• Plenty of room for passengers
• Unimpressive boot space
• Average storage space up front

How much space is there?

The facelift hasn’t affected the Ford Focus’s level of practicality. Four passengers can travel in comfort – and there’s an adequate amount of space on the rear bench for a fifth. Leg-room and shoulder-room in the back is generous, with enough width for an average-sized adult in the middle seat. There’s more space here than in a Volkswagen Golf, for example.

As an added benefit, the view from the back seats is good thanks to wide windows. That’s more than can be said of alternatives like the Toyota Corolla – and it’ll no doubt be welcomed by car-sick children.

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Boot space and storage 

With the rear seats in place, the Focus’s boot capacity falls just five litres short of the Volkswagen Golf’s at 375 litres. There’s 1,354 litres of storage space on offer if you fold the rear bench flat, although that’s 200 litres less than you get in the cavernous Skoda Octavia. So, if you value maximum storage space above all else, consider looking elsewhere.

Despite this, the Ford Focus’s boot is a good shape with minimal intrusion from the wheel housings. There is a small lip from the boot opening to the boot floor, so bear this in mind if you’ll be regularly carrying heavy items. Folded down in their standard 60:40 split, the rear seats sit almost flat and allow long items to be slid forwards with relative ease.

Cabin storage is a little stingy. The glovebox and the central armrest storage bin could be larger, and there aren’t any of the clever storage solutions you get in the Octavia. However, the door pockets are deceptively large and the central cupholder can now be adjusted to suit a range of drink sizes, which help make up for it.

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Is it easy to park?

The Ford Focus doesn’t feel that big when out on the road. Forward visibility is ample, although the chunky rear pillars are more than capable of obscuring a pedestrian or lamp post. Front and rear parking sensors have since been made standard on all versions, while a rear-view camera is optional on most.

Choose the automatic gearbox and the Focus can also be specified with an updated version of Ford’s automatic parking technology, called Active Park Assist 2 (manual versions get regular Active Park Assist). This allows the vehicle to scan for a space and theoretically park itself with minimal input from the driver.

View dimensions in the Ford Focus specs pages

Safety

• Five-star rating from Euro NCAP
• Two Isofix points as standard
• Plenty of safety technology on offer

The Ford Focus is available with a range of safety technology designed to keep the car out of harm’s way and protect the driver. Its safety credentials have been validated by Euro NCAP, which rated it as a five-star car when it was tested in summer 2018 and then retested in 2019.

Pre-Collision Assist with pedestrian and cyclist detection technology is standard-fit on all models and can detect people in or near the road ahead, or if they’re about to cross the road in front of the car. If it detects a potential collision, the driver is warned, then the brakes are automatically applied.

The adaptive LED headlights found on high-spec models are quite slick, as they look like they actively pivot light around objects, rather than simply lighting up and dimming clusters accordingly.

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Other safety technology on the Focus includes:

• Adaptive cruise control (above) is standard on ST and optional on all models
• Evasive Steering Assist, that steers around a stationary or slower-moving vehicle if the car detects that a collision is imminent
• Blindspot Information System (BLIS) with Cross Traffic Alert, warns drivers  if another vehicle is approaching when reversing out of a space
• Adaptive front lighting – capable of adjusting the light beam to give better visibility through corners and when coming up to junctions
• Post-collision braking, where the brakes are automatically applied after an impact

Watch: Ford Focus Hatchback Euro NCAP crash test