New brand, new car. The Jaecoo J7 was officially launched in Malaysia last week, marking the entry of Chery’s SUV sub-brand that’s supposed to be more rugged and premium – think Land Rover. By the way, Chery is Jaguar Land Rover’s long-time local partner in China, and some elements might have rubbed off. Does the J7 look like a LR/RR? Hafriz Shah doesn’t think so.
In any case, the first Jaecoo looks neat and handsome with plenty of interesting details – our full walk-around video will show you all the quirks and features of the SUV. The body sits on the same platform as the recently-launched Chery Tiggo 7 Pro, and at 4,500 mm long, 1,865 mm wide and 1,680 mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,672 mm, it’s in the size ballpark of the Toyota Corolla Cross and slightly smaller than a Mazda CX-5.
Jaecoo is being marketed with a heavy off-road, rugged slant, and relevant stats are shared – the J7’s ground clearance is 200 mm, wading depth is 600 mm, while approach and departure angles are 21 and 29 degrees, respectively.
Speaking of which, you can have the Jaecoo with AWD, which also brings seven driving modes to the party – besides the usual Eco, Normal and Sports, there’s Sand, Mud, Snowfield and Off-road too. Both the AWD and 2WD variants come with a 1.6-litre turbo-four with 194 hp and 290 Nm of torque, hooked up to a seven-speed wet dual-clutch automatic by Getrag.
The AWD can get you further, but it’s also slower at 9.9 seconds from 0-100 km/h. The front-wheel drive version is seven tenths quicker to the mark at 9.2 seconds. Top speed is 180 km/h for both. Similarly, there’s also a fuel economy advantage for the 2WD – the claimed figure is 7.0L per 100 km versus the AWD’s 7.7L per 100 km.
Kit wise, both share the same long list of standard equipment. The exterior sports 19-inch two-tone alloys (red brake calipers peeking through), LED front and rear lights (full width at the back, of course) and a powered tailgate. Inside, the J7 gets leather seats, dual-zone climate control with N95 air purifier (single rear vent, why?), a 50W cooled wireless charger, 64-colour ambient lighting and a panoramic sunroof.
Also on the list are a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, a 14.8-inch vertical infotainment touchscreen, head-up display, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, eight Sony speakers, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, ‘boss switches’ for the front passenger seat, heated/ventilated front seats with memory, keyless entry, remote start with cabin climate pre-conditioning and rear privacy glass, among other items.
The J7 is well-stocked in the safety department, with a 540-degree camera (AVM), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), Blind Spot Detection (BSD), Curve Speed Assistance (CSA), Departure Ahead Inform (DAI), Door Opening Warning (DOW), Emergency Lane Keeping (ELK) and Front Collision Warning (FCW).
There’s more. Integrated Cruise Assist (ICA), Intelligent Evasion System (IES), Intelligent Headlamp Control (IHC), Lane Changing Assistance (LCA), Lane Departure Prevention (LDP), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Rear Collision Warning (RCW), Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), Rear Cross Traffic Braking (RCTB) and Traffic Jam Assist (TJA). There’s also TPMS, hill descent control and hill hold for the electronic parking brake.
Locally assembled at Chery’s new Shah Alam plant, the Jaecoo J7 is priced at RM138,800 for the 2WD and RM148,800 for the AWD. In addition to a seven-year, 150,000 km warranty, an early bird package adds in a 10-year, one-million km engine warranty. Join Hafriz in our in-and-out video tour of the J7 and tell us what you think of this new SUV entry – was your head turned?
GALLERY: 2024 Jaecoo J7 AWD
