Volkswagen Tayron vs Chery Tiggo 8: Mat Watson tests two seven-seaters with a £13,000 price difference

Over the last 25 years, I’ve tested a lot of cars, but very few have offered quite as much space and standard equipment for the money as the Chery Tiggo 8. It looks like fantastic value for money when compared to German competitors, but how does it compare in reality?

Well, I’ve also spent a lot of time with the new Volkswagen Tayron, and on paper it’s quite similar to the Tiggo 8. Both are seven-seaters, available with petrol or plug-in hybrid engines and they’re packed with tech as well, but the Volkswagen is a whopping £13,000 more expensive.

So what are you paying extra for, and is it worth shelling out for the VW badge? I’m going to compare the two cars to help you decide.

Volkswagen Tayron vs Chery Tiggo 8: prices and deals

Let’s start by talking about money, because that’s why I wanted to compare these two cars in the first place.

The Volkswagen Tayron starts from just over £41,600, and you can save an average of around £2,000 through Carwow at the time of writing. Leasing prices also start from around £390 per month.

You get quite a lot of kit as standard. All cars come with adaptive cruise control, LED headlights, a 12.9-inch touchscreen and a reversing camera. However, you’d be mad not to step up to the Match model, because that adds heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a surround-view camera and a power tailgate, all for only about £200 extra

That’s a decent level of kit, however the Chery Tiggo 8 blows the Tayron out of the water when it comes to value. It starts from just under £28,500, and you can save an average of around £2,800 through Carwow at the time of writing. Lease prices also start from around £290 per month.

So you’re saving around £13,000 compared to the Volkswagen, and you still get adaptive cruise control, LED headlights, a 15.6-inch touchscreen, a surround-view camera and a Sony audio system.

But that’s not all, because for an extra £3,000 you can upgrade to the Summit model, which adds heated front and rear seats, ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a power tailgate and a head-up display. That’s more kit than the Tayron, while still costing £10,000 less.

Volkswagen Tayron vs Chery Tiggo 8: design and desirability

Buying a family-friendly SUV doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice on style, and the Volkswagen Tayron is a really smart-looking car.

The full-width front light bar helps it stand out, and having a VW badge on the nose will be enough to sway some. You can also get an R-Line version with some sporty trinkets, such as larger alloy wheels and a more aggressive-looking bodykit.

It looks classy, but that’s not to say the Chery Tiggo 8 doesn’t. Considering it costs less than £30,000, it punches well above its weight on the design front. There are definite hints of Audi-ness in that massive front grille, and I like the slim LED lights as well.

I reckon the Chery badge adds an air of mystery as well – onlookers may not immediately know what it is and that’s cool in its own way. Neither of these cars are as exciting to look at as a Peugeot 5008, but they both look suitably posh.

Volkswagen Tayron vs Chery Tiggo 8: interior and practicality

The Volkswagen Tayron feels just as posh inside as you’d expect a German SUV to. Everything feels really nice and solid, and there are loads of soft-touch materials around the place as well. If you dig down to the lower door cards you’ll find some scratchy plastics, but you have to be looking for them.

As standard you get a 12.9-inch central touchscreen, but this can be upgraded to a 15-inch screen on higher-spec models as part of a £1,160 option pack. Regardless of which one you get, the display is crisp and responsive, but I find the touch sensitive climate control sliders annoying to use.

As for practicality, the Tayron offers loads of rear space. Headroom is brilliant, as is legroom, and the seats themselves are really comfy. You can also slide the middle row forwards to create more space for people in the very back, but there’s still plenty of room even with the chairs pushed forward.

You get 345 litres of boot space with all seven seats in place, which is a whopping 228 litres more than you get in the Chery Tiggo 8. Fold the third row away and you’ll liberate 850 litres of luggage space, 150-litres up on the Chery.

The Tiggo 8 isn’t quite as spacious in the back seats either. Legroom in the second row is still really good, but the third row is only really suitable for kids. It is around 7cm shorter than the VW, but the Tayron still makes better use of the available space.

It’s not all bad for the Chery though, because at least you can get the plug-in hybrid version with seven seats. The Tayron PHEV sacrifices the third row to accommodate the electrical gubbins.

And, once again, the Tiggo 8 hides its bargain price tag inside. It feels posher than some other German cars, such as the BMW X3, thanks to nicely damped switchgear and metallic trim around the place. It’s not quite as premium-feeling as the Tayron, but for the money it’s more than close enough.

You also get a 15.6-inch touchscreen as standard across the range, and it’s really easy to use. Like the Volkswagen though, I just wish there were some more physical buttons for the climate control.

Volkswagen Tayron vs Chery Tiggo 8: engines and driving

So far, the Chery Tiggo 8 has done a great job of hiding the fact it’s a cheap car. It looks premium and feels posh inside, but out on the road is where the cracks start to show.

There are two engines on offer: a 147hp 1.6-litre petrol, which you should avoid because it’s noisy and thirsty, and the much better 1.5-litre plug-in hybrid. The latter is smooth, punchy and can do up to 56 miles on electric power alone.

It’s the steering and suspension which lets the Tiggo 8 down. The steering is way too light and you get no feedback through it, which is fine around town but doesn’t inspire any confidence on a twisty road. I also noticed that the steering wheel can kick back in your hand if you hit a bump mid-corner – it’s a strange mixture of feeling totally disconnected from the road, but also not isolated from the bumps.

It’s not all bad news though, because the Tiggo 8 is much better on the motorway. It has insulated windows which keep the noise down, and it feels nice and stable at speed.

That said, the Volkswagen Tayron is a much better bet if you’re at all interested in what a car is like to drive. It’s by no means sporty, but it feels much more planted and predictable through the corners. You can feel what’s going on beneath you, but it also irons out the bumps really nicely.

Choosing the right engine for your Tayron is a bit trickier than it in the Tiggo 8, because there are quite a few petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid options. If you do a lot of driving in town, or you’re a company car driver, I’d go for the 1.5-litre petrol plug-in hybrid. It’s punchy and smooth, and you can do up to 73 miles on electric power alone.

There’s a 2.0-litre diesel option which will be better if you do a lot of motorway miles, because it’ll return around 50mpg on a run. The 1.5-litre 150hp petrol is decent as an all-rounder, but I’d avoid the 265hp 2.0-litre petrol as it’s quite expensive and thirsty.

Volkswagen Tayron vs Chery Tiggo 8: my final verdict

So then, what’s my final verdict on these two cars?

Well the Volkswagen Tayron is undeniably a very good seven-seater, and it’s the one to choose if you want something which has the biggest boot and is better to drive.

But ultimately, I don’t think it feels £13,000 more expensive than the Chery Tiggo 8. The interior is lovely, it’s more than spacious enough and you get so much standard equipment for your money.

And it’s this incredible value for money which is why the Chery Tiggo 8 wins this test, as well as our Car Of The Year award for 2026.

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