Saw an Active in a showroom about a year ago and thought it looked great ... see attached photo.  Generally I don't think the Focus Mk 4 looks that attractive (to my mind, not nearly as good-looking as the Mk 3.5) but in Active form it seemed transformed by the slightly increased ride height.

If you own one please can you let me know what it's been like to live with?

In normal times, my job requires me to access some fairly remote spots - not out and out 4x4 territory but in bad weather things can get tricky!  Have had to be rescued by tractors only twice in 5 years with my current car, a Focus Titanium - might this car improve my chances of not having to seek out a local farmer in the pouring rain!!??

From a marketing and sales point of view I have the impression these may not have been as much of a success as Ford might have wished.  Is this so?   

It has 10mm ride height increase, other than that it will be no better than a regular focus getting you out of an off road situation, unless you stick better tyres on it, but that would apply to any car.

To be fair though, my mum really wants an Active estate. She has a Kuga at the moment (for towing, she doesn't actually like the SUV look, prefers estates).

But with having a dog and taking it on forest tracks to take them for walks, she prefers the Active having less painted surfaces for the dog or bushes to ruin.

She doesn't have the money for a new one though, waiting for a second hand one to come up in her price range.

maybe look into buying an awd saloon/stationwagon if you're going into remote areas or areas with slightly tricky terrain

23 minutes ago, Incontro said:

maybe look into buying an awd saloon/stationwagon if you're going into remote areas or areas with slightly tricky terrain

Impreza sounds ideal...  

I must admit, I really don't like the look of the Active normally, but the one in the OP looks really good.  Is that just the showroom effect I wonder...  

 

As for off-roading, it really depends on why you're getting stuck.  If it's just wet mud making the tyres lose traction, you really need 4WD/AWD to stop that happening.  Having had mud & snow specific tyres, even they don't offer much help with 2WD.  If it's more that you're getting stuck in potholes and the central lump between tracks then the extra ride height could help with that.

33 minutes ago, Incontro said:

maybe look into buying an awd saloon/stationwagon if you're going into remote areas or areas with slightly tricky terrain

I have only got hopelessly stuck twice in 5 years (incidentally, on one of these occasions I learned the hard way that the RAC won't help if one gets stuck in the mud - so now with Green Flag ... to cover the position if there isn't a friendly farmer about!!).  What I really love about my present car is the way it drives on tarmac and also its doesn't drink too much fuel - I'm told the Active will perform as well on tarmac (someone said a little better due to the suspension setup).  I'm not keen to go for an AWD vehicle just so I can say I didn't get stuck at all in a five year period!

Also, as far as snow driving is concerned, in Suffolk one is obliged to travel at the speed of the lowest common denominator on the road, regardless of how capable one's vehicle is!  So again, little point in running an AWD vehicle.

A couple of years back I fitted Michelin Crossclimates and so far they have kept me out of trouble.  Brilliant tyres (but a little delicate - have lost two with thorns in side walls!!)

21 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Impreza sounds ideal...  

I must admit, I really don't like the look of the Active normally, but the one in the OP looks really good.  Is that just the showroom effect I wonder...  

 

As for off-roading, it really depends on why you're getting stuck.  If it's just wet mud making the tyres lose traction, you really need 4WD/AWD to stop that happening.  Having had mud & snow specific tyres, even they don't offer much help with 2WD.  If it's more that you're getting stuck in potholes and the central lump between tracks then the extra ride height could help with that.

ahhh hearing impreza brings about early 00s nostalgia 😎

if you remember i had the active fiesta as a courtesy car once for a few days... must admit, i do like the active concept... sometimes the additional ride height is a god-send, and it's sort of a compromise between sitting low and getting good fuel economy/handling in a saloon/hatchback, versus going all out and buying a SUV or crossover that handles badly and drinks fuel...

the opposite is also true... some cars definitely do look better in person than in pictures... though i'm not sure the halogen headlights in the pic above look that great, and not a fan of the alloys either tbh. if you could change the alloys and get the car in a different colour i'm sure it would look heaps better

3 minutes ago, Incontro said:

ahhh hearing impreza brings about early 00s nostalgia 😎

if you remember i had the active fiesta as a courtesy car once for a few days... must admit, i do like the active concept... sometimes the additional ride height is a god-send, and it's sort of a compromise between sitting low and getting good fuel economy/handling in a saloon/hatchback, versus going all out and buying a SUV or crossover that handles badly and drinks fuel...

the opposite is also true... some cars definitely do look better in person than in pictures... though i'm not sure the halogen headlights in the pic above look that great, and not a fan of the alloys either tbh. if you could change the alloys and get the car in a different colour i'm sure it would look heaps better

I quite like those alloys...and the colour...   

I've realised why it looks better there than outside though...can't see all the contrasting plastic trim round the egdes as it's all blended together!  That's the part I really hate!  Don't get it at all, bush scratched plastic looks just as bad as bush scratched metal lol...

 

As for the tarmac performance, I would expect the Focus Active to handle a little worse than the standard Focus due to the raised centre of gravity.  I'm not sure if anyone on here actually owns both to compare though!

If I needed 4wd capability and some room, I would get a BMW 3-series estate, XDrive.

I'm not a fan of SUVs and I'd want the Kuga hybrid but it's FWD only.  The only Kuga 4wd you can get is the diesel that costs a fortune to PCP cos it depreciates like a stone.

That said the missus is in the middle of changing to a Fiesta Active so it will be interesting to see the difference.

Also as a comparison this is my stx in the same colour.  I've always found in general that Ford tend not to go for as low as they can.  My car is not actually that low but still handles very well.

 

22 minutes ago, Guy Heaton said:

Also as a comparison this is my stx in the same colour.  I've always found in general that Ford tend not to go for as low as they can.  My car is not actually that low but still handles very well.

 

And it probably handles better than my mondeo does 😂

At least those alloys look better than the ones in the OP

4 hours ago, Linds said:

in Suffolk one is obliged to travel at the speed of the lowest common denominator on the road

. . . . and that's usually a tractor!

I conclude from the replies to this thread (for which, thank you) that there are not that many Focus Active drivers out there!!

Have a look on this site for the statistics on your model, or indeed any car you fancy. It does exactly what the label says.

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/.

Hopefully this page is the one you want.

Copy and pasted here but the format has been lost in the move, best to look at the source page.

ScaniaPBman.

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE	1.7k

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE AUTO	325

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE ECOBLUE	164

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE ECOBLUE AUTO	26

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X	1.7k

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X AUTO	869

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X ECOBLUE	311

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X ECOBLUE AUTO	329

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X VIGNALE	2

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X VIGNALE AUTO

1

20 hours ago, mjt said:

. . . . and that's usually a tractor!

Followed by 6x 1 litre petrol engines without the torque to safely overtake it....   Then an X5 overtakes all 7 of us!  

 

56 minutes ago, Linds said:

I conclude from the replies to this thread (for which, thank you) that there are not that many Focus Active drivers out there!!

In fairness, I think they're generally driven by people that aren't interested enough in cars to join on a forum to discuss them.  And they're not old enough to be needing repair advice yet.

Looks like you'll have to take one for a test rive and see what you think!  I'm not sure how test drives will work now though, presumably the salesman can't take you out now, but I also doubt they'll let people take £30k's worth of car out alone...

1 hour ago, ScaniaPBman said:

Have a look on this site for the statistics on your model, or indeed any car you fancy. It does exactly what the label says.

https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/.

Hopefully this page is the one you want.

Copy and pasted here but the format has been lost in the move, best to look at the source page.

ScaniaPBman.

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE	1.7k

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE AUTO	325

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE ECOBLUE	164

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE ECOBLUE AUTO	26

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X	1.7k

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X AUTO	869

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X ECOBLUE	311

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X ECOBLUE AUTO	329

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X VIGNALE	2

FORD FOCUS ACTIVE X VIGNALE AUTO

1

Very interesting ... not many registered at all!  Thanks for the link.

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Followed by 6x 1 litre petrol engines without the torque to safely overtake it....   Then an X5 overtakes all 7 of us!  

 

In fairness, I think they're generally driven by people that aren't interested enough in cars to join on a forum to discuss them.  And they're not old enough to be needing repair advice yet.

Looks like you'll have to take one for a test rive and see what you think!  I'm not sure how test drives will work now though, presumably the salesman can't take you out now, but I also doubt they'll let people take £30k's worth of car out alone...

Tom, I think you're right!  I'll let you know if I can persuade someone to let me borrow one!!  Thanks to everyone for their input.

I have got an ST Line X auto. Love it. This was my first choice. My very close second choice would have been the Active. There is one round the corner and it looks really nice. Ive only driven an MKIV ST Line X, so can't comment on other specs, but have driven every MK of Focus and found them to be good drivers, I can't imagine that the Active would be one car in 20 years that doesn't drive well.

 

So, looks good, drives well, if you can get one within your budget...

Get one is my advice...

Seen plenty in showrooms, not that many on the road which might tell us something. On the other hand, the Fiesta Active seems to be very popular round my way. 

On 5/29/2020 at 12:50 PM, Incontro said:

ahhh hearing impreza brings about early 00s nostalgia 😎

Ah yes! Friend of mine has had several, and still has two, one of which he rallies.

29 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Ah yes! Friend of mine has had several, and still has two, one of which he rallies.

I admit I kinda miss the simplicity of cars back then... 

Now cars are extremely bloated/heavy, and there's hardly any 'fun' cars made anymore... In the late 90's/early 00s the market was full of sports coupes, convertibles etc.

30 minutes ago, Incontro said:

I admit I kinda miss the simplicity of cars back then... 

Now cars are extremely bloated/heavy, and there's hardly any 'fun' cars made anymore... In the late 90's/early 00s the market was full of sports coupes, convertibles etc.

Did you have the remote control Impreza in the early 00s?  One of the few crazes I took part in!  Well, that and Pogs...

 

 

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Did you have the remote control Impreza in the early 00s?  One of the few crazes I took part in!  Well, that and Pogs...

 

 

No but I always thought they were pretty cool when I was a kid haha

I had a giant remote control Mitsubishi Pajero (aka Shogun) 😁 It was pretty fast, could even do wheelspin in it 

Pogs weren't really a thing when I was a kid, I had beyblades 

Pretty sure the Active has the elusive multi link suspension. 🤬

11 hours ago, Alex.S said:

Pretty sure the Active has the elusive multi link suspension. 🤬

If that's true it'll probably handle better than the majority of standard Mk4 Focii...slightly awkward for Ford if so!  

15 hours ago, Alex.S said:

Pretty sure the Active has the elusive multi link suspension. 🤬

Yes, it looks that way. In the most recent brochure I have seen (January 2020), most versions are shown with both twist beam and multi link but it suggests that multi link is standard on all Focus versions but with the 2.0 diesel engine only, plus the ST. The Active and Vignale don't seem to have the twist beam alternative mentioned though, so you assume they have multi link irrespective of engine - rather confusing. But Ford seem to make it up as they go along, so who knows for sure?😀