Jaecoo 8 Review | On-Road, Off-Road & Even Across a River — This Can Do It All
When Frank Sinatra and Celeste Holm sang "Who wants the bother of a country estate? A country estate is something I'd hate" in the 1956 film High Society, I’m sure they’d have been prompted into a swift rethink if someone had given them the keys to go off-roading around one in a Jaecoo 8.
With John Marcar occupied on an assignment in the Isle of Man, it was up to me to undertake the long and arduous 124-mile journey from Dorset to the West Wycombe Estate in Buckingham to test out Jaecoo’s new flagship SUV — the Jaecoo 8. Okay, it’s full name is the Jaecoo 8 SHS-P, but for the purposes of this review, I’ll just go with Jaecoo 8.
The picturesque setting on arrival reminded me of something you’d see in a period drama, and if modern adaptations of classic films and books are to continue in the direction that they’re going, I have little doubt that Mr Darcy will arrive at the invite-only ball in a Jaecoo 8 in a hypothetical future version of Pride & Prejudice. Book your tickets now for 2030, guys.
Jaecoo - The Story So Far
Jaecoo is a brand that has been making a lot of noise lately, and naturally, very little of it billows from the exhaust of its hybrid-powered SUVs.
The Chinese brand began life in the UK market in January 2025 with the launch of the Jaecoo 7, and is a subsidiary of the Chery International brand, along with Omoda and Chery.
Multiple awards have followed, and it was recently revealed that the Jaecoo 7 was the UK’s biggest-selling car in March, registering 10,064 sales in March, bringing its total sales to 15,569 in 2026. Hardly surprising given its £29,105 starting price. Jaecoo has recognised the opportunity in the market for sub-£40k cars, and the masses have long started to take notice. The brand registered 33,000 new vehicle registrations across its range in its first 12 months of trading, and since September 2025, the Jaecoo 7 has been in the top ten of UK sales. The arrival of 2026 has seen the brand kick on significantly, bringing in over 49,000 sales in total. Large numbers of people are now taking advantage of what they see as an opportunity not to be missed.
Jaecoo is selling a lot of cars. I’ve definitely noticed more in my local area in the last few months, and it’s not surprising, thanks to Jaecoo’s over 120-strong network of dealership sites in the UK. There are plans to expand that to the 130 mark by the end of the year, and the two big-ish towns near me both have one.
But enough about the 7 for now, because while this review needs an understanding of Jaecoo’s wider range, the main event here is the Jaecoo 8. And I know what you’re thinking: is this just another Chinese SUV? Not exactly…and for Jaecoo, it represents the first offering of a three-row SUV. There’s more to it than that, though, and by scratching a little below the surface, many of you naysayers might be pleasantly surprised.
Options: Executive or Luxury
After a lakeside banquet lunch mimicking one that Henry VIII probably had in the exact spot nearly 500 years before (chicken rather than swan being on our menu, can I add), we were given a presentation on the Jaecoo 8, which revealed its two available grades — Luxury and Executive.
The three-row seating configuration you’ll be met with in the Jaecoo 8 is dependent on the choice you make between these, with the family-targeted Luxury option providing a 5+2 layout, while the professional-centred Executive coming in what the brand calls a 4+2 set-up.
Price
How much do these cost, I hear you ask? Well, you’ll have to fork out a little more than you would for a 7, with the Luxury grade coming in at a starting price of £45,500 OTR, and the Executive level a tad over that at £47,500.
Exterior
How does it differ in style from the Jaecoo 7?
Well, for starters, it is 320mm longer, although the standout giant grille, which is pushed to the front of the car and accentuated by the ridged bonnet, is becoming a Jaecoo signature. A sloping roofline makes it look more agile, although raised shoulder lines and a full width light bar at the rear emphasise its wide stance.
Those previously mentioned naysayers might bemoan a supposed ‘lack of imagination’ SUV, however, customers will be able to jazz it up somewhat with the choice of a range of exterior colours, including Amazonite Blue, Basalt Black, Granite White, Iced Slate Grey and Pearl Silver, with two-tone options available for the Luxury model and offered as standard on the Executive.
Interior
One of the things said during the presentation from Jaecoo staff before driving the Jaecoo 8 was about the optional Cognac interior, available as a £1,000 option on the top-tier Executive trim. As luck would have it, I would later open the door to the 8 I’d be testing and bam — there it was. Some of the accusations levelled against these new Chinese brands centre around a lack of detail, with those accusing saying they’re just churning out a vehicle we’ve seen over and over in the past. It is details like the Cognac interior that will go a long way to persuading the naysayers to take the plunge. Despite it being made of eco leather, in person, it looked and felt luxurious, and it wouldn’t look out of place in a Rolls-Royce Cullinan.
In terms of the rest of the interior, an all-new layout for Jaecoo comes with a dual head-up dual 12.3-inch display compatible with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There are even physical buttons to keep traditionalists happy, while the car’s 12-speaker Sony audio system is complemented by a speaker in the driver’s headrest to listen to sat nav instructions, or even podcasts, without interrupting the audio experience of other passengers.
The front seats all provide five different massage functions and adjustable memory. There’s also ambient lighting, although if you prefer the interior to be flooded with light, the 1.37 metre panoramic sunroof has you covered.
Driving Experience: Off-Road
First up was a bit of off-roading to see whether the 8 lived up to the brand’s ‘adventure in its DNA’ slogan. As adventures go, going off the beaten track around the West Wycombe Estate may not be trekking through the Amazon Rainforest, but it was full of enough twists, turns, ups and downs (more on that in a bit) to show its capabilities.
These off-road capabilities aren’t necessarily top of the list of priorities of your typical Jaecoo customer. Although after the presentations earlier in the day, I did ask Head of UK Product Oliver Lowe who the typical Jaecoo customer has been since the brand hit the market. In terms of the 7, he was unable to answer that question definitively, as the range of people buying the car scaled across a variety of customer profiles.
I was paired with a professional driver Josh, who showed me how the 8 was able to cope with the terrain out from the main house towards the wider boundaries of the estate. Navigating through long grass, stone paths and woodland was positively Defender-like, and the car’s AWD system took care of all of the hairy moments. The Jaecoo 8 is fully prepared for whatever it comes up against and provides seven drive modes — Eco, Normal, Sport, Snow, Mud, Sand and Off Road.
However, the hairiest moment was still to come. I took control of the car and was told to approach a ‘downhill section’. When I was told it would be downhill, I didn’t expect to be met with a hill pretty much at a 90-degree angle…or at least that’s what it felt like to someone with a pretty severe fear of heights.
“Just take your foot off the pedals and let it do its thing” was the advice. And that I did. The car slowly but steadily negotiated that hill with ease, and I was told that, on a recent testing day, one had easily reversed up that same hill without any problem. Purists may hate this era of motoring, but you can’t deny that, technologically, it is truly an amazing time that we live in.
The worst of it was over, but there was still one more obstacle to conquer — a river.
I handed the reins back over to Josh, and once a man who was doing a spot of fishing had been told about our plan to ruin his day and subsequently moved on, we slowly approached the river. While it may not have the wading depth of a Defender (900mm), a healthy 600mm capability gave the Jaecoo 8 plenty of wriggle room to navigate it with ease.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
Driving Experience: On-Road
After settling the nerves caused by my encounter at the hill with my sixth and seventh coffees of the day, it was time to take the Jaecoo 8 out of the country estate for a drive around Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.
Here is where the 8 really comes into its own. The mix of the comfortable, high sitting position, smoothness on the road and ambience is what attracted the masses to the Jaecoo 7. The 8 is simply a more spacious version. Whether it’s having room for all the family or all of your luggage (738 litres, 2,021 litres with the rear seats folded), the experience is made all the more desirable when it is a doddle to drive and efficient to boot.
For families, safety concerns are eliviated by the presence of 10 airbags and up to 19 advanced driver assistance systems, including Front Collision Warning (FCW), Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) , Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) , Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Blind Spot Detection (BSD) and Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA).
Powertrain
I suppose it would be fitting to drop in details here about the Jaecoo 8’s powertrain, which uses a plug-in hybrid powertrain — consisting of a 1.5-litre turbocharged engine combined with three electric motors for all-wheel drive. Putting out 422bhp and 580Nm of torque, I made use of the ability to sprint from 0-62mph in 5.8 seconds any time I came across a national speed limit road.
While the hour long drive around two of England’s esteemed commuter counties felt long enough, I needn’t have given it a minute’s thought, with Jaecoo saying the SUV’s 700+ miles of combined range would be sufficient to comfortably take it from London to Prague on a full tank. Even 83 miles of pure electric range should be plenty enough for the rest of us not taking on the famous London to Prague commute on a daily basis. And to top that up from 30-80% should only take you 20 minutes.
Bringing It Home
I negotiated the roads with ease, barely giving a second thought to any concerns about the car’s width or nimbleness on tight roads. Particularly helpful in this regard was the 8’s 540-degree surround view camera, which gave me a greater perspective of my surroundings, although this really comes into its own when parallel parking. Even the end of working day 5pm traffic wasn’t too much of an issue, and by the time I got back to base, I felt rather sad handing back the keys to the Jaecoo staff. I could have quite happily driven the previously mentioned long and arduous 124-mile journey home in the Jaecoo 8. I’d have even made time to stop for my eighth coffee of the day.
Concluding Thoughts & The Wider Issue
The question is now: what do the competitors to Jaecoo and these other Chinese brands do about it?
While the majority of you reading this will be petrolheads, the average consumer is unlikely to care as much about the heritage of a brand or the intricacies of engines and how they perform when making a decision to buy a car. Most people just want a reliable car that doesn’t drain their bank account, and that is the problem for the rest of the market. Punters will certainly be reassured by Jaecoo’s seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty, while the battery warranty lasts eight years and 100,000 miles.
In the presentation I sat in on, models like the Hyundai Santa Fe, Skoda Kodiaq, Kia Sorento and Volvo XC90 were referenced in comparison to the Jaecoo 8. But could it challenge the likes of the BMW X7 and Audi Q7, or even the Range Rover?
The Chinese brands have set a new benchmark as to what is possible both technologically and financially in a more than efficient manner. It is surely now time for the competition to recognise what is happening and react accordingly. Otherwise, brands like Jaecoo won’t just be here to take part; they’ll be here to take over.
words: Mike Booth
pictures: Jaecoo