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 Estate car’s boot 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.

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The rear seats have an easy to use fold facility, and ISOFIX mounts for child seats.

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 608-litres of load area, which compares well to just 375 litres in the hatch.

If you fold the rear seats down you’re rewarded with a flat load space with a huge 1,650 volume, and useful features include hands-free boot operation, and a place to stash the retractable luggage cover under the boot floor.