A minute or two behind the wheel of the Ford Mondeo is enough to convince you that our new James Bond made no mistake when he made his Casino Royale debut briefly at the wheel of one.

Sixteen buttons on the steering wheel, excluding the horn, voice-activated navigation, Bluetooth telephony, adaptive cruise control and a tyre pressure monitoring system and all on a family car.

Q would be turning in his grave.

OK, this is the top-of-the-range Titanium X model, but it perfectly illustrates the quantum leap Ford has made with its flagship car.

Not only bigger and better than before, the Belgian-built car has a Germanic solidity about its construction that is certain to keep it in the list of top-ten best sellers, where the model has remained since its launch more than 15 years ago.

The ace up the new Mondeo's sleeve is the step up in ride and refinement.

The car shares much of its chassis design with the Ford S-MAX and Galaxy, but its ride and handling has been tuned to account for its lower centre of gravity.

It combines a sporty drive with a refined ride and low noise, vibration and harshness and all new Mondeos come with electronic stability programme as standard.

The test car was also fitted with Ford's 'interactive vehicle dynamics control' with continuously controlled damping.

This electronic system provides even better handling, comfort and stability, plus shorter braking distances.

At a touch of a button, the driver is offered a choice of three different suspension settings: comfort, normal and sport.

The system, which is closely connected to the Mondeo's standard ESP system, is capable of adjusting the dampers to a firmer setting every tenth of a second, providing responsive and immediate control.

In addition, a lot of effort has gone into reducing noise with door mirror design, thicker door glass, new door seals, concealed wiper arms and blades and the shape of the door handles all playing their part.

Prices for the Mondeo range from about £15,000 to £24,500 and even lower-specification models receive an impressive list of standard equipment, that includes air conditioning, 'follow-me-home' lights, trip computer, Ford Easyfuel capless refuelling with fuel inhibitor to prevent misfuelling and an auxiliary audio input socket located in the glovebox to allow connection for iPod-style audio devices.

As usual with Ford, the choice of models is mind-boggling – three distinct bodystyles, four trim levels, and a wide range of diesel and petrol engines.

More than a million Mondeos have been sold in the UK alone since 1993. If 007 is happy to be seen at the wheel, prepare to see plenty more.

Auto facts Ford Mondeo TDCi Titanium X

  • Price: £24,595
  • Ins group: 12
  • Fuel consumption (Combined): 45.6mpg
  • Top speed: 139mph
  • Length: 477.8cm/188.1in
  • Width: 188.6cm/74.2in
  • Luggage capacity: 18.6 cu ft
  • Fuel tank capacity: 15.4 gallons/70 litres
  • CO2 emissions: 165g/km
  • Warranty: 3 years/60,000 miles