Ford Fusion 1.4 Durashift EST

WHEN it comes to cars for the urban jungle there can be few better candidates than the Ford Fusion Durashift. Here is a vehicle that's in its element in the sort of traffic that would reduce a Gregorian monk to wheel-thumping, vein popping frustration. If you really want to make the urban sprawl and crawl your own, here's the car for the job.

Combine the elevated ride height of the Fusion body with the 'clutchless' Durashift EST gearbox and you're onto a metropolitan winner. Ask many drivers committed to manual gearboxes what they dislike most about a conventional automatic and it would probably be just that: the removal of that vital element of control. We've all driven poor automatics that change up halfway through corners, thus depriving us of grip. Either that or they'll snick the next gear up as you start descending a hill, ensuring that you wear through brake pads at double the normal rate. Durashift EST is different. It's a clutchless manual gearbox that retains all the control, performance, low cost and economy of a manual 'box, along with the convenience and simplicity of an automatic. That's Ford's party line at least.

Prices start at £10,000 for a Durashift EST equipped Fusion 1 fitted with the Duratec 1.4-litre 16v petrol engine, with the equivalent Fusion 2 and 3 models retailing at £11,000 and £11,650 respectively. A luxury Fusion + can be ordered that includes in-car DVD entertainment for rear seat passengers, bigger alloy wheels and a subtle styling kit.

The elevated ride height and clutchless Durashift EST make a metropolitan winner.