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. If you just want the simplicity of a conventional automatic, you can have one but only with the 1.6-litre engine.

You may well have seen this sort of gearbox before. The famous Ferrari F1, Alfa Romeo Selespeed and BMW SMG systems are all examples of its ilk, but the Fusion's system runs headlong into more prosaic and slightly less well-known competitors. Direct rivals like the Renault Clio Quickshift and the Vauxhall Corsa Easytronic have already made inroads into this market. In order to move the game forward, the Fusion Durashift not only adds those crucial vertical inches but also offers a cleverer electronic brain.

"The Durashift gearbox makes the Fusion an urban warrior par excellence"

Prices start at £11,140 for a Durashift EST equipped Style fitted with the Duratec 1.4-litre 16v petrol engine, with the equivalent Zetec and Zetec Climate models retailing at £11,740 and £12,340 respectively. A luxury £12,940 Fusion Plus can be ordered that includes a CD autochanger, bigger alloy wheels and a subtle styling kit. Durashift EST is an electromechanical adaptation of the standard Fusion five speed manual transmission with two distinct modes of operation - Auto Shift Mode (ASM) and Select Shift Mode (SSM). Three tiny electric motors take the place of the clutch pedal and the cables normally required by the clutch and shifting mechanisms. Two of these motors do the shifting work on the driver's behalf and the third motor, supported by a hefty spring, actuates the clutch. So yes, despite there being no clutch pedal, you still get a clutch.

To engage the manual SSM mode, the driver merely has to move the lever from the 'D' position and tip the lever back to change up and forward to change down. Unlike most systems which can be a little jerky, the Fusion Durashift is easy to flick smoothly up and down the gearbox, the engine even blipping instantaneously on downshifts to match the revs for you. The key difference between Durashift EST and many other sequential manual transmissions is the quality of the software in full automatic ASM mode. Drop the lever into 'D' and roll away and you'll probably appreciate the syrupy smoothness, but there's a whole lot of clever programming behind it. The Transmission Control Unit (TCU) is a box of tricks that gathers information from a number of sensors, analyses driving styles and communicates with the car's main brain, the engine control unit (ECU). This allows the Durashift-equipped Fusion to include a number of clever driving 'strategies'.

It has a downhill detection system that compares vehicle acceleration and driving torque. When the downhill mode is activated, the system reacts by forbidding upshifts below a certain engine speed. When the brakes are applied, the system downshifts to a lower gear ratio. Likewise, the system has strategies for driving uphill or when driving against resistance, for example when pulling a trailer. There's a curve detection mode to prevent unwanted gearchanges midcorner and a 'fast-off detection' system that stops the gearbox upshifting if the driver's foot flies rapidly off the accelerator - a typical response when he or she is unsure of the road ahead or about to hit the brakes. Like any automatic, there's even a 'creep' function that eases the car forward when in 'D' or backwards when in 'R', prolonging the life of the clutch in stop/start traffic and making the whole process a good deal smoother.

As you would expect from anything based on a Fiesta, the handling is very good. Although the tall Fusion looks like something that may be slightly top heavy, your first corner will rapidly dispel this impression. Somehow Ford seem to have engineered a ride that's able to absorb the ruts and bumps of city streets with a chassis that enjoys spirited driving. Refinement is a mixed bag, the 1.4-litre engine being reasonably well behaved at higher speeds with tyre and wind noise making a significant intrusion. The 1.4-litre engine needs to be worked quite hard to make respectable progress, hitting 60mph in 13.5 seconds on the way to 101mph. CO2 emissions are reasonable, the Fusion pumping out 154g for every kilometre travelled. Likewise, you'll not be taken to the cleaners at the pumps, the 43.5mpg average fuel consumption a fine effort. Even around town you can expect to see over 33mpg.

Many industry experts were a little puzzled when the Fusion was first introduced, wondering whether the public would take to this elevated Fiesta. The Fusion Durashift models make a far more convincing case than the manual versions, establishing themselves as the best urban Ford if your needs run beyond a Ka. The Fusion has found its niche. Over to you.