Jaecoo E5 2026 Review

Exterior Design

The Jaecoo E5 might not win many awards for its looks, but it’s clear who its designers have been keeping an eye on.

From more than one angle, there’s an unmistakable resemblance to Land Rover, with aspects that look like a reasonably good copy of a Range Rover Velar (albeit the original) or Evoque.

The front features lots of black space, a very rectangular lower grille and some squared-off thin headlights, while the side has stick-out shoulders, a crease above the side skirt and silver roof rails.

The large vertical spokes of the petrol engine’s grille are notably missing on the E5, though, replaced by a blank panel in this electric version, with the manufacturer's name on it.

Around the back, the raised roof spoiler and general silhouette really look like someone has taken tracing paper to one of the Range Rover models, with a slight wedge shape to the rear end.

It arguably looks a bit awkward in places, but from some angles, it’s quite impressive.

Interior Comfort

The E5’s seats are welcoming and comfortable, living up to expectations, with the chair coverings’ synthetic leather surfaces looking smooth and appealing (although you get cloth in the entry-level Pure model).

As we said earlier, you’ll get electric adjustment in both front seats if you opt for the higher Luxury trim.

Forward visibility is okay thanks to relatively thin pillars and a swept-back windscreen, although the large, flat bonnet obstructs your view immediately in front of the car.

Out of the back, the pillars are considerably thicker, there’s a huge border around the outside of the rear windscreen and the rearmost side window, so over-the-shoulder visibility isn’t as good.

Nevertheless, you get front and rear parking sensors as standard, along with a ‘540-degree’ camera system – so called as it can generate an image that literally enables you to see through the car as though it were transparent.

There’s plenty of space up front, with lots of headroom and legroom on offer.

It's not bad in the back either, and only very tall adults will struggle for space.

Width-wise, there's plenty of room for a couple of adults in the front, but you'll only comfortably get two grown-ups in the rear, with three likely to be a tighter squeeze.

Those needing the latter might want to consider the larger Jaecoo 7 (although, unlike the 5, it’s available as a plug-in hybrid, rather than fully electric).

Storage and Load Carrying

Basic boot space measures 480 litres. This expands to 1,180 litres by folding the rear seats over in a 60:40 split. While the former figure is decent and will be more than enough for the weekly supermarket shop, the latter is even behind some hatchbacks such as the Volkswagen ID.3. But at least the space is quite flat, so transporting flatpack furniture from Ikea won’t be problematic.

Jaecoo says there are over 35 additional interior storage compartments to put additional belongings. There’s also an extensive range of storage accessories for pets. The Jaecoo E5 has been marketed as ideal for taking your dog into the countryside for a run, presumably hoping to appeal to the Hunter boot-wearing outdoorsy family types.

The Jaecoo E5 can also tow 750kg unbraked and 1,250kg braked – enough for a small trailer but not much more. There's a small frunk of unspecified size, too.

If you’re into the current trend of minimalistic interior designs, then the Jaecoo E5 might be the car for you.

Indeed, if the exterior has a whiff of Range Rover about it, the interior has more than a whiff of Tesla.

With few exceptions, everything is controlled from the 13.2in touchscreen, which is in a less common portrait orientation, sitting up against the dashboard like a tablet.

It connects to the centre console via a blended curve, which flattens out to accommodate a tray, a couple of cupholders and the central storage cubby beneath the armrest.

There are buttons to operate the electric windows, and a handful of buttons on the two-spoke, flat-bottomed steering wheel.

But just about everything else is controlled via the infotainment screen, which features sharp graphics, a responsive interface and an attractive layout.

It risks being overcomplicated, though – adjusting the volume can only be done via the buttons on the steering wheel or via the touchscreen.

The climate controls are accessible through a menu that requires swiping up from the bottom of the screen when using smartphone mirroring. This is tricky to achieve when trying to keep your eyes on a busy road at 60mph.

There’s a separate, attractive digital instrument display behind the steering wheel, which sits on top of the steering column, rather than being integrated into the dashboard.

It, too, features a clear layout and attractive graphics, displaying traditional dials in virtual form, with a decluttered statistical layout.

Overall, it’s a very nice design – nicer, in fact, than the Jaecoo 7, but a few more buttons would make it easier to use.

Performance and Driving

The Jaecoo E5 isn’t aiming to be a performance car, but it accelerates pretty quickly.

While 207PS isn’t a massive amount by today’s EV standards, the E5 can still manage 0-62mph in a respectable 7.7 seconds, though the sister car, the Omoda E5, can do it half a second quicker still.

A burst of torque makes it feel pleasingly brisk off the line, although it sometimes threatens a bit of wheelspin if you’re overly keen on the throttle.

Nevertheless, if you judge the grip levels well, it feels untroubled getting up to motorway speeds and doesn’t break a sweat when overtaking.

The torque burst can make it a bit jerky to drive at low speeds, though.

In terms of handling, the E5 is about what we expected.

It's keener to turn in than the Jaecoo 7, with slightly less body roll. However, there's still quite a bit of the latter, and the E5 is relatively unexciting to drive, while the additional weight compared with the petrol-powered 5 means it’s not very engaging around bends.

The steering feels exceptionally light, too, meaning feedback through the wheel is in short supply.

Comfort-wise, though, it’s not bad, wafting along on smoother roads, but rougher surfaces, bumps and potholes can make it feel unsettled, and it takes a while for the bouncing to stop.

Given it’s only front-wheel drive, we’re unsure about Jaecoo’s claims that it can go off-road.

We don’t doubt that it’ll be fine on gravel or a bit of sand, but it’ll be no match for Jeep, whose all-electric Avenger shares similar approach and departure angles.

We can’t imagine many people will be buying a Jaecoo to climb mountains, in any case.

Overall, it's not bad, but there are better alternatives out there if an engaging driving experience is high on your list.

Range and Charging

The Jaecoo E5 is fitted with a 61.1kWh battery, with a claimed range of 248 miles.

Interestingly, that's less than its cousin car, the similarly specced Omoda E5, and likely explained by inferior aerodynamics.

Admittedly, the range figure isn’t anything to write home about – it does beat a couple of rivals, but most can do better nowadays.

DC charging also isn't particularly quick, with a 27-minute window required to top up from 30 to 80% at a modest 80kW speed.

(***since the publication of this review and video Jaecoo has told us that DC charging will be at 130kW in shipping vehicles, which is much more competitive with current models from other brands***)

Twenty-seven minutes might sound comparable, but most manufacturers are giving measurements for a 10-80% top-up, so the figure sounds better than it is.

Home charging (AC) up to 11kW is supported, although most UK properties will only run at a maximum rate of 7.4kW from home wallboxes.

Running Costs

If you're able to charge it at home, then the running costs of the E5 should be impressively low. Hopefully, the extra investment over the petrol version will be recouped quickly, but how quickly depends on your annual mileage, of course.

You'll have to pay the standard rate of road tax, sadly, despite it being an electric car, so expect a bill of at least £195 a year, though the first year will only cost £10.

Reliability is an unknown, as with all Chinese brands that have arrived in the UK, so it has plenty to prove.

Jaecoo has certainly done its bit to offer peace of mind, though, with a generous seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty, and no mileage limit for the first three years.

Safety

Neither the Jaecoo E5 nor its petrol-powered 5 sibling has been put through its paces yet by crash-testing experts Euro NCAP.

However, the larger Jaecoo 7 SHS (the plug-in hybrid version) was tested earlier in 2025, earning a five-star rating, with scores of 81% for adult occupants, 80% for children and 80% for safety assists.

The similarly-sized Omoda 5 from Jaecoo’s sister brand was assessed back in 2022, also earning a five-star rating with scores of 87%, 87% and 88% respectively, although Euro NCAP has made routine changes to its testing criteria since then.

As standard, the safety gadgets include automatic emergency braking, lane change assist, driver monitoring system, lane departure prevention, front collision warning, hill descent control, rear cross traffic alert, and adaptive cruise control.