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7NEWS
2 days ago
- Automotive
- 7NEWS
2025 Jaecoo J8 review
It can be hard keeping track of all the new brands coming to Australia, almost all of them coming from China… and many coming from one automaker in particular. That would be Chery, China's largest vehicle exporter, which re-entered Australia in 2023 with a factory-backed distribution operation. This year, it's rolling out two brand names, but what it refers to as one brand: Omoda Jaecoo. The Jaecoo J8, launching this month, will be sold through these new Omoda Jaecoo showrooms. Vehicles wearing the Omoda nameplate are sleeker SUVs with more of a crossover look, while Jaecoo's SUVs have more of a traditional SUV silhouette. The J8 is the flagship Jaecoo product and, though it's 5mm longer and 30mm wider than a Kia Sorento, it's launching with just two rows of seating; a three-row version is offered overseas with second-row captain's chairs, but it hasn't been locked in for Australia. That leaves the J8 as an alternative to the likes of the Subaru Outback and Mazda CX-70 or, we suppose, any three-row SUV that you've folded the rearmost seats in. The company did, however, specifically name-check the CX-70 as a rival. Conceptually, it's rather like the Nissan Murano that was once sold here and lives on in other markets. It's big, it's distinctively styled, and it's designed to carry five occupants and their luggage in comfort. About that styling – it's not really like the smaller Jaecoo J5 and J7, appearing less boxy. That's probably because this is sold under a different sub-brand in China than the J7. The J8 is actually sold in China as the Chery Tiggo 9, with a slightly different version of the vehicle to be launched here later this year… as the Chery Tiggo 9. The J7, in contrast, is part of Chery's Discover/Tansuo sub-brand. The flagship Jaecoo does get the marque's vertical bar grille, and the styling is sleek and handsome if not entirely unfamiliar – we can definitely see some Lincoln Aviator in this, for example. It's let down only by the appearance of the body being ever so slightly too large for the chassis. It's not quite as obvious as, say, an MG 5, GWM Haval Jolion or even Chery's own C5, but it does look like it could benefit from an increase in track width. How much does the Jaecoo J8 cost? The Jaecoo J8 undercuts a raft of large SUVs, with even the top-spec Ridge AWD priced in line with the entry-level Kia Sorento. The Korean SUV is currently priced at $54,340 drive-away. The J8, therefore, is priced more in line with mid-range mid-size SUVs. However, MG has launched its larger, three-row QS large SUV with a base price of $46,990 drive-away. What is the Jaecoo J8 like on the inside? While some Chinese brands tend towards the austere, Chery (and by extension Omoda Jaecoo) vehicle interiors tend to make a statement with some classy touch points and design cues. The J8 is no exception. You're immediately greeted with a cabin that's visually interesting and which features various intriguing surfaces, instead of being some stark black prison slathered in piano black trim. That said, Omoda Jaecoo, please bring that lovely tan interior here. There is some piano black trim, but it's used more for accent purposes – it forms a perimeter around the window switches for example, and a little bit is used on the centre console. It is used for the steering wheel switches, though, which almost immediately look like you're a CSI technician trying to lift fingerprints at a crime scene. The company says the seats are real leather, and while there are some hard plastics they're saved for the lowest reaches of the dash and doors. There are some genuinely interesting materials in this cabin, like the swathe of grey woodgrain trim across the dash, and the dash top finished in an unusual suede-like trim. More overtly suede-like material is found on the roof and pillars in the flagship trim level. Ambient lighting in the flagship Ridge AWD makes the cabin even more luxe at night, and you can specify different colours for the front and rear of the cabin. Some elements seem a little obviously inspired by other brands. The start button, column-mounted shifter stalk, and door-mounted seat controls feel blatantly Mercedes-Benz, though they also feel very nice to use. The use of crystal trim for the drive mode selector in the flagship Ridge AWD is a vaguely Volvo-like touch, while the tactile wheel with its gloss black switchgear is rather Volkswagen. But if you're going to take inspiration, why not look to the Europeans? You want gadgets? The J8 has got them. The Ridge AWD's ambient lighting can pulsate to the music. The flagship also gets a fragrance system with a choice of three fragrances, dispersed from cartridges in the car. But even the base grade gets heated, ventilated and massaging front seats. The massage function is genuinely good too, with multiple levels and multiple massage types. The driver's seat has an extendable thigh support, while the passenger seat has a genuine leg rest. Both front seats are very comfortable. You'll find two speakers in the driver's head restraint, and you can actually opt through the infotainment system for audio from calls, the embedded navigation and even media to come through only these – ideal if you don't want to wake up dozing passengers on a long road trip. We didn't get a chance to play around this, but it's a clever concept. There are some quirks in the change from left to right-hand drive. As we've seen in some products from Chinese rivals like GWM, the USB-A outlet for connecting to smartphone mirroring is on the passenger's side. You won't need it though, as there's wireless connectivity and we were able to maintain a stable Apple CarPlay connectivity. The voice assistant understood our prompts, but asking it to do anything with the driver's seat saw it adjust the passenger seat instead, and vice versa. But asking the assistant to open the driver's window opened… the driver's window. Also, while not a LHD to RHD quirk, it's unusual the entry variant gets conventional interior door handles, while the Ridge AWD gets push-button ones (plus a backup mechanical release). There are dual 12.3-inch screens, one for the instruments and one for the infotainment system. The technology is slick, which is good because there's so little physical switchgear on the centre stack that you're forced to use the touchscreen (or voice prompts) for almost every function. There are some shortcuts, including a swipe-up climate control menu where you can access functions like the ventilated seats, and a swipe-down shortcut menu that you can add additional shortcuts to. The interfaces look modern and there are some handy inclusions, like a map view for the instrument cluster and an owner's manual on the touchscreen. There are some physical controls, including a tactile drive mode dial, volume knob, and demister and heated seat controls, on the centre console. The latter require a double tap to activate, which prevents you from accidentally turning on the heated seats by brushing over the controls accidentally with your shirt sleeve. We'd like more physical controls, but this is one of the more intuitive and attractive interfaces we've seen in a Chinese car in 2025. As expected, there's a head-up display that projects information like the vehicle speed ahead of the driver. A ventilated wireless phone charger sits on the centre console, ahead of a pair of cupholders. Underneath this there's a large shelf, while the centre console also includes a spacious bin. Step into the back and there's a spacious second row. I'm 180cm tall and I had plenty of headroom, even with the panoramic sunroof, as well as ample legroom and knee room. There are also controls on the side of the front passenger seat, allowing the passenger behind to free up more room for themselves. There are air vents not only at the rear of the centre console but also in the B-pillars. Also in the rear are map pockets, USB-A and USB-C outlets, bottle holders in the doors, cup holders in the fold-down centre armrest and, in the Ridge AWD, heated and ventilated outboard seats. While it looks like there are only controls for the heated seats, flip a switch in the middle and these rocker switches can be used to control the ventilation function for the seats. The boot is big, as expected for something that's offered with a third row of seating in other markets. The company claims there's 738L of boot space, measured up to the roof; this expands to 2021L with the rear seats folded. Something very unusual – but most welcome – in this day and age is a full-size spare wheel under the boot floor. What's under the bonnet? While Omoda Jaecoo wants to bring a plug-in hybrid option to Australia, for now the J8 is petrol-only. We didn't get a chance to test combined fuel consumption. We recorded a readout of 6.8L/100km in our front-wheel drive tester across a Berry-to-Sydney highway drive, matching its highway claim. We also recorded 8.9L/100km in a slightly more urban-skewed leg of the drive program in an all-wheel drive example. The J8 isn't rated to tow. How does the Jaecoo J8 drive? Full disclosure: our drive route from Sydney to Berry was predominantly on highways, with largely well-maintained bitumen and only a couple of genuinely winding roads featuring. That means it was hard to properly gauge aspects like how the car handles corners, or how it soaks up craggy roads. Throwing an all-wheel drive example around the few bends on our drive route, we observed decent body control. The steering is light but not excessively so, and Sport mode dials in some extra artificial weight. This means the J8 doesn't feel completely outsmarted by a corner, but again we need to spend some more time with the vehicle to get a proper gauge on its handling. Likewise, the ride quality. Some expansion joints and ruts on Sydney roads weren't absorbed as adeptly as they ought to be in something intended to be a plush cruiser, but on the few regional roads we drove on that weren't well-surfaced, the J8 did a good job keeping us isolated from the nasties on the bitumen. Given most of our drive route was on the highway, we have far more observations here – and not all of them are good. The J8 is quiet, with wind noise kept to a minimum. Give it some beans, for example to overtake, and the engine note is a touch coarse for something intended to be luxurious. I was pleased to hear the J8 uses a torque-converter auto rather than a dual-clutch, something that has become du jour among Chinese SUVs and which in some instances can be unpleasant around town. Unfortunately, the J8's transmission isn't a terribly good one. This isn't a light car at up to 1890kg, but with 183kW and 385Nm we expected the J8 to feel a bit more sprightly. But steeper grades or overtaking manoeuvres had the J8 dropping back several gears to muster up the grunt to push past, and the transmission generally proved to be a bit dozy. It shuffles through gears a bit – you'll notice this as the current gear is displayed on the instrument cluster – and isn't as smooth as transmissions in some rival vehicles. There is a Sport mode where gears are held a bit longer and the steering gets a bit heavier, but it doesn't make the vehicle really feel any quicker. We drove a front-wheel drive example as well, but this drive route was even more highway-centric. For most buyers, the J8 has adequate power. But with these outputs and a traditional auto, I was expecting a bit more grunt and refinement. There are four different lane systems in the J8: a simple lane departure warning, an emergency lane-keep assist, lane departure prevention (what most brands would call lane-keep assist), and Traffic Jam Assist and Integrated Cruise Assist (TJA and ICA). Okay, that looks like five, but the last two are effectively the same system just operating at different vehicle speeds. These feature lane centring in conjunction with the adaptive cruise control. The lane departure prevention is tolerable. There's a bit of a snatchy feeling when you get close to a lane marking, but the system doesn't feel like it's constantly trying to intervene. It's not as smooth as many rival brands, however, and we couldn't help but notice it was turned off in all the press cars… It's a relief, then, that once turned off, this system defaults to off. The TJA/ICA system doesn't seem to know what it's doing. You have to have your hands on the wheel, naturally, but as soon as it detects you seemingly breathing on the steering wheel, let alone moving it, it flashes up a warning message. The abrupt, snatchy feeling with the lane-keep assist is exacerbated here, and it took a few kilometres of highway driving before I turned off the system in a huff. In contrast, other driver assist features like the blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and driver attention monitoring worked faultlessly. Gone are the days – I say that like it was so long ago, but it was only 2023 – when Chery's driver-facing camera would scold you incessantly, and that's a huge relief. The camera quality is superb, with a surround-view camera featuring an under-car view and a 3D view. There's also an automated parking feature which can manoeuvre the vehicle into a parking spot even if there are no defined lines, and which has a route memory function. We'd like to have more seat time in the J8 to get a better handle on the handling and a better read on the ride. Ultimately, however, our limited drive revealed the transmission calibration and Level 2 autonomous driving tech as the biggest bugbears. What do you get? There are two members of the Jaecoo J8 lineup. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Track equipment highlights: 5-seat layout Eco, Normal and Sport drive modes Idle stop/start 20-inch alloy wheels Maxxis Victra Sport 5 SUV 245/50 R20 tyres Full-size spare Hill descent control Proximity entry with push-button start Built-in dashcam Power-retracting door handles Roof rails Automatic projector LED headlights Automatic high-beam Puddle lights Rain-sensing wipers Power-folding, heated exterior mirrors Panoramic sunroof Auto up/down power windows Power tailgate 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system Satellite navigation Apple CarPlay – wireless, wired Android Auto – wireless, wired Voice assistant Head-up display 12-speaker Sony sound system with driver's head restraint speakers 2 x USB-A outlets (1 x front, 1 x rear) 2 x USB-C outlets (1 x front, 1 x rear) 2 x 12-V outlets (1 x front, 1 x boot) 50W wireless phone charger Quilted leather upholstery 8-way power driver's seat 6-way power passenger seat Massaging front seats Heated and ventilated front seats Leather-wrapped steering wheel Tilt and telescopic steering wheel adjustment 60:40 split fold rear seats Dual-zone climate control Rear air vents, fan speed control LED interior lighting The J8 Ridge adds: All-wheel drive with torque vectoring Continuous Damping Control Snow, Mud, Sand and Offroad drive modes Michelin tyres Semi-autonomous parking assist Rear privacy glass Electronic interior door release buttons Heated steering wheel Heated and ventilated outboard rear seats Fragrance system Colour-adjustable ambient lighting Black suede headliner Auto-dimming rear-view mirror Is the Jaecoo J8 safe? The Jaecoo J8 has yet to be tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP. Standard safety equipment in the Jaecoo J8 includes: Autonomous emergency braking Blind-spot monitoring Driver monitoring system Lane-keep assist Emergency lane-keep assist Integrated Cruise Assist Traffic Jam Assist Rear cross-traffic assist Safe exit warning Surround-view camera Traffic sign recognition Tyre pressure monitoring 8 airbags – front, front-side, front-centre, driver's knee, plus curtain 'bags for both rows The Track AWD adds: Second-row side airbags How much does the Jaecoo J8 cost to run? Omoda Jaecoo vehicles offer an extra year of warranty coverage over Chery-branded vehicles. CarExpert's Take on the Jaecoo J8 Chery has gotten quite good at designing vehicles with a lot of showroom appeal, offering slick technology, a swag of creature comforts, modern design, and plenty of interesting materials and controls. So, naturally, the flagship vehicle from its quasi-premium Omoda Jaecoo arm naturally looks terrific at first glance. For the price of a mid-spec mid-sizer, you get a large SUV absolutely loaded with kit, with a high-tech, well-appointed and attractive interior. Unfortunately, while the J8 offers a long list of standard active safety and driver assist technology, not all of it works well. While the spec sheet looks good with features like adaptive suspension, torque vectoring all-wheel drive and a turbocharged engine, our limited drive time revealed some limitations. We need to spend more time with the J8 across a variety of different driving environments to give you a more detailed conclusion. But our initial impressions are that for an undemanding driver seeking a spacious, well-equipped SUV, the J8 is terrific value for money. Rivals from Korea, Japan and Europe should ignore Chery at their peril. The Chinese automaker is marching upmarket, and in around two years in our market it feels like it is now where, say, Hyundai was at here after close to 10. The difference between a fully loaded Hyundai Sonata Levant from the mid-1990s and this, however, is the presentation. This isn't just a lot of metal and features for a sharp price, masked in inoffensive styling. Instead, the Jaecoo J8 has a really slick look to everything from its screens to its material selection and its exterior styling. And that may be enough for buyers to overlook some of its deficiencies. Pros Classy interior Generally quiet and comfortable Jam-packed with features for the price Cons Driver assist systems need work Transmission needs work No brand recognition
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Perth Now
2025 Jaecoo J8 review
It can be hard keeping track of all the new brands coming to Australia, almost all of them coming from China… and many coming from one automaker in particular. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert That would be Chery, China's largest vehicle exporter, which re-entered Australia in 2023 with a factory-backed distribution operation. This year, it's rolling out two brand names, but what it refers to as one brand: Omoda Jaecoo. The Jaecoo J8, launching this month, will be sold through these new Omoda Jaecoo showrooms. Vehicles wearing the Omoda nameplate are sleeker SUVs with more of a crossover look, while Jaecoo's SUVs have more of a traditional SUV silhouette. The J8 is the flagship Jaecoo product and, though it's 5mm longer and 30mm wider than a Kia Sorento, it's launching with just two rows of seating; a three-row version is offered overseas with second-row captain's chairs, but it hasn't been locked in for Australia. That leaves the J8 as an alternative to the likes of the Subaru Outback and Mazda CX-70 or, we suppose, any three-row SUV that you've folded the rearmost seats in. The company did, however, specifically name-check the CX-70 as a rival. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert Conceptually, it's rather like the Nissan Murano that was once sold here and lives on in other markets. It's big, it's distinctively styled, and it's designed to carry five occupants and their luggage in comfort. About that styling – it's not really like the smaller Jaecoo J5 and J7, appearing less boxy. That's probably because this is sold under a different sub-brand in China than the J7. The J8 is actually sold in China as the Chery Tiggo 9, with a slightly different version of the vehicle to be launched here later this year… as the Chery Tiggo 9. The J7, in contrast, is part of Chery's Discover/Tansuo sub-brand. The flagship Jaecoo does get the marque's vertical bar grille, and the styling is sleek and handsome if not entirely unfamiliar – we can definitely see some Lincoln Aviator in this, for example. It's let down only by the appearance of the body being ever so slightly too large for the chassis. It's not quite as obvious as, say, an MG 5, GWM Haval Jolion or even Chery's own C5, but it does look like it could benefit from an increase in track width. The Jaecoo J8 undercuts a raft of large SUVs, with even the top-spec Ridge AWD priced in line with the entry-level Kia Sorento. The Korean SUV is currently priced at $54,340 drive-away. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert The J8, therefore, is priced more in line with mid-range mid-size SUVs. However, MG has launched its larger, three-row QS large SUV with a base price of $46,990 drive-away. While some Chinese brands tend towards the austere, Chery (and by extension Omoda Jaecoo) vehicle interiors tend to make a statement with some classy touch points and design cues. The J8 is no exception. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert You're immediately greeted with a cabin that's visually interesting and which features various intriguing surfaces, instead of being some stark black prison slathered in piano black trim. That said, Omoda Jaecoo, please bring that lovely tan interior here. There is some piano black trim, but it's used more for accent purposes – it forms a perimeter around the window switches for example, and a little bit is used on the centre console. It is used for the steering wheel switches, though, which almost immediately look like you're a CSI technician trying to lift fingerprints at a crime scene. The company says the seats are real leather, and while there are some hard plastics they're saved for the lowest reaches of the dash and doors. There are some genuinely interesting materials in this cabin, like the swathe of grey woodgrain trim across the dash, and the dash top finished in an unusual suede-like trim. More overtly suede-like material is found on the roof and pillars in the flagship trim level. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert Ambient lighting in the flagship Ridge AWD makes the cabin even more luxe at night, and you can specify different colours for the front and rear of the cabin. Some elements seem a little obviously inspired by other brands. The start button, column-mounted shifter stalk, and door-mounted seat controls feel blatantly Mercedes-Benz, though they also feel very nice to use. The use of crystal trim for the drive mode selector in the flagship Ridge AWD is a vaguely Volvo-like touch, while the tactile wheel with its gloss black switchgear is rather Volkswagen. But if you're going to take inspiration, why not look to the Europeans? You want gadgets? The J8 has got them. The Ridge AWD's ambient lighting can pulsate to the music. The flagship also gets a fragrance system with a choice of three fragrances, dispersed from cartridges in the car. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert But even the base grade gets heated, ventilated and massaging front seats. The massage function is genuinely good too, with multiple levels and multiple massage types. The driver's seat has an extendable thigh support, while the passenger seat has a genuine leg rest. Both front seats are very comfortable. You'll find two speakers in the driver's head restraint, and you can actually opt through the infotainment system for audio from calls, the embedded navigation and even media to come through only these – ideal if you don't want to wake up dozing passengers on a long road trip. We didn't get a chance to play around this, but it's a clever concept. There are some quirks in the change from left to right-hand drive. As we've seen in some products from Chinese rivals like GWM, the USB-A outlet for connecting to smartphone mirroring is on the passenger's side. You won't need it though, as there's wireless connectivity and we were able to maintain a stable Apple CarPlay connectivity. The voice assistant understood our prompts, but asking it to do anything with the driver's seat saw it adjust the passenger seat instead, and vice versa. But asking the assistant to open the driver's window opened… the driver's window. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert Also, while not a LHD to RHD quirk, it's unusual the entry variant gets conventional interior door handles, while the Ridge AWD gets push-button ones (plus a backup mechanical release). There are dual 12.3-inch screens, one for the instruments and one for the infotainment system. The technology is slick, which is good because there's so little physical switchgear on the centre stack that you're forced to use the touchscreen (or voice prompts) for almost every function. There are some shortcuts, including a swipe-up climate control menu where you can access functions like the ventilated seats, and a swipe-down shortcut menu that you can add additional shortcuts to. The interfaces look modern and there are some handy inclusions, like a map view for the instrument cluster and an owner's manual on the touchscreen. There are some physical controls, including a tactile drive mode dial, volume knob, and demister and heated seat controls, on the centre console. The latter require a double tap to activate, which prevents you from accidentally turning on the heated seats by brushing over the controls accidentally with your shirt sleeve. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert We'd like more physical controls, but this is one of the more intuitive and attractive interfaces we've seen in a Chinese car in 2025. As expected, there's a head-up display that projects information like the vehicle speed ahead of the driver. A ventilated wireless phone charger sits on the centre console, ahead of a pair of cupholders. Underneath this there's a large shelf, while the centre console also includes a spacious bin. Step into the back and there's a spacious second row. I'm 180cm tall and I had plenty of headroom, even with the panoramic sunroof, as well as ample legroom and knee room. There are also controls on the side of the front passenger seat, allowing the passenger behind to free up more room for themselves. There are air vents not only at the rear of the centre console but also in the B-pillars. Also in the rear are map pockets, USB-A and USB-C outlets, bottle holders in the doors, cup holders in the fold-down centre armrest and, in the Ridge AWD, heated and ventilated outboard seats. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert While it looks like there are only controls for the heated seats, flip a switch in the middle and these rocker switches can be used to control the ventilation function for the seats. The boot is big, as expected for something that's offered with a third row of seating in other markets. The company claims there's 738L of boot space, measured up to the roof; this expands to 2021L with the rear seats folded. Something very unusual – but most welcome – in this day and age is a full-size spare wheel under the boot floor. While Omoda Jaecoo wants to bring a plug-in hybrid option to Australia, for now the J8 is petrol-only. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert We didn't get a chance to test combined fuel consumption. We recorded a readout of 6.8L/100km in our front-wheel drive tester across a Berry-to-Sydney highway drive, matching its highway claim. We also recorded 8.9L/100km in a slightly more urban-skewed leg of the drive program in an all-wheel drive example. The J8 isn't rated to tow. Full disclosure: our drive route from Sydney to Berry was predominantly on highways, with largely well-maintained bitumen and only a couple of genuinely winding roads featuring. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert That means it was hard to properly gauge aspects like how the car handles corners, or how it soaks up craggy roads. Throwing an all-wheel drive example around the few bends on our drive route, we observed decent body control. The steering is light but not excessively so, and Sport mode dials in some extra artificial weight. This means the J8 doesn't feel completely outsmarted by a corner, but again we need to spend some more time with the vehicle to get a proper gauge on its handling. Likewise, the ride quality. Some expansion joints and ruts on Sydney roads weren't absorbed as adeptly as they ought to be in something intended to be a plush cruiser, but on the few regional roads we drove on that weren't well-surfaced, the J8 did a good job keeping us isolated from the nasties on the bitumen. Given most of our drive route was on the highway, we have far more observations here – and not all of them are good. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert The J8 is quiet, with wind noise kept to a minimum. Give it some beans, for example to overtake, and the engine note is a touch coarse for something intended to be luxurious. I was pleased to hear the J8 uses a torque-converter auto rather than a dual-clutch, something that has become du jour among Chinese SUVs and which in some instances can be unpleasant around town. Unfortunately, the J8's transmission isn't a terribly good one. This isn't a light car at up to 1890kg, but with 183kW and 385Nm we expected the J8 to feel a bit more sprightly. But steeper grades or overtaking manoeuvres had the J8 dropping back several gears to muster up the grunt to push past, and the transmission generally proved to be a bit dozy. It shuffles through gears a bit – you'll notice this as the current gear is displayed on the instrument cluster – and isn't as smooth as transmissions in some rival vehicles. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert There is a Sport mode where gears are held a bit longer and the steering gets a bit heavier, but it doesn't make the vehicle really feel any quicker. We drove a front-wheel drive example as well, but this drive route was even more highway-centric. For most buyers, the J8 has adequate power. But with these outputs and a traditional auto, I was expecting a bit more grunt and refinement. There are four different lane systems in the J8: a simple lane departure warning, an emergency lane-keep assist, lane departure prevention (what most brands would call lane-keep assist), and Traffic Jam Assist and Integrated Cruise Assist (TJA and ICA). Okay, that looks like five, but the last two are effectively the same system just operating at different vehicle speeds. These feature lane centring in conjunction with the adaptive cruise control. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert The lane departure prevention is tolerable. There's a bit of a snatchy feeling when you get close to a lane marking, but the system doesn't feel like it's constantly trying to intervene. It's not as smooth as many rival brands, however, and we couldn't help but notice it was turned off in all the press cars… It's a relief, then, that once turned off, this system defaults to off. The TJA/ICA system doesn't seem to know what it's doing. You have to have your hands on the wheel, naturally, but as soon as it detects you seemingly breathing on the steering wheel, let alone moving it, it flashes up a warning message. The abrupt, snatchy feeling with the lane-keep assist is exacerbated here, and it took a few kilometres of highway driving before I turned off the system in a huff. In contrast, other driver assist features like the blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and driver attention monitoring worked faultlessly. Gone are the days – I say that like it was so long ago, but it was only 2023 – when Chery's driver-facing camera would scold you incessantly, and that's a huge relief. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert The camera quality is superb, with a surround-view camera featuring an under-car view and a 3D view. There's also an automated parking feature which can manoeuvre the vehicle into a parking spot even if there are no defined lines, and which has a route memory function. We'd like to have more seat time in the J8 to get a better handle on the handling and a better read on the ride. Ultimately, however, our limited drive revealed the transmission calibration and Level 2 autonomous driving tech as the biggest bugbears. There are two members of the Jaecoo J8 lineup. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert 2025 Jaecoo J8 Track equipment highlights: 5-seat layout Eco, Normal and Sport drive modes Idle stop/start 20-inch alloy wheels Maxxis Victra Sport 5 SUV 245/50 R20 tyres Full-size spare Hill descent control Proximity entry with push-button start Built-in dashcam Power-retracting door handles Roof rails Automatic projector LED headlights Automatic high-beam Puddle lights Rain-sensing wipers Power-folding, heated exterior mirrors Panoramic sunroof Auto up/down power windows Power tailgate 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system Satellite navigation Apple CarPlay – wireless, wired Android Auto – wireless, wired Voice assistant Head-up display 12-speaker Sony sound system with driver's head restraint speakers 2 x USB-A outlets (1 x front, 1 x rear) 2 x USB-C outlets (1 x front, 1 x rear) 2 x 12-V outlets (1 x front, 1 x boot) 50W wireless phone charger Quilted leather upholstery 8-way power driver's seat 6-way power passenger seat Massaging front seats Heated and ventilated front seats Leather-wrapped steering wheel Tilt and telescopic steering wheel adjustment 60:40 split fold rear seats Dual-zone climate control Rear air vents, fan speed control LED interior lighting 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert The J8 Ridge adds: All-wheel drive with torque vectoring Continuous Damping Control Snow, Mud, Sand and Offroad drive modes Michelin tyres Semi-autonomous parking assist Rear privacy glass Electronic interior door release buttons Heated steering wheel Heated and ventilated outboard rear seats Fragrance system Colour-adjustable ambient lighting Black suede headliner Auto-dimming rear-view mirror The Jaecoo J8 has yet to be tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert Standard safety equipment in the Jaecoo J8 includes: Autonomous emergency braking Blind-spot monitoring Driver monitoring system Lane-keep assist Emergency lane-keep assist Integrated Cruise Assist Traffic Jam Assist Rear cross-traffic assist Safe exit warning Surround-view camera Traffic sign recognition Tyre pressure monitoring 8 airbags – front, front-side, front-centre, driver's knee, plus curtain 'bags for both rows The Track AWD adds: Omoda Jaecoo vehicles offer an extra year of warranty coverage over Chery-branded vehicles. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert Chery has gotten quite good at designing vehicles with a lot of showroom appeal, offering slick technology, a swag of creature comforts, modern design, and plenty of interesting materials and controls. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert So, naturally, the flagship vehicle from its quasi-premium Omoda Jaecoo arm naturally looks terrific at first glance. For the price of a mid-spec mid-sizer, you get a large SUV absolutely loaded with kit, with a high-tech, well-appointed and attractive interior. Unfortunately, while the J8 offers a long list of standard active safety and driver assist technology, not all of it works well. While the spec sheet looks good with features like adaptive suspension, torque vectoring all-wheel drive and a turbocharged engine, our limited drive time revealed some limitations. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert We need to spend more time with the J8 across a variety of different driving environments to give you a more detailed conclusion. But our initial impressions are that for an undemanding driver seeking a spacious, well-equipped SUV, the J8 is terrific value for money. Rivals from Korea, Japan and Europe should ignore Chery at their peril. The Chinese automaker is marching upmarket, and in around two years in our market it feels like it is now where, say, Hyundai was at here after close to 10. The difference between a fully loaded Hyundai Sonata Levant from the mid-1990s and this, however, is the presentation. This isn't just a lot of metal and features for a sharp price, masked in inoffensive styling. Instead, the Jaecoo J8 has a really slick look to everything from its screens to its material selection and its exterior styling. And that may be enough for buyers to overlook some of its deficiencies. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Credit: CarExpert MORE: Everything Jaceoo Classy interior Generally quiet and comfortable Jam-packed with features for the price Driver assist systems need work Transmission needs work No brand recognition
The Advertiser
2 days ago
- Automotive
- The Advertiser
2025 Jaecoo J8 review
Jaecoo J8 Pros Jaecoo J8 Cons It can be hard keeping track of all the new brands coming to Australia, almost all of them coming from China… and many coming from one automaker in particular. That would be Chery, China's largest vehicle exporter, which re-entered Australia in 2023 with a factory-backed distribution operation. This year, it's rolling out two brand names, but what it refers to as one brand: Omoda Jaecoo. The Jaecoo J8, launching this month, will be sold through these new Omoda Jaecoo showrooms. Vehicles wearing the Omoda nameplate are sleeker SUVs with more of a crossover look, while Jaecoo's SUVs have more of a traditional SUV silhouette. The J8 is the flagship Jaecoo product and, though it's 5mm longer and 30mm wider than a Kia Sorento, it's launching with just two rows of seating; a three-row version is offered overseas with second-row captain's chairs, but it hasn't been locked in for Australia. That leaves the J8 as an alternative to the likes of the Subaru Outback and Mazda CX-70 or, we suppose, any three-row SUV that you've folded the rearmost seats in. The company did, however, specifically name-check the CX-70 as a rival. Conceptually, it's rather like the Nissan Murano that was once sold here and lives on in other markets. It's big, it's distinctively styled, and it's designed to carry five occupants and their luggage in comfort. About that styling – it's not really like the smaller Jaecoo J5 and J7, appearing less boxy. That's probably because this is sold under a different sub-brand in China than the J7. The J8 is actually sold in China as the Chery Tiggo 9, with a slightly different version of the vehicle to be launched here later this year… as the Chery Tiggo 9. The J7, in contrast, is part of Chery's Discover/Tansuo sub-brand. The flagship Jaecoo does get the marque's vertical bar grille, and the styling is sleek and handsome if not entirely unfamiliar – we can definitely see some Lincoln Aviator in this, for example. It's let down only by the appearance of the body being ever so slightly too large for the chassis. It's not quite as obvious as, say, an MG 5, GWM Haval Jolion or even Chery's own C5, but it does look like it could benefit from an increase in track width. The Jaecoo J8 undercuts a raft of large SUVs, with even the top-spec Ridge AWD priced in line with the entry-level Kia Sorento. The Korean SUV is currently priced at $54,340 drive-away. The J8, therefore, is priced more in line with mid-range mid-size SUVs. However, MG has launched its larger, three-row QS large SUV with a base price of $46,990 drive-away. While some Chinese brands tend towards the austere, Chery (and by extension Omoda Jaecoo) vehicle interiors tend to make a statement with some classy touch points and design cues. The J8 is no exception. You're immediately greeted with a cabin that's visually interesting and which features various intriguing surfaces, instead of being some stark black prison slathered in piano black trim. That said, Omoda Jaecoo, please bring that lovely tan interior here. There is some piano black trim, but it's used more for accent purposes – it forms a perimeter around the window switches for example, and a little bit is used on the centre console. It is used for the steering wheel switches, though, which almost immediately look like you're a CSI technician trying to lift fingerprints at a crime scene. The company says the seats are real leather, and while there are some hard plastics they're saved for the lowest reaches of the dash and doors. There are some genuinely interesting materials in this cabin, like the swathe of grey woodgrain trim across the dash, and the dash top finished in an unusual suede-like trim. More overtly suede-like material is found on the roof and pillars in the flagship trim level. Ambient lighting in the flagship Ridge AWD makes the cabin even more luxe at night, and you can specify different colours for the front and rear of the cabin. Some elements seem a little obviously inspired by other brands. The start button, column-mounted shifter stalk, and door-mounted seat controls feel blatantly Mercedes-Benz, though they also feel very nice to use. The use of crystal trim for the drive mode selector in the flagship Ridge AWD is a vaguely Volvo-like touch, while the tactile wheel with its gloss black switchgear is rather Volkswagen. But if you're going to take inspiration, why not look to the Europeans? You want gadgets? The J8 has got them. The Ridge AWD's ambient lighting can pulsate to the music. The flagship also gets a fragrance system with a choice of three fragrances, dispersed from cartridges in the car. But even the base grade gets heated, ventilated and massaging front seats. The massage function is genuinely good too, with multiple levels and multiple massage types. The driver's seat has an extendable thigh support, while the passenger seat has a genuine leg rest. Both front seats are very comfortable. You'll find two speakers in the driver's head restraint, and you can actually opt through the infotainment system for audio from calls, the embedded navigation and even media to come through only these – ideal if you don't want to wake up dozing passengers on a long road trip. We didn't get a chance to play around this, but it's a clever concept. There are some quirks in the change from left to right-hand drive. As we've seen in some products from Chinese rivals like GWM, the USB-A outlet for connecting to smartphone mirroring is on the passenger's side. You won't need it though, as there's wireless connectivity and we were able to maintain a stable Apple CarPlay connectivity. The voice assistant understood our prompts, but asking it to do anything with the driver's seat saw it adjust the passenger seat instead, and vice versa. But asking the assistant to open the driver's window opened… the driver's window. Also, while not a LHD to RHD quirk, it's unusual the entry variant gets conventional interior door handles, while the Ridge AWD gets push-button ones (plus a backup mechanical release). There are dual 12.3-inch screens, one for the instruments and one for the infotainment system. The technology is slick, which is good because there's so little physical switchgear on the centre stack that you're forced to use the touchscreen (or voice prompts) for almost every function. There are some shortcuts, including a swipe-up climate control menu where you can access functions like the ventilated seats, and a swipe-down shortcut menu that you can add additional shortcuts to. The interfaces look modern and there are some handy inclusions, like a map view for the instrument cluster and an owner's manual on the touchscreen. There are some physical controls, including a tactile drive mode dial, volume knob, and demister and heated seat controls, on the centre console. The latter require a double tap to activate, which prevents you from accidentally turning on the heated seats by brushing over the controls accidentally with your shirt sleeve. We'd like more physical controls, but this is one of the more intuitive and attractive interfaces we've seen in a Chinese car in 2025. As expected, there's a head-up display that projects information like the vehicle speed ahead of the driver. A ventilated wireless phone charger sits on the centre console, ahead of a pair of cupholders. Underneath this there's a large shelf, while the centre console also includes a spacious bin. Step into the back and there's a spacious second row. I'm 180cm tall and I had plenty of headroom, even with the panoramic sunroof, as well as ample legroom and knee room. There are also controls on the side of the front passenger seat, allowing the passenger behind to free up more room for themselves. There are air vents not only at the rear of the centre console but also in the B-pillars. Also in the rear are map pockets, USB-A and USB-C outlets, bottle holders in the doors, cup holders in the fold-down centre armrest and, in the Ridge AWD, heated and ventilated outboard seats. While it looks like there are only controls for the heated seats, flip a switch in the middle and these rocker switches can be used to control the ventilation function for the seats. The boot is big, as expected for something that's offered with a third row of seating in other markets. The company claims there's 738L of boot space, measured up to the roof; this expands to 2021L with the rear seats folded. Something very unusual – but most welcome – in this day and age is a full-size spare wheel under the boot floor. While Omoda Jaecoo wants to bring a plug-in hybrid option to Australia, for now the J8 is petrol-only. We didn't get a chance to test combined fuel consumption. We recorded a readout of 6.8L/100km in our front-wheel drive tester across a Berry-to-Sydney highway drive, matching its highway claim. We also recorded 8.9L/100km in a slightly more urban-skewed leg of the drive program in an all-wheel drive example. The J8 isn't rated to tow. Full disclosure: our drive route from Sydney to Berry was predominantly on highways, with largely well-maintained bitumen and only a couple of genuinely winding roads featuring. That means it was hard to properly gauge aspects like how the car handles corners, or how it soaks up craggy roads. Throwing an all-wheel drive example around the few bends on our drive route, we observed decent body control. The steering is light but not excessively so, and Sport mode dials in some extra artificial weight. This means the J8 doesn't feel completely outsmarted by a corner, but again we need to spend some more time with the vehicle to get a proper gauge on its handling. Likewise, the ride quality. Some expansion joints and ruts on Sydney roads weren't absorbed as adeptly as they ought to be in something intended to be a plush cruiser, but on the few regional roads we drove on that weren't well-surfaced, the J8 did a good job keeping us isolated from the nasties on the bitumen. Given most of our drive route was on the highway, we have far more observations here – and not all of them are good. The J8 is quiet, with wind noise kept to a minimum. Give it some beans, for example to overtake, and the engine note is a touch coarse for something intended to be luxurious. I was pleased to hear the J8 uses a torque-converter auto rather than a dual-clutch, something that has become du jour among Chinese SUVs and which in some instances can be unpleasant around town. Unfortunately, the J8's transmission isn't a terribly good one. This isn't a light car at up to 1890kg, but with 183kW and 385Nm we expected the J8 to feel a bit more sprightly. But steeper grades or overtaking manoeuvres had the J8 dropping back several gears to muster up the grunt to push past, and the transmission generally proved to be a bit dozy. It shuffles through gears a bit – you'll notice this as the current gear is displayed on the instrument cluster – and isn't as smooth as transmissions in some rival vehicles. There is a Sport mode where gears are held a bit longer and the steering gets a bit heavier, but it doesn't make the vehicle really feel any quicker. We drove a front-wheel drive example as well, but this drive route was even more highway-centric. For most buyers, the J8 has adequate power. But with these outputs and a traditional auto, I was expecting a bit more grunt and refinement. There are four different lane systems in the J8: a simple lane departure warning, an emergency lane-keep assist, lane departure prevention (what most brands would call lane-keep assist), and Traffic Jam Assist and Integrated Cruise Assist (TJA and ICA). Okay, that looks like five, but the last two are effectively the same system just operating at different vehicle speeds. These feature lane centring in conjunction with the adaptive cruise control. The lane departure prevention is tolerable. There's a bit of a snatchy feeling when you get close to a lane marking, but the system doesn't feel like it's constantly trying to intervene. It's not as smooth as many rival brands, however, and we couldn't help but notice it was turned off in all the press cars… It's a relief, then, that once turned off, this system defaults to off. The TJA/ICA system doesn't seem to know what it's doing. You have to have your hands on the wheel, naturally, but as soon as it detects you seemingly breathing on the steering wheel, let alone moving it, it flashes up a warning message. The abrupt, snatchy feeling with the lane-keep assist is exacerbated here, and it took a few kilometres of highway driving before I turned off the system in a huff. In contrast, other driver assist features like the blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and driver attention monitoring worked faultlessly. Gone are the days – I say that like it was so long ago, but it was only 2023 – when Chery's driver-facing camera would scold you incessantly, and that's a huge relief. The camera quality is superb, with a surround-view camera featuring an under-car view and a 3D view. There's also an automated parking feature which can manoeuvre the vehicle into a parking spot even if there are no defined lines, and which has a route memory function. We'd like to have more seat time in the J8 to get a better handle on the handling and a better read on the ride. Ultimately, however, our limited drive revealed the transmission calibration and Level 2 autonomous driving tech as the biggest bugbears. There are two members of the Jaecoo J8 lineup. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Track equipment highlights: The J8 Ridge adds: The Jaecoo J8 has yet to be tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP. Standard safety equipment in the Jaecoo J8 includes: The Track AWD adds: Omoda Jaecoo vehicles offer an extra year of warranty coverage over Chery-branded vehicles. Chery has gotten quite good at designing vehicles with a lot of showroom appeal, offering slick technology, a swag of creature comforts, modern design, and plenty of interesting materials and controls. So, naturally, the flagship vehicle from its quasi-premium Omoda Jaecoo arm naturally looks terrific at first glance. For the price of a mid-spec mid-sizer, you get a large SUV absolutely loaded with kit, with a high-tech, well-appointed and attractive interior. Unfortunately, while the J8 offers a long list of standard active safety and driver assist technology, not all of it works well. While the spec sheet looks good with features like adaptive suspension, torque vectoring all-wheel drive and a turbocharged engine, our limited drive time revealed some limitations. We need to spend more time with the J8 across a variety of different driving environments to give you a more detailed conclusion. But our initial impressions are that for an undemanding driver seeking a spacious, well-equipped SUV, the J8 is terrific value for money. Rivals from Korea, Japan and Europe should ignore Chery at their peril. The Chinese automaker is marching upmarket, and in around two years in our market it feels like it is now where, say, Hyundai was at here after close to 10. The difference between a fully loaded Hyundai Sonata Levant from the mid-1990s and this, however, is the presentation. This isn't just a lot of metal and features for a sharp price, masked in inoffensive styling. Instead, the Jaecoo J8 has a really slick look to everything from its screens to its material selection and its exterior styling. And that may be enough for buyers to overlook some of its Everything Jaceoo Content originally sourced from: J8 Pros Jaecoo J8 Cons It can be hard keeping track of all the new brands coming to Australia, almost all of them coming from China… and many coming from one automaker in particular. That would be Chery, China's largest vehicle exporter, which re-entered Australia in 2023 with a factory-backed distribution operation. This year, it's rolling out two brand names, but what it refers to as one brand: Omoda Jaecoo. The Jaecoo J8, launching this month, will be sold through these new Omoda Jaecoo showrooms. Vehicles wearing the Omoda nameplate are sleeker SUVs with more of a crossover look, while Jaecoo's SUVs have more of a traditional SUV silhouette. The J8 is the flagship Jaecoo product and, though it's 5mm longer and 30mm wider than a Kia Sorento, it's launching with just two rows of seating; a three-row version is offered overseas with second-row captain's chairs, but it hasn't been locked in for Australia. That leaves the J8 as an alternative to the likes of the Subaru Outback and Mazda CX-70 or, we suppose, any three-row SUV that you've folded the rearmost seats in. The company did, however, specifically name-check the CX-70 as a rival. Conceptually, it's rather like the Nissan Murano that was once sold here and lives on in other markets. It's big, it's distinctively styled, and it's designed to carry five occupants and their luggage in comfort. About that styling – it's not really like the smaller Jaecoo J5 and J7, appearing less boxy. That's probably because this is sold under a different sub-brand in China than the J7. The J8 is actually sold in China as the Chery Tiggo 9, with a slightly different version of the vehicle to be launched here later this year… as the Chery Tiggo 9. The J7, in contrast, is part of Chery's Discover/Tansuo sub-brand. The flagship Jaecoo does get the marque's vertical bar grille, and the styling is sleek and handsome if not entirely unfamiliar – we can definitely see some Lincoln Aviator in this, for example. It's let down only by the appearance of the body being ever so slightly too large for the chassis. It's not quite as obvious as, say, an MG 5, GWM Haval Jolion or even Chery's own C5, but it does look like it could benefit from an increase in track width. The Jaecoo J8 undercuts a raft of large SUVs, with even the top-spec Ridge AWD priced in line with the entry-level Kia Sorento. The Korean SUV is currently priced at $54,340 drive-away. The J8, therefore, is priced more in line with mid-range mid-size SUVs. However, MG has launched its larger, three-row QS large SUV with a base price of $46,990 drive-away. While some Chinese brands tend towards the austere, Chery (and by extension Omoda Jaecoo) vehicle interiors tend to make a statement with some classy touch points and design cues. The J8 is no exception. You're immediately greeted with a cabin that's visually interesting and which features various intriguing surfaces, instead of being some stark black prison slathered in piano black trim. That said, Omoda Jaecoo, please bring that lovely tan interior here. There is some piano black trim, but it's used more for accent purposes – it forms a perimeter around the window switches for example, and a little bit is used on the centre console. It is used for the steering wheel switches, though, which almost immediately look like you're a CSI technician trying to lift fingerprints at a crime scene. The company says the seats are real leather, and while there are some hard plastics they're saved for the lowest reaches of the dash and doors. There are some genuinely interesting materials in this cabin, like the swathe of grey woodgrain trim across the dash, and the dash top finished in an unusual suede-like trim. More overtly suede-like material is found on the roof and pillars in the flagship trim level. Ambient lighting in the flagship Ridge AWD makes the cabin even more luxe at night, and you can specify different colours for the front and rear of the cabin. Some elements seem a little obviously inspired by other brands. The start button, column-mounted shifter stalk, and door-mounted seat controls feel blatantly Mercedes-Benz, though they also feel very nice to use. The use of crystal trim for the drive mode selector in the flagship Ridge AWD is a vaguely Volvo-like touch, while the tactile wheel with its gloss black switchgear is rather Volkswagen. But if you're going to take inspiration, why not look to the Europeans? You want gadgets? The J8 has got them. The Ridge AWD's ambient lighting can pulsate to the music. The flagship also gets a fragrance system with a choice of three fragrances, dispersed from cartridges in the car. But even the base grade gets heated, ventilated and massaging front seats. The massage function is genuinely good too, with multiple levels and multiple massage types. The driver's seat has an extendable thigh support, while the passenger seat has a genuine leg rest. Both front seats are very comfortable. You'll find two speakers in the driver's head restraint, and you can actually opt through the infotainment system for audio from calls, the embedded navigation and even media to come through only these – ideal if you don't want to wake up dozing passengers on a long road trip. We didn't get a chance to play around this, but it's a clever concept. There are some quirks in the change from left to right-hand drive. As we've seen in some products from Chinese rivals like GWM, the USB-A outlet for connecting to smartphone mirroring is on the passenger's side. You won't need it though, as there's wireless connectivity and we were able to maintain a stable Apple CarPlay connectivity. The voice assistant understood our prompts, but asking it to do anything with the driver's seat saw it adjust the passenger seat instead, and vice versa. But asking the assistant to open the driver's window opened… the driver's window. Also, while not a LHD to RHD quirk, it's unusual the entry variant gets conventional interior door handles, while the Ridge AWD gets push-button ones (plus a backup mechanical release). There are dual 12.3-inch screens, one for the instruments and one for the infotainment system. The technology is slick, which is good because there's so little physical switchgear on the centre stack that you're forced to use the touchscreen (or voice prompts) for almost every function. There are some shortcuts, including a swipe-up climate control menu where you can access functions like the ventilated seats, and a swipe-down shortcut menu that you can add additional shortcuts to. The interfaces look modern and there are some handy inclusions, like a map view for the instrument cluster and an owner's manual on the touchscreen. There are some physical controls, including a tactile drive mode dial, volume knob, and demister and heated seat controls, on the centre console. The latter require a double tap to activate, which prevents you from accidentally turning on the heated seats by brushing over the controls accidentally with your shirt sleeve. We'd like more physical controls, but this is one of the more intuitive and attractive interfaces we've seen in a Chinese car in 2025. As expected, there's a head-up display that projects information like the vehicle speed ahead of the driver. A ventilated wireless phone charger sits on the centre console, ahead of a pair of cupholders. Underneath this there's a large shelf, while the centre console also includes a spacious bin. Step into the back and there's a spacious second row. I'm 180cm tall and I had plenty of headroom, even with the panoramic sunroof, as well as ample legroom and knee room. There are also controls on the side of the front passenger seat, allowing the passenger behind to free up more room for themselves. There are air vents not only at the rear of the centre console but also in the B-pillars. Also in the rear are map pockets, USB-A and USB-C outlets, bottle holders in the doors, cup holders in the fold-down centre armrest and, in the Ridge AWD, heated and ventilated outboard seats. While it looks like there are only controls for the heated seats, flip a switch in the middle and these rocker switches can be used to control the ventilation function for the seats. The boot is big, as expected for something that's offered with a third row of seating in other markets. The company claims there's 738L of boot space, measured up to the roof; this expands to 2021L with the rear seats folded. Something very unusual – but most welcome – in this day and age is a full-size spare wheel under the boot floor. While Omoda Jaecoo wants to bring a plug-in hybrid option to Australia, for now the J8 is petrol-only. We didn't get a chance to test combined fuel consumption. We recorded a readout of 6.8L/100km in our front-wheel drive tester across a Berry-to-Sydney highway drive, matching its highway claim. We also recorded 8.9L/100km in a slightly more urban-skewed leg of the drive program in an all-wheel drive example. The J8 isn't rated to tow. Full disclosure: our drive route from Sydney to Berry was predominantly on highways, with largely well-maintained bitumen and only a couple of genuinely winding roads featuring. That means it was hard to properly gauge aspects like how the car handles corners, or how it soaks up craggy roads. Throwing an all-wheel drive example around the few bends on our drive route, we observed decent body control. The steering is light but not excessively so, and Sport mode dials in some extra artificial weight. This means the J8 doesn't feel completely outsmarted by a corner, but again we need to spend some more time with the vehicle to get a proper gauge on its handling. Likewise, the ride quality. Some expansion joints and ruts on Sydney roads weren't absorbed as adeptly as they ought to be in something intended to be a plush cruiser, but on the few regional roads we drove on that weren't well-surfaced, the J8 did a good job keeping us isolated from the nasties on the bitumen. Given most of our drive route was on the highway, we have far more observations here – and not all of them are good. The J8 is quiet, with wind noise kept to a minimum. Give it some beans, for example to overtake, and the engine note is a touch coarse for something intended to be luxurious. I was pleased to hear the J8 uses a torque-converter auto rather than a dual-clutch, something that has become du jour among Chinese SUVs and which in some instances can be unpleasant around town. Unfortunately, the J8's transmission isn't a terribly good one. This isn't a light car at up to 1890kg, but with 183kW and 385Nm we expected the J8 to feel a bit more sprightly. But steeper grades or overtaking manoeuvres had the J8 dropping back several gears to muster up the grunt to push past, and the transmission generally proved to be a bit dozy. It shuffles through gears a bit – you'll notice this as the current gear is displayed on the instrument cluster – and isn't as smooth as transmissions in some rival vehicles. There is a Sport mode where gears are held a bit longer and the steering gets a bit heavier, but it doesn't make the vehicle really feel any quicker. We drove a front-wheel drive example as well, but this drive route was even more highway-centric. For most buyers, the J8 has adequate power. But with these outputs and a traditional auto, I was expecting a bit more grunt and refinement. There are four different lane systems in the J8: a simple lane departure warning, an emergency lane-keep assist, lane departure prevention (what most brands would call lane-keep assist), and Traffic Jam Assist and Integrated Cruise Assist (TJA and ICA). Okay, that looks like five, but the last two are effectively the same system just operating at different vehicle speeds. These feature lane centring in conjunction with the adaptive cruise control. The lane departure prevention is tolerable. There's a bit of a snatchy feeling when you get close to a lane marking, but the system doesn't feel like it's constantly trying to intervene. It's not as smooth as many rival brands, however, and we couldn't help but notice it was turned off in all the press cars… It's a relief, then, that once turned off, this system defaults to off. The TJA/ICA system doesn't seem to know what it's doing. You have to have your hands on the wheel, naturally, but as soon as it detects you seemingly breathing on the steering wheel, let alone moving it, it flashes up a warning message. The abrupt, snatchy feeling with the lane-keep assist is exacerbated here, and it took a few kilometres of highway driving before I turned off the system in a huff. In contrast, other driver assist features like the blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and driver attention monitoring worked faultlessly. Gone are the days – I say that like it was so long ago, but it was only 2023 – when Chery's driver-facing camera would scold you incessantly, and that's a huge relief. The camera quality is superb, with a surround-view camera featuring an under-car view and a 3D view. There's also an automated parking feature which can manoeuvre the vehicle into a parking spot even if there are no defined lines, and which has a route memory function. We'd like to have more seat time in the J8 to get a better handle on the handling and a better read on the ride. Ultimately, however, our limited drive revealed the transmission calibration and Level 2 autonomous driving tech as the biggest bugbears. There are two members of the Jaecoo J8 lineup. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Track equipment highlights: The J8 Ridge adds: The Jaecoo J8 has yet to be tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP. Standard safety equipment in the Jaecoo J8 includes: The Track AWD adds: Omoda Jaecoo vehicles offer an extra year of warranty coverage over Chery-branded vehicles. Chery has gotten quite good at designing vehicles with a lot of showroom appeal, offering slick technology, a swag of creature comforts, modern design, and plenty of interesting materials and controls. So, naturally, the flagship vehicle from its quasi-premium Omoda Jaecoo arm naturally looks terrific at first glance. For the price of a mid-spec mid-sizer, you get a large SUV absolutely loaded with kit, with a high-tech, well-appointed and attractive interior. Unfortunately, while the J8 offers a long list of standard active safety and driver assist technology, not all of it works well. While the spec sheet looks good with features like adaptive suspension, torque vectoring all-wheel drive and a turbocharged engine, our limited drive time revealed some limitations. We need to spend more time with the J8 across a variety of different driving environments to give you a more detailed conclusion. But our initial impressions are that for an undemanding driver seeking a spacious, well-equipped SUV, the J8 is terrific value for money. Rivals from Korea, Japan and Europe should ignore Chery at their peril. The Chinese automaker is marching upmarket, and in around two years in our market it feels like it is now where, say, Hyundai was at here after close to 10. The difference between a fully loaded Hyundai Sonata Levant from the mid-1990s and this, however, is the presentation. This isn't just a lot of metal and features for a sharp price, masked in inoffensive styling. Instead, the Jaecoo J8 has a really slick look to everything from its screens to its material selection and its exterior styling. And that may be enough for buyers to overlook some of its Everything Jaceoo Content originally sourced from: J8 Pros Jaecoo J8 Cons It can be hard keeping track of all the new brands coming to Australia, almost all of them coming from China… and many coming from one automaker in particular. That would be Chery, China's largest vehicle exporter, which re-entered Australia in 2023 with a factory-backed distribution operation. This year, it's rolling out two brand names, but what it refers to as one brand: Omoda Jaecoo. The Jaecoo J8, launching this month, will be sold through these new Omoda Jaecoo showrooms. Vehicles wearing the Omoda nameplate are sleeker SUVs with more of a crossover look, while Jaecoo's SUVs have more of a traditional SUV silhouette. The J8 is the flagship Jaecoo product and, though it's 5mm longer and 30mm wider than a Kia Sorento, it's launching with just two rows of seating; a three-row version is offered overseas with second-row captain's chairs, but it hasn't been locked in for Australia. That leaves the J8 as an alternative to the likes of the Subaru Outback and Mazda CX-70 or, we suppose, any three-row SUV that you've folded the rearmost seats in. The company did, however, specifically name-check the CX-70 as a rival. Conceptually, it's rather like the Nissan Murano that was once sold here and lives on in other markets. It's big, it's distinctively styled, and it's designed to carry five occupants and their luggage in comfort. About that styling – it's not really like the smaller Jaecoo J5 and J7, appearing less boxy. That's probably because this is sold under a different sub-brand in China than the J7. The J8 is actually sold in China as the Chery Tiggo 9, with a slightly different version of the vehicle to be launched here later this year… as the Chery Tiggo 9. The J7, in contrast, is part of Chery's Discover/Tansuo sub-brand. The flagship Jaecoo does get the marque's vertical bar grille, and the styling is sleek and handsome if not entirely unfamiliar – we can definitely see some Lincoln Aviator in this, for example. It's let down only by the appearance of the body being ever so slightly too large for the chassis. It's not quite as obvious as, say, an MG 5, GWM Haval Jolion or even Chery's own C5, but it does look like it could benefit from an increase in track width. The Jaecoo J8 undercuts a raft of large SUVs, with even the top-spec Ridge AWD priced in line with the entry-level Kia Sorento. The Korean SUV is currently priced at $54,340 drive-away. The J8, therefore, is priced more in line with mid-range mid-size SUVs. However, MG has launched its larger, three-row QS large SUV with a base price of $46,990 drive-away. While some Chinese brands tend towards the austere, Chery (and by extension Omoda Jaecoo) vehicle interiors tend to make a statement with some classy touch points and design cues. The J8 is no exception. You're immediately greeted with a cabin that's visually interesting and which features various intriguing surfaces, instead of being some stark black prison slathered in piano black trim. That said, Omoda Jaecoo, please bring that lovely tan interior here. There is some piano black trim, but it's used more for accent purposes – it forms a perimeter around the window switches for example, and a little bit is used on the centre console. It is used for the steering wheel switches, though, which almost immediately look like you're a CSI technician trying to lift fingerprints at a crime scene. The company says the seats are real leather, and while there are some hard plastics they're saved for the lowest reaches of the dash and doors. There are some genuinely interesting materials in this cabin, like the swathe of grey woodgrain trim across the dash, and the dash top finished in an unusual suede-like trim. More overtly suede-like material is found on the roof and pillars in the flagship trim level. Ambient lighting in the flagship Ridge AWD makes the cabin even more luxe at night, and you can specify different colours for the front and rear of the cabin. Some elements seem a little obviously inspired by other brands. The start button, column-mounted shifter stalk, and door-mounted seat controls feel blatantly Mercedes-Benz, though they also feel very nice to use. The use of crystal trim for the drive mode selector in the flagship Ridge AWD is a vaguely Volvo-like touch, while the tactile wheel with its gloss black switchgear is rather Volkswagen. But if you're going to take inspiration, why not look to the Europeans? You want gadgets? The J8 has got them. The Ridge AWD's ambient lighting can pulsate to the music. The flagship also gets a fragrance system with a choice of three fragrances, dispersed from cartridges in the car. But even the base grade gets heated, ventilated and massaging front seats. The massage function is genuinely good too, with multiple levels and multiple massage types. The driver's seat has an extendable thigh support, while the passenger seat has a genuine leg rest. Both front seats are very comfortable. You'll find two speakers in the driver's head restraint, and you can actually opt through the infotainment system for audio from calls, the embedded navigation and even media to come through only these – ideal if you don't want to wake up dozing passengers on a long road trip. We didn't get a chance to play around this, but it's a clever concept. There are some quirks in the change from left to right-hand drive. As we've seen in some products from Chinese rivals like GWM, the USB-A outlet for connecting to smartphone mirroring is on the passenger's side. You won't need it though, as there's wireless connectivity and we were able to maintain a stable Apple CarPlay connectivity. The voice assistant understood our prompts, but asking it to do anything with the driver's seat saw it adjust the passenger seat instead, and vice versa. But asking the assistant to open the driver's window opened… the driver's window. Also, while not a LHD to RHD quirk, it's unusual the entry variant gets conventional interior door handles, while the Ridge AWD gets push-button ones (plus a backup mechanical release). There are dual 12.3-inch screens, one for the instruments and one for the infotainment system. The technology is slick, which is good because there's so little physical switchgear on the centre stack that you're forced to use the touchscreen (or voice prompts) for almost every function. There are some shortcuts, including a swipe-up climate control menu where you can access functions like the ventilated seats, and a swipe-down shortcut menu that you can add additional shortcuts to. The interfaces look modern and there are some handy inclusions, like a map view for the instrument cluster and an owner's manual on the touchscreen. There are some physical controls, including a tactile drive mode dial, volume knob, and demister and heated seat controls, on the centre console. The latter require a double tap to activate, which prevents you from accidentally turning on the heated seats by brushing over the controls accidentally with your shirt sleeve. We'd like more physical controls, but this is one of the more intuitive and attractive interfaces we've seen in a Chinese car in 2025. As expected, there's a head-up display that projects information like the vehicle speed ahead of the driver. A ventilated wireless phone charger sits on the centre console, ahead of a pair of cupholders. Underneath this there's a large shelf, while the centre console also includes a spacious bin. Step into the back and there's a spacious second row. I'm 180cm tall and I had plenty of headroom, even with the panoramic sunroof, as well as ample legroom and knee room. There are also controls on the side of the front passenger seat, allowing the passenger behind to free up more room for themselves. There are air vents not only at the rear of the centre console but also in the B-pillars. Also in the rear are map pockets, USB-A and USB-C outlets, bottle holders in the doors, cup holders in the fold-down centre armrest and, in the Ridge AWD, heated and ventilated outboard seats. While it looks like there are only controls for the heated seats, flip a switch in the middle and these rocker switches can be used to control the ventilation function for the seats. The boot is big, as expected for something that's offered with a third row of seating in other markets. The company claims there's 738L of boot space, measured up to the roof; this expands to 2021L with the rear seats folded. Something very unusual – but most welcome – in this day and age is a full-size spare wheel under the boot floor. While Omoda Jaecoo wants to bring a plug-in hybrid option to Australia, for now the J8 is petrol-only. We didn't get a chance to test combined fuel consumption. We recorded a readout of 6.8L/100km in our front-wheel drive tester across a Berry-to-Sydney highway drive, matching its highway claim. We also recorded 8.9L/100km in a slightly more urban-skewed leg of the drive program in an all-wheel drive example. The J8 isn't rated to tow. Full disclosure: our drive route from Sydney to Berry was predominantly on highways, with largely well-maintained bitumen and only a couple of genuinely winding roads featuring. That means it was hard to properly gauge aspects like how the car handles corners, or how it soaks up craggy roads. Throwing an all-wheel drive example around the few bends on our drive route, we observed decent body control. The steering is light but not excessively so, and Sport mode dials in some extra artificial weight. This means the J8 doesn't feel completely outsmarted by a corner, but again we need to spend some more time with the vehicle to get a proper gauge on its handling. Likewise, the ride quality. Some expansion joints and ruts on Sydney roads weren't absorbed as adeptly as they ought to be in something intended to be a plush cruiser, but on the few regional roads we drove on that weren't well-surfaced, the J8 did a good job keeping us isolated from the nasties on the bitumen. Given most of our drive route was on the highway, we have far more observations here – and not all of them are good. The J8 is quiet, with wind noise kept to a minimum. Give it some beans, for example to overtake, and the engine note is a touch coarse for something intended to be luxurious. I was pleased to hear the J8 uses a torque-converter auto rather than a dual-clutch, something that has become du jour among Chinese SUVs and which in some instances can be unpleasant around town. Unfortunately, the J8's transmission isn't a terribly good one. This isn't a light car at up to 1890kg, but with 183kW and 385Nm we expected the J8 to feel a bit more sprightly. But steeper grades or overtaking manoeuvres had the J8 dropping back several gears to muster up the grunt to push past, and the transmission generally proved to be a bit dozy. It shuffles through gears a bit – you'll notice this as the current gear is displayed on the instrument cluster – and isn't as smooth as transmissions in some rival vehicles. There is a Sport mode where gears are held a bit longer and the steering gets a bit heavier, but it doesn't make the vehicle really feel any quicker. We drove a front-wheel drive example as well, but this drive route was even more highway-centric. For most buyers, the J8 has adequate power. But with these outputs and a traditional auto, I was expecting a bit more grunt and refinement. There are four different lane systems in the J8: a simple lane departure warning, an emergency lane-keep assist, lane departure prevention (what most brands would call lane-keep assist), and Traffic Jam Assist and Integrated Cruise Assist (TJA and ICA). Okay, that looks like five, but the last two are effectively the same system just operating at different vehicle speeds. These feature lane centring in conjunction with the adaptive cruise control. The lane departure prevention is tolerable. There's a bit of a snatchy feeling when you get close to a lane marking, but the system doesn't feel like it's constantly trying to intervene. It's not as smooth as many rival brands, however, and we couldn't help but notice it was turned off in all the press cars… It's a relief, then, that once turned off, this system defaults to off. The TJA/ICA system doesn't seem to know what it's doing. You have to have your hands on the wheel, naturally, but as soon as it detects you seemingly breathing on the steering wheel, let alone moving it, it flashes up a warning message. The abrupt, snatchy feeling with the lane-keep assist is exacerbated here, and it took a few kilometres of highway driving before I turned off the system in a huff. In contrast, other driver assist features like the blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and driver attention monitoring worked faultlessly. Gone are the days – I say that like it was so long ago, but it was only 2023 – when Chery's driver-facing camera would scold you incessantly, and that's a huge relief. The camera quality is superb, with a surround-view camera featuring an under-car view and a 3D view. There's also an automated parking feature which can manoeuvre the vehicle into a parking spot even if there are no defined lines, and which has a route memory function. We'd like to have more seat time in the J8 to get a better handle on the handling and a better read on the ride. Ultimately, however, our limited drive revealed the transmission calibration and Level 2 autonomous driving tech as the biggest bugbears. There are two members of the Jaecoo J8 lineup. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Track equipment highlights: The J8 Ridge adds: The Jaecoo J8 has yet to be tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP. Standard safety equipment in the Jaecoo J8 includes: The Track AWD adds: Omoda Jaecoo vehicles offer an extra year of warranty coverage over Chery-branded vehicles. Chery has gotten quite good at designing vehicles with a lot of showroom appeal, offering slick technology, a swag of creature comforts, modern design, and plenty of interesting materials and controls. So, naturally, the flagship vehicle from its quasi-premium Omoda Jaecoo arm naturally looks terrific at first glance. For the price of a mid-spec mid-sizer, you get a large SUV absolutely loaded with kit, with a high-tech, well-appointed and attractive interior. Unfortunately, while the J8 offers a long list of standard active safety and driver assist technology, not all of it works well. While the spec sheet looks good with features like adaptive suspension, torque vectoring all-wheel drive and a turbocharged engine, our limited drive time revealed some limitations. We need to spend more time with the J8 across a variety of different driving environments to give you a more detailed conclusion. But our initial impressions are that for an undemanding driver seeking a spacious, well-equipped SUV, the J8 is terrific value for money. Rivals from Korea, Japan and Europe should ignore Chery at their peril. The Chinese automaker is marching upmarket, and in around two years in our market it feels like it is now where, say, Hyundai was at here after close to 10. The difference between a fully loaded Hyundai Sonata Levant from the mid-1990s and this, however, is the presentation. This isn't just a lot of metal and features for a sharp price, masked in inoffensive styling. Instead, the Jaecoo J8 has a really slick look to everything from its screens to its material selection and its exterior styling. And that may be enough for buyers to overlook some of its Everything Jaceoo Content originally sourced from: J8 Pros Jaecoo J8 Cons It can be hard keeping track of all the new brands coming to Australia, almost all of them coming from China… and many coming from one automaker in particular. That would be Chery, China's largest vehicle exporter, which re-entered Australia in 2023 with a factory-backed distribution operation. This year, it's rolling out two brand names, but what it refers to as one brand: Omoda Jaecoo. The Jaecoo J8, launching this month, will be sold through these new Omoda Jaecoo showrooms. Vehicles wearing the Omoda nameplate are sleeker SUVs with more of a crossover look, while Jaecoo's SUVs have more of a traditional SUV silhouette. The J8 is the flagship Jaecoo product and, though it's 5mm longer and 30mm wider than a Kia Sorento, it's launching with just two rows of seating; a three-row version is offered overseas with second-row captain's chairs, but it hasn't been locked in for Australia. That leaves the J8 as an alternative to the likes of the Subaru Outback and Mazda CX-70 or, we suppose, any three-row SUV that you've folded the rearmost seats in. The company did, however, specifically name-check the CX-70 as a rival. Conceptually, it's rather like the Nissan Murano that was once sold here and lives on in other markets. It's big, it's distinctively styled, and it's designed to carry five occupants and their luggage in comfort. About that styling – it's not really like the smaller Jaecoo J5 and J7, appearing less boxy. That's probably because this is sold under a different sub-brand in China than the J7. The J8 is actually sold in China as the Chery Tiggo 9, with a slightly different version of the vehicle to be launched here later this year… as the Chery Tiggo 9. The J7, in contrast, is part of Chery's Discover/Tansuo sub-brand. The flagship Jaecoo does get the marque's vertical bar grille, and the styling is sleek and handsome if not entirely unfamiliar – we can definitely see some Lincoln Aviator in this, for example. It's let down only by the appearance of the body being ever so slightly too large for the chassis. It's not quite as obvious as, say, an MG 5, GWM Haval Jolion or even Chery's own C5, but it does look like it could benefit from an increase in track width. The Jaecoo J8 undercuts a raft of large SUVs, with even the top-spec Ridge AWD priced in line with the entry-level Kia Sorento. The Korean SUV is currently priced at $54,340 drive-away. The J8, therefore, is priced more in line with mid-range mid-size SUVs. However, MG has launched its larger, three-row QS large SUV with a base price of $46,990 drive-away. While some Chinese brands tend towards the austere, Chery (and by extension Omoda Jaecoo) vehicle interiors tend to make a statement with some classy touch points and design cues. The J8 is no exception. You're immediately greeted with a cabin that's visually interesting and which features various intriguing surfaces, instead of being some stark black prison slathered in piano black trim. That said, Omoda Jaecoo, please bring that lovely tan interior here. There is some piano black trim, but it's used more for accent purposes – it forms a perimeter around the window switches for example, and a little bit is used on the centre console. It is used for the steering wheel switches, though, which almost immediately look like you're a CSI technician trying to lift fingerprints at a crime scene. The company says the seats are real leather, and while there are some hard plastics they're saved for the lowest reaches of the dash and doors. There are some genuinely interesting materials in this cabin, like the swathe of grey woodgrain trim across the dash, and the dash top finished in an unusual suede-like trim. More overtly suede-like material is found on the roof and pillars in the flagship trim level. Ambient lighting in the flagship Ridge AWD makes the cabin even more luxe at night, and you can specify different colours for the front and rear of the cabin. Some elements seem a little obviously inspired by other brands. The start button, column-mounted shifter stalk, and door-mounted seat controls feel blatantly Mercedes-Benz, though they also feel very nice to use. The use of crystal trim for the drive mode selector in the flagship Ridge AWD is a vaguely Volvo-like touch, while the tactile wheel with its gloss black switchgear is rather Volkswagen. But if you're going to take inspiration, why not look to the Europeans? You want gadgets? The J8 has got them. The Ridge AWD's ambient lighting can pulsate to the music. The flagship also gets a fragrance system with a choice of three fragrances, dispersed from cartridges in the car. But even the base grade gets heated, ventilated and massaging front seats. The massage function is genuinely good too, with multiple levels and multiple massage types. The driver's seat has an extendable thigh support, while the passenger seat has a genuine leg rest. Both front seats are very comfortable. You'll find two speakers in the driver's head restraint, and you can actually opt through the infotainment system for audio from calls, the embedded navigation and even media to come through only these – ideal if you don't want to wake up dozing passengers on a long road trip. We didn't get a chance to play around this, but it's a clever concept. There are some quirks in the change from left to right-hand drive. As we've seen in some products from Chinese rivals like GWM, the USB-A outlet for connecting to smartphone mirroring is on the passenger's side. You won't need it though, as there's wireless connectivity and we were able to maintain a stable Apple CarPlay connectivity. The voice assistant understood our prompts, but asking it to do anything with the driver's seat saw it adjust the passenger seat instead, and vice versa. But asking the assistant to open the driver's window opened… the driver's window. Also, while not a LHD to RHD quirk, it's unusual the entry variant gets conventional interior door handles, while the Ridge AWD gets push-button ones (plus a backup mechanical release). There are dual 12.3-inch screens, one for the instruments and one for the infotainment system. The technology is slick, which is good because there's so little physical switchgear on the centre stack that you're forced to use the touchscreen (or voice prompts) for almost every function. There are some shortcuts, including a swipe-up climate control menu where you can access functions like the ventilated seats, and a swipe-down shortcut menu that you can add additional shortcuts to. The interfaces look modern and there are some handy inclusions, like a map view for the instrument cluster and an owner's manual on the touchscreen. There are some physical controls, including a tactile drive mode dial, volume knob, and demister and heated seat controls, on the centre console. The latter require a double tap to activate, which prevents you from accidentally turning on the heated seats by brushing over the controls accidentally with your shirt sleeve. We'd like more physical controls, but this is one of the more intuitive and attractive interfaces we've seen in a Chinese car in 2025. As expected, there's a head-up display that projects information like the vehicle speed ahead of the driver. A ventilated wireless phone charger sits on the centre console, ahead of a pair of cupholders. Underneath this there's a large shelf, while the centre console also includes a spacious bin. Step into the back and there's a spacious second row. I'm 180cm tall and I had plenty of headroom, even with the panoramic sunroof, as well as ample legroom and knee room. There are also controls on the side of the front passenger seat, allowing the passenger behind to free up more room for themselves. There are air vents not only at the rear of the centre console but also in the B-pillars. Also in the rear are map pockets, USB-A and USB-C outlets, bottle holders in the doors, cup holders in the fold-down centre armrest and, in the Ridge AWD, heated and ventilated outboard seats. While it looks like there are only controls for the heated seats, flip a switch in the middle and these rocker switches can be used to control the ventilation function for the seats. The boot is big, as expected for something that's offered with a third row of seating in other markets. The company claims there's 738L of boot space, measured up to the roof; this expands to 2021L with the rear seats folded. Something very unusual – but most welcome – in this day and age is a full-size spare wheel under the boot floor. While Omoda Jaecoo wants to bring a plug-in hybrid option to Australia, for now the J8 is petrol-only. We didn't get a chance to test combined fuel consumption. We recorded a readout of 6.8L/100km in our front-wheel drive tester across a Berry-to-Sydney highway drive, matching its highway claim. We also recorded 8.9L/100km in a slightly more urban-skewed leg of the drive program in an all-wheel drive example. The J8 isn't rated to tow. Full disclosure: our drive route from Sydney to Berry was predominantly on highways, with largely well-maintained bitumen and only a couple of genuinely winding roads featuring. That means it was hard to properly gauge aspects like how the car handles corners, or how it soaks up craggy roads. Throwing an all-wheel drive example around the few bends on our drive route, we observed decent body control. The steering is light but not excessively so, and Sport mode dials in some extra artificial weight. This means the J8 doesn't feel completely outsmarted by a corner, but again we need to spend some more time with the vehicle to get a proper gauge on its handling. Likewise, the ride quality. Some expansion joints and ruts on Sydney roads weren't absorbed as adeptly as they ought to be in something intended to be a plush cruiser, but on the few regional roads we drove on that weren't well-surfaced, the J8 did a good job keeping us isolated from the nasties on the bitumen. Given most of our drive route was on the highway, we have far more observations here – and not all of them are good. The J8 is quiet, with wind noise kept to a minimum. Give it some beans, for example to overtake, and the engine note is a touch coarse for something intended to be luxurious. I was pleased to hear the J8 uses a torque-converter auto rather than a dual-clutch, something that has become du jour among Chinese SUVs and which in some instances can be unpleasant around town. Unfortunately, the J8's transmission isn't a terribly good one. This isn't a light car at up to 1890kg, but with 183kW and 385Nm we expected the J8 to feel a bit more sprightly. But steeper grades or overtaking manoeuvres had the J8 dropping back several gears to muster up the grunt to push past, and the transmission generally proved to be a bit dozy. It shuffles through gears a bit – you'll notice this as the current gear is displayed on the instrument cluster – and isn't as smooth as transmissions in some rival vehicles. There is a Sport mode where gears are held a bit longer and the steering gets a bit heavier, but it doesn't make the vehicle really feel any quicker. We drove a front-wheel drive example as well, but this drive route was even more highway-centric. For most buyers, the J8 has adequate power. But with these outputs and a traditional auto, I was expecting a bit more grunt and refinement. There are four different lane systems in the J8: a simple lane departure warning, an emergency lane-keep assist, lane departure prevention (what most brands would call lane-keep assist), and Traffic Jam Assist and Integrated Cruise Assist (TJA and ICA). Okay, that looks like five, but the last two are effectively the same system just operating at different vehicle speeds. These feature lane centring in conjunction with the adaptive cruise control. The lane departure prevention is tolerable. There's a bit of a snatchy feeling when you get close to a lane marking, but the system doesn't feel like it's constantly trying to intervene. It's not as smooth as many rival brands, however, and we couldn't help but notice it was turned off in all the press cars… It's a relief, then, that once turned off, this system defaults to off. The TJA/ICA system doesn't seem to know what it's doing. You have to have your hands on the wheel, naturally, but as soon as it detects you seemingly breathing on the steering wheel, let alone moving it, it flashes up a warning message. The abrupt, snatchy feeling with the lane-keep assist is exacerbated here, and it took a few kilometres of highway driving before I turned off the system in a huff. In contrast, other driver assist features like the blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, and driver attention monitoring worked faultlessly. Gone are the days – I say that like it was so long ago, but it was only 2023 – when Chery's driver-facing camera would scold you incessantly, and that's a huge relief. The camera quality is superb, with a surround-view camera featuring an under-car view and a 3D view. There's also an automated parking feature which can manoeuvre the vehicle into a parking spot even if there are no defined lines, and which has a route memory function. We'd like to have more seat time in the J8 to get a better handle on the handling and a better read on the ride. Ultimately, however, our limited drive revealed the transmission calibration and Level 2 autonomous driving tech as the biggest bugbears. There are two members of the Jaecoo J8 lineup. 2025 Jaecoo J8 Track equipment highlights: The J8 Ridge adds: The Jaecoo J8 has yet to be tested by ANCAP or Euro NCAP. Standard safety equipment in the Jaecoo J8 includes: The Track AWD adds: Omoda Jaecoo vehicles offer an extra year of warranty coverage over Chery-branded vehicles. Chery has gotten quite good at designing vehicles with a lot of showroom appeal, offering slick technology, a swag of creature comforts, modern design, and plenty of interesting materials and controls. So, naturally, the flagship vehicle from its quasi-premium Omoda Jaecoo arm naturally looks terrific at first glance. For the price of a mid-spec mid-sizer, you get a large SUV absolutely loaded with kit, with a high-tech, well-appointed and attractive interior. Unfortunately, while the J8 offers a long list of standard active safety and driver assist technology, not all of it works well. While the spec sheet looks good with features like adaptive suspension, torque vectoring all-wheel drive and a turbocharged engine, our limited drive time revealed some limitations. We need to spend more time with the J8 across a variety of different driving environments to give you a more detailed conclusion. But our initial impressions are that for an undemanding driver seeking a spacious, well-equipped SUV, the J8 is terrific value for money. Rivals from Korea, Japan and Europe should ignore Chery at their peril. The Chinese automaker is marching upmarket, and in around two years in our market it feels like it is now where, say, Hyundai was at here after close to 10. The difference between a fully loaded Hyundai Sonata Levant from the mid-1990s and this, however, is the presentation. This isn't just a lot of metal and features for a sharp price, masked in inoffensive styling. Instead, the Jaecoo J8 has a really slick look to everything from its screens to its material selection and its exterior styling. And that may be enough for buyers to overlook some of its Everything Jaceoo Content originally sourced from:
IOL News
4 days ago
- Automotive
- IOL News
Chinese hybrids heading to SA: Can these 10 new contenders steal some of Toyota's thunder?
The new Chery Tiggo 9 is one of numerous new Chinese hybrid vehicles destined for South Africa. Image: Supplied Very few South Africans are ready to take the plunge with a fully electric vehicle, but the latest statistics show that sales of hybrid vehicles are booming. According to Naamsa, sales of fully electric vehicles sank to just 276 units in the first quarter of 2025, down 16% from the same period in 2024, while sales of traditional hybrid vehicles rose by 14.8%, from 2587 units to 2970. Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) sales grew by 71%, albeit off a very small base from 141 to 241 sales. But will 2025 be the year that PHEVs rise to prominence? Featuring larger batteries than conventional hybrids, these vehicles claim to offer the best of both worlds, typically offering fully electric coverage of between 50km and 100km, depending on the vehicle. And there are plenty of new entrants on the way to South Africa, as we'll get to shortly. But PHEVs tend to be on the pricey side, with BYD's recently introduced Sealion 6 currently being the least expensive option at R639,900. Toyota's Corolla Cross, a conventional hybrid, dominates the new energy vehicle market by a wide margin, and that is largely due to its combination of affordability and practicality, with prices starting at R494,400. Toyota also sells a Rav4 hybrid, and numerous Lexus models. The Corolla Cross is Mzansi's most affordable hybrid vehicle at present, but that could change in the not-too-distant future, with a number of compact Chinese offerings heading our way. MG3 and ZS Hybrids With its sporty looks and compact dimensions, the MG3 hatchback will be a refreshing addition to the local market, and our sources indicate that it will be offered with hybrid power. New MG3 Image: Supplied The newcomer promises feisty performance, with its combination of a 1.5-litre petrol engine and electric motor offering a total output of 155kW, while combined fuel consumption is a mere 4.3 litres per 100km . Also pencilled in for South Africa is a hybrid version of the popular HS midsize SUV. Combining a turbocharged 1.5-litre petrol engine with an electric motor, customers can look forward to outputs of 165kW and 340Nm, as well as combined consumption of 5.5 l/100km. While these two MG hybrids are believed to be 'on the books' for South Africa, exact launch timing as well as pricing and local specifications have yet to be confirmed. Chery Tiggo Cross HEV Joining the petrol-powered Chery Tiggo Cross that was launched in South Africa in late 2024, the hybrid version is set to reach our shores in July. Chery Tiggo Cross Image: Supplied Specifics have yet to be confirmed, but it is believed the new HEV model is powered by a normally aspirated 1.5-litre petrol engine that pairs with two electric motors. Claimed fuel consumption amounts to 5.4 l/100km. Although it will command a premium over its ICE sibling, which is priced from R399,900 to R449,900, the Tiggo Cross HEV could still emerge as one of South Africa's most affordable hybrid vehicles. RISE OF THE PLUG-IN HYBRID Jaecoo J7 SHS You won't have to wait long to get your hands on the new Jaecoo J7 SHS plug-in hybrid SUV, which is set to officially launch later this week. Jaecoo J7 SHS. Image: Supplied According to the new PHEV model will be priced at R689,900, making it marginally more expensive than its BYD rival. But the stats are certainly impressive, with a turbocharged 1.5-litre engine pairing up with a powerful hybrid system to deliver combined outputs of 255kW and 525Nm. Thanks to its 18.3 kWh LFP battery, with DC charging capabilities, the J7 SHS can manage a claimed range of up to 90km between charges. Haval H6 GT PHEV Certainly one of the most electrifying hybrids to reach local shores this year, Haval's H6 GT PHEV is set to launch imminently. Haval H6 GT PHEV. Image: Supplied A true performance SUV, the new plug-in model boasts combined outputs of 321kW and 762Nm, allowing for a 4.9 second 0-100km/h sprint, while the carmaker claims a pure electric range of up to 180km. Omoda C9 PHEV The luxurious Omoda C9 will be joined by a supremely powerful plug-in hybrid variant in 2025, pairing the familiar 1.5-litre turbopetrol engine with four electric motors for combined outputs of 440kW and 915Nm. Omoda C9 PHEV. Image: Supplied Scheduled for launch in July, the new C9's is also said to be capable of covering up to 150km on electric power alone, thanks to a 34.5 kWh battery with DC fast charging capability. Locally the C9 PHEV will be available exclusively with the Explore specification level, which means 20-inch wheels, Nappa leather interior, with seat heating for front and rear occupants, and a panoramic sunroof. Chery Tiggo 7, Tiggo 8 and Tiggo 9 PHEVs Chery will welcome a stylish new flagship SUV to its fold around September. Meet the new Tiggo 9. Featuring a 1.5T petrol engine and three electric motors, the combined output is an impressive 230kW, while an all-electric range of up to 100km is said to be possible. The Chery Tiggo 9 PHEV Image: Supplied For the cabin, designers aimed to create a 'warm and tech savvy' space. Highlights include a 15.6-inch HD screen and integrated multifunctional console. Specially crafted 3D stitched seats, meanwhile, add an upmarket touch. While the Tiggo 9 represents the zenith of the local Chery line-up, the Chinese brand will also be introducing a pair of more affordable plug-in hybrids, with the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 PHEVs due in July and August, respectively. More details on these models will be released in due course. GAC M8 PHEV GAC Motor, known for its sporty Emzoom and Emkoo crossover models, will be introducing something even more audacious in 2025. GAC M8 Image: Supplied
