2026 Ford Focus Active Interior, Engine, Performance – Stuck behind a line of slow-moving traffic in a modestly powered BRZ, all I can do is chuckle as a Nitrous Blue Ford honks past, riding a wave of forced induction thrust. I like the BRZ just fine, but it’s a momentum car – getting up to speed takes space and a combination of sluggardly RVs and short passing lanes means you get stuck. The five-door family hatch storms on ahead, leaving the two-plus-two sportscar in its dust. I think I saw one of my kids waving bye-bye out the window.
Welcome to the future, where tarmac ferocity requires next-to-no compromise. The Focus Active is demented, vital, raw, boisterous, and extremely fast. It also is perfectly capable of hauling around two little kids and all the requisite accessories required thereof. Take a crossover on family vacay? Nuts to that.
2026 Ford Focus Active Redesign and Update Plan
Exterior and Interior
My family joined me at the launch of the 2017 Subaru’s revvy little coupe, as the kickoff to a couple of RS-Focused weeks touring around Vancouver Island. On the wriggling road to Ucluelet, the boosty little Ford showed off its twin sewer-pipe exhausts and then promptly disappeared. When we caught up (much) later, I was both itching for the keys and beaming with pride. Always teach your better half to drive a stick-shift.
As a family that uses an STI hatchback with full rally armour skidplating as a daily driver, the Focus Active is just the bright blue dose of insanity the doctor ordered. The paint is the colour of the flames shooting out of the back of Brian O’Conner’s Mitsubishi Eclipse just before the diamond-plate flooring fell out. It has the face of a Sharkticon with rabies. The tires will wear out in months, not years. The giant two-piece rear spoiler is about as subtle as a two-by-four to the face. Also, it costs more than an extremely well-equipped 5.0L Mustang.
2026 Ford Focus Active Specs
It’s been given a new hood that now features a nice big tapering bulge down the middle, to hint at the power bursting from within. There are also new headlights (that come standard with LED DRLs on the ST); they’re on hand to help usher in the “New Face of Ford” to the brand’s bread-and-butter model. The grille placement below the headlights is another feature, and the ST gets a blacked-out version as opposed to the metallic items found elsewhere in the lineup. It’s all topped off by optional racing stripes (which our car had, at a cost of $500) and new wheel choices, with the special painted 18-inchers on our tester costing an additional $800. That price includes red-painted brake calipers, too.
Indeed, it looks much more bespoke than the pre-facelift ST did, and you realize how much more you had to strain your eyes to spot the difference between that car and a garden variety focus; recently, upon seeing the last model, I did a double-take that would make Cosmo Kramer proud because I couldn’t believe how tame the thing looked. 2026 Ford Focus Active Interior
Engine and Performance
Perched amongst the hot-rods the crowd seemed bemused by the RS, but those who knew, knew. It took a while to get a clear shot of the RS without somebody peering in the window, or scratching their head wondering what a clearly modern machine was doing sitting in a sea of chrome. Still, the honk from the exhaust on ignition was enough to turn heads and make sure no-one walked behind the car when I was backing it down the ramp. 2026 Ford Focus Active Interio
There are four driving modes in the RS’s onboard system: Normal, Sport, Track, and Drift. The latter exists by accident, and is really only there for the bragging rights. Just like the Mustang’s line-lock system, it’s a neat feature that almost anyone who has to pay for their own tires will likely never use.
Track, on the other hand, is something you can use any time you feel the need, especially as Ford has cleverly separated out the switch for the dampers. Simply hit the drive mode button three times, then use the button on the end of the left-hand stalk to put the suspension in the already-firm normal mode. Then exit stage left, as if pursued by bears.
2026 Ford Focus Active Fuel Economy
Power comes from a 2.3L four-cylinder engine, similar to that found in the Ecoboost Mustang. Here though, there’s both more character to be found and more power. Total output is 350hp at 6000rpm and 350lb-ft of torque at 3200rpm. The torque peak is relatively low, but the RS feels boostier than the Mustang, requiring a bit more flogging past 4000rpm to get the most out of it. 2026 Ford Focus Active Interior
Packing for a couple of weeks in this thing, it has to be said, required something of a mastery of Tetris. Having fitted a running stroller in the trunk, we built a modular cargo strategy that could be loaded and unloaded in about fifteen minutes. Installing car seats was a cinch, emergency Ziploc bags of Cheerios were secreted around the cabin, and off we went.
In the US, the RS comes with the Recaro seats as an option. Here in Canada, they’re standard, and if you’re thinking of buying one of these things for yourself, then just stop eating now. There is as much lateral support here as there is in a Global Rally Cross car, with huge side bolsters that can be uncomfortable for shorter drivers. My wife had to adopt an odd, arms-akimbo driving style like she was channelling Tazio Nuvolari. Annoying, but possibly worth it.
2026 Ford Focus Active Safety Features
The all-wheel-drive system is probably the trickest piece of technology on this car. Up to 70% of that grunty turbo torque can be sent to an outside rear wheel: hammer the RS out of a corner and it feels more Mustang than reworked family hatch. Gather up a few twisties in a row and the pace is only limited by how clear the road is and how far you can see ahead. On a closed course, especially a tight one, the RS doles out the kind of confidence that would have you snapping at the heels of cars with a third more power. 2026 Ford Focus Active Interior
Having hauled the family down to BC’s capital, there followed a lazy day or two of puttering about down. The RS did not approve of said puttering, and spent most of the time parked. Stopover done, we next headed up-island to Campbell river via the 120km/h limit highway, the fastest legal speeds in Canada; this, the RS seemed to indicate, was more like it. It zipped along while kids slept in the back, boosting quickly past big rigs and trucks hauling boats, so as to stay out of the danger zone.
2026 Ford Focus Active Price and Release Date
Other new interior bits include an easier-to-use climate system with bigger buttons (a dual-zone system, as seen here, comes as part of a $1,250 options package), re-aligned cupholders that are easier to reach, and door lock controls moved from the centre stack to the doors, which makes a whole lot more sense.
As far as infotainment goes, our tester had the 8.4-inch MyFord touchscreen option, but you do have to pay $800 to have said screen display a navi system. Your $1,250 also gets you 10-speaker premium audio, and while sound quality is good enough, the way the subwoofer intrudes into the rear hatch (and looks cheap to boot), is less impressive. 2026 Ford Focus Active Interior
Unfortunately, a new ST doesn’t mean a new infotainment system; you’re still stuck with MyFord Touch and its small buttons, unresponsive screen and dull colours. Yes, its quadrant interface is intuitive, but it’s just so durn slow. We’ll have to wait until later this year before we see the newest version of this tech in any Ford, when it debuts in the Blue Oval’s 2016 models.