JAC X100

While the JAC X100 might not be a feature-rich cabin, if you see it from the perspective of a small commercial vehicle, the X100 is having one of the most pleasant and well-equipped cabins in its category. The all-black cabin of the JAC X100 gets a few elements, which make it feel premium from the perspective of a small commercial vehicle.

The JAC X100 gets a very nice-looking four-spoke steering wheel, which has audio controls placed on the upper spokes and a three-pod instrument console having chrome surrounds over the dials. Just adjacent to the driver’s cockpit, there is a rectangular centre console, which is faced toward the driver and accommodates rectangular AC vents on the top and a 2-DIN audio system with vertically-aligned knobs for manual AC in the lower part. This entire centre console is finished in a theme of gloss black. Even the AC vents on the corners of the dashboard are surrounded by gloss black touches, with the co-passenger side of the dashboard having a closed glovebox.

For a small commercial vehicle, the JAC X100 gets the perfect dimensions, which makes it look small and easy to drive for intra-city runs. The compact dimensions are in sync with the unique design language, which, unlike most commercial vehicles, doesn’t make it look boring.

At the front, the JAC X100 has a rounded and inclined theme for the entire fascia. The upper half of the JAC X100 is covered by a slanted windshield, which is rounded from all four edges. The lower half of the front fascia is characterized by a sharp crease flowing in the middle of it. Below this sharp crease, there is a big logo of JAC in bold letters sitting in the middle, with a horizontal strip of chrome placed above it.

The lower corners of this front fascia come attached with large-sized headlamps, which have rounded inner upper edges and come integrated with orange turn indicators on the outer corners. The front bumper here looks car-like with a nice looking set of rounded fog lamps and a horizontal air dam placed in the middle of it.

The sharp crease running in the middle of the front fascia extends its presence by flowing through the side. These lines flow towards the black-coloured vertically-placed door handles. The side window panels have triangular mounts for the rearview mirrors and a curved waistline towards the mirror housings. The outer wheel of the JAC X100 comes fitted with nice-looking five-spoke wheel caps.

Like most commercial vehicles, the JAC X100 is also based on a ladder-on-frame chassis with leaf springs at both ends. While this suspension setup does not allow a comfortable ride quality, it is a perfect set-up to allow the vehicle to carry loads with ease. The JAC X100 rides on 16-inch wheels shod with 175/75 R16 tyres and comes with disc brakes at the front and drum brakes at the rear.

The JAC X100 comes standard with a 1.6-litre naturally-aspirated petrol engine, which is offered with a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard. This petrol engine in the X100 produces 119 PS of maximum power and 155 Nm of maximum torque and feels refined and powerful for a vehicle of this size.

Here, the JAC X100 feels pared down, with only a couple of safety features like manual central locking and ABS on offer.

The JAC X100 is one of those small commercial vehicles, which might not have a mass appeal like the other established Japanese vehicles, but impresses you silently with its car-like interior and good load-carrying capacity.