Ford Focus Active Long-Term Test #3

If you haven’t got a handle on the Ford Focus Active by now then you probably never will.

Apart from the ST hot hatch it’s probably the most interesting member of the current Focus line-up and undoubtedly the most useful.

Essentially, it’s a Ford Focus hatch with the same 1.5-litre turbo-petrol triple-cylinder engine as all variants except the ST, but with an extra 30mm or so of ground clearance.

It’s also got ‘slippery’ and ‘trail’ drive assist modes to suggest it’s an SUV. It’s not, it’s still an orthodox front-wheel drive hatch, albeit taller and with an evocative name.

First launched in August 2019, the Ford Focus Active will almost certainly be updated with a minor MY21 facelift by the time you read this.

The car we tested was worth $30,490 before on-road costs and standard comfort gear included 17-inch alloy wheels, keyless entry/start, SYNC3 infotainment system, wireless smartphone charging, 8.0-inch touch-screen, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto smartphone integration and dual-zone climate control.

Ford offers plenty of options and the test car included 18-inch wheels shod with Conti rubber that were part of an $1800 ‘Design Pack’. Also included were adaptive LED headlights and privacy glass.

The Active is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Service intervals crop up every 15,000km or 12 months, whichever comes first.

The Ford Focus Active comes with a five-star 2019 ANCAP rating, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection and six airbags.

Other standard safety gear includes forward collision warning, traffic sign recognition (pretty darn good too), lane keeping aid and departure warning and a reversing camera.

An optional $1250 ‘Driver Assistance Pack’ was fitted to the test car and featured Blind Spot Information System; Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Active Braking; Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop & Go and Lane Centering.

The Active gets the familiar SYNC3 infotainment system that plays via an 8.0-inch screen sitting on the centre stack. It’s a very easy system to use, notably when linking up to Apple CarPlay.

The 134kW/240Nm turbo-petrol triple powering the Ford Focus Active has been around since 2017. An all-aluminium design, it is double overhead camshaft with 16 valves, includes an integrated exhaust manifold and both port and direct fuel-injection.

It even features cylinder deactivation, running on only two cylinders on light throttle. Ford claims a 6.4L/100km fuel consumption average for the Active.

It mates with an eight-seed torque converter automatic transmission that offers only paddles for manual shifting, as the traditional lever is replaced by a dial.

Like all Focus models, the Active is underpinned by the latest Ford C2 architecture that has since also been used to support the latest Ford Escape and the Ford Bronco Sport.

Like the now departed ST-Line wagon, the Active gets an independently suspended multi-link rear-end (and twin-tube shock absorbers) rather than the beam axle lesser Focus models are fitted with.

While other reviewers tested the carsales long-term Ford Focus Active in its natural urban environment – where it shone – yours truly decided on a long interstate run.

How long? Well, in the end it added up to more than 3600km. And through it all the Focus did not miss a beat.

There were two adults travelling and the Active easily accommodated us in the comfortable front pews, as well as our bits and bobs in the accompanying storage areas.

Fold down the rear bench seats and there was plenty of room for our suitcases, bags and loose items as you can see from the photographs. If there were four adults travelling with luggage things would get tight.

Much of our driving was on freeways. Long hours of freeways. Here the Focus proved itself quiet to ride in and a pleasantly comfortable absorber of bumps.

We did get onto more traditional Aussie beat-up bitumen every now and again and the Focus Active handled it well too. That extra suspension travel really helped out, as undoubtedly did the IRS.

It also retained the light yet accurate steering Focus is known for.

The engine is willing and able, makes that distinct triple-cylinder growl and has enough power and torque to keep moving along rapidly – something helped in our case by not having to haul too much human and other cargo.

If the concept of a triple feels under-sized to you, don’t worry. It’s giving nothing up to naturally-aspirated fours like you’d find in the Mazda CX-30.

Both of us grew to like and have confidence in the semi-autonomous ability delivered by the adaptive cruise and its digital accomplices. In dry conditions with well-defined white lines bordering the freeway lane, the Active was utterly reliable.

Keep one hand resting lightly on the steering wheel and we could trundle along without drama for ages. However, wet and heavily striated roads confused the system and we had to take back over.

So plusses and minuses there, but sadly the dial that substituted for a gearshift lever served only to disappoint.

Sure, having to take eyes away from the road when selecting gears was only a temporary adjustment issue, but more permanent was the lag that came between selecting that gear and setting off.

It was especially apparent in reverse and always annoyed.

The rest of the interior didn’t so much offend as not make an impression. The Active is a pretty bland looker compared to something like the aforementioned CX-30.

Overall, for our interstate cruise, the Active returned a fuel consumption average of 6.0L/100km. Yep, that’s under the official claim and that gives you a pretty clear idea how much light throttle cruising we did.

For me, the Ford Focus Active is the most sensible Focus.

It’s comfortable, functional and liveable for the day-to-day. Maybe it lacks the sexiness of the ST, but that isn’t a problem for most of us most of the time.

We finished our interstate sojourn pleased to have shared it with the Focus Active. In fact, we’d happily do it again.

How much does the 2020 Ford Focus Active cost?
Price: $30,490 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 134kW/240Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 6.4L/100km (ADR Combined) 6.0L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 148g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2019)