I drove Chinese car named ‘best of 2026’ and can | Tech News

The famend car reviewing web site Carwow not too long ago named their car of the 12 months because the Chery Tiggo 8.

Chief Content Officer Mat Watson praised the Tiggo 8 for its worth for money and premium really feel. He stated: “Chery’s debut to the UK market couldn’t have impressed me more. The Tiggo 8 is one of those cars that seems almost too good to be true.

“It’s a premium-feeling SUV with loads of space for seven occupants, a cutting-edge hybrid system, all the luxury kit you could want… yet it costs about the same as a European hatchback.”

With such glowing reward for the Tiggo 8, I determined to search out out what the Tiggo 8 was like, by testing it for a weekend round London.

Specifications

The Tiggo 8’s RRP (Regular Retail Price) is between £28,545 and £36,545. Price smart, this makes it a very aggressive proposition in comparison with similarly-looking SUVs such because the likes of £70,000-£99,999 Audi Q7.

However, as I found, it’s one factor to seem like and be cheaper than the competitors, it’s one other to carry out just like the competitors.

The Tiggo 8 I had the was the Summit PHEV model with a 204bhp 1.5litre engine hooked up to a hybrid system. The RRP of this model is simply over £36,545 and a potential MPG (Miles Per Gallon) of up to 218mpg.

The Tiggo 8 is a seven-seater with a third row of seats popping up from the boot ground. With the seats, the boot is 117 litres, however with them down is 494 litres.

Interior

The inside of the Tiggo 8’s inside is a tribute to fashionable inside car trends of the early-2020s with a gigantic contact screen within the center, wi-fi charging pads, giant cupholders, and a deep inside storage box.

The touchscreen, other than a few bodily buttons on the steering wheel, is the means by means of which you alter and do all the pieces on the Tiggo 8. With European and Japanese producers shifting back to buttons, it feels a little behind the curve by means of which OEMS are following clients.

It feels, as Car Wow say, premium. It doesn’t really feel low cost, it doesn’t really feel as good to take a seat in as an Audi, BMW, MINI, or Honda (more on that under), however you don’t precisely really feel as when you’re driving a shack.

While the Tiggo 8 seems to be just like the competitors inside and out, it’s on the transfer that issues go south quicker than you can say the phrase Nán (Chinese for south).

Driving

You know what I stated about there being a distinction between wanting just like the competitors and performing just like the competitors? The Tiggo 8’s city behaviour is an instance of that.

Before I clarify I ought to stress that we solely had the car for a couple of days and so its actions had been restricted to working errands round south London and not on the motorway. As a end result, I would be the first to carry my palms up and admit this part due to this fact comes with a little asterisk.

That apart the experience is kind of crashy over potholes and pace bumps, the tyres can’t stand more than 15 to twenty % of throttle earlier than shedding grip from a standing begin, the steering’s really feel fades in and out, the gearbox could be very sluggish when going from drive to reverse and vice versa, and some options are simply down proper unusual.

For instance, the activation of the indicator throws up a little screen on the massive screen exhibiting you the rear three-quarter of the car. This serves no function different than to be a distraction and block data on the screen it’s overlaying.

Like many different vehicles the Tiggo 8 has keyless entry, which suggests it routinely unlocks as you strategy and locks as you stroll away. As you get in, it begins the ability unit (there’s no begin button). This is a car that tries to do as a lot for you as attainable and is lesser for it.

In the Tiggo 8’s defence, the steering does have sensations, generally, and brakes are good with loads of really feel. What’s more, the engine isn’t too noisy and it’s straightforward to park. And Chery has tried to offer the driving force as little to do and fear about as attainable. It has a giant vary, good mpg, is straightforward to drive, and has a large boot.

How it compares to a rival

In a phrase, poorly. The closest I have pushed to a rival to the Chery this 12 months is the Honda H-RV HEV. Just just like the Chery, it’s a sub-£40k hybrid car that makes use of the petrol engine as a generator to charge the batteries.

Just just like the Chery, the HR-V HEV has a 1.5 litre petrol engine driving the entrance wheels, though this one has 130bhp, 70 shy of the Tiggo 8.

Despite not being as sensible or as highly effective, the Honda remains to be the significantly better car. The infotainment and driver aids are much less intrusive, the steering has more really feel, you can alter the regenerative braking mid nook, and it has a begin button.

The HR-V HEV provides you the driving force more to do and more company within the operation of the hybrid system and on the identical time communicates significantly better to you what the platform is doing. It is a larger high quality product that prices much less.

Verdict

Asterisks apart, my principal takeaway from my weekend with the Chery Tiggo 8 is that it’s not a deeply flawed vehicle.

It is large, low cost, straightforward to drive, very economical, and properly made. But if I was to sum it up in a single phrase, sadly, it could be “disappointing”.

I discovered it irritating to make use of and not pretty much as good worth for money as fashions from different producers.

Rating: 5/10