Styling
The Jaecoo 5, if it's not in its full EV format with a smoothed-off face, is basically a boil-washed J7. This means it has the same Range Rover Evoque-esque looks, the same 'waterfall' grille and the same angular rear styling, complete with slim lamp clusters. However, Jaecoo deletes the fussy double-stacked foglamps from the 5's front bumper, as well as all the egregious chequered-flag motifs and those vertical slats aft of the rear wheels which mar the bigger 7's design. With what we reckon is therefore better overall proportionality and a less fussy aesthetic, it's 1-0 early doors to the J5 in this inter-house battle.
Interior
The smaller, cheaper and ostensibly less-premium Jaecoo 5 swiftly doubles its advantage here, because the cabin of this car is superior to the effort in the J7. By no means perfect - it's still button-light, predicated on the default Chinese architecture of one massive central touchscreen plus letterbox cluster panel and a high transmission-tunnel plateau - the material quality looks and feels nicer the minute you get into it. Further, the 5 has proper window switches, oriented the correct way for operation, as a petrol it
doesn't have one of those awful 'Last 50km' trip computers but instead a proper resettable item, and yet you still get loads of kit for your money.
Practicality
Rear passenger space in the Jaecoo 5 is fine, if not extraordinary, but because it is not saddled with one of Jaecoo's SHS-P-branded plug-in-hybrid (PHEV) drivetrains then the 4.4-metre-long 5 has a bigger boot than the Jaecoo 7 PHEV. You're talking 480 litres here in the J5 ICE, rather than 412 for the J7 SHS-P, with all seats in use, although in its defence the latter has a much larger cargo area with the second row folded down - its 1,332 litres eclipsing the 1,180 litres of the car we're testing here.
Performance
Praise and rejoice: if you opt for a pure-petrol Jaecoo 5, you
do not get the 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo engine that seems to be the only ICE powerplant configuration that all of China adheres to. Instead, the J5 ICE has a 1.6-litre turbo four with 147hp and 275Nm, which - in an SUV weighing a smidge more than 1.5 tonnes as tested and driving the front wheels through a seven-speed DCT auto - results in a middling 0-62mph time of 10.2 seconds and a top speed of 113mph.
Now, let's get some things out of the way first. In many respects, the 1.6-litre engine and its associated DCT is a terrible combination. Astonishingly, this gruff-as-sin four-cylinder unit can sound even more strained and harsh than the 1.5 in the Jaecoo/Chery Group PHEVs, and even though it's not shifting a lot of mass about the place, it can often struggle with the process of building significant forward momentum in a hurry. The mapping and calibration of the transmission, meanwhile, feels about 15 years off the prevailing and acceptable dual-clutch standards, so when you plonk your right foot down and experience what the J5 does next, you might be dreadfully disappointed with the slovenly, rowdy and slow outcomes that result.
However. Kept well within itself, the powertrain proves to be much more amenable. It doesn't demonstrate that unsafe trait the SHS-P in the J7 exhibits, where it keeps accelerating long after you've let go of the throttle, and at anything below 3,500rpm this J5 ICE is just about OK. It's also torquey enough that it can keep up on motorways without needing to be thrashed to within an inch of its life. Thank god.
It also seems pretty economical in the real world. Our first motorway journey in it, running 133 miles back from Oxfordshire to Notts, resulted in an indicated 37.2mpg from the trip computer
which actually presents some useful information to its driver, and a later jaunt on the southern half of the M1 even improved that figure to 42.2mpg. After fully 600 miles of mixed-roads testing conducted at an overall average speed of 41mph, the Jaecoo's final 38.2mpg return proved to be most commendable.
Ride & Handling
Again, here we're talking in relative terms to the dynamic horror show that was the Jaecoo 7, but the 5 ICE was better in every single regard. Rolling refinement, steering consistency, brake feel, body control, ride comfort - it's a clear sign of the progression Jaecoo, and by extension the Chery Group, can make in a very brief period of time.
You see, while we've driven them in the 'wrong' order by sampling the E5 first, the Jaecoo 7 was the company's first product to launch in this country; the E5 and J5 pairing came later, and clearly the manufacturer had already applied what it had learned from the resoundingly negative critical feedback to its pioneering model to this later car.
The best thing we can say about the kinematics on the Jaecoo 5 ICE is that, unless you are pushing the car to its limits or demanding
Genesis G80 Electrified-like refinement from it, the way it conducts itself is unobtrusive and sufficiently composed. There are audible levels of tyre, suspension and wind noise in the cabin when travelling at speed, but none of them are at a level you'd actively call a 'din', while the ride quality is surprisingly supple and controlled.
The handling is not quite so impressive on the Jaecoo 5, mainly because the steering - while at least showing cleaner and more dependable gearing off the straight-ahead - is still too light and utterly devoid of any meaningful feel or informative powers. The brakes are OK, though, passable and progressive enough under even more strident provocation, while there's a degree of lean and movement to the shell of the Jaecoo
in extremis, but it's largely admirably controlled before it all gets too loose and terrifying. Perhaps the limiting factor on hustling the 5 ICE is that its 18-inch Continental EcoContacts seem all too eager to relinquish their grip on the tarmac, even in favourable conditions.
But, generally, the inoffensive and reasonably assured way the Jaecoo 5 goes down roads of all different varieties makes it a far preferable companion to the awful Jaecoo 7. It's just we know that the Chinese firm's smallest model so far can be even more amenable as the zero-emission E5 than it is with this 1.6 petrol fitted, so if we were you, we've be heading for the only EV Jaecoo currently sells. You get 204hp that way, as well.
Value
As you'd expect, the trick Jaecoo is pulling here to try and tempt you into a 5 is to offer loads of equipment for not a lot of cash. At £24,555, the basic J5 ICE Pure represents great value and comes with 18-inch alloys, the 13.2-inch infotainment and 8.8-inch cluster LCD screens within, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, air-conditioning, keyless go and a 540-degree around-view camera system, among much more.
From there, you add on £3,000 to go to the E5 version of the Pure, or £3,495 to step your ICE model up to the grander spec of Luxury like our test car (so £28,050 before options, of which there are none beyond paint colours). For that, items like dual-zone climate control, a panoramic sunroof, a powered tailgate, ventilated and heated front seats with electrical adjustment, a heated steering wheel, an eight-speaker Sony premium sound system and a 50-watt, cooled wireless charging pad for smartphones are among the kitlist highlights.
Indeed, the most you can spend on this smallest crossover in the Chinese company's range is to buy a Jaecoo E5 Luxury and then drop one of the £500 optional colours on it, bringing your grand total to just £31,005. That's a pretty competitive figure, all things considered.
Verdict
In the wider world of B-segment SUVs, the Jaecoo 5 ICE is decidedly average. It's affordable and well-equipped, and reasonably refined to drive if you never whup the living bejesus out of it, but there are still quirks and foibles with the human-machine interface within the cabin, the 1.6 DCT powertrain is remarkably coarse and slow-witted at times, and the roadholding is nothing remarkable. There are better machines than the J5, for not much more money, available out there from rival manufacturers if you just want a decent compact-crossover. We also think the Chinese machine is a far more compelling car as the E5 electric, rather than this ICE variant.
That said, all Jaecoo 7 apologists out there, with their limited two-pronged defence of that terrible car, will tell you it's popular because it's cheap and because it looks a bit like a Range Rover. Well, the J5 ICE is even cheaper and looks more like an Evoque in proportion and detailing than the 7. So what are the legitimate reasons to buy the Jaecoo 7 now? Let us tell you: there are precisely none. We don't care that it's a case of comparing apples to oranges, and B-segment to C-seg - you either purchase a better competitor car to the Jaecoo 5 if you've got any sort of critical discernment and functional faculties whatsoever, or alternatively, if you're intent on supporting the Chinese car industry above all else and you really want a waterfall grille, then you buy a Jaecoo 5 ICE. It's that simple.
