2025 Ford Tourneo Active review

In a somewhat surprising move, Ford has introduced two very different variants of the new Tourneo people mover.

Based on the Transit Custom van range, the Ford Tourneo offers a more passenger-friendly eight-seat layout in a choice of upscale Titanium X and adventure-styled Active model grades.

Don't pack your hiking boots just yet, though. The Tourneo Active is more of an optical off-road package. It may have some tough-guy body cladding, but it sticks with two-wheel drive and lacks any suspension lift or off-road equipment.

For a market enamoured with SUVs it is a smart move, and with the more formal Titanium X at the top of the range, it gives Ford an each-way bet on market preferences.

The new Tourneo has size and space on its side, but are the commercial vehicle origins likely to hold it back?

The 2025 Ford Tourneo range starts from $65,990 plus on-road costs for the Tourneo Active, or $70,990 plus on-road costs to step up to the Tourneo Titanium X.

Both variants are powered by a 2.0-litre turbo diesel four-cylinder engine producing 125kW and 390Nm, powering the front wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission. Despite the Active styling package hinting at all-road capability, there's no option for all-wheel drive.

Standard equipment covers items like remote keyless entry with push-button start, dual power-sliding side doors, LED head- and tail-lights, roof rails, lower body cladding and wheel arch mouldings. Inside, there's seating for eight with individual second-row seats and sliding second and third rows.

The seats are trimmed in fabric and faux leather. The front seats are heated, and the driver gets electric seat adjustment. Features like wireless phone charging, tri-zone climate control, and a 13-inch infotainment touchscreen are also included alongside safety systems, including autonomous emergency braking, a lane-keeping system, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and more.

Alternatives include the Hyundai Staria with a choice of front-wheel-drive petrol V6 or all-wheel-drive four-cylinder turbo diesel engine. Priced from $64,500 and $67,500 before on-road costs, respectively.

Volkswagen is about to switch to a new-generation Caravelle. Under the skin, it will be a twin of the Tourneo with Ford and Volkswagen co-developing the two models (using Ford's platform and mechanicals). With the outgoing Caravelle priced from $69,290 already, expect the new model to move up slightly in price.

The most popular people mover in Australia, the Kia Carnival has multiple Drive Car of the Year segment wins under its belt, and stands as the car to beat in the people-mover class. Top-spec versions push beyond the $70,000 mark, but the Sport+ diesel starts from $64,760 plus on-road costs with the option of petrol or diesel across the range, and a hybrid option in the top-spec GT-Line from $76,360 plus on-road costs.

As a fresh entrant into the market, Ford is yet to roll out pricing offers on the Tourneo. But with end of financial year not too far away, it's likely that the Ford range could see some deal-sweetening offers applied. If you'd like a quick and easy way to cross-shop your next new car, you can find people-movers for sale at Drive Marketplace.

The big boxy silhouette of the Tourneo ensures there's plenty of space inside. It's no compact city cruiser, though, at just over five metres in length, two metres wide and just under two metres tall. It's a big vehicle to place on the road (or in a car park).

Interior space is gargantuan, although as you'd probably expect, most of that space is dedicated to the rear compartment.

The driver steps up to a tall seat with a high view out over surrounding traffic, but some drivers may find the front wheel well impinges on foot space, and the pedals sit close to the seat, making for a compact space to operate from. The steering column adjusts for tilt and reach, and although the steering wheel is positioned in a car-like manner, the Tourneo still feels very van-ish.

The instrument panel and door trims are mostly covered in hard plastics. It looks modern in design, but a little agricultural in materials. A few small chrome and gloss back highlights not found in the Transit Custom help dress things up a little.

Storage is plentiful with dual gloveboxes, multiple in-door storage shelves, deep bottle holders, a lidded cupholder, and a wireless charger tray low down on the centre stack. Instead of a centre console, the Tourneo has a walkthrough space between the front seats.

Annoyingly, the top glovebox isn't self-supporting and slams itself shut when opened, and the lower glovebox isn't damped, falling open with a crash if you don't support it. Ford has been able to fit so much storage here because the passenger airbag is roof-mounted, rather than in the dash, but the side-effect here is that the passenger sunvisor can't be swung to the side to prevent it from impeding the airbag.

Seat adjustment is broad enough to suit drivers of different shapes and sizes, and the inclusion of lumbar support helps comfort on longer drives. The windscreen pillars are quite slim at the top, but lower down they get very wide and can make it harder to see approaching traffic or pedestrians from some angles.

Access to the rear seats is via power sliding doors that can be opened from the remote. They're slow to react, so best to pre-open on approach if it's rainy out.

The second-row seats are three individual seats that can be slid or removed independently. All three have ISOFIX and top-tether child seat mounts.

Rear passengers get roof-mounted climate controls and air vents, and second-row passengers get small window shades, although these still leave a large portion of the glass uncovered. Door widows are a pop-out design, rather than a sliding window, so allow ventilation, but prevent arms or objects from being passed out.

The third-row seats are set up with a single seat and a two-seat bench. These can also slide, and both second and third-row seats have releases to slide them on the front and back to make reconfiguring the interior easier. Second-row seats lack a quick release to fold and slide in one action, making it a two-stage process.

Passengers in the back-back don't get window shades, but USB-C power is routed throughout the cabin, meaning no device need go unpowered. Both second and third-row seats can be reclined for additional comfort, but the seats themselves are a little on the firm side.

Stepping back for a sec and looking at the outside, the Tourneo we had stood out for its ripply body panels, and body cladding that was poorly aligned and loose in some places. Panel fit and finish showed some inconsistency along the sides of the body, and the paint finish lacked depth and was dull in some places.

The tailgate lacks electric opening. It's heavy and lifts quite high, but has a pull-down strap on the inside to make it a little easier to mange.

Boot space is a mix-and-match affair. With sliding seats, the boot can be a small as 672 litres with the third row of seats in their rearmost position, up to 1045L with them pushed forward. Pull those seats out and the boot grows to a massive 2102L with the seats back and 2408L with them forward, plus the ability to mix and match space depending on which seats are removed and which ones stay in.

The load is low and completely flat, making loading quite easy and portraying an obvious benefit of using a commercial van as the basis for a people mover. On the flip side, it means that seats don't fold flat into the floor like they can in a Carnival.

The infotainment display in the Tourneo is a bit of a monster. Unlike Ford vehicles, including the Ranger and Mustang Mach-E, which use a portrait layout, the Tourneo has a widescreen 13-inch display. It's canted slightly toward the driver, but also angled down a little – possibly to avoid reflections, but it feels a bit odd until you adjust to it.

Running Ford's Sync 4 software, the system includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, FM and digital radio (but not AM), Bluetooth connectivity, inbuilt navigation, and a 10-speaker sound system that actually delivers decent clarity and volume.

The infotainment system goes beyond just media control and offers menus to set up the car's settings and driver assist functions. Everything is easy to search and adjust, and there are helpful information screens for just about every function if you're unsure.

When running CarPlay it's possible to have a full- or part-screen display, allowing some of the car's trip or media functions to be shown on part of the display. Without physical control, the climate-control system is also handled by the infotainment screen, but these buttons stay permanently pinned to the bottom of the screen and don't require you to exit another display to use them.

The driver faces a partially digital instrument cluster with a handful of display options. It's not widely configurable, but offers good at-a-glance legibility.

Access to FordPass Connect via a paired smartphone brings functions like vehicle location info, remote lock and unlock, vehicle status checks and more.

Crash-test authority ANCAP hadn't issued an official safety rating for the Ford Tourneo at the time of writing. Affiliated organisation Euro NCAP has, though, giving the Tourneo a three- or four-star rating depending on the safety equipment fitted.

Australian cars include intersection intervention for the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system, and an exit warning system that sees Australian cars align with four-star-rated models overseas. Until ANCAP makes an official announcement the Tourneo is unrated, but there is at least a guideline of what to expect.

The only major safety difference between the Tourneo Active tested here and the more expensive Titanium X comes down to the reversing camera. In this model, it's a rear-view camera only, while the Titanium X gets a 360-view camera system.

Both models come with the aforementioned AEB with pedestrian and intersection intervention, adaptive cruise control with speed limit assist, lane-keeping assist with lane-departure warning, traffic sign recognition, crosswind stabilisation, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert and reverse brake assist, and a range other other driver assists and safety technology.

Thanks to straightforward controls and a range of set-up customisations, the safety suite is easy to get set to your preferences. On the road most of the systems behaved and worked well with the driver.

In my experience, the adaptive cruise control could be laggy to close the gap if a vehicle moves out ahead, and the fatigue monitoring can chime early, in some instances, within minutes of starting out on a drive and long before any drowsy driving behaviours set in.

One item missing from the Tourneo Active is lane-centring assist, so while it has lane keeping and departure warning, the car is unable to centre itself, or take control in situations where the driver might be distracted for a few seconds.

My time with the Tourneo involved a lot of touring, which saw as-tested fuel consumption of 7.8 litres per 100 kilometres, coming close to Ford's official 7.4L/100km claim.

Unsurprisingly, the open road best suits the Tourneo for efficiency. Around town in stop-start conditions, expect fuel consumption to sit over 10L/100km. Some brief city testing saw consumption quickly rise to just over 12L/100km.

The Tourneo's diesel engine uses AdBlue as an exhaust treatment solution to reduce emissions. For most users, this will be topped up at service time, but depending on how you use your vehicle may need a refill in between. The AdBlue tank and fuel filler are located together behind the passenger-side front door.

With a 70-litre fuel tank, the Tourneo should be capable of a 946km cruising range, and based on the consumption we achieved, has just under 900km of range from a single tank.

The Tourneo Active is cleverly configured to have a bit of zip around town, without being a powerhouse. The 2.0-litre turbo diesel engine produces 125kW and 390Nm, and that latter figure allows it to pull strongly at low revs, between 1750 and 2500rpm.

That means the Tourneo can move off the line briskly, and as traffic speeds and slows around you, it's easy to keep pace. On the other hand, on the open road eagerness backs off a little, and overtaking urge is more sedate.

It's a mostly smooth and quiet engine, but like a lot of diesel engines, it doesn't like to be worked hard. Instead, it relies on its mid-range.

The eight-speed automatic is something of a silent partner, quiet and unobtrusive but smart enough to pick the right ratio for the driving situation. It's possible to manually cycle through gears by twisting the end of the column-mounted gear selector, but outside of towing, there's no real need to take control.

Ride quality feels quite busy when unladen, with the focus on weight carrying. While it's not outright firm, it can feel bouncy with just the driver on board. The Tourneo becomes more settled as you add passengers and finds its happy place with four or five people on board.

The Tourneo uses four-wheel independent suspension (and not a typical van-style rigid axle or torsion beam set-up). In theory this should provide greater comfort and give the Tourneo a leg-up in roadholding.

Steering, while not super light, is user-friendly at parking speeds. The steering itself is fairly slow, so slightly busier at parking speeds, but nicely stable when cruising. The Tourneo has a surprisingly tight turning circle too, which is great for inner-city use.

At higher speeds, wind can get very intrusive. There's plenty of rustling from around the windscreen pillars and along the sides of the car. Tyre noise picks up at higher speeds too, meaning long-distance drives can get tiresome, and getting messages to passengers in the back involves a bit of over-the-shoulder yelling.

The Tourneo offers a roomy and versatile cabin. The boxy volume inside results in excellent passenger space, and sliding and reclining seats offer plenty of adjustment for adult passengers or child seats.

Because the Tourneo is a member of the Ford Transit Custom family, it's perhaps not as refined as a dedicated people mover, like a Kia Carnival or LDV Mifa. Owners looking for a business-ready people mover, like resorts and small tour groups, feel like the ideal target market for the Tourneo. Its hard-working origins should suit business buyers perfectly.

Family buyers may be sold on the cavernous space and the seating for eight, but with strong competition from rivals, and more car-like refinement in other people movers on the market, you'd want to carefully cross-shop before committing to Ford's new van.

Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.

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