SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Steady worker: 2022 JAC X200 2.8 diesel single-cab

No speed records

Pics by author
Posted: February 6, 2022

The numbers
Price: R317 400 incl. VAT
Engine: See text
Power: 80 kW at 3600 rpm
Torque: 240 Nm between 1800 and 2000 rpm
0-100 km/h: Sometime today
Top speed: 130 km/h
Overall fuel consumption (claimed): 9.5 l/100 km
Tank: 65 litres
Ground clearance: 170 mm
Turning circle: 10.8 metres
Standard tyre: 195/70R15C,10PR
Payload: 1500 kg
Maximum braked towing capacity: 1250 kg
Warranty: Five years, 150 000 km
Service plan: Five years, 60 000 km at specified intervals

You need a last-mile delivery vehicle; one that can carry a full ton of goods, can squeeze into and out of tight spots but doesn’t have to be fast or fancy. A standard one-ton pickup almost fills the bill. But you want more - a lot more - just not at fancy prices, thank you.

(Cue drum roll and trumpet) JAC Motors’ X200 single-cab, forward control, dropside is priced about the same as entry-level pickups from the Big Three - Ford, Isuzu and Toyota – offers a few more nice-to-haves and has similar shortcomings yet carries a bigger load, 1500 kg, in its almost 4.6 square-metre cargo bin.

What shortcomings? No entry-level, single-cab, pickup on sale in South Africa offers ABS brakes or airbags. This one doesn’t either.

Those from the Big Three don’t have radios, aircon or automatic locking as standard kit but X200 does. Those others are all regular pickups so loading and unloading is from the back end only, or grunt-and-lift over the sides. Dropping X200’s tailgate, or side panels, and its loading deck height of only 785 mm, allow quick and easy access to loads. That includes heavier items stacked close to the cab to improve weight distribution.

A further advantage of dropside bodies is that there are no intruding wheel arches, so all the load space is usable. On the other hand regular pickups’ load bins are deeper, affording greater security.

Suspension is by means of double wishbones in front and two-part leaf springs at the rear. Brakes are disc and drum while steering assistance is old-school hydraulic. Other traditional features are hand-wound windows and DIY mirror adjustment.

There are other choices of dropside pickup – Hyundai’s H100 and Kia's K2700 – they cost about the same, have lower powered engines, use more fuel (according to their makers) and carry less. Just saying.

This one’s powered by a Chinese clone of Isuzu’s 2771 cc, four-cylinder, 4JB1-T turbodiesel. It’s a simple device; SOHC, eight valves and direct fuel injection from Bosch. Output is rated at 80 kW and 240 Nm, so it’s not the most powerful machine in the toolbox but it gets the job done. That’s helped along by low gearing, rather like early Land Rovers.

Torque peaks between 1800 and 2000 rpm and your ears suggest that you gear up a notch at around 2500, so progress tends to be slow but steady. And that’s all you need if you’re going to be stopping to drop off cargo every few minutes anyway.

Out on the freeway it cruises happily at around 2250 rpm for 100 km/h in fifth. The national speed limit comes up at 2750 rpm, by which time the mill is beginning to sound busy. The rev. counter redlines at 4000 in intermediate gears but your ears probably wouldn’t want you to do that too often. Top speed is given as 130 km/h.

The two-part front seats can accommodate three if the need arises but they had better be close friends because space is rather tight. And thank the gods of transport for the air conditioner in hot weather. When carrying only driver and one crew member, the centre seat’s backrest can fold down to reveal a nice big oddments tray and a couple of cup holders. The door bins offer space for small juice bottles and are suitably narrow to accommodate clip boards without flopping about.

Only the driver’s chair offers fore-and-aft adjustment. The passenger seat doesn’t, because it has to be able to lift up to provide access to the engine compartment. Luckily, one can get to basics like coolant and washer top-up bottles via a drop-down panel above the front number plate. Checking the oil level still requires lifting the seat, however.

Summing up, these trucks are made for working; essential frills only, no pretentiousness and no speed records. Just honest hard graft.

Test unit courtesy of JAC Pietermaritzburg

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
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