Chery Tiggo 7 review

Chery produced its first car in 1999 – making its carmaking operation as young as the BMW X5 – yet by the standards of Chinese manufacturers it already warrants a lifetime achievement award. It’s shifted over five million units across 80 countries, making it mildly surprising its cars are only docking at our shores now. 

Both Jaecoo and Omoda are part of the Chery group, though, and you might have noticed those things everywhere – tacit proof that UK buyers now aren’t afraid of unknown brands so long as the prices are low and the styling pleasantly European-influenced. The Jaecoo 7 and Omoda 5 have swerved lukewarm reviews to sell like the proverbial, with the similarly Chinese-built MG ZS and MG HS continuing to not just upset the mainstream sellers’ apple cart, but wheel it off in a different direction entirely.

The launch of Chery itself brings more of the same; a pair of cheap SUVs that, debadged, could be the neatly executed produce of any number of carmakers. If far from ‘must-have’ on appearance alone.

Explain the name to me…

Chery, if you’re wondering, is a deliberate misspelling of the word Cheery, meant to highlight how happy these cars will make you. Cringe! Tiggo, meanwhile, is a portmanteau of Tiger and Go, thus you have the Cheery Tiger Go 7. We’re being a mite facetious of course, and at least there’s some whimsy to its name. Something you could never claim of a Q3, X1 or GLA.

Prices kick off at £24,995 in pure petrol form or £29,995 as a plug-in ‘Super Hybrid’ – their words – ensuring this Tiggo 7 fills a Nissan Qashqai or Kia Sportage footprint for 20 per cent less cash. There’s also a similar looking Tiggo 8, which adds another row of seats (albeit for smaller folk) and £3,550 to those prices.

The base powertrain feels as much, a 145bhp 1.6-litre petrol engine allied to a seven-speed twin-clutch automatic but making slightly laboured work of hills or heavy loads, with no manual mode to help spark it into life. It’s smooth enough on the flat – but a bit groany for overtakes or ascents. It’s inoffensively modest in its performance, the same going for its ride and handling. Both could ultimately benefit from more sophistication – an observation only exaggerated by jumping straight into a traditional, European alternative – but Chery has big plans, a British R&D site among them. Improvements may come thick and fast once that’s up and running.

And what of the hybrid?

Much more convincing, even if its tailgate badge is OTT. It feels fair to assume unfamiliar Chinese brands are here to democratise electrification, not eat into the old-fashioned ICE market – and therefore that any newly launched brand is centred around plug-ins. Which makes the EV-like operation of the so-called ‘Super Hybrid’ more welcome than that tame petrol base car, not least for its punchier, 201bhp performance and decent refinement. Just watch out for frequent wheelspin (and heavy-handed traction control intervention) in wetter conditions. The powertrain charges itself on the go, ensuring the battery never really runs low, and claims of 56 e-miles and a 745-mile total range look strong. 

What about on the inside?

Those with less than a passing interest in how a car goes will be perfectly happy in here, not least because perceived quality has been knocked out the park with nice materials and richly pixeled screens. Even the electronic nannies keep fairly hushed – though they do admonish you for being distracted by the car’s own fiddly climate controls. More of this over on the Interior tab...

Anyone still sniffy about the multitudinous Chinese brands entering the UK may be brought back down to earth by this car, even if the Chery badge looks spookily like Infiniti's. OK, the stock petrol is plain (in the extreme) and ought to be purchased purely on value grounds. The hybrid is a bit more convincing, though, with perkier performance, more pleasing refinement and the promise of some decent e-range.

If you like the looks, don’t especially care how enticing your car is to drive and feel like trying something new, the Tiggo 7 may nudge close to most of your criteria. There are niggles we’d like to see ironed out and anyone with an ounce of driving enthusiasm should jog in the opposite direction – but the sheer volume of its Jaecoo and Omoda cousins popping up on UK driveways suggests neither issue should stifle its success too much.