Chery Tiggo 7 Review & Prices

Chery is getting really serious about the UK car market, and the arrival of the Tiggo 7 SUV underlines that. The big Chinese company is already present here with its Jaecoo and Omoda brands, but now Chery's introducing its own-brand models, starting with this - the Tiggo 7.

You can expect prices that put the Tiggo 7 right up against the Dacia Bigster, and that type of value for money might give the new Chery a leg-up in the market.

It’s quite a handsome SUV, actually, although - like the similarly-sized, and also Chery-owned Jaecoo 7 - it does kind of feel as if you’ve seen it somewhere before. Handsome, but generic, is maybe the best way to describe it; rather like an actor in a Hallmark Channel film.

Inside, while Chery might be pitching the Tiggo 7 as a Dacia rival, it looks a bit more upmarket. Even the basic Aspire model comes with dual-zone air-conditioning, adaptive cruise control, a six-speaker Sony stereo, parking sensors and a fully-trimmed synthetic leather interior. If you go for the upgraded Summit model, you’ll get ventilated seats, a heated steering wheel and an electric tailgate.

You get a standard-fit pair of 12.3-inch screens - one for the infotainment and one for the driver’s instruments - and thankfully, Chery seems to have learned from the mistakes of others and not thrown out all of the Tiggo 7’s physical buttons; there’s a separate strip of air conditioning controls on the neat-looking dashboard, which should make life easier on the move.

To help around town, there’s a surround-view camera system which also includes a ‘transparent chassis’ setting so that you can see what’s under the car (sort of). Chery has said that the Tiggo 7 was engineered especially for Europe, by engineers based in Europe, which should bode well for ride comfort.

There’s a choice of engines, starting with a basic 1.6-litre turbo petrol with 147hp. It gives the Tiggo 7 a 0-62mph time of 9.4 seconds, which isn’t fast, but it is entirely reasonable. More interesting is the Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid, a plug-in hybrid with an 18.3kWh battery and an electric-only range of up to 56 miles. Chery claims that on a full tank of fuel and a full battery charge, you’ll be able to drive for up to 745 miles without stopping to refuel or recharge. The 201hp Super Hybrid is a bit quicker too, hitting 62mph in 8.5 seconds.

Better yet, the Tiggo 7’s Super Hybrid battery can be fast-charged in just 20 minutes (to 80% power), which means you can top it up easily on a long journey - to the benefit of your overall fuel economy - and its 23g/km CO2 emissions means it’ll be a good choice for company car drivers.

We'll update this review with our full verdict once we get behind the wheel of the Tiggo 7, but if its Jaecoo and Omoda counterparts are any indication of how it will drive, value for money might be the Chery's biggest draw. Check out the latest Chery Tiggo 7 deals here, or browse other Chinese cars instead. Carwow can even help you sell your car - so you're ready to switch when the time comes.

The Tiggo 7 is competitively priced, with the well-equipped, entry-level Aspire version going head to head with base models of the Dacia Bigster, in spite of offering a little more power and better standard equipment. The Chery Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid is a little more expensive than the cheapest Dacia Bigster Hybrid, but then the Chery is a plug-in hybrid, while the Bigster is a more straight-forward ‘full hybrid.’

Again, the Chery stuffs more equipment in and it matches the roomy Bigster for cabin and boot space. Needless to say, being priced against the Dacia means the Tiggo 7 massively undercuts the prices of similarly-sized SUVs with hybrid power, such as the Hyundai Tucson or the Volkswagen Tiguan.