Given the same unit's subsequent availability in a Jaguar X-Type from only £23,000, a marketing re-think was required and it's happened to coincide with the introduction of this impressive engine in cleaner 'Euro-IV'-compatible guise.

The engineers among you will be interested to know that this unit now uses an electrically-actuated variable turbocharger which improves responsiveness and driveability in the lower rev range. As a result there is a significant broadening of the useable power band, starting from just 1,250rpm.

Previous Mondeo TDCi 155 Euro III owners would probably notice the difference but for the aforementioned reason of price, there aren't many of them about. Still, that issue has now been partly solved by Ford's decision to offer this flagship diesel engine pretty much across the range. That means you can order it in Zetec trim (from £19,195 in saloon or five-door hatch form), as well as in Ghia, Ghia X, Titanium, Titanium X and ST guises.

This diesel is a development of the existing 130bhp unit and boasts an ability to listen to its own operating characteristics via a knock sensor, which in turn informs the common rail system's 'brain' if vibrations in the cylinder block are getting too great.

This brain then adjusts the quantity of pilot injections, the small squirts of fuel fired into the cylinder before the main combustion process that serve to soften the big bang, thus tailoring each combustion cycle to the demands of the driver's right foot. Many of Ford's rivals still have no answer to the sort of turbocharged muscle this engine can generate and are a good couple of years behind in their quest to develop such a diesel powerplant.

The Blue Oval's most powerful diesel engine to date is genuinely something to behold, cranking out some 400Nm of torque. This means that at little more than tickover, this Mondeo has more urge to call upon than the peak figure generated by a Ferrari 360 Modena or a BMW M3. That's heavy duty firepower by any standards.

In-gear performance is predictably rapid. Thus equipped, the Mondeo makes short work of overtaking manoeuvres, giving the driver a reassuring safety net. With a combined fuel economy figure of 46.3mpg, it's cost effective too. On an open road, it will return figures closer to 58mpg while the C02 emissions figure quoted is 151g/km. Let's think about that for a second.

You're getting a car that can seat five comfortably and which develops more torque than a Ferrari, yet is cleaner and returns better fuel economy than a 1.0-litre Chevrolet Matiz. Now you begin to appreciate the scale of Ford's achievement.

The Mondeo TDCi 155 still isn't what you'd call inexpensive but at least it now sits more accessibly within the Mondeo line-up. The Mondeo still holds all the aces. For the time being anyway.