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In July of this year, the premiere of the Jetour automobile brand, which is new to our market, took place in Russia, although the original factory of these cars has been in our country for a long time. Jetour is a sub-brand of the Middle Kingdom’s leading Chery automobile concern. The brand was created in 2018 as a separate brand aimed at young shoppers who love to travel. It is represented not only in China but also in the Middle East, Africa, Central and South America regions. According to company representatives, the brand showed the highest growth rate in China, selling 700,000 cars from January 2018 to March 2023. Unlike Omoda and Exeed, Jetour in Russia will develop separately from parent brand Chery, Jetur Motor’s official distributor. Rus LLC. Today, 74 Jetour dealer centers have already been opened in Russia, but they want to increase this number to 100 by the end of the year.
The separate development of another Chery sub-brand in Russia affected competition with its “brothers” in the Jator store. Thus, the distributor of the brand tried to make the prices competitive and priced the Jetour X90 Plus at 3,349,900 rubles. Considering that the vehicle competes with the Exeed TXL, which starts at 4,260,000 rubles, Jetour’s offering at least looks interesting. But as they say, “the devil is in the details” and to make the price of the X90 Plus attractive to buyers, the distributor had to cut back on some of the car’s options for our market. For example, the Jetour X90 Plus lacks adaptive cruise control, lane keeping and tracking system, automatic parking, and also does not support Android Auto/Apple CarPlay and wireless charging. And most importantly, there are no all-wheel drive cars in Russia; All X90 Plus are offered with front-wheel drive only.
The appearance of the mid-size crossover Jetour X90 Plus is, for my taste, quite boring, bearing no resemblance to the brand’s other offered car – the Jetour Dashing. The front and rear of the X90 Plus are somewhat reminiscent of the Exeed VX, even the design of the high-quality all-LED optics is the same, but the side looks similar to the Infiniti QX60. On the other hand, the model is still a family car and a quiet design without any flashy elements might sell even better.
Everything is more interesting on the inside; Here we are greeted by such a symbiosis of Chery/Xade and Mercedes-Benz. The front panel structure, dual display under the visor, neat decorative wood-look inserts, power window units and steering wheel buttons with touchpad for data management, it’s very Mercedes-like. The Chinese, without hesitation, took design elements from the Germans and copied them. And then we have elements already familiar from the Chery/Exeed, and it’s a simple low-automatic transmission lever, well, unlike the Chery, you need to press the side button to change gears.
The climate control touchscreen is also recognisable, hello Exeed, which isn’t very easy to use, and in the Jetour it was added to switch driving modes and disable the start-stop function. But here the temperature control units are built with comfortable rotary knobs that have their own displays, however, the screens are not as beautiful and functional as in the Exeed TXL. Materials here include an abundance of soft plastics, good quality and pleasant-to-the-touch synthetic leather, as well as neat decorative inserts. Below eye level, traditionally for the Chinese, we are greeted by oak plastic panels, and the same large door pockets empty inside.
The car has wide front seats with mid-length cushions, poor lateral support, but correct profile. The driver’s seat has a full range of electric adjustments, including lumbar support adjustment in two planes as well as position memory for three people. Only in the top configuration is the passenger seat electrically adjustable, and then only in the trim version. The front and rear seating positions are comfortable, the doors open wide, and the doors completely cover the sills, so you don’t have to worry about getting your pants dirty in inclement weather.
The second row in the crossover is very spacious, I, with a height of 187 cm, can sit comfortably behind me, there is room in the knees, it is spacious below, and the top of my head does not rest on the ceiling. , despite the presence of a large roof with an automatic curtain and a sunroof at the front. The back of the rear sofa has tilt adjustment, and a nice folding armrest for passenger comfort. ISOFIX anchorages are traditionally located on the edges of the rear bench and are hidden between the cushions, making them difficult to access. And recently the Jetour X90 Plus has come to our market in a seven-seater version, so now a version with a third row of seats is available for customers.
The trunk in the X90 Plus is spacious at 723 liters, and by separating the backs of the rear sofa from the passenger compartment, which creates a flat floor, we already get 1634 liters of usable space. The tailgate here is electric; By the way, for some reason the button to open it from the passenger compartment was placed on the climate control screen, and it is possible to open it without contact.
The car has dual-zone climate control with a dedicated control unit with its own 9.7-inch touch display. The climate control system works well in automatic mode and requires virtually no adjustment during operation. Only two air ducts are available for the rear passengers with the ability to change the direction of the air flow. While we had the five-seat crossover option, we also had a separate air-conditioning unit in the gallery where the third row of seats would be. As for heated options, the X90 Plus also features a heated windshield, steering wheel, three-level heating of all seats, and seat ventilation for the driver.
Jetour X90 Plus has the same media system as Chery/Exeed; We have two 12.3-inch displays with HD resolution, Right Touch. Added the ability to manage data from the touchpads on the steering wheel; On the dashboard you can only scroll through the information on the onboard computer, but on the right side you can fully navigate through the sections. In addition, there is a matte anti-reflective film already pasted on both displays from the factory, which does not collect fingerprints, and the accompanying information is readable from the screen in any light. The media system itself is quite fast but its capabilities are limited. So, there is a built-in PetalMaps navigation, which in my case showed maps without any problems, but for some reason stubbornly did not want to create a route, even though there was access to the Internet. There was also a Carbitlink smartphone screen duplication system, which wasn’t ideal in itself, but at least it worked. Otherwise, everything is standard, there’s music, radio and even watching videos from external sources on the go.
There is no problem connecting the phone to the system via Bluetooth; Speakerphone also works well. The dashboard only shows call information, but you can manage data just from the right touch display. Despite the presence of a special rubber-backed smartphone compartment on the main tunnel, my iPhone 14 Pro Max didn’t fit in this case; Here, of course, the developers missed the mark. For recharging gadgets, only one USB-A is available at the front of the cabin, the other is available at the rear of the cabin, where USB-C is also present, providing 60W.
There are two themes for displaying data in the dashboard, both options are easy to read, so you have to choose according to your preference. But the main theme of the media system is only black, which may not appeal to everyone.
In terms of driver assistants, as I wrote in the beginning, the car is a bit trimmed. So, we had the usual cruise control, a blind spot monitoring system with an indicator on the mirror itself and its graphical display on the dashboard. In addition, there is a 540° camera, which, in addition to all-round visibility, also includes the option of a so-called “transparent hood”, thanks to which you can see what is happening below. The image captured by the cameras is good, there is an active marking, and the data from the parking sensors is also on it, which is very clear. Another assistant is the built-in DVR, which lives its own life, writes data to a pre-installed microSD card and is not connected to the media system.
The X90Plus crossover is offered to Russian customers with two TGDI gasoline engine options: 1.6-liter with 190 hp; and 275 Nm of torque at 5500 rpm, plus a 2-liter engine with 244 hp. and 375 Nm of torque at 5500 rpm. Both power units are mated to a 7-speed 7DCT dual-clutch wet clutch automatic transmission. Front wheel drive only.
We had a car with a two liter engine, such a car is fast, 100 km/h is 8.5 seconds. There’s plenty of power both in the city and on the highway, but the handling is somewhat weak, lacking a bit of refinement, and there’s noticeable roll in corners. On the other hand, it’s still a family crossover that isn’t designed for dynamic driving. It even has a soft suspension, which handles most bumps delicately, but will give you a good shake when hitting big potholes with sharp edges, which it doesn’t really like. The cabin is mostly quiet, but the wheel arches could have been better insulated, as central noise seeps through them. Yes, the 7DCT robotic gearbox works quickly and accurately in most cases, and it goes well with the 2-litre engine. The only thing is that the robot shakes noticeably when driving in a traffic jam for long periods of time, but as soon as you hit the free road, everything goes away.
In terms of fuel consumption, the car showed me 10 liters per 100 km in the city, which is practically in line with the figures declared by the manufacturer. I’d suggest turning off the “start-stop” function immediately, as it’s slow, has no on-the-go pickup like the same Audi, and gives meager fuel economy, but it’s worth your while. Will irritate the nerves. The ground clearance here is 210 mm, but this is only so that you can safely drive on a country road, and in winter you can safely drive on snow-covered roads.
The price of Jetour X90 Plus with 1.6TGDI engine in Comfort package is 3,349,900 rubles, and in Luxury package – 3,469,900 rubles. The 2 liter version is available in Elite and Luxury trim levels priced at 3,669,900 rubles and 3,789,900 rubles respectively. You will have to pay another 50,000 rubles for the seven-seater version of the car, and it is offered only in the richest configuration. On the one hand, the prices are quite interesting for a mid-size crossover, but on the other hand, you need to understand that unlike its competitors, the X90 Plus lacks some options, and it is not possible to buy it. It is in all-wheel drive version.
