Puma SUV and Focus Active offer excellent value for money
remaining as buoyant as ever, there will always be a place for a small car like this with its 401-litre boot.
Inside, the sporty theme continues with alloy pedals, Performance seats and an ST gear knob.
There are four driving modes – Normal, Eco, Sport and Slippery – as well as Ford’s rather good Quickclear heated windscreen, which will have you off your marks in no time.
There is a load of safety kit onboard and all the latest tech, as you would expect from Ford.
With that in mind, when the Focus Active turned up on my doorstep, I was prepared to be let down.
After all, this was a manual version of the same engine as the Puma but this time tuned to 155PS as opposed to the Puma’s 170PS.
It is a measure, however, of Ford being able to please everyone that I ended up really liking this car.
The Active model is the slightly jacked-up crossover version of the Focus, with a higher ride height and rough road suspension.
But given that I was driving my granddaughter around in this car, I was not really looking for the performance and dynamics of the Puma.
We cr u i s ed a rou nd smoothly with the odd burst of speed when necessary. The nav worked really well and, when we needed to perform the occasional U-turn, this car responded magnificently.
Saying that, it has a top speed of 131mph so is no slouch and will get from 0- 62 in 9.7 seconds. For everyday driving, you can expect 54.3mpg and it pumps out just 118g/km of CO2.
Techwise, there was wireless charging, which I always like, and I was pleased to see it included one of my favourite safety features, a bl ind spot informat ion system. It only cost an extra £ 450 but to me that kind of kit is priceless.
The starting price for this car is £ 29,290, which is remarkable in these days of extremely costly cars. Having said that, it was about £2000 less than the Puma – so really two very good value cars.