Jaecoo J8 SHS-P Summit AWD 2027 review

With so many fresh-faced models out to prove what China can do, the Jaecoo J8 SHS-P Summit AWD specifically sets out to show what the nation – and Chery’s pseudo-luxury subbrand – is fully capable of.

This plug-in hybrid seven-seat SUV is pinned with a dizzying array of stats and fluffed up with a want-for-very-little list of standard features, and pegs itself as a viable alternative to everything from Toyota Prado and Hyundai Santa Fe to genuinely premium big guns from Lexus and various German marques.

It promises lust (315kW/580Nm), pace (5.8sec 0-100km/h), comfort (adaptive suspension), frugality (1.2L/100km), EV range (over 100km), touring range (over 1000km) and amalgamates its proposed virtues in a $59,990 list price, or about $64,460 on road.

The newly launched plug-in J8 SHS-P, which shares its stable with older and cheaper FWD and AWD petrol J8 variants, clearly plays the value card even at the (ahem) summit of its maker’s local line-up. It also acts as a flagship for levels of quality and goodness that Jaecoo is capable of.

Its formula certainly isn’t unique, one mirrored by Chery family siblings in the powertrainshared Omoda 9 SHS-P (from $61,990) and Chery Tiggo 9 AWD Super Hybrid (from $59,990). A lower-range/output front-drive plug-in Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid (from $45,990 D/A), as well as rival carmaker offerings such as the BYD Sealion 8 (from $56,990), all inhabit this fastgrowing PHEV ‘mini segment’.

Still, numbers on the ground doesn’t make this tricky luxo-laden price-busting duality the Chery Group is pitching any less difficult to convincingly pull off.

Put simply – where does the Jaecoo J8 with its so-called Plug-In Super Hybrid System stick the landing with aplomb? And where exactly does it miss the mat?

What are the J8 SHS-P Summit AWD’s features and options for the price?

At $59,990 list, the brand-spanking SHS-P Summit AWD overshoots the front-drive petrol J8 Track ($46,990) and all-paw J8 Ridge ($51,990) that have lined Omoda-Jaecoo showrooms since 2025.

Where the ICE-powered versions are five-seaters, the PHEV newcomer is seven-seat only. The six-seat ‘captain chair’ format, ala Santa Fe, that is offered in other markets is not currently on the local menu.

Seating apart, unique for the flagship PHEV is its powertrain combining a 105kW/215Nm 1.5- litre turbo four-cylinder combustion engine with three electric motors: two up front (75kW/170Nm and 90kW/220Nm) and one rear (175kW/310Nm) – totalling, for complicated reasons, 315kW and 580Nm combined.

Powertrain stats are nearly identical to the Chery Tiggo 9 Super Hybrid and Omoda 9 SHS-P, though the latter is currently only offered as a five-seater.

It fits a 34kWh gross NCM battery, located under the floor between the axles, with modest 70kW DC and 6.6kW AC charging. EV range is 145km (WLTP).

Standard features for the plug-in J8 SHS-P include:

• 20-inch wheels with Michelin rubber
• Continuous Damping Control adaptive suspension
• Full LED exterior lighting
• Electric door handles
• Auto entry and start
• Panoramic glass roof
• Power tailgate
• Quilted leather trim
• 8-way driver, 6-way passenger electric seats w/massaging
• Heated and ventilated front and rear outboard seating
• Dual-zone climate control w/ fragrance system
• Suede headlining 
• Dual 12.3-inch displays
• Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• Head-up display
• 360-degree camera system
• 12-speaker Sony audio
• 50w wireless phone charging
• 4 x USB outlets
• Customisable mood lighting
• Tyre repair kit w/pressure monitoring system

Options are few, though outside of the standard as-tested Ocean Blue paint, premium hues including Iridium Silver, Arctic White and Carbon Black cost an additional $700.

How does the J8 SHS-P Summit AWD drive?

The J8 automatically starts up once you unlock it and climb in, and it only shuts down, including the powertrain and media streaming, once you’ve exited and locked it, when it applies the electric handbrake for you. A nice convenience for some, and no small point.

Why? The powertrain is whisper quiet – you barely notice the turbo four chime in and out unless you listen for it. The J8’s transmission also has a tendency to ‘find neutral’ shuffling between D and R in three-point turns.

Result? It’s not implausible to climb out of the J8 at the end of the trip…leaving it running and in neutral. Potentially, this is not good, though this scenario didn’t play out during our weeklong test.

Hypotheticals apart, the plug-in J8 is largely impressive on road – an experience inexorably paired with a sense of portly heft, cushiness and quietude. And sheer gobs of pace.

Mathematically, the plug-in Super Hybrid System theoretically has 445kW and 915Nm of potential, though its three motors and single engine only collectively – and selectively – peak at 315kW and 580Nm, as is often the case with hybrids.

And it deploys its four power units, by whatever black engineering art, to all four wheels very effectively. In default Comfort drive mode, it brings instantaneous – if pliant and predictable – thrust, masking the J8’s 2.3-plus-tonne kerb mass impressively well. It does so seamlessly and quietly, too.

Normal mode ups response and its 5.8sec 0-100km/h performance potential seems right on the money. But the key takeaway isn’t just sheer energy. The Jaecoo’s polished refinement makes Toyota or Hyundai hybrids – at anything near the J8’s $60K ask – feel underbaked and antiquated by comparison.

As you’d expect, all-wheel drive matched with quality 245mm-wide Michelin rubber equals demonstrably solid traction, at least in dry running. In wet and cold conditions, some off-themark slippage occurred, perhaps a symptom of a reactive traction calibration of the driveline.

A full consumption breakdown is below, but it’s worth noting here that, yes, it’ll return comfortably over 100km of EV range (in EV drive mode) and well over 1000km of combined range (in HEV hybrid mode) without any sort of sympathetic driving style or doctored road speeds.

Further, its ADAS systems are calibrated (mostly) well enough to avert any settings meddling before each trip (taking notes, Hyundai/Genesis and Kia?), though this large hybrid SUV is not without annoyances and gremlins…

Three-level regenerative braking adjustment is tucked in media submenus. Meanwhile, driver monitoring is a touch overbearing. Attempting to adjust the former – or any other vehicle setting, really – returns a reprimand from the latter. While not exclusive to Jaecoo vehicles, it’s still an inexcusable annoyance.

Another is the forward camera view activating at low speed. Approach an intersection, the camera activates and sat-nav disappears – right when you need to know where you’re heading in the mapping. Because, on the move, gazing towards the map returns a reprimand from the driver monitor system, of course…

The adaptively damped ride is wonderfully compliant: Comfort mode, particularly, smothers all manner of bumps supremely well. But it’s utterly undisciplined, with too-soft rebound damping leaving the SUV pitching and diving like a Manly ferry in a stiff chop.

The lack of body control is equally as evident in corners, or when entering and exiting driveways, where the body wobbles on its suspension two or three head-tossing times before the vehicle settles. Normal mode tightens the reins noticeably but affects small-bump ride compliance.

Other considerations are that its seemingly large, hefty nature – despite being only 4820mm long in reality – makes the J8 tricky to judge in lanes and in tight parking spaces.

Not helping matters are the thick A-pillars or the woefully obscured view (by the rear headrests) through the letterbox rear tailgate glass.Thankfully, the excellent 360-degree camera system with Euro-style coloured proximity indicators work a treat.

What is the J8 SHS-P Summit AWD’s interior and tech like?

In further demonstration of what Chery’s Jaecoo pseudo-luxury arm is capable of – and very much aligned with the driving form – the J8 interior experience is largely positive, if blighted by a smattering of clumsy missteps.

The pleasing aroma of the standard-fit fragrance system is complemented by a fair whiff of old-gen Mercedes-Benz in the ‘design inspiration’, though not to a copycat degree: squircle ‘turbine’ air vents, curved faux-wood plastic dash ornamentation, and Benz-like seat adjusters, to name just three…

The seats, too, flaunt a Euro aesthetic in shape, perforation and stitching. The one difference here is that the Chinese challenger boasts genuine quilted leather trim (rather than the fakery favoured by many European choices), with suede (or suede-like) headlining adding further senses of occasion.

It’s a rich and fancy fit-out, straddling new- and old-school ambience mostly balanced in the right places, and it certainly ‘looks’ generously luxurious for its $60K ask. But the J8 struggles to back up the conviction in some areas.

Take the seats. Top marks for presentation, but the fronts’ narrow bases and lumpy seatbacks lack fundamental comfort, despite eight- and six-way electric front occupant adjustment. On that, the driver’s seat lacks lowering breadth, and the odd steering-wheel rake makes it feel ergonomically awkward.

It’s a real shame, because these are seemingly easy fixes for very basic shortcomings: like the cabin skipped some final semester classes in finishing school. The same can be said for the stalks – which don’t align horizontally – or the console drive-mode and window-demister buttons that are infuriatingly unresponsive.

Details missed, then, but the broadsheet stuff is pretty beaut. Build quality is (mostly) top notch for its price point, and the solidity is backed up by the quietude that matches the whispery powertrain. It’s a soothing place to spend time on long drives.

Less detailed and much more conspicuous is the misalignment ‘gaps’ between the dash fascia and the door-card trims: if you go to the trouble of designing ornate, curved interior panelwork highlighted with a bold, bronze horizontal keyline, everything ought to line up fairly neatly…

The dual 12.3-inch screens are, look and content wise, largely indistinguishable from any modern car at any price point these days. The media system is painfully lethargic to pair phones with, yet boasts an exceptionally sharp multi-view camera system.

But as is the prevailing trend in many Chinese offerings, the media system buries far too many settings adjustments in submenus (beyond the aforementioned brake regen’ stuff).

A specific case in point is HVAC controls, hidden when CarPlay is mirroring, if accessible with a (hidden) upward swipe of the screen (and a reprimand from the driver monitor system). Seriously, why make life difficult for the occupants? At least there’s an audio volume roller on the centre console…

Row-two seating is, surprisingly, vastly more body fitting and comfy than the front buckets. And Jaecoo has extended the material luxo vibes through the rear passenger space. The middle-row seats also have rake and slide adjustment that, set rearmost on their rails, make for a very roomy five-seater.

However, the third row is very shallow and unless you push row two far forward on the seat rail, there’s literally no third-row legroom. So while it’s nice that the PHEV variant of J8 is a seven-seater, it’s only practicable enough for very short trips or emergency use.

With three rows in play, boot space is tiny (200 litres to the roof). As a fiver, it’s vastly more usable and practical (738 litres to the roof). Packaging wise, it’s certainly no Santa Fe – the Korean certifiably spacious enough to cater for seven adults, despite being no bigger than the J8 externally.

There is no spare wheel to bring a sense of road-tripping surety to match the Jaecoo’s long touring range: instead, it fits a tyre repair kit with a tyre-pressure monitoring system. Surely some of this due to the (otherwise alternative) heavy-duty wheel and jacking requirement necessary for a plus-2.3-tonne electrified vehicle.

Is the J8 SHS-P Summit AWD a safe car?

The J8’s 10-airbag coverage includes front, front-centre, driver’s knee, front-side, side curtain and row-two side airbag coverage.

Unlike the smaller Jaecoo J7 SUV, which has a five-star rating, the larger J8 is currently unrated by ANCAP.

• Forward and reverse AEB with collision warning
• Lane departure warning and lane keeping
• Lane departure prevention and emergency lane keep
• Adaptive cruise control
• Blind-spot detection
• Rear cross traffic assist
• Driver monitoring system
• Speed limit information function

What are the J8 SHS-P Summit AWD’s ownership costs?

The J8 is offered with Jaecoo’s eight-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which covers both the high-voltage battery as well as the rest of the vehicle.

Servicing is capped for a long eight years of scheduled visits, with intervals costing between $299 and $669 per 12-month/15,000km visit for a five-year total of $2315 (averaging out to $463 per year).

Fuel consumption? As per all PHEVs, it depends on driving style and charging discipline.

In its EV drive mode, we saw consumption of 18.9kWh/100km indicated, yielding easily over 100km of range from its 34kWh gross battery. Pinned in HEV (or self-regulating hybrid) mode, electron consumption dropped to around 5.5kWh/100km while petrol consumption rose from zero to 4.7L/100km.

With 70 litres available in the tank, a fully charged J8 should comfortably overshoot 1000km of touring range without having to stop, which was backed up by the vehicle’s onboard distance-to-empty telemetry.

Charging? The spurious ‘30 to 80 percent’ DC charge (a 70kW peak) of 25 minutes converts to a more realistic 35 minutes 10-to-80: the sort of recharge time out you’d expect from a lazy dedicated EV. Of course, being hybrid, you can run it to zero charge without anxiety. AC is 5.5 hours to 100 percent at a leisurely 6.6kW.

Towing? The plug-in J8 is rated at 1600kg braked, with 75kg of towball download.

The honest verdict on the J8 SHS-P Summit AWD

From its feature set to core comfort leanings to its impressive Plug-In Super Hybrid System powertrain tech, there’s a lot to like about the current tree-topper of the Australian Jaecoo line-up.

What’s impressive is that it packs all of its virtues into a $60K pitch. Specifically, at least, it’s a helluva bundle that Japan and Korea don’t have direct answers for with plug-in hybrid alternatives.

So while it might be easy to point out where our reigning Car of the Year, the Hyundai Santa Fe, does the seven-seat SUV thing better, the reality is that this Chinese plug-in does so much differently. And many of those differences will appeal much more to some buyer tastes.

Even among the family fold of Chery and Omoda plug-in hybrids, the Jaecoo J8 offers a particularly enticing combination in this competitive set.

But there are a number of notable missteps in its execution. It’s a shame is that the carmaker can get the hard stuff (powertrain) so right and balls up the relatively easy stuff (working buttons, interior trim alignment, seat comfort).

What this seven-seater deserves is a focused mid-life update/facelift to amend a few key shortcomings so that it can graduate finishing school with honours.