Jaecoo 7 Review (2025)

Introduction

Introduction

If you haven’t heard of automotive giant Chery, you might be surprised to learn it sold 2.6 million vehicles last year. Nevertheless, it’s a name unfamiliar to most people in the UK.

Its lack of notoriety here is because it’s from China, where manufacturers generally only lease or sell their vehicles domestically and in the Middle East, as well as parts of South America and Russia.

The quality of Chinese vehicles has never been comparable with that of long-established European brands like Volkswagen, Renault, and Vauxhall. But things are changing.

BYD, Leapmotor, Omoda, Ora, and Skywell are just five Chinese brands trading in the UK - at least another five are imminent.

One is Jaecoo, a Chery subsidiary launching its first-ever car here: the Jaecoo 7 SUV.

Chery may not have a reputation here yet, but a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover should boost its credibility. The two firms jointly own a manufacturing company that produces JLR's vehicles in China.

Furthermore, Jaecoo already has over 70 UK dealerships, which is set to almost double by Christmas 2025.

First impressions of the Jaecoo 7 are encouraging, with bold looks and an imposing stance. But can its driving capabilities have the same wow factor?

We have flown to South Africa for Jaecoo’s recent media event to find out.

At A Glance

First impressions of the car are positive, and Chery’s relationship with JLR might have inspired its looks.

The sides resemble the Range Rover Velar’s shape, as does the rear when viewed from some angles.

Its huge front grille consists of around twenty vertical spokes, while rectangular thin headlights sit out to the sides of the grille at the top, each above a stack of two square lights.

A considerable sloping roofline is visible from the side, with creases defining the wheel arches - and there’s an indentation towards the bottom half of the doors. Cladding runs around the car’s lower extremities throughout.

A horizontal light bar connects the taillights, while the bodywork curves upwards from the bottom.

Overall, the looks are decent - eye-catching in places and modest in others. We are not convinced the 7 will necessarily win awards for the cut of its jib, but it won’t seem out of place on our roads.

Key Features

Two trim levels are offered. The entry-level Deluxe features 19-inch alloys, a 13.2-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, SatNav, digital radio, voice control, and a 10.25-inch digital instrument display.

You also get a full-length panoramic sunroof, LED day running lights, a dark-coloured interior, a synthetic leather steering wheel, electrically adjustable heated front seats, a wireless phone charger, a keyless start, and a powered tailgate.

Luxury adds a larger 14.8-inch infotainment touchscreen, a Sony eight-speaker sound system, air purification, head-up display, heated steering wheel and outer rear seats, and ventilated front seats which retract when the door is opened.

Power comes in two forms: the petrol version generates 147PS from a turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine and features a seven-speed automatic.

Alternatively, there’s the plug-in hybrid we drove, which Jaecoo calls the SHS (Super Hybrid System). It combines a turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine with an electric motor to produce 203PS, along with a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

It is called 'SHS' because it offers a neat little trick that stops the batteries from fully depleting, charging them from the engine when they run low, so at least some form of hybridisation is always maintained.

In the petrol, the Deluxe version has front-wheel drive, while the Luxury model features all-wheel drive.

However, despite being offered exclusively in Luxury trim, the SHS is front-wheel drive only.

Range & Batteries

The Jaecoo 7 SHS comes with an 18.3kWh battery.

That is good enough for an all-electric range of 56 miles, although you won’t achieve that in practice.

Nevertheless, if your commute to work is around 15 miles and you charge at home every night, you may never need to use the engine.

Performance & Drive

The Jaecoo 7 SHS manages 0-62mph in 8.5 seconds - not bad for a mid-sized SUV - and the performance is delivered in an understated way.

In practice, you'll be a bit slower most of the time as the car sets off in all-electric mode, only calling the engine into action if you floor the accelerator. But when it does start up, the transition is seamless.

The engine remains hushed unless under heavy acceleration – then, it can screech a bit and doesn’t sound particularly refined. But drive it normally, and it seems sophisticated and even classy.

It accelerates keenly up to motorway speeds and, when overtaking, offers a brisk level of performance, albeit without the pin-you-back-in-your-chair ferocity that you find with some electric or hybrid cars.

The SHS is superior to the petrols, which could be perceived as underpowered given the size of the 7. They are considerably slower, too, with the front-wheel drive version taking 10.3 seconds to do 0-62mph and 11.8 seconds in the all-wheel drive edition.

The downside to the SHS is that it’s only available with front-wheel drive. Therefore, you’ll need the petrol if you want to go off-roading, especially as that version comes with Off-Road, Sand, Mud, and Snow driving modes.

We wished we’d had all-wheel drive when we drove across some unmetalled roads around Cape Town on our way to Port Elizabeth, especially as we’re told the 7 is more than capable of tackling the rough stuff.

Nevertheless, with only front-wheel drive, we were grateful to stick to the better coastal roads. In twistier sections, it coped, but there was quite a lot of body roll around faster bends.

The handling isn’t helped by the light steering, which lacked feedback and gave a sense that the wheel wasn’t connected to anything. As a result, it isn't easy to get confident enough to test the Jaecoo 7's limits, although the body roll would likely discourage you from trying.

Granted, no SUV handles brilliantly, and if you drive the Jaecoo sensibly, you should be fine, but anyone who likes to push a vehicle’s boundaries will find they don’t need to try all that hard.

Poor handling usually means a soft suspension, and vice versa, but the Jaecoo 7’s ride is firm, although it's still quite adept at soaking up lumps and bumps.

We are told that the petrol feels nimbler and slightly more agile around bends, but the SHS’s heavier weight means the latter is more planted.

Road and wind noise are well damped out thanks to double-glazing and soundproofing, while the brakes aren’t bad but can feel excessively grabby.

Charging

The Jaecoo 7 SHS’s battery charges at a maximum rate of 40kW. That is an impressive charging speed for a plug-in hybrid, and as a result, it's quicker to top up than most rivals.

A 30-80% charge takes around 20 minutes at its maximum rate.

Home charging will be more cost-effective, so a 30-80% charge takes approximately six and a half hours using a 7kW wall box.

Just beware that most manufacturers quote a 10-80% time for the maximum rate and 0-100% for 7kW home charging, so the times seem more favourable.

Running Costs & Emissions

The Jaecoo 7 SHS achieves a claimed 403mpg and emits 23g/km of CO2.

That is impressive, even if you’re unlikely to achieve such a high level of fuel economy in the real world, but at least you know it’ll be significantly superior to the petrols.

Speaking of which, the front-wheel drive petrol manages 37.7mpg, emitting 169g/km of CO2, while the all-wheel drive version returns 35.3mpg, releasing 182g/km of CO2.

If you’re after a company car, the SHS is a no-brainer, as it’ll be much cheaper in terms of Benefit In Kind tax.

Road tax is also a consideration from April 2025 onwards - the SHS will cost £110 for the first year, rising to £195 a year thereafter.

The front-wheel drive petrol, though, will cost an eye-watering £1,360 for the first year, followed by £195 a year thereafter. The all-wheel drive version is even worse, costing £2,190 for the first year and £195 a year thereafter.

Subsequent years may be more in practice, as road tax is set to rise each year with inflation.

As for reliability, Jaecoo is entirely unknown in the UK.

Interior & Technology

Even if the exterior of the Jaecoo 7 doesn’t impress you, you’ll raise eyebrows for all the right reasons when you step inside.

It looks minimalistic and decidedly high-end. The SHS features a prominent steering wheel, including a double spoke at six o’clock, sitting above a flat bottom.

The buttons on the wheel are bathed in piano black with silver surrounds, as are the vertical air vents on each side of the dashboard.

The centre console has more of the same. The petrol version includes a gear lever that looks like it should be in a Transformers film. However, you get a control attached to the steering column on the SHS instead.

What’s even more eye-catching, though, is the huge 14.8-inch infotainment screen, which is slightly smaller, at 13.2 inches, in the petrol’s entry-level Deluxe model.

Regardless of size, the operating system is the same - and the screen is angled portrait style rather than the more conventional landscape. It looks like a tablet bolted onto the dashboard, with very thin borders to maximise screen space.

The graphics are impressive, looking sleek, modern, and attractive. The screen is responsive to brushes, taps, and swipes of your fingers.

The menu layout is reasonably intuitive to use. However, there are too many functions within the touchscreen that could easily be taken care of with the odd physical switch, button, or dial in the cabin. Inevitably, this includes climate control, which can only be adjusted via the screen.

As a result, it’s not as easy to make adjustments on the move, although at least there's a shortcut button to access the right menu.

If you prefer to reach for the radio's volume button, you'll have to get used to adjusting it from the steering wheel instead. Otherwise, you'll need to delve into the touchscreen.

The 10.25-inch digital instrument display tells a similar story. It, too, is crisp and clear and offers attractive graphics with lots of helpful information. However, it’s excessively cluttered, offering a level of detail you don't always need.

The screen can display more conventional speedo dials instead, but there’s not much more customisation offered.

A few minor annoyances apart, the interior is sure to impress. The build quality is up to scratch, and there are lots of plush surfaces. Even the plastics on show don't seem low-rent. You will find cheaper plastics lower down, but most aren’t in plain sight.

Practicality & Boot Space

The six-way power adjustment for the driver's seat in all models makes finding a comfortable driving position in the Jaecoo 7 simple.

The seats are very comfortable, too. They offer good support and let you sink into them to relax on longer journeys.

The driving position is commandingly high up, too, providing a great view of the road ahead, helped by a sweptback windscreen and reasonably thin pillars.

The pillars are quite a bit thicker at the back, but we've seen much worse, so rear visibility isn't too bad. The sloping roofline leaves a relatively shallow rear windscreen, though, which doesn’t help over-the-shoulder views.

All Jaecoo 7s get front and rear parking sensors, plus a surround-view camera - curiously called a '540-degree' camera - so called because it provides a panoramic external view in which the car appears to be transparent.

Legroom and headroom in the front are plentiful, and you'll have no issues, even if you're tall. The cabin is sufficiently broad, so you won't get involved in an elbow fight with the person beside you.

The legroom is equally generous in the back. Although the slope in the roofline means headroom is slightly reduced, this still shouldn't pose a problem.

Three adults in the rear will sit in comparative comfort. However, the middle seat is thinner, firmer and has a bit of a hump in it, so whoever is sat there might not be as relaxed after a longer journey.

At least the floor has no central hump in the SHS version, while there’s a small one in the petrol version.

Unfortunately, the capacious cabin comes with one compromise: boot space. At 412 litres, the Jaecoo 7 SHS should still be big enough to suit most people's needs, but nearly all its main competitors offer bigger cargo capacities. That said, at least the boot is squarely shaped, so the full capacity is usable.

The back seats fold over in a 60:40 split, which isn't as convenient as some rivals' more versatile 40:20:40 configuration. With the back seats folded, the boot space increases to about 1,335 litres. There is also no boot lip, which makes it easier to slide large, heavy boxes in and out.

You will have no trouble storing little odds and ends inside the cabin, with a large centre console cubby, storage trays, two wireless phone chargers, and generously sized door bins.

There are two cupholders in the front, plus two more in the rear middle seat, which pulls out into an armrest. The glovebox is a nice size, too.

Safety

The Jaecoo 7 has apparently earned a five-star rating through crash-testing specialists Euro NCAP, although Euro NCAP has yet to confirm this, and we don't know the scores for individual categories.

However, Chery also owns Omoda, which offers the mid-size Omoda 5 SUV in the UK. It is based on the same platform as the Jaecoo 7.

When tested in 2022, the Omoda earned a five-star safety rating, scoring 87% for adults, 87% for children, and 88% for safety assists.

We would be surprised if the Jaecoo didn’t score similarly well, although Euro NCAP regularly makes its testing criteria more stringent and last revised its testing guidelines in 2023.

The Jaecoo 7 features a suite of driver assistance systems, encompassing autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning, intelligent active speed limit, a driving monitor system, and adaptive cruise control. It also has blind spot monitoring and traffic sign recognition.

Options

No options list exists for the Jaecoo 7, but you can choose a different granite white paint job.

Black, green, grey-blue, and pearl silver are also available - the latter three can be specified with a black roof.

Rival Cars

The Jaecoo 7 is going head-to-head with far more established competitors. The Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, MG HS and Nissan Qashqai are three of them.

We also recommend looking at the Citroen C5 Aircross and the Volkswagen Tiguan.

And, as mentioned earlier, the Jaecoo 7 is on the same platform as the Omoda 5.

Verdict & Next Steps

Overall, the Jaecoo 7 is a respectable debut for the fledgling Chery-owned marque from China.

Sure, some rivals can offer bigger boots, while the infotainment system has its quirks - and almost every feature of the car finds its way into a sub-menu somewhere. Established competitors produce equivalent models for a similar leasing cost, too - especially if you don't mind living without plug-in hybrid capability. Furthermore, it's firm ride doesn't translate into decent handling, and you'll ideally need the all-wheel drive petrol if you intend to go off-roading.

But the Jaecoo 7 offers good enough looks, a lovely interior, is well equipped, and has a spacious cabin, which will suit anyone of any size – and the SHS plug-in hybrid's impressive all-electric range sweetens the deal.

Where to next?

View latest Jaecoo 7 lease deals - from just £260.93 per month inc VAT**.

Call us on 0118 3048 688 or hit the green 'Enquire' button for more details.

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**Score based on Select’s unique meta score analysis, taking into account the UK’s top leading independent car website reviews of the Jaecoo 7 SUV.

**Correct as of 17/03/2025. Based on 9 months initial payment, 5,000 miles annually, over a 24 month lease. Initial payment equivalent to 9 monthly payments, or £2,592.36 (Plus admin fee) Ts and Cs apply. Credit is subject to status.