The 2 Series Active Tourer scored five stars at Euro NCAP’s crash-testing programme.

It’s got plenty of safety kit on board as standard, including two rear Isofix mounting points and one in the front passenger seat.

And should the worst happen, and you have an accident, BMW Emergency Call will automatically contact you and inform the local emergency services if any of the car’s airbags are deployed.

A raft of Connected Drive options further increase the 2 Series Active Tourer’s safety, with Adaptive LED headlights, a head-up display and an Active cruise control that will brake when it detects you are closing on the car in front, are all available. On top of that, Active Guard and Driving Assistant stops you from wandering between lanes as well as detecting objects and pedestrians in your way, warning you of their presence – and if required braking you to a halt.

WATCH: BMW 2 Series Active Tourer Euro NCAP crash test

• Spacious cabin and large boot
• Hybrid model suffers slightly
• Should prove easy to park

Space is key here, and so BMW 2 Series Active Tourer practicality is one of the highlights of the entire package. In comparison with the 1 Series Sports Hatch, the compact people carrier is 16mm longer and 25mm wider.

Despite a fractionally shorter wheelbase, the Active Tourer boasts more interior space – with rear legroom comparable to a seven series. Certainly, it’s no problem for a full sized adult to sit behind another in complete comfort. That rear bench can slide forward or backwards too, varying the mixture between boot and passenger space as required, though there’s no full-removal option.

The Active Tourer shouldn’t be hugely difficult to park. Its footprint is the size of a medium hatchback but thanks to the tall body the driver has great visibility as the windows are so big.

Depending on specification you can have rear acoustic sensors, a camera or an automatic parking system to help this 2 Series slot into your garage.

With the rear seats (electrically) folded flat, the load space is similar to that of the firm’s 3 Series Touring. The 2 Series Active Tourer sports a particularly wide rear tailgate opening too, just to make loading larger items easier.

Including the underfloor storage area, there’s up to 468 litres of space available, with 1,510 on offer with the rear seats folded. It’s worth noting here that 225xe plug-in hybrid buyers will lose a bit of room thanks to the batteries located under the boot floor, so capacity drops to 400 and 1,350 litres respectively. If you’ve got longer items to carry, then the optional folding front passenger seat is a worthwhile option, while as standard the rear bench splits in a 40:20:40 configuration.