• Decent interior space all-round
• Very good for headroom for most
• Boot is the biggest issue

How much space is there?

There’s enough room in the back to accommodate two adults if there isn’t a pair of tall people in the front (with legroom varying with the angle of the rear seats).

Put two taller people in the front seats and legroom in the back is quickly diminished, with only small children able to spread out comfortably. The seats themselves are comfortable, though.

Boot space and storage

You get a smattering of storage cubbies including a chilled glovebox, which will hold six cans of drink, and door pockets, which will hold 1.5-litre bottles of water. You get a drawer under the front passenger seat too.

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There’s a maximum of 356 litres available with the boot floor as low as it can go. If you position it higher, there’s a 334-litre capacity, which does fall slightly short of rivals like the SEAT Arona and Renault Captur, but only slightly.

The boot, with its swing-style opening, opens towards the pavement for the UK rather than away from it. This shouldn’t put you off buying the car, but it’s worth noting all the same if you regularly find yourself in tight car parks – reversing the car into a space could prove troublesome when you come to open the boot. A traditional tailgate would make life much easier, plus it’s quite a heavy thing to open and close, with a slightly awkward handle located in the tail lights.

Is it easy to park?

All EcoSports come with a rear view camera and parking sensors. It isn’t particularly large and the higher ride height means navigating in and out of tight parking spaces is a breeze. Tinted windows on higher-spec models makes it quite dark when looking out the back of the car, but thanks to its slab-sided design, you’d do well to struggle squeezing into most spaces.

One problem we noticed is the large pillars restricting your view out of the front, which can become particularly noticeable at junctions where you need to pull out of a side street. There’s a small quarter light, but it’s a very chunky set-up that feels quite obtrusive.

Safety

• Four-star Euro NCAP safety rating
• But that was for pre-facelift car
• From 2017 on, more safety kit added

The unfortunate fact about Ford EcoSport safety is that it’s just not up to scratch compared with many rivals. It was only scored four stars by Euro NCAP when it was crash tested in 2013 – mainly because of the lack of speed limiter and rear seatbelt reminders but also because more testing of the front end would be required for a better pedestrian safety score.

Since then, a speed limiter has been added to the cruise control system, and extra driver assistance tech such as blindspot monitoring has been added to the options list, as well as new side and thorax airbags.

That said, it scored 93% in the adult occupancy tests, which means it’s a safe car to be in if the unthinkable happens. You get a large selection of airbags to keep you safe, while electronic safety features such as stability control with roll-over mitigation serve to keep the car on the road in tricky conditions.