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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...
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Driving experience
The early import 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 a dual clutch DCT auto transmission 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 small 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. The supple ride seems well judged and copes effectively with suburban potholes and speed humps. 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.
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Design and build
Even if you didn't know about Jaecoo parent company Chery's close ties with Jaguar Land Rover, you might guess at that collaboration from a profile or rear perspective of this Jaecoo 7. There are definite hints of Evoque side-on. But with a slightly squarer vibe that fits with the 'Rock in River' design ethos that apparently inspired the look of this car. Electric hidden door handles feature. And it's bigger than an Evoque - and most of the other premium compact European SUVs Jaecoo has priced this model against; think more Toyota RAV4 in terms of overall size, but with bigger 19-inch wheels. The blocky, imposing front end though, with its enormous vertically-slatted grille, is nothing like anything else in the segment.
You might not be quite as taken with the cabin, with its curiously-shaped wheel and 'aircraft-style' gear shifter. Still, plenty of effort's gone in here with the 'Beyond Classic' design theme to try and meet premium aspirations. There's a tall centre console and a huge portrait-format 14.8-central touchscreen powered by a snapdragon processor. There is of course a digital instrument screen too (10.25-inches in size), though it throws rather too much information at you with small fonts that are difficult to read at a glance.
Attention to detail is otherwise impressive, with quilted faux leather upholstery for the multi-mode 'All-Sense' seats. Plus there are subtle patterns on the trim elements and Defender-like rivets in the door handles. Thanks to the boxy shape and generous exterior dimensions (including quite a lengthy 2,672mm wheelbase length), rear seat space and headroom will be a particular selling point - even for six-footers, though the bench doesn't slide. That rear seat room seems to have compromised boot space a bit, rated at 412-litres - well behind what you get from smaller rivals.
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Market and model
Jaecoo feels confident enough not to massively undercut rivals on price. Not mainstream rivals anyway. The 1.6-litre four-cylinder 2WD model we tried costs from just under £30,000. You'll need a bit more (around £33,000) for the 4WD model. For the front-driven PHEV version, it's around £35,000. Those kinds of figures are not that much different to what you'd pay for a mainstream-branded mid-sized SUV of this sort and it's also similar to the sort of money that premium makers will want for smaller compact SUVs with posh badges. The Jaecoo 7 gives you a lot more space than one of those. Where an Audi Q3 or a Volvo XC40 would for many only be considered as a family second car, this Jaecoo 7 has the space to be a much more flexible addition to your family's fleet.
And it's exceptionally well equipped. Standard kit includes 18-inch alloy wheels, full-LED headlights, a rear view camera and up to 21 advanced driver assist systems, including driver attention alert and safe exit warning. Plus there are up to 10 airbags. Inside, there's a 14.8-inch central touchscreen with wireless 'Apple CarPlay' and 'Android Auto', plus an 8-speaker Sony sound system, multi-colour ambient lighting and a 50W wireless charging pad with handset cooling. You can also expect to find additional luxuries like a head-up display and a full-length 1.1m2 panoramic glass sunroof, as well as adaptive cruise control and a 540-degree camera parking system with an 'invisible bonnet' feature, plus a heated steering wheel and big 19-inch alloy rims.
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Cost of ownership
You shouldn't have particularly high expectations for efficiency when it comes to the base 1.6-litre petrol turbo Jaecoo 7. This four-cylinder engine is something of a stop gap (and will probably be eventually replaced by a Hybrid). It manages very unremarkable figures; rated in front-driven form at 37.7mpg on the combined cycle and 185g/km CO2. Which might encourage you to find the extra the brand wants for the PHEV version. With a 60-litre fuel tank, that Plug-in Hybrid has an EV range of 56 miles, which gives a combustion/EV combined range of 745 miles and a combined fuel economy figure of 403mpg, or 47mpg with the battery in a high depletion scenario. It delivers emissions of 23g/km of CO2. A seven-year / 100,000-mile manufacturer's warranty is standard.
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Summary
In this new electrified era, everyone seems more open to the idea of buying into an unknown brand, even if the cars it sells aren't particularly electrified. So where, even just a few years ago, this Jaecoo 7 would have struggled to make any UK market impact at all, now it may well sell in numbers large enough to justify the arrival of other models from this aspirational Chinese brand.
Customers will be attracted by this car's distinctive looks, its practical cabin and its strong value proposition. Whether it really is as 'premium' as Jaecoo thinks it is - well that's another question. Maybe it doesn't matter. However you see this car, it's just another example of the growing impact the Chinese are having in our market.
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