Jaecoo 5 review
The Jaecoo 5 can't compete with European rivals when it comes to refinement, but it offers an impressive amount of space for the price
Our opinion on the Jaecoo 5
The Jaecoo 5 should, and probably will, find love from the kind of buyer that appreciates the equipment and space it offers for the money. Both are top-notch, while the interior quality and tech are at a higher level than you’d expect at this price point. But the driving experience, especially the petrol engine, really lets things down in terms of performance, refinement and efficiency, which is where the top European competition such as the Dacia Duster and Skoda Kamiq, offer better options. But there’s no arguing with the 5’s value and practicality.
About the Jaecoo 5
Along with its sister firm Omoda and parent company Chery, Jaecoo is making serious inroads into the UK, with the Jaecoo 7 SUV – its launch model – having appeared on the nation’s best-selling cars list on more than one occasion.
While the 7 takes aim at the lucrative mid-size SUV market, the Jaecoo 5 is a smaller offering. It’s essentially a boxier version of the Omoda 5, as the two share the same underpinnings. This time, popular choices like the Dacia Duster and Ford Puma are in the crosshairs.
Just like with the Omoda 5 and Omoda E5, there’s also the choice of the combustion-powered Jaecoo 5 or the fully electric Jaecoo E5.
Performance & driving experience
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The base Jaecoo 5’s power comes from a 1.6-litre petrol engine that’s lacking any form of hybrid help. It’s also unrefined, and the various drive modes don't help the situation. In Normal, the throttle response is way too eager, resulting in a surge as you come on and off the accelerator. Switch to Eco, and it becomes a touch too lethargic, but it’s definitely more pleasant when you’re not in a hurry. Sport mode doesn't seem to add much to the mix over the rather abrupt Normal setting.
Used - available now
2025 Jaecoo
5
1,043 milesAutomaticPetrol1.6L
Cash £23,990The Jaecoo E5, meanwhile, is slightly less powerful than the hybrid. However, it does produce a good amount of torque at 288Nm, and it’s able to put all of this to use almost instantaneously. Naturally, being an EV, this car is also a lot quieter than its combustion counterparts.
Fundamentally, this is a car you buy for its low price, high spec, and handsome styling, not for how it behaves on the road. The driving experience is far from the Jaecoo 5’s strongest suit, but it’s not bad enough to provoke the sort of buyer’s regret that would outweigh the positives.
| Model | Power | 0-62mph | Top speed |
| Jaecoo 5 1.6T Pure | 138bhp | 10.2 seconds | 113mph |
| Jaecoo 5 1.6T Luxury | 138bhp | 10.2 seconds | 113mph |
| Jaecoo E5 Pure | 204bhp | 7.7 seconds | 108mph |
Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed
While the lack of hybridisation puts the Jaecoo 5 off the pace on efficiency, its 138bhp also keeps it from breaking the 10-second barrier in the 0-62mph run. In fact, it takes 10.2 seconds. If you do get there, the 5’s top speed stands at 113mph.
The Jaecoo E5 brings a significant performance boost over the petrol, as it’s the quickest accelerator of the bunch due to its torquey motor. Its 0-62mph time is dealt with in 7.7 seconds, and it’ll then proceed on to 108mph.
Town driving, visibility and parking
The Jaecoo 5’s reasonably compact dimensions mean it’s pretty straightforward to navigate through the urban hustle and bustle. Every model gets a 540° panoramic view camera, along with an array of sensors, so parking won’t be a cause for concern.
One complaint we did have at lower speeds, though, was that the ride felt quite choppy over imperfections in the road — which, let’s be honest, there are plenty of on most urban streets.
Country road driving and handling
The Jaecoo 5 doesn’t boast sporty performance figures, and it’s far from engaging to drive. The steering is quick but offers little feedback, and there’s a fair amount of body lean in the corners. While a car being fun to drive might not be the primary concern of buyers in this market, there are more satisfying small SUVs, such as the Ford Puma.
Motorway driving and long-distance comfort
While the Jaecoo 5 feels fidgety at lower speeds, it settles down enough on the motorway. The whole experience is generally pretty quiet, although the petrol engine isn’t the most refined when you need to accelerate hard to get past slower vehicles.
MPG & running costs
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When testing the petrol-powered Jaecoo 5, our route included a mix of city and country roads, along with a bit of a motorway run. At the end of the test, we only achieved an average economy of 35mpg, and while we certainly weren’t being heavy-footed, this is a bit of a drop compared with the official WLTP combined figure of 40.4mpg.
Even if we did achieve the claimed number, it’s still a long way off the petrol-powered Nissan Juke’s 48.7mpg.
| Model | MPG | CO2 | Insurance group |
| Jaecoo 5 1.6T Pure | 40.4mpg | 159g/km | 25 |
| Jaecoo 5 1.6T Luxury | 40.4mpg | 159g/km | 26 |
Electric range, battery life and charge time
The Jaecoo E5’s 60.9kWh battery pack is good for a WLTP combined range of 248 miles. This matches the Ford Puma Gen-E with the larger 47kWh pack, and it’s just one mile behind the Renault 4’s official claim.
The E5’s battery pack can handle DC rapid charging at speeds of up to 80kW, and Jaecoo claims that this is good for a 30 to 80 per cent top-up in 27 minutes. If, like many other EV drivers, you’re charging from a typical 7.4kW home wallbox charger, you’ll be looking at around eight-and-a-half hours for a full charge from zero to 100 per cent.
| Model | Battery size | Range | Insurance group |
| Jaecoo E5 Pure | 60.9kWh | 248 miles | 34 |
| Jaecoo E5 Luxury | 60.9kWh | 248 miles | 34 |
Insurance groups
The petrol-powered Jaecoo 5 starts from insurance group 25 out of 50, rising to group 26 for the fancier Luxury trim.
These groupings mean the Jaecoo sits quite a bit higher than the Nissan Juke, as that resides in groups 12 to 14. The Ford Puma also dips as low as group 12, while the Renault Captur sneaks into group 11, as does the SEAT Arona. The Dacia Duster will incur similar premiums to the Jaecoo, being in groups 25 to 28.
If you’re going electric, the Jaecoo E5 sits quite a bit higher in group 34. Again, this is well above the Ford Puma Gen-E, which starts from group 18, as well as the Vauxhall Mokka Electric in group 22.
Tax
Due to its fiercely competitive pricing structure, the Jaecoo 5 sits a very long way away from the luxury car tax bracket. However, if you’re a company car driver, you’ll want to look towards the fully electric Jaecoo E5 as this provides significantly larger Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) tax savings compared to its combustion-powered twin.
Depreciation
Our market data shows that the Jaecoo 5 will retain between 48 and 50 per cent of its original value after three years or 36,000 miles. This is ever so slightly behind the Jaecoo E5, at 52 per cent, but it’s a stronger outcome than some of its most petrol-powered small SUV rivals
In comparison, the Ford Puma retains 43 to 50 per cent, while the Nissan Juke only manages 41 to 44 per cent. The SEAT Arona also sits towards the lower end of the scale at 43 to 45 per cent. The Dacia Duster boasts some of the strongest residual values in this entire sector, though, at 54 to 63 per cent.
The Jaecoo E5’s slightly stronger resistance at 52 per cent is significantly higher than the Ford Puma Gen-E’s 38 to 40 per cent, as well as the Renault 4’s 44 to 47 per cent.
Interior, design & technology
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The styling of Jaecoo’s first model, the 7, has been compared to Range Rover’s Evoque and Velar from some angles, particularly the side and rear, and the smaller 5 very much keeps things in the family. The petrol model also retains the huge toothy grille, which is certainly distinctive on the road. This is also the main differentiation between the petrol and electric version, with the latter getting a more subtle, panelled front end.
Interior and dashboard design
The cabin is dominated by a huge 13.2-inch vertical touchscreen, but is otherwise clean and neat, with pleasingly comfortable leather seats in the higher-spec Luxury trim level. As with many other Chinese SUVS, minimalism is the name of the game here, and that means a total lack of proper buttons.
Materials and build quality
The Jaecoo 5 does what many mainstream cars do, where quality in the eyeline is good, but lower down, the glovebox and door bins betray the lower-cost reality. That being said, we’re willing to be fairly forgiving considering that this car is quite a bit cheaper to buy than several of its key competitors.
Infotainment, sat-nav and stereo
The touchscreen controls everything, and it’s well laid out, although it doesn’t always respond to the first prod of a finger. Fans of physical buttons will be disappointed to see a cabin devoid of such old-fashioned adornments, but at least the climate control is only ever one upward swipe away, and there are plenty of voice-activated commands if you want to use them.
Boot space & practicality
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They might be closely related, but the Jaecoo 5 has the edge over the Omoda 5 in terms of space and practicality. This is partly thanks to its more traditional boxy shape, and the result is one of the better small SUV options for those seeking a new family car.
Dimensions and size
The Jaecoo 5 isn’t quite as long as its Omoda stablemate, but it is much taller and a little bit wider, and this extra space is put to very good use.
| Dimensions comparison | |||
| Model | Jaecoo 5 | Renault 4 | Dacia Duster |
| Length | 4,380mm | 4,144mm | 4,343mm |
| Width | 1,860mm | 1,808mm | 1,813mm |
| Height | 1,650mm | 1,552mm | 1,656mm |
| Wheelbase | 2,620mm | 2,624mm | 2,657mm |
| Boot space | 480 litres | 339 litres | 349 litres |
Seats & passenger space
Rear-seat passengers have plenty of headroom, and we found that a pair of six-foot adults can comfortably sit behind equally tall front-seat occupants - something that not many cars in this segment can boast. It can’t boast the option of having seven seats like the Citroen C3 Aircross, though. There’s plenty of space up front, although the driving position is perhaps a tad higher than we’d like.
One thing there’s no shortage of is cubby holes within the cabin, but a larger glovebox wouldn't have gone amiss.
Boot space
Boot space is also good, with the 480-litre area being a long way ahead of the Dacia Duster’s 349 litres and Renault 4’s 339 litres. Folding down the Jaecoo’s rear seats opens up 1,180 litres in total. That’s good, but the boxier Citroen C3 Aircross is the better bet for big tip runs or furniture shopping, with 1,600 litres of space when the rear seats are folded down in five-seat versions.
Reliability & safety
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Euro NCAP is yet to test the Jaecoo 5, but it’s a pretty safe bet that the brand will want it to match the five-star result of the Jaecoo 7.
There’s a fair amount of standard advanced safety kit that should help towards a decent score, with autonomous emergency braking, emergency lane keeping, front collision warning and lane departure prevention.
Jaecoo is still a relatively new brand in the UK, so it hasn’t yet appeared in the Driver Power owner satisfaction survey. The same goes for Omoda and Chery, but the brands clearly have faith in their cars’ durability as they all come with a seven-year/100,000-mile warranty.
Buying, prices and deals
Best buy: Jaecoo E5 Pure
Given that it offers the most convincing combination of performance and efficiency, we’d opt for the fully electric Jaecoo E5 over the petrol models. While the E5’s starting price is a bit higher than the combustion model’s - around £27,000 versus £22,500 - the electric version has much lower running costs. We’d stick with the entry-level Pure trim, though, in order to keep things somewhat budget-friendly.
You can save by building your new Jaecoo 5 or Jaecoo E5 with the Auto Express Buy A Car service. We also have a range of Jaecoo 5 leasing deals, and can even help you to sell your car.
Jaecoo 5 alternatives
The small SUV market is big business, so there’s no shortage of tempting rivals for the Jaecoo 5 to compete with.
The Jaecoo 5 has plenty of competition from fellow Chinese car brands, including the BYD Atto 2 and MG ZS, along with Jaecoo’s own stablemates, such as the Chery Tiggo 4 and Omoda 5. If we move further afield, there’s the Citroen C3 Aircross, Ford Puma, Hyundai Kona, Mazda CX-30, Skoda Kamiq and Vauxhall Mokka, to name just a few.
It’s the same story with the Jaecoo E5. Once again, there’s the Omoda E5 from within the Chery group, and elsewhere there’s plenty of other models including the Citroen e-C3 Aircross, Ford Puma Gen-E, MGS5 EV, Renault 4 and Vauxhall Mokka Electric.
Jaecoo 5 pictures
Frequently Asked Questions
Jaecoo offers a seven-year/100,000-mile warranty on its cars, which is one of the longest on the market and matches the plan that’s offered by Kia.
Deals on the Jaecoo 5 and alternatives
