Jaecoo E5 review

Quite simple, this: the entry-level Jaecoo E5 Pure is £27,505, and the top-end Luxury spec is £30,505. As this car is built in Asia it doesn’t qualify for the Electric Car Grant, so no chunky discount for you.

The Pure model comes with 18in alloy wheels, LED daytime running lights, a six-speaker sound system, the 13.2in touchscreen and 8.8in driver’s display, the faux leather trim, front and rear parking sensors, a couple of USBs and no fewer than 19 ADAS systems, some of which won’t drive you completely round the bend. Score!

Luxury trim introduces full LED headlights, the panoramic sunroof, heated, vented and electrically adjustable front seats, a heated steering wheel, a Sony audio setup with two more speakers, wireless phone charging at 50W (the pad is air-cooled), ambient lighting (which hasn’t worked as expected in the two test cars we’ve tried it on), and a roof rack that’ll hold up to 75kg. Get yourself over to Jaecoo’s accessories store for the Bear Grylls extras.

Exclusive to the E5 over the 5 are over-the-air updates, automatic two-zone air con, a native sat nav, companion app so you can set the cabin temperature remotely, a heated windscreen washer nozzle (frost begone!), a rear-view camera with ‘dynamic guidelines’, and vehicle-to-load capability that’ll let you charge a laptop or toaster or mattress inflator. Guaranteed to make Mr Grylls fume with envy.

Enough Bear Grylls gags. What will it cost me per month?

The E5 Luxury is the trim of choice, so put 10 per cent down on that and Jaecoo’s chosen finance provider will want £335 a month over four years at 3.9 per cent APR. Over three years that rises to £385, only £15 less than Kia will get you into an EV3 for with a similar deposit. Get the abacus out, stat. And look around for deals, because there are definitely some out there.

On a PCP you’ll only be paying a tad more for the E5 than the petrol car (albeit with a higher deposit), but if you can charge cheaply at home then your fuel costs ought to be much lower.

The warranty is a huge but by no means unique seven years and 100,000 miles, with unlimited miles for the first three years. The battery is covered for eight years. Servicing is every 12 months of 10,000 miles.

As is the case with so many new brands, there’s risk versus reward to weigh up with your proximity to a dealer and the ease of repairs etcetera. One to research before you sign on the dotted line.