Used Ford Fusion review and buying guide (2002 to 2012): which one to buy and what to check

Which used Ford Fusion should you buy?

Buy a manual 1.25 or 1.4 petrol, because every other version has a serious known fault against it. The 1.4 TDCi diesel suffers failing injectors and leaking injector seals, the 1.6 TDCi can starve its turbo of oil, and the 1.4 Durashift automated manual loses its control unit and gear actuators. The manual petrols aren't trouble free, but they're the lesser risk and their weak spots are easier to check on the day.

Ford sold it from 2002 to 2012 as a single generation, so there's no later model to jump to that drops the known trouble spots. Early cars drew complaints about poor build quality, and a 2003 recall dealt with the rear axle, where the weld fixing the brake mounting plate could be below specification; affected cars got a new axle. On an early Fusion, ask for proof that recall was carried out.

There's very little on record about the last few years of production, and that isn't the same as a clean record. The known faults cover the whole 2002 to 2012 run, so a late car needs exactly the same checks as an early one. Judge it on its paperwork and the checks below, not on its age.

Which Fusion engines and gearboxes are the safe choices?

The 1.25 and 1.4 petrols with a manual gearbox are the pick, though neither is faultless. The electronic accelerator control on both can fail, with diagnostics pointing at the throttle position sensor and a corroded connector suspected, and the car then falls back to reduced power. These petrols, the 1.6 included, also want Ford's thin 5W-30 oil; a cheap service with something thicker can stick the valves, wear the cams and, at worst, wreck the engine.

Avoid the 1.4 Durashift automated manual. Its ASM control unit and gear actuators often fail after four or five years, and when they go the car won't select a gear or pull away. Separately, one owner's 2005 Fusion 1.6 automatic had transmission fluid seep past a seal into a speed sensor, which set off a string of electrical network faults, so it started badly and cut out at junctions.

The 1.4 TDCi diesel is one to avoid without paperwork. Its injectors fail and their seals leak, which shows up as juddering at a steady speed, lost power or limp home mode and a smell of diesel, and early cars saw a batch of fuel pipes split in spring 2004. One owner's 2009 1.4 TDCi began juddering at 40mph at 47,000 miles and paid £1,000 for new injectors.

The 1.6 TDCi is no safer. Carbon can clog the turbo's oil feed pipe and starve its bearings, so the turbo fails, and a replacement fitted without cleaning or renewing that pipe and the sump pick-up can go the same way. If you're set on a diesel, only buy one with receipts: injector work on a 1.4, or a turbo job on a 1.6 that included the oil feed.

What should you check when viewing a used Fusion?

Open the bonnet on a petrol and check the plugs, leads and coil pack, since water finding its way into the engine bay damages all three. Then push the brake and clutch pedals hard. The pins holding the pedals in place can fall out, leaving you with no brake or clutch, and a clutch that seems to have failed can just be a spring washer that's worked loose on the shaft behind the pedal.

Look closely at both front coil springs, because by 2008 and 2009 they were breaking on cars just 42 months old. On a diesel, hold a steady 40mph and feel for a judder, sniff for diesel around the engine, and on a 1.6 TDCi listen for a whine or siren from the turbo and watch for blue or grey smoke. On a petrol, the throttle should answer your right foot cleanly every time.

Ask for proof the rear axle recall was done on an early car, receipts for any injector or turbo work on a diesel, and service invoices on a petrol that show the right 5W-30 oil went in. Try the tailgate as well: it has no latch of its own and only opens remotely, so make sure the release works. On a Durashift, a gearbox warning light or a refusal to engage a gear is your cue to leave it.

Paste the advert into the free check and it runs these against the listing, the MOT history and the DVLA record before you travel.

Is a used Ford Fusion Mk1 (2002 to 2012) a good buy?

It's a fair buy as a manual 1.25 or 1.4 petrol whose throttle responds cleanly and whose invoices show the right oil, and a poor one as a Durashift or as a diesel with no receipts. Nothing on record singles out a year as better, so the engine, the gearbox and the paperwork decide it, not the registration.

Most of the faults on record are tied to age, not a mileage. Durashift control units and actuators give out after four or five years, front coil springs were snapping from 42 months old, and the 1.25 and 1.4 petrols have had accelerator control failures that drop them into reduced power. The only mileage on record is one 1.4 TDCi that needed new injectors at 47,000 miles.

Early examples carry the most baggage: build quality complaints, the 2003 rear axle recall and the 1.4 TDCi fuel pipe breakages of spring 2004. Whatever the year, a broken spring is easy to spot, a throttle fault drops the car into reduced power and a Durashift that hesitates over a gear is showing its known fault, so don't let a seller talk you past any of them.

What does a used Ford Fusion cost to run?