Jetour Dashing gives BAIC Bejing X55 some food for thought

These days it’s a case of another week, another new Chinese car. The link between the latest brand to join the fray, Jetour, and Chinese manufacturer Chery, at least adds some familiarity.

Only six-years-old, Jetour is the youngest of Chery’s independent marques. These also include the Omoda and Jaecoo badges locally alongside the mother brand. While all four these nameplate focusses entirely on SUVs for the moment, they do offer four entirely different propositions.

Chery’s three models, the Tiggo 4, 7 and 8 Pro are all styled along the lines of conventional SUVs. Omoda on the other hand is positioned as a plusher offering featuring eccentric futuristic styling, while Jaecoo adopts a boxy design that exudes ruggedness.

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Jetour Dashing attractive alternative

The styling of the two initial Jetour models, the Dashing and X70, are rather diverse, so for the purposes of this driving impression we’ll only stick to the former today. The Citizen Motoring had the Jetour Dashing in top spec Deluxe trim for week after its official launch and were keen to see if it can create its own little niche in the bigger stable brimmer with similar-sized – and priced – SUVs.

Making very sure it can never be confused for any other SUV under the Chery umbrella, the Dashing features a coupe-like roof at the rear and a very sporty front-end design. You’ll be forgiven for thinking that the Jetour Dashing, with its imposing upright grille and flat headlights in front of the accentuated curves of either side of the bonnet, gives off Lamborghini Urus vibes.

Apart from taillights extending into the bumper, the rear is less dramatic with a fair bit of Lexus worked in there.

The flowing lines at the sides are enhanced by flush door handles, while the package rides on elegant two-tone 19-inch alloy wheels.

Personality shines through

The styling and the finishing of the cabin is the other place where the Jetour Dashing’s personality comes to the fore. It is open, minimalistic, elegant and rather sporty.

The seats, door panels and dashboard are finished in black imitation leather with red stitching which blend in rather nicely with brushed aluminium, grey veneer and piano black inserts. The sports steering wheel and gear lever is clad in leather, with aluminium finishing on the foot pedals adding the sportiness.

The 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster is complemented by 10.25-inch infotainment system with six speak and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. In addition, the very generous spec list includes as standard panoramic sunroof, ambient lighting, 360-degree surround camera system, electronic tailgate and wireless phone charger. The latter conveniently giving you reminder when you forget your phone in the tray when exiting the car.

Safe as a house

The Jetour Dashing’s comprehensive list of safety systems includes rear cross traffic alert, blind spot monitoring, door open alert and lane change assist. You can switch these off as you go, but one thing you can’t is a feature that won’t allow the car to move when the driver safety belt isn’t fastened. Even when you need to move it two metres up your driveway.

The Jetour Dashing is powered by the 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine used in Chery Tiggos and Omoda C5. It sends 115kW of power and 230Nm of torque to the front wheels.

One good thing about the drivetrain is that the mill is mated to six-speed dual-clutch transmission. And not CVT like on the lesser Cherry Tiggo Pros and Omoda C5s. The box isn’t fantastic, but an upgrade for anyone who loathes a CVT with the vigour motoring reporters do.

Not all plain sailing

The Jetour Dashing offers two driving modes; Sport and Eco, with the latter the default. What turned out to be an annoyance is that there is no shortcut for Sport mode for a quick overtake. Activating it is a rather tedious process which involves four presses on the infotainment screen. The driver at least has the benefit of steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters when quick downshifts are required.

Like its brothers from another mother, the Chery Tiggo 4 and 7 Pro and Omoda C5, throttle calibration not ideal. Once you get used to what kind of input is required, it won’t bother you.

Our fuel consumption of 12.5L/100km for the week was some way off the claimed 7.8L/100km. We wish we could blame spirited driving for it, but it was too damn hard to find Sport mode!

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Jetour Dashing has role to play

The Jetour Dashing 1.5T Deluxe offers a very intriguing package at an attractive R469 900 price tag. The drivetrain is like any other Chery products. But its unique styling will lure buyers who weren’t interested in anything else under the carmaker’s umbrella before. Instead of cannibalising its own stable, the Dashing will give a car like the BAIC Beijing X55 some concerns.

Well played Chery.

The Jetour Dashing is sold standard with a five-year/60 000km service plan and five-year/150 000km warranty. The first owner also qualifies for a ten-year/1 000 000km engine warranty.