Jaecoo 7 SHS - long-term review

“What the hell is that?” asks the delivery driver, screeching his van to a halt mere inches from the Jaecoo 7’s rear. This is, I think, the seventh time I’ve been asked this question – or ruder variations thereof – in the two days the Chinese interloper has been parked in front of my house.

To be honest, right now I’m unsure how to answer that question. Not least because I’m not certain of the pronunciation of ‘Jaecoo’. (Jai-coo? Jay-coo? J’atchoo?) 

Google ‘Jaecoo 7 rivals’ and you’ll find reference to everything from the Dacia Bigster to a Range Rover, which is quite the spread. So what does the 7 rival? And whatever it does rival, does it… outrival them? That’s what it’s here to answer.

What the Jaecoo 7 isn’t – to the surprise of my many interrogators – is an EV. Though, yes, it’s a new Chinese arrival (Jaecoo is a sub-brand of state-owned Chery, and arrives in the UK alongside sister brand Omoda), no, this one’s not electric. At least not fully electric: the 7 comes in either pure petrol or plug-in hybrid guise.

We’ve gone for the latter, grandly dubbed the Super Hybrid System (SHS). This sees a 1.5-litre turbo petrol supplemented by an additional e-motor on the front wheels fed from an 18kWh battery, offering a total output of 201bhp and an official 56 miles of electric-only driving. That’s a more substantial e-range than many PHEVs. Could come in handy. Could just be an even-heavier second powertrain to lug around.

The 7 also isn’t, despite the name, a seven-seater. Room for five only here, within an SUV similar in footprint to the Hyundai Tucson, VW Tiguan and BMW X1. Judged by the attention it’s garnering, the 7 is more visually distinctive than any of that crew. Wearing optional Amazonite Blue paint, first impressions are… it looks tidy, right? The merits of that cheese-slicer grille will be, I suspect, a matter of personal taste, but the surfacing is smart and the detailing is neat. There’s more than a hint of Evoque and Velar about its straight-edged profile. It looks, to me, quite expensive.

It isn’t. At least not by modern SUV standards. The 7 range starts at a smidge over 30 grand, with this plug-in hybrid weighing in at £35,000 with all the trimmings. That looks like strong value if the 7 can mix it with premium offerings like the Audi Q3 and X1, fair value if it’s up there with the Hyundai Tucson, Nissan Qashqai and Kia Sportage… and a bit on the pricey side if it’s playing in the Bigster/MG HS ballpool. We shall see.

It's certainly packing plenty of tech, and very very few buttons. Hailed as a ‘software-defined vehicle’, almost every one of the Jaecoo 7’s interior functions – right down to the angle of the wing mirrors – is controlled through its vast central portrait screen. In other cars we’ve found this touchscreen dependence brain-meltingly frustrating. Can the Jaecoo buck the trend?

I’m genuinely intrigued to find out. At Top Gear, we’ve been known to complain that too many new cars are just too similar. The Jaecoo 7 – despite being a five-seat family SUV, and thus the least surprising flavour of vehicle on Planet Earth – feels truly unique. Whether that’s a positive or negative, we’ve got six months to find out.