Jetour X70 Plus 1.5T Prestige 7DCT (2026) Review

Introduction

Buy the Jetour X70 Plus if you need seven proper seats without breaking the household budget, but understand that its local ownership history remains thin. As of 2025, this jetour x70 plus review lands while Chinese newcomers are changing what R450 000 buys a South African family. You get a turbocharged engine, generous equipment and long warranty cover aimed at buyers who might otherwise consider the Toyota Fortuner or Hyundai Grand Santa Fe. Big promises. SA roads, tolls and second-hand anxiety provide the sterner test.

Key takeaway: A well-equipped and keenly priced seven-seat SUV, provided you’ll trade established resale certainty for lower pricing and stronger warranty cover.

Design & Exterior

Jetour began as a Chery sub-brand in 2018 before being pushed towards independence around 2021. That family connection matters. The underlying components aren’t coming from nowhere, even if many South Africans are only now learning the badge.

Presence on the road

Large, upright and unashamedly shiny. Its broad, heavily detailed grille looks suitably expensive in an office parking basement, despite pricing that brushes against entry-level Fortuner territory. The 19-inch alloys fill those arches convincingly, while the proportions carry none of the awkwardness sometimes associated with value-led SUVs.

Where it sits in the segment

Against the boxier, ladder-frame Fortuner, Jetour’s offering appears softer and more suburban. Fair enough. It’s a family crossover wearing adventure-SUV clothing rather than a low-range mud-plugger, which suits school runs, Van Reenen's Pass holiday traffic and occasional gravel far better than serious Sani Pass work.

Cabin & Practicality

Cabin presentation gives the jetour x70 plus interior much of its showroom punch. Quilted trim, soft-touch surfaces, a panoramic roof and a cooled glovebox create an unexpectedly plush first impression. Fit and finish, to be honest, sit comfortably above the rand figure on the windscreen.

Layout and materials

Most functions live inside the central touchscreen, including the Sport drive mode. I found that especially irritating while threading through stop-start traffic on the M1. There are Two drive modes only, Eco by default. Proper physical shortcuts would be welcome, although crisp graphics and quick responses keep the system from becoming a daily frustration.

Space across three rows

Families get a genuinely useful 2+3+2 seating arrangement across the first two rows, with the third best reserved for children or adults on short trips. One caveat matters more than the upholstery:

• Boot with all seven seats up: just 89 litres, barely a soft-bag space.
• Boot with the rear rows folded: up to 1 680 litres, properly cavernous.
• The seven-seat claim is real, but full-load luggage is not.

ISOFIX points sit in the second row, and wide door openings take some wrestling out of securing a child seat. With five people aboard and the third row folded, our Durban-to-Joburg run swallowed two medium suitcases, a folded pram measuring 84 cm long and several soft bags. No Tetris required.

On the Road

Our test car used the 1.5T petrol producing 115 kW through a six-speed automatic, with power going to the front wheels. A modest engine in a substantial body. Still, everyday performance feels less strained than those numbers might suggest.

Powertrain and gearbox

Once boost arrives, the turbocharged 1.5 pulls cleanly enough to build speed along an on-ramp and merge with R21 traffic, or to pass a slower vehicle. Cold starts expose noticeable turbo lag, while the dual-clutch gearbox occasionally delivers a small shift shock from rest. Cape Town’s stop-start morning traffic made that low-speed hesitation obvious. Warmed through and cruising, the drivetrain becomes smoother and far less conspicuous.

Ride and refinement

Those 19-inch wheels bring a firm response over sharp edges, but the chassis settles nicely at cruising speed. It is in these conditions that a vehicle's true character is exposed: during a long stint on the N3, the cabin remained quiet and the seats supportive beyond two hours. Gauteng expansion joints still land with a thump. Broken tar and coarse highway surfaces are handled with more maturity than I expected from a newcomer.

Real-world consumption

Independent testing recorded consumption above the roughly 7.8 L/100 km factory claim, landing in the low-to-mid 9s around town and heading toward low 10s fully loaded. A steady open-road run can pull that figure towards the high 7s. Our indicated 0-100 km/h estimate was 11.4 seconds, which matches the car’s relaxed character. For a two-tonne-ish seven-seater, the fuel return is respectable rather than remarkable.

Data & Comparison

Price remains the strongest part of the jetour x70 plus price argument. Jetour opens well below the established seven-seat crowd while matching, and often beating, their standard-equipment lists.

How it stacks up

Ownership and running costs

• Estimated five-year total cost of ownership: around R230 000, covering fuel, tyres and routine servicing.
• Long engine cover makes the warranty a serious market-entry weapon, although that standout engine warranty applies only to the first owner.
• Resale-minded owners must account for that first-owner condition and confirm the applicable service-plan period, intervals and transfer terms with their Jetour dealer.

The resale question

Used Chinese SUV values in SA are already proving better than the lazy old stereotypes suggested, with sales climbing sharply year-on-year. Jetour is still a young local badge, though, leaving little historical data for buyers or finance houses to study. That uncertainty matters more to the ownership calculation than any glaring driving weakness. Strong local search interest in SUVs should at least support demand for the body style.

Editorial Focus

Does the seven-seat value play actually hold up?

Jetour’s pitch is brutally simple: offer a full seven-seat SUV for money usually attached to a base double-cab or entry Fortuner. Facelifted cars have even trimmed the starting jetour x70 price south africa to R444 900 while pushing the flagship to R494 900, widening the range and sharpening that entry point. Judged purely on equipment per rand, the X70 Plus beats a Fortuner or Grand Santa Fe comfortably.

Sticker prices don’t tell the whole ownership story. Compared with established seven-seaters, Jetour gives away proven long-term reliability, a dense parts and dealer network, and predictable residual values. The Fortuner retains money exceptionally well because generations of local buyers trust it. Jetour must build similar confidence one service visit, warranty claim and clean ownership experience at a time, including through national dealer groups such as Motus.

My honest read is that the value case makes sense for someone keeping the car five to seven years and making full use of its warranty and service-plan provisions. There’s more metal, more cabin kit and stronger cover for less money. Buyers changing cars every two years should stick with the established names for now. That 89-litre boot with every seat raised remains a practical nuisance no brochure can disguise. As a considered family purchase, though, it did not disappoint.

Verdict

Plenty of well-finished, well-equipped seven-seat SUV is offered for the money. My test tenure left me persuaded by the value case, as long as buyers understand exactly what they’re exchanging for that attractive purchase price.

• Buy it - the value-first family buyer: Choose it if you want seven seats, a plush cabin and lengthy warranty cover for the lowest possible price, particularly if you keep cars long-term.
• Shortlist it - the cross-shopper: Compare it with the Haval H9 and entry Fortuner, driving all three back to back over broken tar and at highway speeds before deciding.
• Wait - the resale-sensitive owner: Hold off if you trade every two years, because Jetour’s South African second-hand history remains too thin for confident residual predictions.
• Walk away - the hardcore off-roader: Pick a body-on-frame rival if your weekends involve low-range trails, heavy towing or sustained punishment on rough gravel.