Jaecoo J8 vs Ford Ranger

What's the difference?

The Jaecoo J8 is an odd car.

It’s hard to place exactly where it sits in the market. It’s premium, but very affordable. It's very big but only has five seats. And it’s petrol only, at least for now, in a world that is obsessed with hybrid or electric power.

You’ve probably never heard of Jaecoo. That’s alright it’s only new, but it’s a fresh Chinese brand with big ambitions. A more accurate description is it’s Chery’s premium sub-brand.

And the J8 is its new flagship SUV that has found a little niche that's been left in Australia’s overflowing SUV segment.

It’s about the same size as the Kia Sorento or Hyundai Santa Fe family SUVs, but the J8 is five seats only and ditches the third row for a big boot.

The interior wouldn’t look out of place if it had a three-pointed star on the bonnet but the price tag will have you thinking you can buy two for the price of one.

Ford has given its Ranger ute range a mild facelift. And mild is the word. If you look closely, you might notice some small visual changes, but the real news is under the bonnet where a new entry-level powerplant lives.

And however you look at it, this new engine that addresses the ownership issues experienced by some Ranger buyers since the bi-turbo diesel engine was released back in 2018, was probably overdue.

But the new powerplant comes at a cost; in terms of power and torque, even though the vital towing statistics remain for the Ranger.

The other changes that come with this facelift include some new tech, and the availability of the V6 turbo-diesel (which is unchanged) across the entire Ranger 4X4 dual-cab line-up.

For this review, we’ve concentrated on the new engine as being the major point of difference, and we’ve driven it the base-version XL trim specification. That means this is potentially the lightest variant, and heavier specifications might blunt the performance a little. But overall, this is representative of the new powertrain and represents the biggest point of difference in what is otherwise a very minor facelift.