A career in automotive journalism is one of the most rewarding. You get to drive cars that most people will never be able to sit in at exotic locations you would never have heard of if it were not for your job. It is a sunset industry though, with key opinion leaders and influencers fast
A career in automotive journalism is one of the most rewarding. You get to drive cars that most people will never be able to sit in at exotic locations you would never have heard of if it were not for your job.
It is a sunset industry though, with key opinion leaders and influencers fast taking over. These days, good looks and social media followers matter more than experience and professionalism. It is what it is, industries come and go.
But there is one downside to being an auto journo though, the constant questions. Whether you are out having a drink with friends, or attending a wedding, or sometimes even at the playground with your kids. Someone is bound to recognise you and ask for advise on the latest cars.
I get it all the time. After close to two decades of reviewing cars and driving hundreds of them, I have come to accept it as part of the job. I even enjoy it now. And besides, I also like to learn from the regular man on the street about their opinions on brands and models.
The one brand that has dominated conversations is Jaecoo. Ever since the first model, the J7 was introduced, it has made conversations lively.
The reference to the Range Rover-ish design, the well-built interior and the dozens of technologies it comes with has shocked some people.
Then came the J7 PHEV. An uncle and I were having such a lengthy conversation about it that he ended up going out and buying one. He was that impressed.
He ended up being more impressed by the brand when the car had some air-conditioning problems early on.
Jaecoo Malaysia apparently flew in an engineer from China just to diagnose and rectify the issue. He swears by the brand now.
And now, most conversations about Jaecoo revolve around the newly launched J5. The smaller sibling to the J7.
So, what is the Jaecoo J5?
The J5 is a b-segment SUV. Which means that it counts the likes of the Proton X50, Honda HR-V, Toyota Corolla Cross and even the newly launched Mitsubishi Xforce as direct rivals.
It is priced at RM108,000 (without any discounts or promotions), which means that it is cheaper than the Honda, Toyota and the Mitsubishi.
It is based on the Chery Tiggo Cross, shares the same platform and some components with its cousin but because Jaecoo is the “premium division” of the Chery umbrella, it offers a lot more.
It even looks more premium than the Chery and carries on that Range Rover design inspiration. Some say that it looks like a baby Range Rover Evoque, and you can see the obvious similarities in design, especially when both are parked side-by-side.
What sets the Jaecoo J5 apart?
B-segment competitors don’t have it easy. They must go up against models from Perodua and Proton which benefit from protectionism policies from the government.
But Jaecoo does not need to compete on price, it’s features alone can blow the competition out of the water.
The suspension of the car for one is completely unique in the segment.
While every contender in the segment relies on Macpherson struts at the front and torsion beam suspension at the rear, the Jaecoo J5 uses multilink suspension to manage the rear of the car (shown above).
This is a big deal that no one really talks about. This gives the car a ride quality that no other car in the segment can offer as it rolls over bumps and absorbs potholes like it were not there.
Multilink suspension allows the rear wheels to work independently, meaning the rear wheels can move up and down without affecting the opposite wheel.
A torsion beam on the other hand is connected by a large metal beam that connects the two rear wheels. So, if the wheel on the left hits a bump, this will inevitably be transferred to the right and you will eventually feel it in the cabin.
The multilink suspension uses multiple attachment points, so engineers can tune the suspension to react to different forces. And what one-wheel experiences, the other wheel is isolated from.
This also gives you better control of the car as all four wheels will always be patched to the road. With a torsion beam, there’s always a risk of one wheel lifting off the road, especially when you drive into a corner too fast, a genuine safety risk.
The multilink setup also gives you a more comfortable ride, much more comfortable than a torsion beam can ever muster up. And you feel it in the way the Jaecoo J5 drives.
The ride quality is plush yet firm while overall refinement is impressive as well, achieved with the use of double-glazed windows.
Sure, you do occasionally hear the drone of the CVT transmission working hard to transfer power to the front wheels, but this is only during hard acceleration. You barely hear anything during normal operations, particularly in traffic.
The interior is impressive, too!
If there is one thing that Chinese car makers have done well, it is to produce some impressive, high-tech interiors.
Sure, some take it too far and completely omit hard buttons, placing controls in the infotainment screen instead. This makes it difficult for technologically-challenged individuals to operate the car to its fullest potential.
But the J5 is not like that. Not entirely at least.
The interior is simplistic, well-built and generally feels like a nice place to be in.
You get hard buttons to activate the hazard light, select one of the three drive modes, and to lock/unlock the doors.
The air-conditioning controls are software enabled and permanently located at the bottom of the 13.2-inch infotainment system. There’s no need to scroll through the software, just reach over to tap the screen. It is easy to use even for senior citizens.
There’s a 50-watt ventilated charge pad (shown below with J5 key for reference) and phone holder in place of the gear knob, which is now placed at the steering column. This frees up space at the centre console, giving you more space for everyday life behind the wheel.
There’s a touch of nostalgia too, specifically the eight-inch digital instrument cluster that uses fonts like it came off a 90s Casio calculator. Some have criticised it, but I personally like it because there is no school like the old school. And it is easy to read too, much better than instrument clusters that feed you too much unnecessary information. This is simply and classy.
Overall comfort levels are impressive as well.
While the interior is wrapped in faux leather, the seats are as one of the most comfortable in the segment. The material is wrapped in a TUV certified pet-friendly material that offers 99.9% antibacterial protection and is also scratch resistant.
As for that ever-annoying pet fur, Jaecoo has included a special filter in the air-conditioning system that can separate the fur rather than blowing it back into the cabin. Clever? I thought so too.
Even the entertainment system will appeal to just about anyone as it comes with an eight-speaker sound system as well as an in-car karaoke function. I thought that the karaoke feature is just a gimmick, I didn’t think anyone will care about having a karaoke system in a car. But then my six-year-old could not put down the mic and had fun in the car with his favourite Demon Hunters track, and now he wants me to buy the car.
The karaoke feature gives you two wireless mics and lets you sing along to any song of your choice on any platform. You can play your songs from Spotify, Apple Music or Youtube Music and the karaoke function will work. So, it is not a complicated system, just turn on the mics and sing along.
What about the powertrain?
The Jaecoo J5 is powered by a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged engine making 147PS and 210Nm of torque. As mentioned earlier, power is sent to the front wheels through a conventional CVT transmission, which may not be to everyone’s taste, but it can be impressively economical.
On that topic, the J5 has an official consumption figure of 6.4-litres. Combine that to the 51-litre fuel tank and the J5 will give you a technical range of close to 800km per tank. That is of course in theory only, but you can expect a real-world range to vary between 500km to 700km depending on your driving style.
I saw a real world consumption of about 8.2-litres per 100km.
As for performance, the J5 accelerates to 100km/h in 10.2 seconds and has a top speed of 175km/h. Not exactly neck snapping, but the J5 is built for comfort and refinement, and it excels at that.
Is there anything to look out for?
There are two things you should know about. The first being that the rear passengers will have to argue over the single rear air-conditioning vent. Why would the engineers place a single rear vent when there are three rear seatbelts is beyond me.
The second are the Chao Yang tyres that the J5 rolls on. While the tyres may be from China’s oldest tyre maker, you can still hear the hum of the tyres on some surfaces. I didn’t get to try them out in the torrential Malaysian rains, but I will trust Goodyear or Michelin more, so perhaps this is the first thing to change if you were to buy a Jaecoo J5.
These are some unpredictable times so choosing the right car has never been more important. A car like the Jaecoo J5 does not only give you comfort, but it also gives you tech and a decent powertrain. That is without mentioning the good looks as well.
SUV’s that compete in the b-segment don’t have it easy, it is a fiercely competitive segment, so you’re never going to be short on options. But you really can’t go wrong with the Jaecoo J5 with its current price tag as it truly seems to have it all.
Specifications:
Engine: 1.5-litre, four-cylinder, turbocharged
Power: 147PS
Torque: 210Nm
Transmission: CVT
Price (as tested): RM108,000