Is this Chinese 'Range Rover' better than the real thing?

0:00 This is the new JQ7 and it's a midsize SUV from China. Yeah, believe it or not, it's actually the most configured car on the Car Wow website. There's quite a buzz about it. Why? Car prices have been going crazy recently. Here are some of the most configured cars on CarWow. Look at how much these cars prices have gone up in the last 5 years. Thankfully though, you can still save money on these cars through CarWow. And this is how much is available right now. The JU is supposedly a bit of a bargain compared to some of these cars. So, how does it compare? Actually looks quite nice, doesn't it? I sort of like the design of the logo as well. There are hints of lots of other cars in this. I can see bits of Range Rover and stuff like that. Actually, there is something very Range Rovery. I've just noticed. Look, they've got the windcreen wiper for the rear

0:46 window hidden up here. What's the alloy wheel size here? These are 19s. We've got poppy out door handles like on a Range Rover. Front. It's got a bold grill. It looks good though. I think it's a smart looking car. And I like this paint. This metallicy pearly light blue. How do you get in it? You think it would have keyless go? Oh, it has. We'll go inside in a bit. But it is looking very nice. I like the look of it for a midsize SUV. It looks like Oh, the lights are pretty smart as well. Like this graphic. I reckon if this was like a European car, we're talking about 40 grand. It's fully loaded. Now, this is the plug-in hybrid version here. You can get a pet shop. Wait a minute. Look, when I walk towards it or walk away, it can sense it and it puts the door handles out. That could be a problem though. James, just quickly run in. Imagine like you're getting close to your car and it's already opened. Some

1:31 thieves going to nick it. Is it? What? It's not unlocked. It's locked. Wait a second. Wait. Get by the door handle. Keep pulling at it. See at what point you can get in as I move forward with the key. So now I could tackle you. Get out. That's clever. I bet it's packed full of tech. We're going to find out about that in a minute. But yeah, I reckon then probably starting around 30, fully loaded about 35 or something like that. Yeah, spot. Starts from 30. This one's 35. But I bet already, even though it's new, there's a saving on Car Wow. What's the saving? Couple of grand maybe 2 grand. 2 and a half grand. So the entry- level car, you can get it for under 30 grand through Carw. Now, if you're thinking about changing your car, head to Carw. See what offers are

2:17 available. You can also sell your current car through CarWow as well. You just upload photos, give a brief description, and dealers all across the country will bid on it. You can do that now by clicking on the pop out banner appearing somewhere on screen. And there is also a QR code you can scan. There's a link in the description, too. Turns out specing a JQ7 is quite simple. There are two engines, petrol or plug-in hybrid, two trims, and no other options apart from the paint. But does that mean it comes with enough kit as standard? So, for some reason, the air con is pumping away like mad. How do I turn it off? Okay. No physical buttons. It's through the screen. Well, I can just do fan speed. Ah, there it brings up this menu. Okay. So, I have to control all the climate stuff through here. That's not great. But the screen itself is big and it looks quite nice. Seems responsive as well. Oh, look. We've got like

3:02 shortcuts. Swipy swipe. Ah, this is great. Look, I've just noticed this. That's your speed limit warning. So, press the brake pedal to turn the car on. There we go. So, there's no actual starter button. How do you start the car, then? It's a hybrid. You do it with the putting in gear. Will it drive? It's not letting me drive. But I have to do this. Yeah, that's it. I won't drive any further than that car. Run the cameraman over. Where was I? Yeah, the screen. So, it's responsive. It's quite a few menus. Is it logical, though? Let's see if I can figure it out. So, car settings. Look at your energy stuff, all your charging management, vehicle settings, opening height for tailgate, wiper sensitivity. Looks like you can do quite a lot. Wireless charging. You can turn it off and on. Phone reminder. My

3:49 goodness. Got a heads-up display as standard. Yeah. And you can adjust that. Driver assistance systems, adaptive cruise control, all that kind of stuff. Speed limit assist. It's packed full of kit. This is You got ambient lighting with all these different colors. Fully electric seats, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi sound, voice recognition. Wow, this thing is fully loaded. And I don't find this infotainment system too difficult. Anyway, let's look at what else we've got. So, we got digital driver's display. We've got our economy figures on there. We've got our battery remaining. We've got our fuel. We've got speed and stuff like that. It's quite clear. Steering wheel feels nice. Got controls on here. This is for your stereo. Actually, is there Where's the stereo volume button? I don't think there's one on here. Just on here. So, the passenger can't operate the volume, which in some ways is a good thing

4:34 because sometimes you get in an argument, don't you? When you're like arguing over the volume level, the driver has control, which is the way it should be. Quality seems pretty good. Soft touch materials here. Here. It's only when you go low down that things get scratchy. That's a bit scratchy there. Do you know what? Many cars in this class have like scratchy materials lower down and that feels solid. Also, the driving position is pretty good. The seats look nice. The leather feels fine. Or is it leatherrett? But it's a bit weird. Like the middle bit seems a little bit uncomfortable. Like this ridge there. It's kind of like digging into my bottom. Overall though, quite like it. And do you know what? That feels expensive. The damping on that is way better than some premium cars. Okay, what else do we look at? The headlining feels nice. Got a huge vanity

5:19 mirror. We've got a full length sunroof. Let's have a look at this. Wow. And that's included in the price. It's only gone halfway. Oh, that's handy. So, you can keep it shaded in the back. It even opens. Wow. I'm getting quite impressed by this. And what's even more impressive is the sunroof is standard on the topsp spec luxury model, as is the heated steering wheel, ventilated front seats, and heads-up display. These are the kind of things you pay extra for on most high-spec premium cars. For comparison, if you want a similar sunroof on a rangetop topping BMW X3, it's an option. It'll set you back £1,300. There are certain elements in here that are reminding me of some other cars. So, you see the JU badge, the way it's on there. It's sort of like the way Range Rover do it. This center console here, which opens so you can like look, you can have the one bit down. It's like on a Mercedes. And the opening button looks

6:05 similar, but actually feels better quality on this than in the Mercedes. This screen, the way it's designed, is very much like in the Ford Mustang Mache. And then the design of this air vent reminds me of the Porsche Cayenne. I wonder if the doors have like the solid shut sound that you get from premium SUVs. So, let's have a listen. It does, but then there's a rattle there. What's that? It's a jelly bean. Let me just check something else out. Often the back door sound really cheap though. Let's just check. Ah, what? Open. Wait a minute. I've got the key in my pocket. And it's just shut the sunroof as well. That's kind of good, but bad at the same time because it hurt my finger. Maybe this isn't so good after all. Right. Anyway, back doors can sometimes sound cheap. Let's have a

6:51 listen. That's not bad either. Wait a minute. That's not great. The paint doesn't match on this plastic trim to the metal trim. What's it like at the back? Let's have a look. Yeah, it's the same. It's the same. It's gone. Shot on me again. And it doesn't know what it's doing now. It's lost its mind. To be fair, that paint doesn't seem to have any orange peel effect compared to this new Volvo XC90, which actually costs £78,000 and has much more dimpling in its paint. The JKU really isn't bad at all. However, unlike the Volvo, you can't get the Ju with seven seats, but there will be a Ju 8 with a third row. Anyhow, let's see how comfortable this car feels in the back seats. So, this seat's in my usual driving position. Lots of knee room. Head room's good as well. Decent amount of foot space. You can squeeze your feet underneath the chair in front. Let's check this.

7:39 That's quite noisy, but goes pretty much all the way down. Why can't other car manufacturers do that? Even back here, you got soft touch materials. You got some Oh, this seems a bit flimsy. That's not to go. Look at that. Obviously, there spaces for your mobile phones in there and then some more pockets. I'll actually come on to practicality a little later on. But for now, though, let's see what it's like for three in the back at once. So, Lewis, you come and join me. And James, do you want to jump in? I mean, it's not brilliant, is it? It's a bit of a kind of battle. I've got a completely flat floor, so at least I got space for my feet down here. It's kind of okayish, isn't it? Yeah, it's okay. Yeah, shoulder room's a bit crap, but yeah, I've noticed something actually. Um, James, just go in the front passenger seat. Right, shut the door.

8:25 Oh, no. So, you got the ability to control the front passenger seat here. There we go. Why is this so much fun? I decided to release James into the wild so I could see how easily it is to fit in a baby seat. So I like this nice fix anchor point covers just stay in place when you lift them up. See what the space is like. Well, the opening's wide enough. Let's just slot those in there. Give it a whack. We are in. We are good. That was easy. And let's just spin it around. Plenty of space. Just want to check to see if there is I isix on the front passenger seat. Oh, that's a shame there's not. Wait a minute. I've also noticed this. This back door is it's very long. That could be a problem. So, we parked an XC90 next to the car. This is the normal gap you have in a UK parking space. Even though the XC90 is

9:11 loads longer and it has a third row of seats, you have a really big back door. This seems to have the same size back door. And as a result, to get into the back in this kind of space is like this. Look. Oh, ow, my knee. At least we got a grab handle. Afterwards, I just wanted to double check that the Ju's door was the same size as the Volvo. But I struggled to come up with an accurate way to measure it. But then cameraman Lewis had an idea. Matt, do you want to use the measuring app on my phone? That probably be better. I wasn't working at all. Press there. Okay. So that's 1.3. Do you think this is going to be longer or shorter? I think it's going to be longer. Short. Okay. Right. We go. I think it's going to be shorter. And those that chose shorter one 1.1 m. 1.3. This is longer. It's a shorter car. It's got a

9:57 massive back door. We're not done with the dimensions just yet because we need to check out this car's practicality. It's supposed to do that flashing. It's not doing it now. I can't be asked. Big capacity. Doesn't look that large. It's not tiny, but it's not big. There must be some storage under here. Yeah. Look. Got the cables there and some other areas. This looks about like 450 L, I'd say. Is that about right, James? 500. 500. Okay. So, actually 500 L. It's not tiny, but it seems quite shallow. Let's see what it's like when it comes to trying to fit some pellet cases in. Now, I'm thankful that there's no load lip, so it's easier to just slide things in. Can I fit Ah, it's a shame. Look. And this is the problem with it being a little bit shallow. Look, I can't fit that underneath the

10:44 load cover. Let me just see what features we've got in here. I have a hook, which is handy for if you got shopping bags, you don't want them rolling around. I've got a 12vt socket. That is good. Another one of these little hookies here. We got some tethering points. Let me just have a look at the load cover. I don't think this is going to fit. Oh, that's annoying. How do you get this out? Go on there. I don't think this is going to fit underneath there. Uh, but it's not too big and bulky. So, you can I suppose store it in the car in front of the back seat. Let me just put it back in cuz I've noticed something. There's these little like bits here. And what what do they do? That's weird. Look, you got these little clips here. Does it give you another option for this? like going like up like that. Does that work? Are they for something else? Let's find

11:29 out. Don't think that I don't think that's right. No, it's not right. Oh, look. We got automatic tailgate opening. Brilliant. Turns out that those clips transform the partial shelf into a projector screen. It's actually quite a cool idea. Even though you do have to buy a projector that can just work outside. Actually, it seems like a gimmick. I just want to check something. This is at its full height. Jack, you're quite tall. Will you whack your head on there? Uh, yeah. I'm straight to hospital. Really? Yeah. That's bad. It only goes like it said in the thing like 180 cm. So yeah, that's not great. Could do with an extra few centimeters. Bit like me. Let me just take this out. So fold the seat backs down though. I've noticed something annoying. These seat belts will snag when I fold down cuz there's no separate guides for them. But look, that's handy. Get a pretty flat floor. So you can just slide things to the front like that. So that is okay.

12:15 I'm bloody determined to make this work. Please work. Come on. Probably going to be here all day. We couldn't get the handsfree boot release to work. So, we had to check the manual. In here, I found a diagram that showed some different zones you need to be stood in for it to work. So, I gave it another go. What? That took too long though. That's the problem. You can just do it on the key, of

13:01 course. Probably got that sorted. There is a problem with this system, though. If you park next to a wall or someone pulls in behind you, you might not be able to walk far enough away from the car to open the boot. Let's see if I can find all the cars cover spaces quicker. The storage under here is pretty deep. Will it fit a bottle in? Hell yeah, it will. And look, it's cooled by the air conditioning. Cup holders there. Big enough to fit that. Hopefully tight enough. Not quite tight enough for that. You got wireless charging here for your mobile phone. And it's got a little air vent there to cool my phone so it doesn't overheat. Oh, look. There's actually some storage under here. And there's your old fashioned 12vt. And they got an old USB there. Why? And a newer USBC. That's annoying. Look at that.

13:48 Come on. Come down. No. O, come on. Let me in. O, come on. That's it. Let me just take this stuff out. Can we fit a big bottle in there? Yeah, that's a good glove box. Come on. And then the door bins. Massive. Let's just check out the back seats now. Big door bins. The space in there. Probably put a bottle in there actually. And there's little pockets. Not going to be too pleasant for the driver. Are these going to be tight enough? No, they're okay, but that's probably going to get knocked over. Last thing to note, look, we got more USBs. Once again, USB, old school, and USBC. The JQ7 is available with a 1.6 L 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine with 147 horsepower. It has a seven-speed automatic gearbox and is available with front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. Then there's the 1.5 L

14:33 4-cylinder plug-in hybrid. It has 204 horsepower, a CVT automatic gearbox, and is front-wheel drive. It can do 56 mi in EV mode, apparently. If you want to know what I think is the best trim level and engine choice on the new JQ7, I've actually configured one through CarWow. To find out what the car is and the saving through car, just click on the pop out banner there. Scan the QR code on screen now or just follow the link in the description below. Now, I want to show you something, right? Cuz this car has gas strips on the bonnet which has a premium feel. In fact, the whole car has a sort of premium feel to it. So, I just don't know how they can do it so cheap. There must be some places where they cut some cost. But really the only bits that I found some of the wiring here. I don't think it'd be finished like that on a European car. I've noticed that the tires are Kumo, so they're not like a top level brand. They're a mid-level brand. And then in the wheel arch, the

15:19 wheel line doesn't fully cover the metal work. I want to check out the brakes, but I can't seem to uncover them. I don't know how you get to the blood brakes. Do you have to unscrew this bit? They seem to have red calipers. They're painted red. Why paint them red when you can't even see them? Speaking of brakes, a decent stopping distance from 60 mph will be somewhere around 35 m. But what will this Ju manage in a brake test? Let's see. 35 m. That's totally acceptable for this kind of car. Don't worry, I'm going to do a launch in a bit. But first, let's see what this JKU is like to drive. Now, on first impressions, the JU is is all right to drive. Well, if you start driving it in town, you think, "Oh, I'm sat up high. That's all good. Visibility forward's good. big door mirrors, then you look out the back window, you go, "Why is the

16:05 back window so small?" However, as you're steering, you're thinking, "Oh, that's actually all right." And I know that plug-in hybrids can have grabby brakes, but these actually feel okay. Normally, they're grabby because the first part you're braking is regen before you get into the friction brakings, the normal like pads and discs. But this seems to blend it quite well. Now, let's find out how maneuverable it is. So, I'm going to do a U-turn here. Oh, this could go horribly wrong. It should pop up the 360 camera. Come on, pop it up. Why isn't it popping it up? Is it cuz I'm in Android Auto? Maybe if I go to exit. Where's the cameras? Let's go to reverse. There we go. Now I can see. So, that's pretty maneuverable. And I have to say, the steering is super light. So far, it's seeming all right. Now, I've got the fan blow going a bit much. I'm going to put the AC down a bit and the fan down. There we go. Let's get Android Auto back up. There we are. That little bong

16:52 brings me into a problem with this car. The safety systems, especially the attention monitor. So if you like take your eyes off the road for a split second, I know just like looking down at the satnav or maybe looking over there or checking a junction or whatever, even looking at the speedo, sometimes you get a warning. Then there's the lanekeeping assist which is really violent. Sometimes you're driving along and you're perfectly happy in your lane, but you get just that little bit too close to the white line and it's as if a ghost or something go, "No, turn left or turn right. What are you doing?" And it just gets right on your nerves. And look at that attention assist. Look at it. It's just bonging away. Shut up. I've never met a car I've met like anyway. I've never been in a car that is so sensitive with the safety systems. Thankfully, I can turn them off while I'm driving. So, swipe down on here. Shortcut. Turn that off. That's the speed limit warning. I'm not actually speeding. Turn the lane

17:39 departure thingy off. Go on. No. Hit the button. So, when you're looking down and it says pay attention, it doesn't let you activate these buttons. So, I've got to pay attention while pressing the buttons to turn it off. And then I've got to do the other one. It's another swipe again. Come on. This one. And that's the actual system which is telling me off for looking at the screen. Right, that's off. Now I can drive in peace. While we're at it though, let's see what the pickup is like of this car when I floor it from 40 mph. 3 2 1 go. Actually, the pickup from the electric motor is pretty good. You do get quite a bit of tire noise at speed. You can probably tell that. So, it's not as refined, I don't think, as something like a Nissan Qashqai. And you can see my full video review of that car by clicking up there or scanning the QR code on screen. Also, when you hit a bump, you're going quicker. You get a bit of a thunk through the suspension. Now, one thing I will say about this, Jake, it seems quite economical, but

18:25 that's the benefits of a plug-in hybrid. I don't know why it's saying 60 MPG there. That number never changes, but this number changes, which I think is the average economy over the last 50 km, and it's 50.4 MPG, which is not bad. Don't know how much I can trust that number, but guess I'm going to have to. I do with other cars. It's out on the country road where you really start to notice the limitations of this JU and how it starts to feel a bit on the cheap side. The first thing is that light steering fine in town, but here when you want to be able to feel the road, oh my gosh, it's like, you know, when you you shake someone's hand and they got a really limp handshake, it's almost like you're shaking a dead fish. That's what this car's steering feels like. Now, most people don't care about steering feeling cars, any motoring journalist, but here, it's so noticeably bad that it just means you just don't have quite as much confidence in the car when you

19:10 suddenly need to make a turn. Also, the body does lean quite a bit in the bends. Another thing I'm noticing is the suspension. I wouldn't say it's fun. It's just very very jiggly. Like it can't make up its mind. It's like, "Oh, I don't know what to do." Like gets into a panic and a flap. It means that the car just doesn't feel very settled. So, I've been wondering where the heck Jake who has saved money cuz it's packed full of tech. It looks good. I think it's in the development of the driving experience. That's where. Now, for me as a motoring journalist, that would put me off this car. I don't particularly like the way it drives, but it's not absolutely awful. And I think if you like the look of it and you like the price of it, most people just want a car that's from A to B and they're being pragmatic, you can live with it. You'll just probably drive some other midsize SUV and you'll be like, "Oh, all right. That feels nicer." But what about the

19:56 acceleration for nipping out of junctions? This plug-in hybrid model is supposed to do naugh to 60 mph in 8.5 seconds. Okay, let's see what it can do. Going to go into sport mode. Sport mode. 3 2 1 Oh, bit of wheel spin cuz it's frontwheel drive. Oh, struggling for grip. What are we going to do? 8.13 seconds. It was all right. So then, what's my final verdict on the new JQ7? Should you avoid it? Consider it, shortlist it, or just go right ahead and buy it? Well, I reckon you should consider the JQ7. The driving dynamics are a little bit subpar, but it's great value for money, and it looks good, too. Really, this is the kind of car that is great for people that aren't that into cars. If you are into cars, though, you might prefer to go for a used Range Rover Evoke. I found this one on car and

20:42 it's about the same money as this car new. However, the Range Rover will only have a bit of its warranty left.