2019 Ford Focus vs 2020

What's the difference?

While It might be hard to explain exactly what micro-niche the Active falls into, it's less difficult to understand it's appeal.

Let's face it, the vast majority of us will never have need for the complex four-wheel-drive systems that appear in some SUVs.

And so a car like the Active makes obvious sense. Whatever the hell it is.

The Focus ST is going to be the perfect hot hatch for many – quick, practical, affordable and driveable every day, much like the Volkswagen Golf GTI. Others will want something hotter, sharper and wilder looking, but for the foreseeable future the ST is the most hardcore hatch Ford has to serve up.

Like the look of the Focus hatchback? Then have we got some news for you. Because the Active looks a lot like one, just a little higher off the ground.

The 17-inch alloys are fitted with higher-profile tyres, and there is some black wheel-arch cladding and side skirts that are designed to convey an adventurous spirit, but outside of that, it's Focus through and through.

That's not a bad thing, mind. The new Focus is a handsome small car. More that you can see where the marketing department might struggle to call this anything but a hatchback.

Climb into the cabin and you're met with an equally Focused experience, though there are some exclusive Active niceties on display. That Nordic Blue piping on the seats, for example, or the 'A'-stamped seat patterns and the Active-stamped scuff plates at the doors.

The Focus is up there with the best-looking small hatches on the market with its low-slung body and sleek profile, the long bonnet and the hungry looking grille. The ST version toughens the look without going over the top.

ST enhancements include the 19-inch ST wheels with 235/35 R19 tyres, the mesh grille, front and rear bumper treatment, the side skirts, roof-top spoiler, and the twin exhaust.

Inside there’s the ST steering wheel, aluminium gear knob, ST metallic pedals, the Ford Performance scuff plates, a dark headliner and ST floor mats.

Want the look without the price tag? The ST-Line Focus could be the answer because it shares many of the same body kit features, but doesn’t have the ST’s performance credentials to go with it.

ST owners might find the almost identical looks to the ST-Line a bit disappointing. Maybe Ford should have made more features ST specific? But ultimately, there are enough differences, including the wheels, the exhaust and diffuser, to signal to those in the know that this isn’t an ordinary Focus.

A nice touch which will make owners happy is the ‘debadging’ of the Focus lettering across the tailgate. Now, not every Focus can boast that.  

Fancy Recaro two-tone seats aside, the rest of the cabin styling in the Focus ST is underwhelming with all its black plastic surfaces and a steering wheel which not only has an overly busy design (with buttons galore), but looks old for a new-gen car.

An interesting cabin feature is the rotary gear shifter, which looks cool and helps create that spacious cockpit feel. What’s it like to use? I’ll cover that in the driving section below.  

The dimensions of the Focus ST are: 4378mm long, 1825mm wide and 1458mm tall.

The Active stretches some 4.4m in length, 1.8m in width and 1.5m in height. In other words, it's very much the Focus hatch you're familiar with, no matter how much the ride height has been lifted.

And that means your key figures are largely unchanged, too; you'll get 375 litres of boot space with the rear seats in place (about on-par for the segment), and 1354 litres with the seats folded flat, though that's measured all the way to the roof line.

Up front, you'll find two cupholders, and a storage pocket in each of the front doors. On the tech front, there's a USB point in front of the wireless charging pad, and another hidden in a  deep, covered central storage bin.

Ford says there is more shoulder room in the backseat, and they've tried to design an airy-feeling space, thanks to larger rear windows. And if you've ever spent time in a car like the Toyota C-HR, for example, then you'll know how important a little lightness and brightness can be for backseat riders.

That's about where the good news ends for backseat riders, though. There's no cupholders (nor a pull-down divider to house them in) and no USB points either. Also missing are rear air vents.

There are two ISOFIX attachment points, though, one in each window seat in the back.

The Focus ST is four-door hatchback with five seats and that makes it far more practical than a coupe sports car, but keep in mind it’s still small.

Legroom is great for me in the second row (I’m 191cm/6'3" tall, though) and when sitting behind my driving position my knees touched the seat back. Headroom back there is good, and I was impressed by the large apertures on those rear doors which made climbing in and out easier than most hatches.

The boot in the Focus ST isn’t the biggest in the class at 273 litres. That’s 68 litres less than the cargo area in the regular Focus because the ST has a subwoofer stereo speaker and a space saver spare wheel living under the boot floor.

Is it big enough to use as a family car? Well it was for our little family with one small child, but only just – the size of the boot really limited what we could take with us.

The lack of directional air vents in the second row isn’t good news for passengers, although there are two cupholders, decent-sized door pockets and a 12V power outlet back there.

Up front there are another two cupholders, big door pockets, a wireless charger and USB port in the hidey hole under the dash, and another USB port in the centre console bin.

If you’re only occasionally going to have people in the back the Focus ST will suit you well with a spacious cockpit that has good head-, leg-, shoulder-, and elbowroom.

A note about those Recaro seats – they have broad backs but a small seat area which I found a bit little for my backside. So, for anybody with a big back and small bottom, this is the seat you’ve been looking for.

The Focus ST lists for $44,690 with the automatic transmission and manual version being the same price, which is $10K more than a top-of-the-range Titanium Focus.

My test car was fitted with the optional panoramic sunroof which looks amazing but during a hot Australian summer this type of roof makes me sweat like an ant under a magnifying glass.

Is the Focus ST good value? Well, you’re not being ripped off and nobody is going to say you’ve paid too much. Not when you factor in features like the B&O audio and high-performance engineering. The Focus ST is also priced close to its rivals. The Volkswagen Golf GTI lists for about $47K, while the Hyundai i30 N is around $45K.

There's just the one engine and gearbox combo on offer here, but it's a peach. A woeful sounding on paper, but utterly charming in real life, 1.5-litre, three-cylinder petrol engine good for 134kW and 240Nm, which is fed through an eight-speed automatic to produce an 8.7 second sprint to 100km/h.

You also get improved independent rear suspension that's missing from most Focus models. Plus the key difference that makes this Active more, well, active, is the increased ride height, but we're really only talking a handful of centimetres at each end.

The 2.3-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine is the heart of the Focus ST and it’s a thumping, noisy one, making plenty of power at 206kW and oodles of torque at 420Nm.

The Focus ST is a front-wheel drive car and while a six-speed manual gearbox is offered, the car tested here had the seven-speed automatic transmission.

Manuals can be tiresome to use daily in heavy traffic, but if driving is a real passion for you then you’ll know how much more engaging it is shifting gears yourself.

Driving enthusiasts might also be disappointed by the auto transmission in Focus ST, which is eager to shift up to higher gears and then quick to change its mind. Meaning I had to keep the car in 'Sport' or manual mode to stop it shuffling cogs incessantly.

So, good marks for the engine but the score is brought down by the auto transmission.

It might be a tiny three-cylinder engine, but Ford has still thought hard about the fuel use equation, including a cylinder deactivation function that, when cruising, shuts down one of the cylinders to save petrol.

As a result, the claimed/combine fuel use figure is 6.4 litres per hundred kilometres - and it's a believable quote, as we scored 6.5 litres after a day of pretty enthusiastic driving.

The Co2 emissions are pegged at a claimed 148g/km, and the fuel tank will hold 52 litres.

Ford says that over a combination of open and urban roads the Focus ST with the automatic transmission will have used 8.8L/100km. I more than doubled that serving suggestion.

Starting with a full tank (52 litres) I drove 134.4km and needed 23.46 litres of petrol to top the tank back up to full. That works out to be 17.5L/100km. The car’s trip computer reckoned I used an average of 16.8L/100km.

Either way that’s thirsty, but not surprising because the ST has a high output four cylinder and my driving was mainly urban based, with a dash to the bush for some twisty roads.

My colleague Matt Campbell tested the manual version of the Focus ST and saw better mileage.

Anyway, who’s buying a high-performance hatch thinking it will be economical? Talking of fuel and money, you’ll need to feed the Focus ST premium unleaded petrol.

"Would you take a regular hatchback on sand?" Asks one of the Blue Oval's reps, as we point the noise of our Active at a stretch of commendably soft sand.

And if we're honest, the answer to that question would be a resounding "no". Not least of which because we've just watched the Active in front of us getting pulled out of this very sand pit, the front tyres dug into the soft stuff like they were burrowing their way to China.

But no sooner was it pulled out than the Active was tackling that very obstacle again, this time with a bit more speed, and sure enough, the high-riding Focus was through the sand and out the other side, the front tyres somehow finding a way to keep the Focus moving.

And then we followed, and with the same successful result. As did the car after us. And so on. 

Now, a true off-roader it ain't. The Active is a front-wheel-drive only proposition, but it's two new drive modes (Trail and Slippery) are intended to give you just a little more confidence as you pull into a campsite or turn onto an unsealed road.

But for mine, the real charm of the Active isn't how it performs off-road, but rather on it. It's not a particularly sporty-feeling drive, and to be fair, there are other cars in the Ford range that can tackle those duties, but the steering is engaging, and it's a composed, comfortable and quiet drive experience.

Part of the reason for that is the new independent rear suspension setup (also found in the ST Line wagon). We piloted the Active over some pretty harsh and broken country roads on our drive program, and it proved plenty comfortable, disposing of most road imperfections with little bother.

A final word? I bloody love the engine. A tiny little three-cylinder unit, sure, but it never feels underdone, even when overtaking uphills. And for bonus points, it makes a delightful little burble when you plant your right foot.

My colleague Matt Campbell reviewed the manual version of the Focus ST back in May 2020, and said he couldn’t wait to pilot the automatic, but I think he may have tested the better option when it comes to sporty driving.

I say that, though, not having tested the manual ST, but I’d bet my gear-shifting arm it’s more fun to drive, and that’s because the automatic seven-speed was constantly leaping up to higher gears and the only way to restrain it was by choosing Sport mode.

Even then the transmission kept changing its mind about which gear it wanted. But really, that's the only bad news when it comes to driving. The rest is all good.

Yup, the Focus ST not only does everything else right, it does it superbly. There’s the steering which is accurate and has great feedback, although plant the right foot and you’ll feel it squirm with a smidge of torque steer.

There’s the acceleration: 0-100km/h in six seconds. That’s not going to rip your face off, but it will put a smile on it.

Traction is also good, especially for a front-wheel drive car with this much grunt. And the chassis is taut and offers a great connection to what’s happening underneath you.

I was especially impressed by the ride. Sure, potholes could unsettle it, but for the most part in 'Comfort' or Sport mode the ride was composed, planted and almost comfortable (some family members felt it was a bit firm).

Helping pull the ST up are big brakes – 330mm rotors at the front and 302mm at the rear. I agree with Matt, in his review of the manual version, that while adequate, this set-up doesn't deliver the stopping power expected from anchors this big on a small car.

Now the rotary gear shifter – impressive to look at, just not to use. Ergonomically, I find it’s easier to pull or push a shifter than to turn a dial.

You may get used to it over time, but I never have despite driving various cars with them for a decade. Dials are great for adjusting things in small increments like the volume of the radio or climate control temperature but not for important stuff such as selecting Reverse or Drive.

ANCAP gave the Ford Focus the maximum five-star rating when it was tested in 2019.  

There’s a high level of advanced safety technology onboard such as AEB which can detect and brake for cyclists and pedestrians, along with vehicles of course, and there’s also rear cross alert with braking, lane departure warning and corrective steering to keep you in your lane, adaptive cruise control and blind spot warning.

A reversing camera is also standard, so too are front and rear parking sensors.

For child seats you’ll find three top tether points and two ISOFIX mounts across the second row.

The Ford Focus Active is covered by a five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, with servicing required every 15,000kms or 12 months.

Service pricing is capped for the first four years, too, with each service costing a maximum $299 for the first four years or 60,000km.

The Focus ST is covered by Ford’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty. There’s seven years of roadside assistance, too, provided you service it with Ford.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 15,000km and capped at $299 for the first four services.