Ford Focus Estate review - Practicality, comfort and boot space

Jump into the front seat of any new Ford Focus, and without looking over your shoulder you’ll never know whether it’s an estate or hatchback – up front the two variants are identical. That means you get a great driving position with plenty of adjustment, and a slim centre console to maximise available space for people.

There’s a minor difference for rear seat passengers as the arc of the estate’s roof means they get more headroom, but unsurprisingly it’s the boot space where the real advantages are to be found. 

Leg room, head room & passenger space

The old Focus always suffered with cramped rear accommodation, but the new model – hatch or estate – benefits from extra length in the wheelbase of the new platform. As a result, six-footers can now travel comfortably in the rear of the car, while a flat floor makes the centre rear seat more usable too. The rear seats also have an easy-to-use fold facility, and ISOFIX mounts for child seats.

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Boot

Careful suspension design has helped to maximise the space available in the Focus Estate’s luggage compartment, which is considerably bigger than its predecessor. Even with the rear seats in use you get a massive 728-litres of load area, which compares well to just 443 litres in the hatch.

If you fold the rear seats down you’re rewarded with a flat load space with a huge 1,620 volume Useful features include hands-free boot operation, and an adjustable load floor which allows more flexibility when loading bulky items. There's also a dedicated space beneath the load floor to store the tonneau cover when not in use.