Jaecoo 8 vs Hyundai Santa Fe: can this new Chinese SUV beat our former Car of the Year? 

This is the new Jaecoo 8, and it’s the biggest car the Chinese brand currently sells. It’s a seven-seater plug-in hybrid with a posh interior and loads of tech, but it costs less than a lot of alternatives.

One of those alternatives is the Hyundai Santa Fe. It was Carwow’s Car of the Year in 2025, but is it worth £4,500 more than the Jaecoo? I’ve tested both cars, and I’m going to walk you through the pros and cons of both.

Jaecoo 8 vs Hyundai Santa Fe: prices and deals

The price is the biggest talking point between these two cars, and there’s more to it than meets the eye.

The Jaecoo 8 starts from £45,500, or you can pay an extra £2,000 for the six-seater version with a pair of captain’s chairs in the back instead of the three-seat bench.

A basic Hyundai Santa Fe will cost you just over £49,000 with the self-charging hybrid engine, but the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) costs £53,200. The Jaecoo is a PHEV as standard.

However, what really matters is the price you pay at a dealer. Right now through Carwow, you can get a Santa Fe PHEV for as little as £46,500, while the Jaecoo 8 is available for just over £43,000. It’s still cheaper, but the price gap isn’t as wide.

Despite being cheaper, the Santa Fe comes with a lot more standard equipment. You get heated and ventilated front and rear seats, adaptive cruise control, a surround-view camera and a head-up display.

To get that same level of kit on a Santa Fe, you have to upgrade to the mid-spec Ultimate version which costs £56,450 with the plug-in hybrid engine.

But things tip in the Hyundai’s favour when you look at lease deals. You can get the Ultimate PHEV for £380 per month over three years and 30,000 miles. This is with a £4,860 upfront payment, bringing the total to just over £18,000.

Because the Jaecoo 8 hasn’t been around very long, the really exciting deals haven’t started to show yet, so it’ll cost you £427 per month with a £5,420 upfront payment. This is also over three years and 30,000 miles, so it comes to £20,400 in total.

So if you’re looking to buy a car outright, or on finance, the Jaecoo 8 is better value for money. If you’re leasing, the Santa Fe is more appealing.

Jaecoo 8 vs Hyundai Santa Fe: interior and technology

One of the things I love about the Hyundai Santa Fe is the interior; because not only is it vast, it’s also really nicely built.

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The doors, dashboard and centre console are covered in soft-touch plastic and leatherette, plus you also get proper knobs and switches for the climate control. All the switchgear is nicely damped – it feels just as posh as a Land Rover Discovery, but costs £20,000 less.

All versions of the Santa Fe get twin 12.3-inch screens, and they’re both pretty good. The central touchscreen is bright, responsive and easy to use, and you can set up customisable shortcuts to take you to your favourite functions.

The Jaecoo’s interior is equally impressive, and there is more than a whiff of Mercedes GLE about it. The layered dashboard and square vents look very similar to that car – although it’s not like that’s a bad thing.

The quality is good as well, plush materials and solid switchgear. That said, I noticed some mis-matched trim in the car I tested.

It does look a bit posher than the Hyundai though, especially if you go for the tan leather. I do wish there were some more physical buttons though, because operating the climate control through the 12.3-inch screen is a faff on the move; especially seeing as the screen is set so far back.

For the money, the Jaecoo 8’s interior is really impressive. It’s pretty much on-par in terms of quality and design, but the Hyundai’s controls are easier to use.

Jaecoo 8 vs Hyundai Santa Fe: space and practicality

You can get the Jaecoo 8 with seven seats, or you can replace the three-seat middle bench with a pair of captain’s chairs. I wouldn’t bother with that last option though.

For the people sitting in them, they’re pretty nice. Legroom is palatial, there’s loads of headroom and you can recline the seats to really stretch out. The issues arise when you try to get into the third row of seats.

There’s no lever to flip the middle seats forward, so the only way to get back there is to thread yourself through the gap between them. It’s a squeeze, and once you’re back there you’ll be pretty cramped.

 

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The seven-seater does have a folding seat arrangement, so ingress is more graceful, but it’s still tight for adults.

You can get the Santa Fe with a similar rear seat arrangement, but getting into the third row is easy whether you have six chairs or seven. There’s also enough space back there for adults, and the middle row is just as spacious as the Jaecoo.

The Jaecoo does have a bigger boot though. With the third row folded, it can hold 738 litres. The Santa Fe has 628 litres of space.

As a seven-seater, the Hyundai Santa Fe is the better car. If you don’t need to use the third row, the Jaecoo is really spacious for five and has a bigger boot.

Jaecoo 8 vs Hyundai Santa Fe: engines and driving

Chinese cars are often let down by a sub-par driving experience. The Jaecoo 7 is a prime example with its jittery suspension and wayward steering, but the Jaecoo 8 was a pleasant surprise.

It has electronic adaptive suspension which soaks up bumps pretty well, and the hybrid engine is really smooth. It has 428hp on tap, so it’s pretty rapid, and the Jaecoo will do up to 83 miles on electric power alone. The steering is a bit too light on twisty roads to inspire confidence, but it’s not so bad it’ll annoy you.

The Hyundai Santa Fe feels slightly more planted through the bends, but other than that there’s not much between these two cars in the way they drive. Both are comfortable, relaxing cruisers.

You do get more engine options in the Hyundai though. There’s a self-charging hybrid with 239hp, as well as the plug-in hybrid with 253hp. It can’t beat the Jaecoo in terms of performance, and with 30 miles of electric range the Chinese car has it licked here as well.

It’s a close call, but I think the Jaecoo’s better EV range gives it the edge here.

Jaecoo 8 vs Hyundai Santa Fe: Mat’s final verdict

So then, which of these cars should you buy?

Well the Jaecoo is cracking value. The interior feels really posh, you get loads of equipment as standard and it’s the first Jaecoo I’ve tested which is good to drive.

However, the Hyundai Santa Fe is more practical and I think the interior is slightly better as well. It’s also cheaper to lease than the Jaecoo, and that’s fast becoming one of the most popular ways to get a new car.

And that’s why the Hyundai Santa Fe wins this test, but not by a huge margin. The Jaecoo 8 is still a very impressive car for the money.

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