For: Spacious, airy and well-sorted cabin; superb ride; torquey and refined dturbodiesel; a quality car.

Against: Fiddly IPod connection; inconsistent steering feel; really only makes sense if you're clocking big kays.

Score: 4.5/5

The car on test presents a level of happiness money cannot buy, more's the pity. I'll explain why in a moment. Here's what made me smile. I clocked 1400kms and averaged a fuel burn of 6.5 litres per 100km overall; that's not bad given the distance comprised not only four decent highway runs – none of less than two hours' duration.

The immediate hit on my pocket came to less than $150, from two refueling stops, the first after 650kms driving. Pleasing: I'm a cheapskate who hates to stop on trips.

Here's what broadened the grin even more. The car we drove was a dynamic joy. It also ran with impressive refinement and was commended by the rear-seat passengers, who joined us for two of those distance drives, for its comfort and quietness. One felt so relaxed he took an afternoon nap. Given that this occurred while I was taking a short cut along some lightly travelled, but relatively sinuous, country roads, I was surprised.

So well done Ford, your Focus Titanium was a complete winner. Moreso in the version that you allowed me to sample. And so to the only question: When it's obviously so good, why won't you sell it here? And that's the cat out of the bag. The car I trialled was a Titanium diesel, for now a trim-drivetrain blend that is freely available overseas but not on sale here.

Ford New Zealand has petrol Titaniums, in hatch and sedan, and know there's a market for the oiler engine. What they apparently cannot quite reconcile is how the two sit together.

It's not so much that they don't think that the elements of luxury and growly, torque-rich parsimonious performance don't go together. More that, because this engine carries a premium, the combination might take the Focus up to a price level that buyers might find hard to stomach.

Currently, the Titanium petrol costs $49,490 while the dearest diesel, the lower-spec Trend, carries a $3000 premium over a Trend petrol. So, conceivably, a diesel Titanium hatch would push beyond $50k, a natural barrier. Too much? Maybe the production switch from Europe to Thailand later this year will allow a rethink.

In the interim Ford has several Titanium diesel hatches out here for trial, and I'd happily become an ongoing ambassador for the concept. I know that diesel carries the pitfall of Road User Charges, which is an off-putting and unnecessary incumbrance. And, agreed, diesels cars only make real sense when they're being driven over reasonable distance; I figure you'd have to be clocking at least 800kms a week to make the numbers crunch. I did. Accordingly, so did they. And, maybe, the need to run for the money makes for another black mark. How many of use drive this far, this regularly?

You know how we motoring writers feel about the Focus; the car's recent NZ Car of the Year victory says it all. My scores for that competition were sent in before I tried the diesel; had this engine being considered, the points count would have been higher still. It's a gem.

The 120kW power output is good for a 2.0-litre turbodiesel but the abiding attraction is the 350Nm torque. That's a lot of shove and it delivers especially well; as you'd expect, there's lots of meaty punch from very low revs.

For almost all the time, the car is doing all that is asked without pulling anywhere near the redline. Indeed, in open road operation, the only times it breached 2000rpm was with foot-down overtaking, something that it also happily handles because this is a diesel with true fire, as the 0-100kmh time of 8.9 seconds reminds.

That smooth torque surge ensures the diesel is also a superb accomplice for the Powershift dual-clutch gearbox; unlike the petrol, it isn't affected by occasional jerking between gears.

Powershift is the right idea. Automated manuals are a vast improvement on traditional automatics, being smoother, faster, more flexible and more efficient. Ford's has a fuel-saving Drive mode with a built-in tendency to shift to higher gears early and a Sports mode that holds gears for longer and can shift down with a nice over-rev at the first sign of a corner.

Drive mode is best for easy cruising and Sport can be saved for the hills. Either way, the transmission works really well with the diesel, and there's no secret why. Simply, there's so much torque that it rarely becomes necessary to change ratios manually; the box simply undertakes the right moves at the right time, usually seamlessly.

That's a good thing, because as previously noted, the manual mode is rubbish. The awkward up/down buttons on the lever aren't as logical as a set of paddleshifters, which also enable drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel.

The laidback yet muscular style of this drivetrain also attunes fantastically with the car's demeanour. Engineers say their goals were to make the car more comfortable than its predecessor, yet just as much fun. They've succeeded.

With one of the highest torsional rigidity ratings in its segment and an astutely tuned suspension rig, it remains one of the best handling vehicles in the small car class, yet the setup feels more grown-up now. Bumps in the road are ironed out and there's radical improvement is in refinement - there's little in the way of road and wind noise.

And yet, as I say, there's still a bit of bogan in it. Regardless of the new degree of compliance, take it through corners and the old handling tautness shows through. A move to electrically assisted steering has both pros and cons; the car is easy to manoeuvre at low speed, and loads up nicely when pushing on. Yet it can be caught out, especially when turned sharply from one corner into the next.

The most obvious change in pace for Focus comes with the styling; it's certainly upmarket in appearance, but there's something about the side profile that disturbs. It's somehow lean yet bulky, to the point where even the Titanium's 18-inch alloys look barely adequate. The new design ethic works better inside. A complete overhaul of the interior delivers adventurous styling, quality materials and techno-wizardry.

It's amazing to think that New Zealand still sees a Titanium-lite. Key overseas markets see a car with a much broader array of smarts, most controlled by voice and/or touch though a ‘My Ford Touch' system that is still at least a year away. And this particular car didn't have the sat-nav that has become standard since last month, so I was guided by my Tom Tom.

Even so, it still had a couple of high-tech aids you'd expect on a German luxury car costing more than twice as much, most notably Active Park Assist, a radar guided system that allows the car to virtually park itself.

You still have to prod the throttle and brake, but otherwise the ultrasonic sensors do all. It's a neat system that works. Titanium also takes also get keyless entry and ignition, reverse parking sensors, rain-sensing wipers, automatic headlights, a self-dimming rearview mirror, dual-zone climate control, ambient LED interior lighting, voice controlled audio and Bluetooth phone, colour LCD screens, cruise control and heated leather seats.

The stereo is one of the best; a high quality nine-speaker Sony system that has superb functionality and sound. Siting the iPod plug-ins within the glove box is a spoiler. I've no qualms about keeping it out of sight, but the USB and Aux plugs are awkwardly sited. You basically need three hands.

But let's finish where we started. It was spacious, efficient and superbly comfortable, not just for the rear seat occupants. The excellence of Ford's front chairs didn't properly hit home until the other day, when we took another small hatch – ironically from a brand that has had ties with Ford – on much the same trip. Sore backs and numb lower legs after just a short time into the journey told a sobering story. Within an hour of leaving home, my wife quietly voiced what I'd been thinking: "I wish we still had the Focus."