Ford Endura vs Jaecoo J7

What's the difference?

For most Aussies it probably seems the Ford Endura has just magically appeared and some of you might be wondering where Ford’s Territory went. Well, meet the new Territory… kind of.

Where the Territory was Australian-made, the Endura is built in Canada, and this model has been on sale in the United States since 2015.

The Endura received a big revamp at the start of this year and now it’s been introduced here because Ford’s had a gap in its line-up since the end of local car making meant the end of the Territory.

We went to the launch of Ford Australia’s new large SUV to see how it coped with our local roads and to investigate what it offered in terms of practicality, space and value.

Jaecoo has entered the medium SUV space with the J7, pairing a plug-in hybrid powertrain with a sharply positioned price tag. On paper, it’s a compelling formula; electrified efficiency without the 'premium'.

But the J7 doesn’t arrive in a vacuum. It sits above its smaller sibling, the J5, and goes head-to-head with some increasingly polished rivals - the mechanically related Chery Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid, GWM Haval H6 GT PHEV, MG HS Super Hybrid and now the BYD Sealion 5. And all of them are chasing the same buyer.

So the question isn’t just whether the J7 is good value. It’s whether it carves out a clear identity of its own in a segment that’s quickly filling up.