Ford Fiesta Active (2018 – 2023) Review

The Ford Fiesta Active splits the difference between a conventional supermini hatchback and a small SUV. In essence, it’s a regular Fiesta with rugged, SUV-style design details and raised suspension, similar to a Dacia Sandero Stepway. Aesthetically, we reckon the makeover works pretty well, but has it compromised the Ford Fiesta Active in other ways?

The short answer is ‘no’. In all the ways that really matter, the Active is exactly the same as any other Fiesta model. Let’s start with the interior.

Inside the Ford Fiesta Active, there’s enough space for four adults to travel in reasonable comfort, so the back bench is more than roomy enough for a couple of kids. The interior is a pleasant place to spend a journey, too. It’s quiet, the seats are comfortable, and everything feels properly made with decent materials.

The Ford Fiesta Active falters as a practical proposition, though, because the boot is quite small, even for a supermini. It’s fine for most single people and couples, but is just too small to accommodate all the clobber that family life demands. At least the back seats fold down when you need overflow space.

On the road, the Ford Fiesta Active feels very nearly as good to drive as a regular Ford Fiesta; it just loses a few degrees of handling precision because of its raised suspension. Nonetheless, it’s just as light, nimble and easy to park. As an added bonus, the added suspension travel provides a noticeably smoother ride. It remains a lovely car to drive by any standard.

The Ford Fiesta Active is available with two versions of Ford’s brilliant 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost petrol engine: either 100PS or 125PS. The 100PS motor comes with a six-speed manual gearbox and offers perfectly adequate performance with 50mpg-plus fuel economy. The 125PS is noticeably quicker and actually a bit more efficient, thanks to its economy-boosting mild hybrid system. You can have it with a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

There are two trim levels to choose from: Ford Fiesta Active or Ford Fiesta Active X. Both come pretty well-equipped, including an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with sat-nav, DAB radio, Bluetooth and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto phone connectivity. You also get air conditioning, cruise control and rear parking sensors. Active X has a more upmarket look and feel, with bigger alloy wheels, plush cloth and leatherette seat upholstery and a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display.

Prices start at around £22,500 at the time of writing, and stretch to £26,500 or so. That may seem like a lot to pay for a Ford Fiesta, but it’s quite competitive in 2023. Indeed, we reckon it’s decent value considering the generous quantity of standard equipment the Active comes with.

Sadly, Ford will stop making the Fiesta in all its forms in summer 2023. The company has always struggled to make money on this small car, despite its huge sales success, and the Fiesta has become unsustainable at a time when huge sums are being ploughed into development of more aspirational electric cars. So, if you want a new Ford Fiesta Active, you’ll have to get in quick – or else settle for a used example.

At least the Ford Fiesta is going out at the top of its game. Small boot aside, it’s spacious and practical enough for a supermini. It also provides a really good balance between performance and efficiency, looks good inside and out, comes with plenty of features, is really user-friendly, and is just so good to drive. It remains one of the very best superminis you can buy. The Active is all the above, with appealing SUV-style looks and a smooth ride.

Any Ford Fiesta feels fantastic to drive. There’s a real poise and keenness to the way they go around corners, the weight of the steering feels exactly right, you get all the information you need about the road through the steering and seat, and they practically skip over bumps and potholes. Add in easy parking and stable motorway cruising and the Fiesta is a really satisfying car to drive on any journey.

All that is true of the Ford Fiesta Active, albeit with a couple of caveats. With its raised suspension, the car leans over more in corners, although hardly to an unsettling degree. And the responsiveness of the steering is slightly dulled. Honestly, though, you’d have to drive the Active back-to-back with a regular Fiesta to really notice. Compared to other superminis or small SUVs, the Ford Fiesta Active still feels great from behind the wheel. And the extra suspension travel helps it ride really smoothly.

The Ford Fiesta Active is available with two versions of Ford’s characterful 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost petrol engine. The entry-level option has 100PS and comes with a six-speed manual gearbox only. Above that is a mild hybrid version (mHEV in Ford-speak) with 125PS and the choice of a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

The 125PS engine is appreciably quicker off the mark, but both of them pull surprisingly strongly when you need to overtake or join a motorway. The main reason to get the more powerful engine is that, thanks to the mild-hybrid system, it’s actually a bit more efficient.

The manual gearbox feels delightfully light and slick when changing gear, but the dual-clutch transmission is a little slow in its responses.

The safety experts at Euro NCAP awarded the current generation of Ford Fiesta a full five-star rating, which applies to the Ford Fiesta Active. Of particular note are its marks for protecting adult and child occupants in a crash, which are pretty high for a supermini – at 87 percent and 84 percent respectively.

Safety features fitted to the Ford Fiesta Active include a speed limiter, lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist, traffic sign recognition and a driver attention monitor. The optional Driver Assistance Pack includes adaptive cruise control and automatic emergency braking – at £350, it’s well worth having. 

How much the Ford Fiesta Active can tow depends on which engine it has. With the 100PS engine, its towing capacity is pegged at 750kg, while the 125PS engine can haul 1000kg.

That’s just about enough to pull a very small caravan or trailer tent. We reckon a more likely use for a towbar on a Ford Fiesta Active is as a mount for a bicycle rack.

There’s enough room in the Ford Fiesta Active’s cabin for four average-sized adults to travel together in comfort. There’s actually loads of space up-front – enough for people well over six feet tall – but legroom and headroom are more limited in the back.

Children are unlikely to complain about the amount of space in the back, and a fairly large Isofix child car seat will fit as well. The back windows are quite high up, though, so smaller kids don’t have much of a view out – not helpful for preventing car sickness.

The Ford Fiesta Active’s prospects as a family car come unstuck somewhat when you open the boot. Even by supermini standards, its 292-litre capacity is pretty small. A weekly food shop for four could easily fill it. It will swallow a couple’s luggage for a weekend away, but if you want a small family car, you’ll be better served by a Renault Clio or Skoda Fabia.

If you need to carry more stuff, you can always fold the back seats down, which frees up 1063 litres of luggage space. It’s not the easiest car to load, though, because the loading lip is quite high and the opening is on the small side. 

If you’ve never sat in a Ford Fiesta Active before, it only takes a couple of moments to work out what all the buttons and knobs on the dashboard do. It’s a pleasant place to spend time, too.

Most of the materials inside feel tactile, while a steering wheel wrapped in Sensico leatherette adds a touch of plushness. There are some hard and scratchy plastics used lower down in the interior and boot; however, these don’t detract from the ambience too much.

Ford builds its cars properly and the Fiesta Active’s interior feels very solid, so you won’t have any qualms about putting it to daily use.  

The Ford Fiesta Active’s infotainment system uses an 8.0-inch touchscreen display that sits atop the dashboard. It runs Ford’s SYNC 3 operating system and features include sat-nav, DAB radio and Bluetooth.

It’s a user-friendly setup that makes it easy to find the features and information you’re looking for. The graphics are bright and clear, and the screen responds promptly when pressed. If you’re not keen on the Ford system, you can always connect your smartphone via Apple CarPlay or Android Auto to use your preferred navigation and entertainment apps.

Prices for the Ford Fiesta Active start at £22,550 and you’ll pay £26,450 for the top-of-the-range version. Incidentally, the various Fiesta Active models cost exactly the same as the equivalent ST-Line, which is the sporty-looking model in the Fiesta range.

Those prices look quite expensive for a Fiesta, but that’s just what a well-specced supermini costs in 2023. Overall, we reckon the Ford Fiesta Active is decent value for money.

Whichever engine you choose, the Ford Fiesta Active can return more than 50mpg, according to the official figures. The 100PS petrol engine averages 51mpg, while the 125PS mild-hybrid motor can manage 53-56mpg. That’s the kind of fuel economy we’d expect to see from any supermini with a similar engine, and 5-10mpg better than an equivalent small SUV.

CO2 emissions of 114-125g/km mean private owners pay annual vehicle excise duty (VED, or road tax) of £190. Company car benefit-in-kind tax rates aren’t too expensive, either.

Servicing costs are likely to be pretty low (they usually are for Ford vehicles) and the Ford Fiesta Active is covered by a warranty lasting three years or 60,000 miles.

The Ford Fiesta Active immediately stands out from other Fiesta models thanks to its crossover-like styling. The makeover includes a grid-pattern front grille, front, rear and side brush guards in silver, a strip of black cladding that runs around the lower edge of the car’s body, plus a set of black roof rails up top. It also sits a few centimetres further off the ground than regular Fiesta models.

There are two versions to choose from: Ford Fiesta Active or Active X. Standard features fitted to the Active include 17-inch alloy wheels and an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system with sat-nav, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, DAB radio and Bluetooth, along with air conditioning, cruise control and rear parking sensors. Safety features include a speed limiter, lane-departure warning, lane-keeping assist, traffic sign recognition and a driver attention monitor.

Upgrade to the Active X and the spec-list is bolstered with 18-inch wheels, seats upholstered in cloth and Sensico leatherette, a 12.3-inch digital driver’s display, automatic air-con and a rear-view camera.