Jaecoo 7 - First Drive

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Mon 30 Jun 2025 09:11
Jaecoo 7 - First Drive - mcb100
Just spent the weekend in and around the Jaecoo J7.

I’ve got to say, it’s a huge amount of car for the money. I only drove the 1.6 petrol (available as FWD or AWD), but it’s also available as an FWD PHEV with 56 miles EV range.

Loads of equipment, a 14.8” screen in the upper Luxury spec (a little laggy, but you don’t need to touch it that often), and looks that observers described as Range Rover-esque.

Decent quality interior materials, everything looks and feels good, and a nice seat height for access and egress.

Chassis tuning has taken place in Germany, apparently, and it’s probably fair to say it’s on the firmer side over traffic calming lumps and bumps.

Yours for £30-35,000.
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Mon 30 Jun 2025 09:22
Jaecoo 7 - First Drive - Orb>>.

A while back I went to look at an Omoda 5 (same dealership) and wasn't impressed by the headroom and seating in the Omoda, specially the one with the sun roof.. even less headroom, but the centre console on that looked tacky.

Some reports of the jaecoo say that it's very bongy with all the warnings going off.

But I don't want an auto with considerably worse fuel consumption than the just bearable consumption on the Korando.

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Mon 30 Jun 2025 09:30
Jaecoo 7 - First Drive - badbusdriver

I realise I'm probably in the minority here, but it (supposedly) looking like a Range Rover isn't a plus point for me!.

Haven't actually read any reviews, but the general opinion from the motoring press isn't that great:

Autocar - 2.5 out of 5

What Car - 2 out of 5

Car Magazine - 3 out of 5

Top Gear - 5 out of 10

The overview from What Car is:

Even with its smart interior, generous kit list and long warranty, the Jaecoo 7 is best avoided. Its driving experience is poor, with its fidgety ride, wayward handling and over-sensitive safety systems meaning moments of peace are all too rare. If you do buy one, the PHEV version makes the most sense – it’s well priced and potentially very efficient.

I also realise road manners isn't as high on the priorities for most buyers as gadget counts and value for money, but things thing I'd be worried about on a new Chinese brand is reliability along with parts availablity and how well the company honour this long warranty (thinking about stories I've heard re MG)

Edited by badbusdriver on 30/06/2025 at 09:31

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Mon 30 Jun 2025 09:43
Jaecoo 7 - First Drive - mcb100
‘Some reports of the jaecoo say that it's very bongy with all the warnings going off.‘

The level of bongyness is determined by GSR2 - General Safety Regulations, 2nd edition. Even a £14,995 Dacia Spring has to have an over speed alert, lane departure alert, driver attention alert, etc, etc. The key to making the car work for you is how easy they are to silence on a journey by journey basis. I’ve said it elsewhere, but Renault lead the field in this.

‘Haven't actually read any reviews, but the general opinion from the motoring press isn't that great:’

Road tests aren’t read by the vast majority of the population, who drive one car for three years, then the next for three years (assuming a 36 month change cycle). If a car is a means of getting yourself/kids/dogs from A to B, it’ll do the job perfectly well. And it’ll do it at a potentially lower monthly cost than their current car.


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Mon 30 Jun 2025 10:00
Jaecoo 7 - First Drive - Orb>>.

The key to making the car work for you is how easy they are to silence on a journey by journey basis. I’ve said it elsewhere, but Renault lead the field in this.

The Korando is excellent in that respect, but i leave the driver alert thingy on just to see how often it happens.. (not often) and it does remind me to stop for a coffee when that little "cuppa " sign comes on.

As for BBD. I think i have put off three or four friends and people I know from buying an MG.

I wish I had kept a copy of my final email to MG when I got shut of the ZS in early 2020 but i probably could not post it on here,

There is one salesman I know who admits that MG warranty are not the easiest to deal with and they still have that poor reputation, Auto express = The MG brand’s low Driver Power score.

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Mon 30 Jun 2025 11:47
Jaecoo 7 - First Drive - Adampr

I tend to ignore all of the magazine reviews. Car are the absolute worst, seemingly sponsored by Porsche, but the others also seem to focus on image and how soft the dashboard is above everything else. I tend to look at Parkers if I want a review. They seem to think the Jaecoo is OK. I see a lot of them trundling around.

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Mon 30 Jun 2025 14:04
Jaecoo 7 - First Drive - Ethan Edwards

Irony alert. Magazine reviews favour Porsche? If the Gen1 Taycan is one ofctheir gems, I'd disregard their advice.

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