Chery Tiggo 7 - A price too tempting to ignore
Dominic Toretto from the Fast & Furious movies is always emphasising the importance of family. The word ‘family’ is pretty much in every scene of the later films, sandwiched in between cars jumping across cliffs and flying up into outer space, naturally. Sigh. I miss the early days when they’d just have a 10 second race at the lights and be done with it. Anyway, the point of all this is that, despite banging on about family regularly, does Dominic Toretto drive a family car? The answer is, of course, no. Well, perhaps in his older age, Toretto would consider trading in his signature 1970 Dodge Charger and potentially look at getting something truly designed for family use, like a Chery Tiggo 7 or 8.
Chery launches in the UK
Chinese brand Chery staged a dazzling launch event at the end of August in London, which I was fortunate enough to be invited to (due to John Marcar’s busy schedule leaving him unable to attend). Although it may be a new brand in the UK, Chery’s story began in 1997 in a small facility in Wuhu, China, taking its name from the word ‘cheery’ and becoming the second oldest Chinese car manufacturer.
The brand launched its first Chery sedan in 1999 before expanding and beginning to export cars internationally in 2001. In the subsequent decades, the company experienced exponential growth, becoming China’s largest vehicle exporter for 22 consecutive years, with cars sold in over 80 countries worldwide. By 2025, the brand had sold over 5 million cars globally. Amazingly, 24 of the 25 staff members who originally worked there at the beginning are still with the brand.
While Chery is part of the same stable as the recently launched Omeda and Jaecoo, the plan is for Chery to stand on its own feet as a standalone brand. One of the Chery UK staff members giving a presentation stressed that the brand has to “earn the trust” of the UK customer.
Two SUVs - the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 - were chosen to launch the brand in the UK, with ICE and plug-in hybrid versions on offer to potential new customers. I was able to look at them both from the outside and inside at the Indigo O2 event; however, it would be a week later and over 100 miles away in the Worcestershire countryside where I’d be able to get behind the wheel.
Tiggo 7 ICE
First up was the five-seater ICE Tiggo 7, which is powered by a 1.6 petrol engine putting out 145bhp and 275 Nm of torque. This enables you to accelerate from 0-62 mph in 9.4 seconds and reach a top speed of 112 mph, but all that jazz isn’t what the Tiggo 7 is all about.
The name of the game here is space. How much space, I hear you ask? It starts with a minimum of 426 litres, but with the premium feel seats folded down, that increases to a whopping 1672 litres. It’s perfect for family holidays, and the large amount of safety tech will put your mind at rest in that regard. Before setting off, I spent a little bit of time familiarising myself with the interior, which was obviously roomy but strangely snug at the same time, and had plenty of storage throughout.
Out on the road
I was immediately thrown into the deep end in the 1.86m wide Tiggo 7, having to negotiate a couple of miles of single-track country lane out of the venue where the test drive was being held. Good for spatial awareness, I guess. After carefully navigating my way past one gentleman approaching me in a hatchback, I got to grips with the Tiggo 7’s massive presence on the road. I won’t lie, it is a pretty good feeling being so high up, and I comfortably sailed over various obstacles that came my way, whether it be unspecified animal droppings or recently deceased hedgehogs - the Tiggo 7 was able to do it all. There would be no need for any of the Tiggo 7’s eight airbags to be used today.
The route then changed to a long stretch of A road, and the leisurely drive enabled my mind to wander and think about the true purpose of the Chery Tiggo 7. As a 32 year old single person, I am probably not the intended target audience for this car. During presentations at the launch, the videos hammered home that this was a comfortable, family car with clips of the Tiggo being filled with inflatables and such as they headed to the beach.
This almost led me to having a minor existential crisis about whether I pack it all in, move to the countryside and have a family, as if the Tiggo 7 was beginning to play mind control tricks on me. Should I stop kidding myself about one day owning an Aston Martin? Passing a road sign as Worcestershire became Herefordshire showed directions towards Hereford – a place I’d recently been for a friend’s wedding. Slightly spooky, was the world trying to give me literal signs?
Anyway, back to the car. The petrol version was smooth for the most part, although a couple of hills certainly tested its 1.6 litre engine, something that later wouldn’t be as much of an issue in the plug-in hybrid version. I drove past a couple of fellow journalists who’d pulled over their Tiggo 7s, and from the rear, it almost has a look of a Land Rover Discovery Sport about it. From the front, you could mistake it for a lot of the other SUVs on the road at the moment. Passing Range Rovers, Porsche Cayenne’s and a BYD Seal U DM-i - something I’d reviewed last year - showed the varying levels of potential expenditure when shopping for an SUV.
Tiggo 7 Plug-in hybrid
I arrived at the halfway house, where I’d switch into the plug-in hybrid version of the Tiggo 7.
Let’s go through the numbers. The plug-in hybrid can accelerate from 0-62mph in 8.5 seconds and has a top speed of 112mph. More importantly, it offers a range of 745 miles, including 56 miles in pure EV mode, with the 18.4kWh battery able to charge from 30-80% in 20 minutes. Ahead of an upcoming drive to Newcastle and back from Dorset, that sort of range would definitely come in handy there.
Out on the road, the hills that I’d struggled with in the petrol version were noticeably easier to tackle, and on the long stretch of A road, I had the confidence to overtake a trio of cyclists with ease. The pure EV mode would be an attractive feature for those doing a lot of city driving.
I pulled over to a lay-by and had a play with the infotainment system, which spreads across the width of the cabin and is made up of a dual-screen setup with two 12.3-inch displays, one central and the other in the instrument panel. It is easy to use in some respects, but the climate controls were a little frustrating. Large touchscreen infotainment systems don’t thrill me with the abundance of windows and things to control, but I’m sure I’d get used to it over time.
I fancied listening to some tunes, so turned the radio on to the first station I could find, which was BBC Radio 2, and the final 10 minutes of Vernon Kay’s ‘Tracks of my Years’ with guest Toya Wilcox. Toya’s choice of ‘Oops I did it again’ was a good chance to test the speakers, and the bass combined with Britney’s vocal range came across pretty crisply. For the final track, it was Billie Eilish’s ‘No Time to Die’, the one film (and potentially my worst ranked) from my favourite film franchise of James Bond, where Bond settles down and has a family. Uh oh…the Tiggo 7 was back playing its mind tricks once again.
What more can I say? It was another pleasant drive in the country. Arriving back at base and stepping out of the car, I was shown a few of the Tiggo 7’s neat features, such as the boot being able to open by simply walking up to it. Pretty helpful when carrying a load of heavy shopping.
A brief look inside the Tiggo 8
Such was the length of time I spent in both versions of the Tiggo 7, I was only able to sit inside the seven-seater Tiggo 8 briefly, but I wanted to do so in order to make an immediate comparison.
To begin with, finding one to sit in immediately frazzled my brain, as the 7 and 8 look very alike to the naked eye. When I eventually found an 8, the extra two seats clearly made a noticeable difference from the inside, and there were deviations in the cockpit too, with an iPad-style infotainment screen in the middle and a screen that was perfectly sized to see behind the gap in the steering wheel. Additional touches like a wireless charging pad for your phone are extra conveniences that might sway the punters.
I suppose the only thing that it really comes down to is how much space you want (or how many kids you’re looking to have). While I found the petrol version of the Tiggo 7 to be an adequate driving experience, I was much more impressed with the plug-in hybrid and would certainly go for that if given the choice.
Prices
Any opinion regarding the driving merits of both the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 can be negated by the undeniably attractive pricing.
The Tiggo 7 starts at £24,995 OTR for the ICE version and £29,995 OTR for the plug-in hybrid version, while the Tiggo 8 is priced from £28,545 OTR for the ICE version and from £33,545 OTR for the plug-in hybrid. These starting prices are for the standard Aspire trim, which rises by a few grand if you were to go for the additional benefits of the Summit spec.
There’s no doubt that for non-petrolheads and people who aren’t fussed by brand heritage, such prices in today’s market will be difficult to ignore.
The future for Chery
So what does the future hold for Chery? The next six months will see two more models join the range, and the number of Chery dealers is projected to jump from 25 to 100 by the end of 2026 as the brand attempts to make its mark in the UK. There are also plans to add a UK R&D centre to the 12 that Chery currently has across the world.
Being impressed with the feel of EV mode in the plug-in hybrid Tiggo 7, I asked one of the Chery team whether a pure EV Tiggo would be something on the horizon. While they wouldn’t commit to the idea of it being an immediate proposition, the door was left ajar for the possibility of one, especially given the growing UK shift towards EV production.
All in all, while the Tiggo 7 and 8 may not be ones for driving purists, the reality is that the price of both is difficult to ignore in the SUV segment. It is probably pound for pound, one of the most sensible choices on the market if you’re after a family car.
And Torretto, if you’re reading this, this might be a proper ‘family’ car to stick in the garage, just don’t expect to smoke a Nissan Skyline in a 10-second drag race.
READ MORE: Chery UK launches at London event with new benchmark-setting ICE and plug-in hybrid SUVs
words: Mike Booth
pictures: Chery UK