Pricing, specs & rivals
Prices for the Jaecoo 8 kick off at £45,500 for the seven-seat Luxury variant and £47,500 for the six-seat Executive model. That’s slightly more expensive than the Omoda 9 and Chery Tiggo 9.
While that might sound like a lot by the brand’s budget standards, bear in mind the sheer amount of car on offer. This is three-row plug-in hybrid with well over 400hp, a very long range, loads of luxury features and clever tech.
By comparison you’ll pay considerably more for a similarly equipped Land Rover Discovery Sport, Hyundai Santa Fe or Kia Sorento. Cars like the Peugeot 5008 PHEV and Skoda Kodiaq iV are available for less but with nowhere near as much kit, while the Skoda and the related Volkswagen Tayron only get five seats as a plug-in hybrid.
As with the Omoda 9, the Jaecoo 8 has an astounding list of standard equipment. Luxury trim gets kit such as heated, ventilated, massaging and electrically adjustable front seats, heated and ventilated rear seats, an electrically adjustable and heated steering wheel, 20in alloys, a panoramic sunroof, adaptive dampers, multi-zone ambient lighting, a surround-view camera system and wireless phone charging.
As well as six seats with ‘captains chairs’ in the middle row, Executive trim adds Nappa leather and suede headlining along with massaging rear seats. Both versions also get a Sony 14-speaker sound system, double layer acoustic glass and active noise cancellation, too.
Rivals
Chief among the Jaecoo 8’s rivals are its Chery Group siblings: the Chery Tiggo 9 and Omoda 9. The Chery is more family-focused and the Omoda 9 is a sportier, more coupe-like five-seater, so the Jaecoo occupies the middle ground.
Other alternatives include the Volkswagen Tayron and Skoda Kodiaq, Mazda CX-80, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Mercedes-Benz GLB, Nissan X-Trail and Peugeot 5008, while you might consider the BMW X3, Volvo XC60 and Audi Q5 if seven seats aren’t a dealbreaker.
Interior comfort, quality & technology
The interior of the Jaecoo 8 looks like a big upgrade over the brand’s smaller models. Indeed, the only thing shared with the Jaecoo 7 is the steering wheel, with a completely different dashboard look and more imposing, cocooning centre console.
It’s an attractive, convincingly upmarket cabin – particularly with the posh ‘Cognac’ Nappa leather in these images. Alright, so there’s more than a few details (like the air vents, speaker grilles and gear selector) that look to have been lifted straight out of a Mercedes-Benz, but at this price point we’d say that’s a positive.
Overall fit and finish seems a step above other Jaecoo products, too. Every surface is either covered in soft-touch leatherette or suede, with wood-effect finishes and convincing enough metallic bits. We reckon it gives a VW Tayron a real run for its money in that department.
But the Jaecoo 8 isn’t perfect inside. I’m 6ft 3 with long legs and found that the steering wheel wouldn’t adjust close enough for a truly comfortable driving position, while my knee kept banging against the wide centre console. This won’t be an issue for anyone who isn’t tall, but it’s not usually an issue in such a big car.
Similarly, visibility could be better. The forward view is fine, but the rear window is absolutely tiny, meaning you’re very reliant on the cameras and sensors to give you a clear view rearward.
Infotainment, sat-nav, stereo and connectivity
Just like most Chery Group models, the Jaecoo 8 features a pair of 12.3in displays mounted in a single bezel on top of the dash. One is a touchscreen, the other the digital dial display.
Like we experienced in the Omoda 9, the Jaecoo 8’s touchscreen has slick graphics and a plethora of functions and features – some useful, some gimmicky. It’s a decently responsive screen, too, but thanks to its extensive menus hiding key functions and small fonts it’s easier to operate while stationary than on the move.
A lack of any physical shortcut buttons (bar a couple for demisting the windows) again robs you of an opportunity to quickly access key functions. Happily, the voice control is fairly good. I used it to ask for lane keeping aids and the speed warning bong to be turned off, and it obliged – something many voice assistants are unable to do.
Of course you get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, along with a 50-watt wireless phone charging pad with an air vent to cool your phone. A head-up display is standard too, which is useful because the information-packed digital dials may be a bit confusing for some.
The clarity and configurability of Jaecoo’s surround-view camera system, which makes the car graphic transparent for a better view, is excellent. We also rate the standard 14-speaker Sony sound system, which has headrest speakers for the driver to feed navigation directions or phone calls only through their ears while passengers listen to music. The audio quality is pretty good, too.
How practical is the Jaecoo 8?
The Jaecoo 8’s dimensions of 4,820mm in length, 1,930mm in width (excluding mirrors) and 1,710mm in height make it longer, wider and taller than a Skoda Kodiaq and close to the Hyundai Santa Fe.
There’s certainly no shortage of space up front. You get a light an airy feel, extensive headroom and a wide cabin meaning plenty of room on the centre armrest for elbows. Only the large centre console impeding on knee space is a minor drawback.
In the rear things are also very good, with plenty of space even for six-footers to get comfortable with head and legroom to spare. Fitting three adults side-by-side isn’t too bad either, while the outer two seats recline and slide forward and back to juggle room with the third row of seats.
Speaking of that third row, things take a turn there. The main issue is that you can only fold the seat behind the driver forward to get in (the other seat doesn’t fold forward). That’s fine in left-hand drive markets, but it means those in the third row will need to get out into passing traffic if you’re parallel parked.
Opting for the six-seat ‘Executive’ model is even worse because you can’t fold down either seat to get in the back. Jaecoo expects you to try to squeeze back there via the space between the two middle seats, which small children may be able to do but adults will find very difficult.
Even once you have clambered back there, the space on offer is nothing to write home about. Headroom is tolerable if you’re well below six-foot, but legroom is tight and you’re squatting on the seat because of the high floor.
It’s clear the Jaecoo 8’s rearmost seats suffer due to the plug-in hybrid’s battery underneath the floor. But kids will be okay, and at least you have the option unlike the Omoda 9. The VW Tayron and Skoda Kodiaq also lose the third row of seats in PHEV form, but the Santa Fe or Sorento are roomier than the Jaecoo for six or seven.
Storage and boot space
There’s plenty of oddment storage in the front of the Jaecoo 8’s cabin, including a big glovebox, chunky door bins, two lidded cupholders, two phone storage trays and a deep centre armrest cubby. There’s also a further space underneath the centre console itself, between the seat bases.
In the rear you’ll find a pair of smaller (but still usable) door bins, some map pockets in the front seatbacks and a neat pair of flip-out cupholders in the centre armrest. Even the third row of seats has cupholders on each side. What’s more, the middle row also has fold-out sunblinds for the side windows.
As for the boot? Well that’s huge, as you might expect. Jaecoo doesn’t quote a boot space figure with all three rows of seats in place, but there’s enough for a few carry-on suitcases or some shopping bags.
Fold the third row down and you get 738 litres of capacity, which is more than a Tayron eHybrid and only a fraction less than a Kodiaq iV. That expands to 2,021 litres with the middle row of seats folded.
The only gripes are that the middle seats only fold in a 60/40 split, whereas many rivals give you the flexibility of 40/20/40 split folding. You also don’t have enough underfloor storage for charging cables.
