• Spacious interior impresses
• Generous rear-seat space
• Well-shaped boot with good access

How much space is there?

The regular Focus hatch already impresses with its interior space, and luckily the Active goes unchanged in this regard. If anything, it’s better, as the slight rise in ride height means you don’t have quite as far to lower yourself into the car. However, this is only really noticeable next to a lowered ST-Line – it’s still just a hatchback.

That said, once you’re inside, you’re unlikely to be wanting for room, whether that’s in the front or the back. There’s a good amount of adjustment in the seats, but some may find you sit a little too high when driving, and that the seat base isn’t quite long enough to properly support your legs. However, there’s a good amount of storage both between the seats or ahead of the gearlever in the form of shallow trays, and some large door bins as well.

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In the back, legroom is impressive even with a taller driver in the front, although the rear door slopes quite a lot which impedes access more than you’d find when getting into a Volkswagen Golf or Kia Ceed. Once you’re in there’s plenty of space, although cars with a panoramic roof really brighten things up inside – it can feel a little dark and claustrophobic in the back of some models with darker headlining.

Boot space and storage

In the boot, there’s 341 litres of boot space with the rear seats in place, although models with a mini spare wheel and B&O sound system upgrade offer less room at 273 litres. Fold the seats down and up to 1,320 litres of load space is available up to the roof. It’s worth noting that the seats don’t fold completely flat, but thankfully the loading lip is low, and the tailgate itself wide enough for most without too much intrusion.

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Is it easy to park?

Visibility is the same as the regular hatchback, with front and rear parking sensors fitted as standard on all models. A rear-view camera and park assist is available as part of the optional Convenience pack.

This pack also comes with door edge protectors to minimise damage in tighter spaces.

Safety

• Euro NCAP score shared with the regular Focus
• That means a five-star rating
• More safety kit available at extra cost

As standard, the Focus Active comes with a pre-collision warning system and autonomous emergency braking (with pedestrian and cyclist detection) that helps contribute to its five-star crash safety rating from Euro NCAP. All models also come with lane-keeping aid (although unlike a lot of modern cars, it stays off when you switch it off instead of reinitialising each time you switch the ignition on) with lane-keeping alert and a post-collision braking system that stops you being shunted into cars in front if you get rear-ended.

Useful features such as auto lights and wipers come as standard to make life a little easier on the road, while brighter LED headlamps are only standard on Active X cars. They’re optional on lower-spec cars, and we’d certainly recommend them. The standard-fit halogen items are really quite dim compared with the sharper LEDs that light up more of the road. As a result, night driving is a little less tiring. Adaptive LEDs are also available.

During our long-term test of the Focus Active we’ve been seriously impressed with the Matrix LED headlights that are a £950 optional extra. These adapt their beam to ‘cut out’ traffic in front of you, meaning you never dazzle other drivers but get the benefit of a seriously wide-angle high-beam headlight.

A blindspot monitoring system comes at extra cost on all Active models, and also includes cross-traffic alert with active braking. Finally, a Driver Assistance Pack throws in traffic sign recognition, automatic high-beam and adaptive cruise control. The latter feature includes lane-centring assist and automatic stop and go on cars with automatic transmissions.  We’ve found it works smoothly and obediently, although the adjustable gap to the car in front could have better parameters – it ranges from slightly too close, to too far away.