Jaecoo 8 review: a three-row SUV that excels at one thing

[SINGAPORE] The Jaecoo 8 comes with a claim I would have needed three or four weeks of normal driving to verify: the ability to take 70 litres of petrol and wring as much as 1,200 km of motoring from it. That makes it a car most people would only need to refuel once a month, although having ready access to a charging station would stretch that interval much longer.

The 8 isn’t an economy hatchback, but a three-row, seven-seat plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that serves as Jaecoo’s flagship here. It’s also an automotive factotum, a family bus, cargo hauler and mild off-roader with some flashes of luxury in a single package.

PHEVs haven’t yet had a breakthrough model in Singapore, but the 8 is a relatively fresh take on the format. Western manufacturers tend to add an electric motor to a combustion powertrain, because that is what they know, but in China, the logic runs the other way. The 8 leads with its electric drive system, while a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine plays a supporting role for when the 34.46 kWh battery runs low or the road ahead stretches out.

The upshot is 134 km of pure electric range, nearly three days’ driving in Singapore, before the combustion engine stirs. That’s if you want it to drive like a pure EV. But I stuck it in hybrid mode, which lets the petrol engine wake up from time to time, either to generate electricity for the battery, or to propel the car directly, depending on what the system deems most efficient. When the engine does kick in, any noise or vibration it makes is so distant, the combustion might as well be happening in a different postal district.

Efficiency almost seems like an afterthought here, though. When the electrons and petrol are all at maximum flow, the combined output comes to 428 horsepower, which is the sort of punch you used to need eight cylinders to deliver. Floor the right pedal and the 8 becomes yet another kind of car, morphing into a hot hatch with a 5.8-second run to 100 kmh.

Given the size of the thing though, it naturally doesn’t have the nimbleness of a Volkswagen Golf GTI. If anything, it tends to lurch when pushed hard through corners, as if urging you to back off a bit. The steering is generally vague, and at low speeds the brakes can be hard to modulate smoothly. But for a heavy PHEV, the 8 manages a reasonably plush ride, its active dampers reading road conditions in real time and adapting their stiffness accordingly. Most times, the Jaecoo masks its bulk well, and doesn’t feel like a lumbering hulk on the road.

If the 8 doesn’t imitate a hot hatch on the move, the cabin does a fine impression of a premium car’s interior. A crystal-like driving mode selector, air-conditioner vents that might have been pinched from a Mercedes, and soft textures on every surface worth touching add up to a space that feels more expensive than the price suggests.

A 14-speaker sound system from Sony, eight-point massage seats for driver and front passenger, soft Nappa leather upholstery and even a built-in fragrance dispenser add a touch of luxury. It comes with every driver assist system that the modern distracted driver could ever want.

It doesn’t have a giant touchscreen, but the interface lets you drag and drop app tiles to your preference, which is a thoughtful acknowledgement that no two drivers like their car controls laid out exactly the same way.

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The third row seats are the main disappointment. For anyone adult-sized, sitting back there is a chin-to-chest and knees-in-the-air affair. I would think of the Jaecoo as a five-plus-two rather than a true seven-seater.

There are rough edges besides – pieces of cabin trim that don’t align, a tip-forward seat for third-row access positioned on the driver’s side rather than kerbside, a few functions buried in strange places within the touchscreen’s menu system, and so on.

None of this makes the 8 feel unfinished, merely imperfect. If any one thing is going to make potential buyers pause, it’s the S$4,106 annual road tax.

Still, the Jaecoo 8 exemplifies how cheap Chinese vehicles can be a way to get maximum bang for your buck in the current environment of high Certificate of Entitlement premiums.

It’s not everything you ever dreamt of in a car, but it delivers nearly everything you could ever ask of one.

Jaecoo 8 Engine 1,498 cc, turbocharged in-line four Engine power 143 hp at 5,200 rpm Engine torque 215 Nm at 4,000 rpm Electric motors 456 hp/700 Nm System power 428 hp System torque 580 Nm Gearbox Three-speed automatic 0-100 kmh 5.8 seconds Top speed 180 kmh Fuel efficiency 2.1 L/100 km Electric range 134 km Agent Vertex Automobile Price S$241,999 with COE Available Now