Jaecoo 7 review

Chinese cars have a reputation for having unconventional names, and this new Jaecoo 7 family SUV is the latest example.

Its name – specifically the Jaecoo element – is a combination of the German word Jaeger and the English word cool. The full translation is "hunter cool", which is said to reflect the brand’s goal of creating stylish vehicles that are capable both on and off-road.

To give you a bit of an overview of Jaecoo, it’s a subsidiary of Chery – one of the world’s largest Chinese car brands. It was formed in 2023 alongside sister brand Omoda, and is positioned as the slightly more rugged choice of the two.

Together, the brands are looking to disrupt the UK car market with a range of petrol, hybrid and electric cars, including the Omoda 5, the Omoda E5 and now the Jaecoo 7 – which despite its name is not a seven-seater (you'll need the Jaecoo 8 for that).

So does the Jaecoo 7 have what it takes to hunt down the best family SUVs on sale, such as the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and MG HS? Or will it struggle to compete in a hotly contested market? Read on to find out…

The Jaecoo 7’s engine line-up kicks off with a 145bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine. It drives the front wheels and is similar to what you get in the petrol-powered Omoda 5 (also a family SUV) but produces slightly less power.

Even so, the engine pulls reasonably well when accelerating off the line, but it does run out of puff quite quickly as you build up speed. That’s evident by its official 0-62mph time of 10.3 seconds, but it’s not exactly slow by family SUV standards – the petrol MG HS provides similar performance.

If you ever need to venture off the beaten track, the same engine is offered with all-wheel drive (AWD). We’ve yet to test it, but it does come with Sand, Mud, Snow and Off-road driving modes, which adjust the AWD system to suit the terrain you’re on.

The 1.6-litre petrol comes with a seven-speed automatic gearbox that changes gears quickly and smoothly once up to speed but can be hesitant when driving around town. There's no manual gearbox option.

The Jaecoo 7 is also available as a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), with what's modestly called the Super Hybrid System – or SHS for short. It combines a 1.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor to produce 201bhp for 0-62mph in 8.5 seconds, and comes with a CVT auto gearbox.

The PHEV's 18.3kWh battery delivers a competitive official electric-only range of 57 miles – which is more than the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage PHEVs but less than the equivalent MG HS or VW Tiguan.

The hybrid system works well: the car is quiet and refined when running in electric mode, and the engine is smooth and quiet as it chimes in. It’s even reasonably hushed as you accelerate.

In terms of performance, the PHEV doesn’t provide the level of punch you get from most electric cars but it does pull reasonably well when up to speed. Oddly, though, the car struggles for grip when pulling away briskly out of junctions.

The PHEV's battery never fully depletes, with the engine charging it up when it’s running low. That way, the car operates like a regular hybrid to help save fuel (we still recommend plugging in the car regularly to maximise efficiency).

Thanks to its double-glazed windows, the Jaecoo 7 is quiet on motorways, with wind and road noise kept in check well. And unlike some PHEVs (such as the Skoda Kodiaq iV), the brake pedal is smooth and progressive, allowing you to stop smoothly. Some PHEVs have grabby brakes because of the transition between mechanical and regenerative braking.

Unfortunately, the driving manners go downhill from there. The ride is constantly fidgety over lumps and bumps, with the regular petrol version worse than the PHEV. It’s not great when you encounter harsh imperfections either – you’re often met with a loud thump.

The Jaecoo 7 also leans heavily in the corners – more so in the heavier PHEV – and struggles for grip during sharper turns. The steering feels light and unnatural, which doesn’t help matters because it makes the car difficult to place accurately on twisty country roads. Overall, the Kia Sportage and VW Tiguan are better to drive with more comfortable rides.

“The Forced power-saving mode stood out to me as a useful feature in the Jaecoo 7 PHEV. It allows you to use the engine to charge up the battery while you’re driving so you can drive on electric power later without stopping to charge.” – George Hill, Used Car Writer

It’s very easy to find a comfortable driving position in the Jaecoo 7. It comes with a six-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat as standard, and the steering wheel adjusts for reach and rake. Plus, the seats are supportive with adjustable lumbar support on all versions.

Forward visibility is very good – you sit high up with a great view over the bonnet through the upright windscreen. Side visibility is equally good.

The rear view is limited by wide rear pillars and a small back window. Fortunately you get what Jaecoo calls a 540-degree camera, which gives you a transparent view around the car on the infotainment touchscreen when you're manoeuvring.

The size of the touchscreen depends on the trim you go for. On entry-level Deluxe cars, it measures 13.2in while on Luxury models it's 14.8in. No matter the trim, all cars come with the same software installed.

The touchscreen's graphics are sharp, it's quick to respond when you touch it and the home screen lay-out is reasonably simple, but things get complicated for some functions. For example, there’s no volume knob – you have to dive through submenus in the car’s settings. For such a simple adjustment, it’s a bit of a faff.

Unfortunately, the car has no physical climate controls either – you adjust them on the touchscreen. And when you're using the standard Android Auto or Apple CarPlay that means swiping up and tapping the climate icon to bring the settings up. Physical controls and dials would be much less distracting to use while driving.

All versions of the Jaecoo 7 have a crisp and clear 10.25in digital driver's display. You can choose between traditional dials or a more simple lay-out – although you have to dive into the touchscreen to switch between them (as opposed to using the steering-wheel controls, as you can on some cars).

Unusually, the petrol and PHEV versions have slightly different interiors. In the petrol car, you get a physical gear selector, an engine start/stop button and a drive mode dial, while in the PHEV you get drive mode shortcut buttons and a column-mounted gear selector (it doesn’t get a start/stop button). They also have different window switches and door panel designs.

Interior quality, for the most part, is very good, and everything feels tightly screwed together. There are some pleasant soft-touch plastics and faux-leather materials on the upper dashboard and doors, but also some cheap and scratchy plastics lower down the dash, such as on the glovebox.

“All versions come with faux-leather seats as standard, which is great, but I did find the leather on the entry-level Jaecoo 7 to be a bit grainy and cheap.” – George Hill, Used Cars Writer

No matter where you’re sitting in the Jaecoo 7, there’s no shortage of space. In the front, there’s a good amount of head, leg and shoulder room, with a large gap between the driver and front passenger.

There are plenty of places to store your odds and ends too, with two wireless charging pads, a large central cubby and a big storage tray under the centre console.

In the back seats there’s acres of head and leg room, and passengers can slide their feet under the front seats with room to spare. Those more than 6ft tall won’t have any trouble getting comfortable in the outer two seats, but if you sit in the middle you might struggle because of the hard and raised seat base.

The floor is flat in the PHEV version so there’s plenty of foot space. For the petrol car, there’s a very small hump in the floor, but it’s almost flat. 

The boot in the Jaecoo 7 is quite small on paper, with just 412 litres of space whichever engine you go for. For comparison, the MG HS offers 507 litres of storage and the Kia Sportage 562 litres. The Citroën C5 Aircross and Nissan Qashqai also have bigger boots.

The space itself is reasonably practical and you shouldn’t have much trouble with fitting in your family’s holiday luggage. Plus, the boot opening is square with no loading lip. The petrol model has an adjustable boot floor while the PHEV has some underfloor storage for the charging cables.

The back seats split 60/40 and fold down to create a flat load bay. You get the same split in the Qashqai, while the C5 Aircross, the Hyundai Tucson and the Sportage have a more versatile 40/20/40 split. The Jaecoo 7's back seats don’t tilt or slide like they do in a Ford Kuga.

“The Jaecoo 7 has two sets of electric seat controls for the front passenger seat, including one on the side of the seat back. If I were 10 years old, I'd find that great for annoying a parent in the front seat.” – George Hill, Used Car Writer

In petrol form, the Jaecoo 7 is similarly priced to the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai but more expensive than the Citroën C5 Aircross and MG HS. 

The PHEV is less expensive to buy than the C5 Aircross, Tucson and Sportage, but more than the HS. We suspect it will be the version to go for if you’re looking for a company car because of its long electric-only range and subsequently low official CO2 emissions (and BIK tax rating of 8%).

In terms of depreciation, the Jaecoo 7 is expected to depreciate at a similar rate to the Sportage and Tucson after three years and 30,000 miles. The HS, by comparison, will lose less of its value.

The petrol version won’t be as cheap to run as some family SUVs. The front-wheel-drive version can officially average 37.7mpg while the four-wheel-drive version can only manage 35.3mpg. Those figures are similar to the HS, but the Sportage and Tucson are more efficient, with official averages above 40mpg.

The Jaecoo 7 PHEV can officially average 403mpg, and while you’re unlikely to see that figure in the real world, it should be much cheaper to run than the petrol if you plug it in regularly and charge at home. The maximum charging rate is 40kW, which means a 30-80% top-up should take around 20 minutes. That’s faster than most PHEVs, including the Sportage.

Standard equipment is very generous, with the entry-level Deluxe model offering full LED headlights, adaptive cruise control, faux-leather upholstery, heated and electrically adjustable front seats, a panoramic sunroof, wireless phone-charging, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and a powered tailgate. It’s only available with the front-wheel-drive petrol version.

Luxury trim adds a few more goodies, such as the larger infotainment screen, a head-up display, a heated steering wheel, cooled front seats, heated outer rear seats, rear privacy glass and a Sony sound system.

No matter which trim you go for, all Jaecoo 7s come with plenty of safety equipment, with automatic emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, a driver monitoring system, lane-departure warning and road-sign recognition offered as standard. It has a full five-star Euro NCAP safety rating. 

The Jaecoo 7 didn’t feature in our latest What Car? Reliability Survey so we don't know how reliable it will be, but it comes with a seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty for peace of mind. Kia gives you seven years of cover too, but most rivals have much shorter warranties.

“The driver monitoring system in the Jaecoo 7 is very sensitive. In one instance it was telling me to look ahead at the road while I was trying to adjust the interior temperature on the touchscreen.” – George Hill, Used Car Writer

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