Anyone choosing a diesel Mondeo before this summer and needing an automatic transmission would have fallen foul of the 160g/km writing down allowance threshold and been stung with BIK tax on CO2 emissions of 187g/km.

The 140bhp 2.0 TDCi diesel was available with a conventional torque converter auto gearbox, which typically increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Since the diesel engine was revised with power upgraded to 163bhp, and CO2 emissions reduced to 139g/km for the manual – the same as the earlier 115bhp Mondeo Econetic – Ford has also offered its Powershift auto.

It costs about the same as a conventional automatic gearbox upgrade at about £1,300, but this six-speed transmission is a dual-clutch gearbox – like Volkswagen Group’s DSG – and therefore essentially a manual with an electronic gearshift.

It means the penalty for losing the clutch pedal is only 10g/km – two BIK tax bands higher – and fuel consumption on the combined cycle is an impressive 50.4mpg.

Powershift delivers the smoothness of a conventional automatic transmission with fuel consumption more comparable with a manual gearbox.

After several thousand miles on the road with the car, I’ve taken to taking care of gearchanges myself unless I’m in heavy traffic or on the motorway.

When left to its own devices it seems to hang on to gears for about 500rpm longer than I would, so in search of making every gallon of diesel go as far as possible.

I’m convinced that once the engine is run in, I’ll be able to achieve better than the official figure.