Chery Tiggo 8 review

‘Steady’ is the best adjective if we’re talking about the base petrol. This powertrain feels in no hurry to move the car around with a couple of adults on board, no doubt even less so once you’ve the full troop and their luggage. It’s not awful – it just sounds coarse under high revs and with no manual mode or paddles, you’re at the mercy of Chery’s gearbox mapping when you seek a hurried overtake to a shrill chorus of “are we nearly there yet?” from its hindquarters.

Those after plain, affordable transport won’t mind it, but you’ll get a richer, more cultured experience from a second-hand Kodiaq – or the reasonably perky 138bhp Jogger hybrid available for a few grand less than this pure petrol Tiggo 8. Shop around before you commit, is our advice.

What about the hybrid?

It’s much more recommendable. Unlike the Dacia, this one plugs in, which leads to a total range figure in excess of 700 miles and 56 miles of electric-only pottering according to the bumf. We sadly weren’t offered a long enough drive in the car to interrogate either figure, but we can report it’s a much more refined, placid and likeable place to be than an ICE-only Tiggo 8.

Anything else I need to know?

Just watch out for the hybrid's feistiest drive mode – activated with an accompanying ‘SPORT MODE!’ exclamation from the speakers, ensuring your ill-advised choice is judged by the entire family – which sharpens the throttle too much to elicit some truly dramatic wheelspin if you get on the power early (and harshly) out of a corner. That upsets the traction control, which then lunges in with the ferocity of a nightclub bouncer to disturb an otherwise calm cabin. Oops.

Ride and handling are otherwise fine (and no more); the car can get a little too excited over repeated undulations, the damping still recovering from one bump as it negotiates another, but it’s nothing dreadful and Chery will soon set up a UK engineering base. Perhaps improvements will come thick and fast once the champagne’s been popped and the ribbon cut on that. A Kodiaq, 5008 or Volkswagen Tayron currently offers more depth to its driving experience, though.