Jaecoo J5 HEV

Debuting in 2025, the J5 is one of the freshest Chinese SUVs around and is particularly appealing for those who want a two-row, sub-4.4 metre SUV in their garage or driveway. As for Jaecoo itself, they’re a sub-brand of Chery, and, along with sister sub-brand Omoda (also under Hayleys Mobility), are intended for markets outside China. In Sri Lanka, the J5 is available in HEV form, at one pretty well-loaded trim level, further simplifying buyer choice. You’ve only got to pick a colour. So let’s see how it does in our Motor road test.

Exterior

The Jaecoo J5 HEV is styled a fair bit like its bigger J7 sibling, especially at the front with the ‘Waterfall Grille’, unlike the J6 that takes a totally different design direction. Five colours are available, namely Alpine Green, Glacier Blue, Canyon Black, Zircon Grey and Snowy White. Our tester wears a smart Canyon Black suit and rides on 18-inch duo-tone alloy wheels shod with 235/55 tires, offering a fairly substantial sidewall and prioritizing comfort as a result. External lighting such as the headlamps, DRLs and tail-lamps are all LED as is commonplace nowadays, and the door handles are the traditional, exposed, pull-sort rather than those soon-to-be-banned hidden types.

In terms of pure numbers, there’s 176 millimetres of ground clearance, and the vehicle comes in at 4.38 metres long. Its 1.86 metres wide, usefully narrower than the more butch-looking J6 that we recently took to Galle and back – and literally threaded the needle with, at the Galle Fort. Suffice to say, the J5 won’t be as harrowing. Another point is, the height of the J5 is a very convenient 1.65 metres, ensuring that you won’t get stuck in car parks with low headroom. Overall, the design looks pretty smart, especially at the front with the JAECOO script proudly identifying who makes this vehicle. Of course, there are some design influences from a particular British SUV maker too.

Mech & Tech

The J5 HEV is a power-split hybrid. That means it’s endowed with a 1.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder engine, an electric motor and a DHT or Dedicated Hybrid Transmission to drive the front wheels, via either or both power sources depending on demand. The brochure from Hayleys Mobility tells me that the system’s combined outputs are a rather nice 165 kilowatts (221 horsepower) of power, and 295 newton-metres of torque. The 0-100 time is claimed to be 7.9 seconds – let’s see!

I must also point out that the J5 HEV is not a plug-in hybrid but a regular hybrid. That means its 1.83-kilowatt-hour battery is charged purely from its petrol engine – so no need to worry about installing an EV charger at your house. This will be particularly useful to those who are living on rent, or don’t have easy charging access. Elsewhere, you’ve got electric power steering and four-wheel disc brakes. The front suspension is MacPherson Strut, while the rear uses an independent set-up.

Driving the Jaecoo J5 HEV

The moment you enter the J5 HEV with the key in your pocket or on your person, it automatically starts up! Then, a power-adjustable driver seat (6-way) means that getting comfortable is pretty easy, and there’s an 8.8-inch gauge cluster directly ahead. The steering wheel is manually adjustable, but allows for reach, as well as rake so once again, you can find that perfect driving position. You’ll find the gear shifter lurking around the steering column. Select D (or R) and the electric parking brake automatically releases. Now, you’re ready to go.

The gauge cluster is clear and neat and easily communicates all salient information. It’s not a full LCD affair, hence it can’t be customized, but I don’t think you’d mind. As is, it shows speed, engine revs, battery charge, coolant temperature, fuel level, odometer information and range. It’s also got indicators for the drive mode, various ADAS features and gear selected. Plus, it offers great readability under all lighting conditions, and you can adjust its brightness via the infotainment system.

Speaking of driving modes, there are two – Eco and Sport. That’s it, and you select between them via a physical button in the centre console. Regardless of mode, you can avail yourself to full power if you bury the floor-hinged throttle pedal. Even though it was a rainy day, the performance was still impressive, and I don’t doubt that 7.9-second 0-100 claim in Sport mode. The engine does make itself heard under hard acceleration in Sport, but otherwise its barely noticeable – and there’s an EV indicator to tell you when you’re cruising on electrons alone. The EV mode is mostly prevalent when cruising at low speeds, but I also saw it engage at above 50km/h a couple of times.

Thanks to all this, driving the J5 HEV is a very peaceful affair. The seat offers great ergonomics, there’s ample visibility all round, and power is under your foot when you need it. I also noted some firming up of the steering when in Sport as compared to Eco, but once again, it’s not a night-and-day difference. Plus, you can adjust the level of regenerative braking, brake intensity and steering weight via the vehicle settings menu.

The ride of the J5 HEV is firmly in the ‘Comfort’ segment of the spectrum, so don’t try to corner it like a low-slung, hard-sprung sports car. This SUV is definitely meant for family use, keeping everyone happy, and the rear-seat ride is very good too – certainly on par with some Euros, I’d say. Overall, there’s a decent sense of refinement in here, in terms of noise, vibration and harshness damping. Then, we get to the braking, which, once again is well-adjudged. You don’t have an overly harsh response like in some hybrids and EVs, but on the other hand, the pedal isn’t mushy either. I tried some hard braking applications and found that the vehicle responded well and tracked true, despite the wet surface.

Living With the Jaecoo J5 HEV

You’ve got only one choice of interior colour – black, with synthetic leather upholstery, but it’s not too dark, and the powered moon-roof can always light things up if you desire, or the multi-colour ambient lighting system can do this at night. The front seats are power adjustable – 6-way for driver, 4-way for passenger - as well as heated and ventilated. That’s pretty good for this price point. Dual-zone climate control is present with rear passenger air outlets, plus you can remotely activate the air conditioning to pre-cool the interior. During our test, we found the system offered impressive cooling for front and rear-seat occupants. Granted, the panoramic moonroof might let in some heat, so best keep the sunshade closed when it’s very sunny outside. There’s also a Pet Mode that keeps the vehicle locked with the climate control running in case you need to keep your kitty or pooch inside for some reason.

The now-obligatory Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity are standard, with wireless and wired tethering, controlled via a 13.2-inch touchscreen in the centre console. You’ve also got traditional FM radio (naturally) and Bluetooth. An 8-speaker sound system takes care of music. The system offers pretty decent sound quality ‘out of the box’, which is to say, with no equalizations applied. This is what we look for, as you shouldn’t need to fiddle with myriad settings to get the best fidelity. Of course, you’ve got to interact with the touchscreen a lot, and I’d have preferred some physical controls at least for climate control and media/volume functions. Thankfully, the headlamp and wiper controls are physical, unlike some other vehicles that relegate these to the touchscreen.

In terms of charging your power-hungry smart devices, there’s a 50-watt wireless charger up front, as well as USB-C and USB-A charging ports. Rear-seat occupants also get a USB-A port for them to use if needed. Plus, the vehicle has two 12-volt power sockets; one up front and one in the boot. And the rear seat is pretty decent for a vehicle of this size category (known as the subcompact class or B-segment in many other countries). Two average-sized adults will find it perfectly spacious, while a third may travel in the centre seat for shorter journeys. If it’s just double occupancy, the flip-down centre arm rest offers some extra comfort, as well as cup holders.

Meanwhile, up front, you’ve also got cup holders, a centre console box and illuminated vanity mirrors within the front sun visors. Seat-back pockets and door pockets are also present. The boot is rated at 480 litres with the rear seats in place, rising to 1,180 litres if you fold them down. You’ve also got an electric tailgate for easier access. Lifting up the boot floor reveals even more storage space in a suspiciously spare tyre-sized aperture, although the J5 HEV comes with a tyre repair kit instead. Since the 12-volt battery is sited here, you can’t really fit a tyre there, so consider it an additional luggage area – albeit for dry items since there’s a battery there.

Safety and ADAS Features

Despite being the smallest and cheapest ‘J’ we’ve tested so far, the J5 HEV doesn’t really give up much in terms of safety and Advanced Driving Assistance Systems. The brochure lists no less than fourteen systems, including a Driver Monitoring System, Rear Cross-Traffic Alert, Blind Spot Detection, Emergency Lake Keeping, Lane Departure Warning, Automatic Emergency Braking, Multi Collision Braking and Integrated Cruise Control. In addition, you’ve also got six airbags, ISOFIX child seat mounts, a tire pressure monitor, hill start assist and even a 540-degree high-definition panoramic camera system. There’s also automatic headlamp and windshield wiper control, the latter of which we saw in action during our test on a rainy day. Another critical feature that the J5 HEV has, is automatic door locking.

Fuel Economy and Range

The Jaecoo J5 HEV is rated at a fuel consumption of approximately 5.3 litres per 100 kilometres – that translates to an impressive 18.87 kilometres per litre. With a 51-litre fuel tank, this grants you a potential range of around 950 kilometres! Of course these are manufacturer claims. Since the J5 is literally box-fresh, not just to us but to Sri Lanka as a whole, actual real-world consumption remains to be seen but drive it with a light foot and you might be surprised. Conversely, if you continually deploy all those 221 horses and 295 newton-metres, you’ll have to contend with more visits to the pump.

Price & Warranty

Hayleys Mobility is retailing the Jaecoo J5 HEV at Rs. 17.9 million at the time of testing. It’s covered by a vehicle warranty of 7 years or 150,000 kilometres. The traction battery is covered by an 8-year / 160,000-kilometre warranty. We’re told that they’ve got a fully-equipped service centre in Colombo, and are expanding their presence island-wide.

Final Words

A sensible family SUV for those who don’t want to (or can’t) go down the EV and PHEV route, that’s what the Jaecoo J5 HEV is. Its got a pretty spacious cabin in a relatively compact footprint, enough luggage space for the average Sri Lankan family, and some neat features that you wouldn’t expect in the sub-18 million price bracket. If that floats your boat, go check it out at the Hayleys Mobility showroom.