Ford has two real jewels in its European car line-up: the Focus and the Mondeo, both now well established and mature, and still showing the road to even newer competitors.

The Mondeo Executive TDCi is the latest version of that car that I've been driving, and it not just reaffirmed my positive impressions of the overall car, but added a couple of new sparkles to the jewel.

The overall style is familiar - good proportions, subtle strength cues, and a sense that if it had a Mercedes badge on the bonnet, nobody would think it unusual.

Available in 4-door, 5-door and Estate versions, the Mondeo Executive TDCi also has all the safety and comfort elements that Ford can provide, including the Intelligent Protection System - comprising ‘smart’ front airbags, side airbags, air curtains and Emergency Brake Assist (EBA). Also standard is Electronic Automatic Temperature Control air conditioning (EATC), leather upholstery, trip computer, leather-covered gearknob and steering wheel, electric mirrors and windows throughout and a 4-speaker remote radio/CD player.

The 2 litre 130PS engine gives the car a top speed of 125mph and 0-62mph in less than 10 seconds. It returns an official 48mpg-plus in the combined cycle. For the record, it won the UK Diesel Car of the Year at the Fleet Excellence Awards earlier this year.

The TDCi - which was one of the first new products from Ford's Centre for Diesel Excellence in Dagenham, Essex - has the ability to 'listen' to its own operating characteristics and monitor its refinement through advanced electronics. Combined with more precise control of the amount of fuel in the 'rail' and a more accurately controlled fuel injection system, this results in a level of refinement not previously available in a Ford diesel engine.

The new engine is both quieter and smoother than the old TDDi direct injection turbo-diesel unit and an improvement over first generation common rail technology.

And if you aren't altogether sure about that, remember that the same engine has been installed in Jaguar's first diesel car, the diesel X-Type which I drove recently in Germany and with which I was more than impressed.

The review car also had Ford's 5-tronic automatic gearbox. The transmission adapts to the driver’s style and adjusts to varying driving conditions. Its ‘next-generation’ ATCU Control Unit allows it to select from 11 distinct operational modes in foreseeing what a manual driver would do in different circumstances.

Modes include ‘auto-sport’, ‘mountain’ and ‘downhill’, ‘cold’ and ‘hot’ mode where it monitors its own operating temperature and enters cooling mode above 120C, and ‘stop and go’, where stress in urban conditions is minimised by the selection of 2nd gear instead of first in stop-start traffic for a less jerky operation.

With the Durashift 5-tronic, the driver can switch between automatic and manual mode at any time and at speed.

On the road, the Mondeo TDCi was in the first instance exactly as I remember other versions of the car I've driven: solid, comfortable, and dynamically a dream for a big car not least because of the complete absence of any yaw or wallow on our Irish twisting roads.

The engine also has an 'overboost' characteristic that increases torque beyond the norm for a short period when you welly the loud pedal. It is effective and even exhilarating.

One of the problems in the past with autoboxes and diesels was an inherent mismatch between both technologies because a diesel's maximum pulling power comes in at much lower revs than a petrol engine's. The high level of electronic control both of engine and autobox now means any such incompatibilities are smoothened out to the point of not being noticeable.

The 5-tronic and 130PS TDCi is quite probably the best such match I've come across.

There are still some niggles about the Mondeo, which are not likely to be addressed in its current version. The 'rest' for the left foot is really not worth having, and the door mirrors are way too small.

But it's not a lot to gripe about, is it?

The Mondeo Executive TDCi is available with the Durashift 5-tronic transmission from €37,507 ex-Cork. It is also available with Ford's new MMT6 manual transmission, which has improved fuel economy by up to 7 per cent over the older 5-speed, without sacrificing any performance.