Jaecoo 5 and E5 review

If you're after a mid-size SUV such as a Nissan Qashqai, Ford Kuga or even a Range Rover Evoque, then the Jaecoo 5 is well worth a look. It offers a premium feel and loads of kit for less money than all of the above cars. It's aggressively priced, specced and warranted.

From the outside, it sports a modern bluff grille and sharp LED-ringed rectangular headlights. The grille design varies depending on whether you pick the petrol version with its silver bars giving the impression of a Rolls-Royce missing some teeth, or the electric Jaecoo E5, with its smoothed-over muzzle.

Inside, the Jaecoo 5 has the sort of initial wow factor that you just wouldn't expect from a car that costs from £24,505. That buys a Pure model with a petrol engine, while £27,505 buys the E5. 

There are lots of cleverly patterned plastics and – on top-spec Luxury models – artificial leather seats and suede adorning the wireless phone charger. You'll want to jump up to that top-spec Luxury model (£27,505 for the petrol, £30,505 for the EV) for a kit list that also includes a panoramic sunroof, the synthetic leather seats, cooled and heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and an eight-speaker Sony sound system as well as the wireless phone charger. Phew.

Poke around the Jaecoo 5's cabin and you'll find a few harder plastics, but nothing else for the money comes close to the overall feel.

Sadly the infotainment system's software is confusingly laid out, and the advanced driver assistance systems will have you hearing bongs in your sleep, despite assurance that it's been recalibrated for UK roads.

To drive, the Jaecoo 5 is a considerable step up from its wayward bigger brother, the 7. Where the 7 feels constantly unsettled over bumps, the 5 has more compliance and body control, with steering that actually directs you where you intend. It's no sports car, but both petrol and electric versions feel at home on UK roads. We just wish the 1.6-litre petrol version showed us more than 33mpg on our test drive, and that the E5 offered more than 210 miles in the real world.

If you're buying an SUV on a budget, however, the Jaecoo 5 should be on your shopping list, especially considering it comes with a seven-year warranty.

Climb behind the 5's steering wheel and there's no hint whatsoever that you're in one of the most affordable cars in its class. There's a huge 13-inch infotainment system in the middle of the dashboard, and a slim digital driver's display behind the wheel, which has a less confusing layout than the Jaecoo 7's bigger screen. This premium vibe is somewhat undermined by the incredibly tinny sound emitted by the door handles when you open the car from the outside – it feels like you're cranking open the back doors on an old Transit van.

The leather-bound, slightly flat-bottom steering wheel has the usual array of slightly fiddly semi-haptic buttons to control the dashboard and standard-fit adaptive cruise control. There's a curious bar across the lower half of the wheel which looks a bit like a giant moustache or a whale's baleen, but it shouldn't distract in day-to-day driving.

Back to the tech. The infotainment screen on all 5 and E5 models has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (which take up the whole screen and look glorious), and there's an always-on bar at the bottom of the screen to adjust the climate controls. You'll need to tap the central fan icon to get deeper into the climate settings if you want to switch on your heated or cooled seats, however – and, in general, there's too much hunting required to find the settings you need. Jaecoo clearly knows this, because there's actually a search bar in the settings menu… which probably isn't the right user-experience solution.

It's worth pointing out that the DAB radio reception is dire in the Jaecoo 5 – something shared with the 7. Expect fuzzy reception and more awkward silence than a chance cocktail-party encounter with your gynaecologist.

One of the technological highlights is Jaecoo's '540-degree' camera. It's fitted to all Jaecoo 5s, and it displays an exterior view of your car on the infotainment screen when you're indicating at a junction. You can adjust the angle to cover any corner of the car, and it looks very futuristic. It's handy for spotting hidden cyclists and kerbs – but we'd argue your eyes are best kept looking out of the car.

Otherwise, the interior is mostly lovely, apart from the trendy move away from physical buttons. Sure, there's a physical control for adjusting your mirrors (unlike the Jaecoo 7's Tesla-esque use of the steering wheel controls which makes parallel parking a faff) but, otherwise, buttons are limited to things such as the hazard warning lights, driving modes and door locks. Everything else is in the screen, although you can use voice commands to change most things.

Finally, the Jaecoo 5 has two novel tricks up its sleeve. First is pet mode – only available on the E5. This lets you leave the air-con running with a pet in the car when you're parked. It displays a large message on the infotainment screen assuring passersby that the temperature is fine for pets, and it'll also show a timer.

Secondly, there's the dubiously titled 'Camping mode'. Aimed at lovers of the peaceful outdoors, this naturally lets you blast out music through a speaker in the car's front bumper. There's even the ability to hook up a Bluetooth microphone so you can… stand near your car and perform karaoke, with adjustable reverb no less. Our advice? If a Jaecoo 5 pitches up next to you, it's time to find a new campsite.

At 4.38m long, the Jaecoo 5 is about 12cm shorter than a Jaecoo 7 and about the same length as a Nissan Qashqai. Despite being the baby of the range (for now), the Jaecoo 5's 480-litre boot is noticeably bigger than the Jaecoo 7's 412-litre offering. It opens electrically if you get a top-spec Luxury model, and has a height-adjustable boot floor. Lifting the boot floor to slot it into its lower position does expose some wires at the back of the boot, which looks a little unfinished. There's a handy 12-volt socket on the right-hand-side, but this only appears in Luxury models.

Interior practicality is largely good. There are some decent-size door bins and a full-size glovebox up front, while tall adults can fit comfortably in the back seats without brushing their knees on the seat in front, or barnet on the roof, even with the panoramic sunroof fitted. It's not perfect though – there's very little space under the front seats for feet in the electric version. A single USB-A charging port is on offer for rear-seat passengers, which also feels a bit miserly.

That said, there's a flat floor so your middle-seat passenger won't be playing footsie with their outer-seat companions, and the Isofix points are easy to find behind plastic flaps that slide out of the way.

Jaecoo is making a big deal about how the 5 is aimed at outdoorsy types, with Luxury models getting a set of roof bars that can carry 75kg on a roof box. Entry-level models also get roof bars, but they're listed as 'non load-bearing'. It's probably wise not to explore that claim.

The Jaecoo 5 comes with either a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine or an electric motor.

The petrol version has 147hp and a seven-speed dual-clutch auto gearbox which shifts smoothly and takes 10.2 seconds to get from 0-62mph. It's pretty quiet even when you're working it hard, but we only averaged 33mpg on our test route, which is some way off the best in class.

The electric version (called the Jaecoo E5 if you've fallen asleep at the back) uses a 61.1kWh battery pack and a 207hp motor on the front axle. Official driving range is slated at 248 miles, but we saw more like 210 miles in the real world. It can only charge at 80kW which is slow, with Jaecoo quoting a 30-80% time of 27 minutes. Presumably the industry standard 10-80% would be well over half an hour. 

Naturally, there's a phone app to let you schedule charging. You'll get from 0-62mph in 7.7 seconds in the electric Jaecoo 5.

Like the Jaecoo 7, the 5 has been set up for comfort and long-distance cruising. Unlike the Jaecoo 7, the 5's suspension actually works. It settles down even on uneven roads, and it feels much more planted when you tackle a set of gentle bends, where the 7 would feel like it's fighting you.

Both the petrol and electric versions of the Jaecoo 5 can be threaded down a twisty road with confidence – the suspension is still soft, but there's decent overall control and the steering is much more accurate than in the 7. 

The Jaecoo 5 is pretty quiet at a motorway cruise, with little tyre or wind noise intruding into the cabin. In fact, the only real dynamic flaw is the E5's tendency to wheelspin merrily out of junctions if you're a bit heavy-footed.