Jaecoo 7 Review & Prices

The Jaecoo 7 was the Chinese brand’s first SUV. Its highlights include a well-made interior, head-turning styling and excellent value for money. It’s a shame that the Jaecoo isn’t very good to drive, and it’s not as practical as its boxy styling would have you believe.

Much like a child just discovering its talents, the Jaecoo 7 excels in some ways, but overall it needs some more time and effort put in to create a well-rounded package. It may have been an early entrant into the fray, but there are now numerous Chinese SUVs to choose from, such as the Chery Tiggo 7, BYD Seal U and forthcoming Changan Deepal S07.

You can’t forget the legacy models, either, with the Nissan Qashqai, Hyundai Tucson and Volkswagen Tiguan all excellent alternatives to consider.

It may be cheaper to buy than its mainstream alternatives, but if you park the Jaecoo 7 next to the established crowd then it’ll be the one that steals all the attention. There’s more than a hint of Range Rover Velar to its styling, especially in its ruler-straight shoulder line that tapers off to the rear. The broad grille and rear light bar look expensive, while the body cladding adds a touch of off-roadiness to it all.

Strangely, there are two interior options in the Jaecoo 7, depending on your engine choice. Both variants feature the same chunky dashboard, slender driver display and upright infotainment display (13.2-inch in the Deluxe, 14.8-inch in Luxury models), but where the petrol has a traditional push-pull gear selector on the centre console, the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) has a column-mounted stalk instead.

Whichever version you choose, the Jaecoo 7 feels well-made with solid - yet plush feeling - materials around the cabin. The upper surfaces are soft and padded, and though the centre console, door cards and under-dashboard are hard and scratchy that’s to be expected from a car of this price.

There’s a decent amount of cabin storage and plenty of headroom, legroom and shoulder space in the Jaecoo 7’s interior, but the 500-litre boot is poor in comparison to the Citroen C5 Aircross and Kia Sportage. It’s an awkward shape as well, too shallow for bulky or tall items.

The aforementioned engines are worlds apart in terms of refinement. The Jaecoo 7 petrol isn’t quick, economical, or smooth. The plug-in hybrid is far more pleasant to drive, and it’s cheaper to tax, too.

You can also waft around town in near-silence in the plug-in model, but the Jaecoo 7 thuds when going over potholes and bumps. It’s noisy and uncomfortable on the motorway, while on a country lane the light steering and jiggly suspension rob you of confidence around corners.

However, it’s definitely worth considering if value for money is high on your priority list for a car. Check out the latest Jaecoo 7 deals on Carwow, as well as Jaecoo 7 leasing offers and used Jaecoo 7 options, too. There are other used Jaecoos available through our network of trusted dealers, and Carwow can help sell your current car when it’s time to make a change.

Starting at just over £30,000 in petrol guise and £35,000 as a plug-in hybrid, the Jaecoo 7 really offers tremendous value compared to its mainstream alternatives. A plug-in hybrid Volkswagen Tiguan starts at a whopping £42,000, while the Hyundai Tucson PHEV costs almost £39,400.

A thorn in the side of the Jaecoo 7, however, is the mechanically similar Chery Tiggo 7. It offers comparable equipment levels and arguably more presence with its enormous grille for around £5,000 less than the equivalent Jaecoo.

Still, the entry-level Jaecoo 7 Deluxe features a 13.2-inch infotainment screen, LED lights, heated front seats and a full-length glass sunroof. The PHEV can only be had in the Luxury version, which has a larger 14.8-inch infotainment display, cooled front seats, a heated steering wheel and heated rear seats, as well as an upgraded Sony sound system.

Light steering and good visibility make it easy to thread around town, but the Jaecoo 7 loses its shine at higher speeds

In town

The Jaecoo 7 looks big in photos, but in reality it’s well sized for city driving while still being spacious inside. It’s a little bit shorter than the Hyundai Tucson, making it fairly easy to find a parking space, but while the high seating position gives you a good view of the road ahead, rear visibility is disappointing.

Still, the big door mirrors at least take some of the stress out of parking, as does the tight turning circle and light steering. The brakes manage to avoid feeling grabby at low speeds in the hybrid models too, as befalls so many hybrid cars these days, doing a good job of masking the transition between regenerative braking and the physical brakes kicking in.

It’s not that comfortable over bumps and potholes though, with an audible crash resonating through the cockpit when you’re driving over a bad road.

On the motorway

The Jaecoo 7’s driving experience is more disappointing at higher speeds, as road noise builds up noticeably the faster you go and the crashy suspension is exaggerated when you’re at a cruise. Joining motorways is easy, but the petrol version sounds slightly strained under hard acceleration.

Jaecoo’s active lane assist could do with some relaxation tips too, as it is too oversensitive when you’re even slightly to one side of your lane - and it jerks you back towards the centre rather violently.

The rest of the safety assistance systems are just as intrusive - particularly the driver attention warning setup - as they bong away merrily when you’re not expecting them to. You can’t turn them off without the car thinking you’re not paying attention to the road either, so you really have to strain to use your peripheral vision and focus on your hand inputs. Ironic, and annoying.

On a twisty road

Even by the standards of other family SUVs, the Jaecoo 7 still feels slightly out of its depths on a twisty road. The light steering that does well in town provides little idea of what the front wheels are doing on a winding road, or how much grip they have.

The lane-keep assist jerk is particularly noticeable here, but it’s the jiggliness over bumpier high-speed corners that unsettles both you and the Jaecoo the most. Country lanes are best taken at a moderate pace.

There’s a spacious cabin in the Jaecoo, but the boot is awkwardly shaped

It’s easy to get comfortable in the Jaecoo 7, with plenty of room in the front and lots of movement in the standard-fit electrically adjustable seats. An odd touch, but the dashboard layout changes depending on which engine you opt for in your car.

The plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model moves the gear selector up from the centre console to the steering column, allowing for extra cubby space between the seats. Speaking of which, there are a pair of (slightly too large to be useful) cup holders in the centre console, as well as a button-operated hidden cubby and an open storage space in the middle by your feet.

Large door pockets and a large glove box are handy, with easily enough space for a one-litre water bottle, as is the cooled phone storage tray which doubles up as a charger. The hidden central cubby is cooled too, should you wish.

Space in the back

You get plenty of headroom in the back thanks to the Jaecoo 7’s boxy shape and tall roofline, and there’s a good amount of space for most people’s knees. Tall occupants might find kneeroom a little tight, but under-seat foot space is acceptable.

There’s a pair of cupholders in the rear armrest but again, they don’t do a great job of holding a bottle securely, though there are useful pockets on the front seat backs for storing both phones and larger items in separate spaces. They do feel a little flimsy though.

Three adults can fit in the back in relative comfort thanks to the flat floor and relatively flat bench, but you’ll want to keep five-up trips short. Luxury-spec cars get heated rear seats, but there’s not much more in the way of creature comforts back there.

Boot space

The Jaecoo’s 500 litres of boot space isn’t particularly generous, lagging behind the Volkswagen Tiguan (615 litres), Kia Sportage (591 litres), and Nissan Qashqai (504 litres). It’s usefully square and equipped with bag hooks and a 12-volt connection, but if you regularly carry bulky items then the Jaecoo could be an inconvenience.

The depth of the boot is lacking compared to its alternatives, and while there’s under-floor storage space for stowing cables and other odds-and-sods out of sight, you can’t lower the boot floor for a larger overall volume. There’s also nowhere to put the parcel shelf if you do need to remove it.

Drop the rear seats down and the space becomes much more useful, as the seats almost fold flat and expand the boot’s volume to 1,265 litres. There’s an odd nifty feature too, where you can hook the parcel shelf to the boot floor and the open bootlid to create a projector screen. Why? Well, why not?

There’s plenty of standard kit, but the Jaecoo 7 isn’t without its quirks

At first glance the Jaecoo 7 makes a good impression, looking easily posh enough for its price point, and it stays impressive once you’re sat in the car. The steering wheel badge resembles a Range Rover and the hidden box in the centre console is giving Mercedes, and the material quality isn’t all that far off posher brands.

The dashboard, armrests and door tops are all trimmed in soft leatherette and pleasant plastics, and it’s only lower down that you begin to feel the scratchier, harder trims. That’s not unique to the Jaecoo though, and it’s something you’ll even find in luxurious alternatives from Audi and BMW.

Standard kit is pretty great too, with a panoramic roof on both trim levels and a head-up display, ventilated front seats and heated steering wheel as standard on the higher spec Luxury car. Entry level Deluxe cars feature a 13.2-inch infotainment screen as standard, where the top trim level gets a 14.8-inch unit instead, but they’re identical to operate.

Infotainment is crucial to the Jaecoo’s cabin, as the central display controls everything from music to the climate control system. It’s hit and miss though, because while the touchscreen has clear graphics and feels responsive to the touch, it’s still fiddly to change settings on the fly.

What’s more, the complete lack of a volume knob means that passengers can’t turn the music up or down. While in theory that shouldn’t matter, it’s annoying having to rely on the steering wheel control alone.

The main annoyance comes when you’re on the move, because the Jaecoo 7 is fitted with a rather sensitive driver awareness sensor. If you adjust the settings, look in your mirrors or just turn to face your passenger for a brief moment the car thinks you’re no longer focused on your driving. It’s very annoying.

There are two engines to choose from on the Jaecoo 7, a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a seven-speed automatic gearbox and a 1.5-litre plug-in hybrid engine that comes equipped with a CVT gearbox instead. The petrol-powered model can be had in front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, where the hybrid is exclusively front-driven.

The petrol model isn’t all that efficient, especially in all-wheel drive trim where it only offers a claimed 35mpg. Front-wheel drive cars are slightly better at 38mpg and emit 169g/km of CO2, where the all-wheel drive version outputs 183g/km.

Both the front-wheel drive petrol Jaecoo 7 and the four-wheel drive car fall into fairly high first-year tax bands, dropping down to the flat rate for year two onwards. All models escape the luxury car tax, fortunately.

The hybrid model is much cheaper to tax, with CO2 emissions of just 23g/km. Company car drivers will be happy to know that the hybrid Jaecoo 7 sits in one of the lowest Benefit in Kind tax rates, thanks to its CO2 emissions output of 23g/km and claimed 56 miles of electric range.

The Jaecoo 7 scored an excellent five-star safety rating when tested by Euro NCAP in 2025, scoring above 80% in all four testing categories: adult occupant, child occupant, vulnerable road users and safety assistance tech.

It comes fitted as standard with a suite of driver assistance technology, including an attention and drowsiness detector, 360-degree parking cameras, automatic emergency braking and a lane assist system.

You get a pair of ISOFIX child seat anchor points in the back, and while it’s a shame that there isn’t one in the front passenger seat, they do have handy flip-open covers which make attaching the seat a piece of cake.

Jaecoo is too new to have had any real-world feedback when it comes to reliability. In fact it’s so new that it didn’t place on the 2024 Driver Power reliability survey, nor did its sister company Omoda.

You do, however, get a hugely competitive seven-year/100,000-mile warranty with the Jaecoo 7. Compared to the European alternatives at three years/60,000 miles, that’s some good going.

Jaecoo also offers an eight year warranty on the PHEV mode’s hybrid system. Only Toyota and Lexus offer better, with a ten year warranty if you keep up regular servicing at a main dealership.