Ford Focus review

Even the tallest drivers should be fine in the Ford Focus, and its leg, head and shoulder room are up there with the very best family cars (although the Skoda Octavia provides slightly more front head room).

There are lots of storage spaces dotted around, including a couple of cupholders and trays for your phone in the centre console. The glovebox and front door bins aren’t especially generous, though.

At on time, a shortage of rear space was the Ford Focus’s Achilles heel, but that's no longer the case. Indeed, the latest version has even more leg room than the voluminous Octavia, so a six-footer can fit easily behind a similar-sized driver. The Seat Leon is similarly generous in the rear, while a Skoda Scala has even more room should you need it. 

Another plus for the Focus is its nearly flat rear floor, which makes life very agreeable for a middle seat passenger. Most of its rivals, such as the Volkswagen Golf, have a big hump that the middle passenger has to straddle. 

Where fitted, the panoramic sunroof eats into head room, so if you fancy one of those but regularly transport tall rear passengers, make sure you try before you buy.

Only X Edition Ford Focus trims and above come with front passenger seat lumbar and height adjustment as standard, and only with the non-hybrid engines. On lower trim levels, we recommend paying the relatively small charge for the optional Comfort Seats. These grant your passengers six-way manual seat adjustment (again, not on the hybrid models).

The rear seats split and fold in a 60/40 arrangement as standard, but, unlike some of the Focus's rivals, there are no handy release levers by the boot entrance. Instead, you have to open the rear doors to use the release levers on top of the seatbacks – a nuisance if you have your hands full. The Seat Leon and Volkswagen Golf are also available with a useful ski hatch, which the Ford Focus lacks. 

While the Ford Focus boot is no cavernous Wookey Hole – or Skoda Octavia, for that matter – it is as usable and voluminous as the Seat Leon's. Fitting in a large pram shouldn't pose a problem, and it can swallow six carry-on suitcases (below the parcel shelf) – one more than you can get in the Volkswagen Golf. There’s a little lip at the entrance to heave items over and no option of a height-adjustable boot floor, but the space is a good square shape with decent proportions.

Be aware of one little idiosyncrasy, though. If you order the B&O premium sound system (standard on the Vignale), its subwoofer takes up a chunk of room under the boot floor and reduces the space available by the equivalent of one carry-on case.