been flagged — are the realistic areas of concern for the next keeper.