AutoCloud Driven: Jetour X70 Plus

There's a moment, just before you turn the key, when a car either earns your attention or loses it. Standing in front of the Jetour X70 Plus for the first time, it earned mine immediately.

Jetour is a name you'll want to remember. A subsidiary of Chery Automotive, one of China's automotive giants, Jetour has been quietly building a reputation for punching well above its price tag. A three-row, seven-seat SUV that lands in Mauritius at Rs 1,769,000. On paper, that sounds like a lot. In person, it feels like a steal.

Design: Sporty Confidence in a Package You Didn't Expect

Let's start where first impressions are made, the exterior. The X70 Plus is genuinely striking. From the bold, studded front grille flanked by slim LED headlights, to the quad exhaust tips at the rear, this is a car designed to turn heads, and it succeeds. Are those four exhaust outlets purely decorative? Yes, they are. Do they add a sense of drama and sportiness that most family SUVs completely lack? Absolutely.

What's particularly impressive is what the design manages to hide: this is a seven-seater. Looking at it from the outside, you'd never guess the cabin space tucked within. It carries its size with the posture of a confident mid-size crossover rather than a lumbering people-mover. The 19-inch alloy wheels, the subtle red accents along the lower body, the vertically aligned LED tail lights, every element reinforces the impression that Jetour's designers were playing in a different league. It's refreshing to see a family car that doesn't look like it gave up on aesthetics the moment a third row was bolted in.

Interior: A Pleasant Place to Spend Time

Step inside, and the X70 Plus continues to impress. The cabin is clean, composed, and genuinely pleasant to inhabit. There's a tasteful use of materials throughout, yes, there are plastics, and in a car at this price point that's expected, but they're deployed with enough restraint and quality of finish that they don't feel cheap. Better still, none of it squeaks or rattles when you apply pressure to panels. In an era where some far pricier cars can feel hollow, that's a detail worth noting.

The centrepiece is a large touchscreen infotainment system that handles most of the car's functions. Jetour, however, made a smart decision that many modern carmakers seem to have forgotten: they gave climate control and media their own dedicated physical space. These are the two functions you reach for most while driving, the two most likely to distract you if buried in sub-menus, and the X70 Plus treats them accordingly. It's a small but meaningful gesture towards genuine usability.

That said, no review is complete without an honest niggle or two. There's no dedicated button to pause or kill the media quickly, something you find yourself reaching for on instinct. And the steering wheel controls, while thoughtfully designed with BlackBerry-style thumb trackpads (an intuitive and tactile choice), are arranged in a slightly counterintuitive way for right-hand-drive markets: the right-side pad controls the infotainment screen on your left, while the left-side pad governs the instrument cluster directly ahead of you. The logic makes perfect sense when you consider the X70 was engineered for left-hand-drive China, but muscle memory takes a few days to catch up in our world. Give it a week and you'd barely think about it.

On the Road: More Capable Than You Might Expect

Under the bonnet sits a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine producing 115kW and 230Nm of torque, mated to a six-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox. For a seven-seater, the performance is genuinely respectable, responsive when you need it, composed when you don't.

There are two driving modes on offer: Eco and Sport. This is where the X70 Plus's one meaningful gap becomes apparent. Eco can feel a touch lethargic, with a slightly delayed throttle response that becomes noticeable in the stop-start rhythm of Mauritian traffic. Sport, on the other hand, sharpens things up considerably, perhaps a touch too eagerly for bumper-to-bumper conditions, where its responses feel a little jerky and inconsistent. A middle "Normal" or "Comfort" mode sitting between the two would genuinely round out the package and make the car feel more polished in everyday use. It's not a dealbreaker, but it is the clearest area where a future update could make a real difference.

Ride quality, however, is better than you'd expect from a three-row SUV rolling on 19-inch wheels. The X70 Plus absorbs imperfections without fuss, and body roll, that familiar nemesis of tall, heavier family cars, is impressively well contained. Cornering feels composed and confident, not nervous or wallowy. For Mauritius's mix of smooth highways and less-than-perfect back roads, the X70 Plus strikes a sensible balance.

One final note that earned a personal round of applause: there is no stop-start system on this car. For those who've endured the constant engine-cutting of modern economy-focused vehicles, this will feel like a quiet luxury. The engine simply runs, smoothly and without drama, as an engine should.

The Verdict: Hard to Argue With at This Price

The Jetour X70 Plus is not a perfect car. No car is. The driving mode gap is real, the steering wheel controls take adjustment, and a dedicated media pause button wouldn't go amiss. But step back and look at the full picture: a seven-seat SUV with genuine kerb appeal, a cabin that's pleasant to live in, a composed ride, a willing engine, and a safety suite that includes blind spot detection, lane change assist, rear cross-traffic alert, and a 360-degree camera, all for around Rs 1.8 million.

At that price, asking for perfection would be unreasonable. What you get instead is something arguably more valuable: a car that surprises you. One that you approach with modest expectations and leave with a quiet sense of admiration. The Chinese automotive industry has been evolving rapidly, and Jetour's X70 Plus is a compelling example of just how far that evolution has come.

For families in Mauritius who need space, presence, and practicality without breaking the bank, the X70 Plus deserves a serious look. It's the kind of car that makes you feel like you got away with something.

Reviewed by Michael Jarvis | autocloud.mu