ANOTHER TASTE OF THE ORIENT(some text hidden)

By Jonathan Crouch

Ten Second Review word count: 43

The Chinese Chery motor group's premium brand Jaecoo brings us this mid-sized SUV, the Jaecoo 7. It's a striking thing and no one else in your street will have one. But should you take a risk with unknown brand? You might be tempted...

Background word count: 139

You may already have lost track of the new Chinese brands entering our market. Here's another, Jaecoo. It's the premium brand of China's biggest car exporter Chery, a conglomerate that sold nearly 2.6 million cars in 2024 alone (more than the entire BMW Group managed) and has already launched a more mainstream marque - Omoda - into our market. Chery has had a joint venture with Jaguar Land Rover since 2012 and drew on that expertise for the first premium model it launched here - the Jaecoo 7. It's an aggressively-styled mid-sized SUV running on a stretched version of the chassis of the first Omoda model to launch in our market, the Omoda 5. And it costs about the same as slightly smaller Qashqai-class family SUVs, whilst offering more equipment and a bit more pavement presence. Sounds quite promising.

Driving Experience word count: 304

The Jaecoo 7 we drove had a turbocharged 1.6-litre four cylinder petrol engine driving the front wheels mated to a 7-speed auto gearbox. There's 147PS available with 275Nm of torque, which provides for leisurely acceleration, 62mph reached in around 8 seconds. Jaecoo also offers a 4WD variant with this standard engine. If you're happy with front wheel drive, you'll be offered a 204PS Plug-in Hybrid model with an 18.3kWh battery giving a target EV range of 56 miles. All variants use that dual clutch DCT auto transmission we mentioned, which shifts smoothly and can kick down quickly when rapid acceleration is needed; the engine loses its smooth, refined demeanour when this is called for though. At the wheel, you sit quite high and commandingly - certainly compared with the premium mid-sized SUV rivals Jaecoo wants to compete with. Sight lines are great across the flat square bonnet, making narrow lanes or in-town manoeuvring simple. We'd have preferred a little more weight in the steering, but it's accurate and makes the car easy to place through fast bends - where you'll notice a little more body roll than is evident with obvious rivals. There's quite a firm ride, so you'll notice suburban potholes and speed humps, but it's nothing you couldn't live with. Light off road work is aided by 200mm of ground clearance and a 600m wading depth. The four-wheel drive version features seven driving modes, including Sand, Mud, Snow and Off-Road settings. The approach and departure angles are rated at 21 and 29 degrees respectively, with a maximum breakover angle of 200mm. A Bosch-developed Integrated Power Brake (IPB) system on four-wheel drive models simulates a differential lock with enhanced and faster locking capability. The system can respond in less than 0.1 seconds, providing the fastest 4WD response times when compared to its peers.