Ford
Custom Active PHEV
“All on board for the big family?”
1. Design & First Impression: Big, But Not Just a Van
Let’s be realistic: nobody looks at a Tourneo Custom and wonders whether there is enough room inside. It is a big vehicle, and it makes absolutely no attempt to hide that fact. But especially in the Active specification, Ford manages to give it enough personality that it does not simply feel like a commercial van with some extra seats added.
And once you start using it, the size quickly becomes part of the appeal. Instead of constantly thinking about whether the stroller will fit, where another bag can go or whether somebody needs to move a seat, you simply have space. For a larger family, that removes an incredible amount of everyday friction.
Our biggest surprise was how quickly the Tourneo stopped feeling too big and started feeling like a genuinely useful family car.
2. PHEV Drivetrain: Better Than We Expected
The plug-in hybrid drivetrain suited the Tourneo surprisingly well.
What we particularly liked was the way the planetary transmission works together with the electric assistance during acceleration. For something this large, pulling away feels smooth and effortless, and the electric motor helps exactly where a heavy vehicle benefits from it most.
The battery itself is not enormous, so we would not approach the Tourneo PHEV expecting it to behave like an electric van for most of the week. The electric side feels more like an important part of the complete drivetrain than a completely separate way of using the vehicle.
And that is perfectly fine.
It helps around town, supports the petrol engine when required and makes the whole drivetrain feel smoother and more appropriate for a family vehicle of this size. We actually think that philosophy suits the Tourneo: the electric motor does not need to replace everything — it simply needs to make the overall package better.
3. Interior: This Is Where the Tourneo Wins
The interior is probably the strongest argument for the Tourneo Custom.
There is space everywhere, but more importantly, Ford has thought about how that space is actually going to be used. The seating can be adjusted and rearranged in ways that make a genuine difference depending on whether you are transporting children, adults, luggage or some combination of all three.
That flexibility becomes extremely useful with several children. Child seats today, grandparents tomorrow, luggage for a weekend away the day after — the interior can adapt rather than forcing the family to adapt around the car.
And despite all that space, the cabin never feels empty or purely functional. There are useful storage areas, practical surfaces and enough small details that it feels like somebody at Ford actually spent time imagining what families would do inside it.
4. USB-C Everywhere — Exactly How It Should Be
This sounds like an incredibly boring thing to praise until you travel with several people.
There are charging possibilities almost everywhere.
And in a modern family vehicle, that is exactly how it should be. Phones, tablets, headphones, cameras, toys and whatever else has somehow developed a battery now all need power during a longer journey.
In a car designed to carry this many people, having one lonely USB port somewhere in the front would simply be ridiculous. Ford seems to understand that.
It is one of those details you barely notice when everything works — but immediately miss when you get into another car where everybody suddenly starts negotiating over the only available charging port.
5. The Tailgate Light: The Feature We Didn’t Know We Needed
One of our favourite Active details sounds almost laughably simple: the light integrated around the open tailgate area.
You do not realise how useful it is until you have it.
Loading bags after dark, changing something around the stroller, finding shoes, looking for the toy that absolutely cannot wait until morning — suddenly having proper light exactly where you need it makes complete sense.
It is not the kind of feature that sells a car in a showroom.
But after living with it, you notice immediately when another comparable vehicle does not have it.
Those are often our favourite kinds of features: not technology designed to impress you for thirty seconds, but something that quietly makes real family life easier.
6. Infotainment: Not Perfect, But Good Enough
The infotainment system was probably one of the weaker parts of our experience.
It can feel a little slow at times, particularly compared with some of the newest systems available today. Inputs are not always followed by the immediate reaction we have become used to from modern phones and tablets.
But there is also an important question to ask: does it actually stop you doing anything you need to do?
For us, not really.
Navigation, media, phone connectivity and the normal vehicle functions are all there. Once everything is set up, you are not constantly interacting with the system anyway.
Would we like it to be faster? Absolutely. Would it stop us choosing the Tourneo? Not even close.
In a vehicle like this, we care considerably more about how well the seats move, where we can charge our devices and whether everyone fits comfortably than whether an animation takes half a second longer.
7. Family Practicality: This Is What It Was Built For
This is where the Tourneo Custom becomes difficult to criticise.
If you have several children, regularly travel with grandparents or simply carry a huge amount of equipment, the amount of flexibility is fantastic. Child seats do not immediately dictate where everybody else has to sit, passengers have proper space and you can actually take luggage without every journey becoming a three-dimensional puzzle.
For day trips, it is brilliant. For holidays, even better. And despite being so useful when travelling, it still works surprisingly well as an everyday family vehicle.
That last part matters.
There are vehicles that are fantastic when you need all seven or eight seats but feel like complete overkill for every normal Tuesday. The Tourneo manages to make its size useful often enough that it does not feel like you are constantly carrying around empty space for one holiday per year.
Especially for families with three or more children, we can completely understand why this type of vehicle becomes so attractive.
8. Daily Use: The Car Should Make Family Life Easier
Large family cars sometimes come with an assumption that practicality automatically excuses everything else. We do not really agree.
A family vehicle gets used constantly. School, daycare, shopping, sports, grandparents, weekend trips, holidays — sometimes all in the same week. It therefore needs to be comfortable and simple enough that the person driving it does not feel like they are operating a small bus every time somebody needs milk.
The Tourneo surprised us here.
Yes, you remain aware of its dimensions. You need more space to park and you naturally have to think slightly further ahead in tight city streets. But in return, the amount of stress it removes once everybody is inside is enormous.
Nobody is squeezed in. Nobody needs to hold luggage on their lap. You are not dismantling the stroller to make the boot close.
For larger families, that trade-off starts making a lot of sense.
9. Final Thoughts
The Ford Tourneo Custom Active PHEV surprised us very positively.
We expected space. We expected flexibility. What we did not necessarily expect was how complete the whole package would feel as an actual family car.
The plug-in hybrid drivetrain works smoothly and suits the character of the vehicle well, even if the battery is more of an important supporting part of the drivetrain than something that turns the Tourneo into a full-time EV. The infotainment could be quicker, but almost everything else inside feels extremely well thought out.
The flexible seating is genuinely useful. USB-C ports are where you actually need them. The Active tailgate lighting is the kind of tiny feature you laugh about until you suddenly miss it in every other van. And, most importantly, there is simply enough space to let a family travel without constantly negotiating over every centimetre.
Then there is the price-to-package equation.
For the amount of space, flexibility and everyday usability you get, the Tourneo Custom feels like a very honest proposition. It does not try to turn family transport into something unnecessarily complicated or luxurious just to justify itself.
It gives you space where you need space, clever details where they matter and a drivetrain that simply gets on with the job.
For day trips, everyday life, holidays or a family that regularly needs more than five seats, the Tourneo Custom Active PHEV makes a very strong case for itself.
Sometimes the best family car is simply the one that makes having a family feel a little easier.
And this one does exactly that.
