Chery Tiggo 8 Pro is a lot of SUV
It does have a foible or two, but they don’t detract from its usefulness as a large and affordable family crossover, writes Phuti Mpyane
The Chery Tiggo 8 Pro is aimed at customers primarily looking for a seven-seat SUV. Size wise it easily competes with large family
SUVs such as the Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento, but at a lower price. The Tiggo 8 Pro Distinction on test is R496,900 while the more luxuriously equipped Executive retails for R574,900 — prices that challenge smaller five-seaters in the sector.
To its credit the Tiggo 8 Pro looks smart. It has a huge, jewelled grille and it packs digitalage features including smartphone compatibility. It allows for the easiest connection to music streaming I’ve experienced.
Inside, the driver’s seat and steering column are height adjustable and, at 4,722mm long, this large Chery is a paragon of family practicality.
There is good room up front and in the second row with notso-easy access to the rearmost seats through middle seats that have little adjustability. Here, space for adults can be negotiated with second-row passenger seats that move fore and aft, but like any seven-seat SUVs, rear-load capacity increases with the seats folded down.
The cabin has a vibe of satisfying quality, and Distinction-grade luxuries coalesce around the digital outlay and sensory functions.
Walk close to the Tiggo 8 Pro with the remote key in your pocket and it flashes lights and the doors unlock automatically. Walk away and it self-locks. The top-tier Executive model benefits from a panoramic sunroof, active cruise control, high-beam assist and lane departure warning as standard.
The engine is a 1.6 l turbocharged petrol four-cylinder with 145kW and 290Nm on tap mated to a seven-speed automatic transmission. You’d expect a small capacity motor lugging a fairly sized SUV to be sluggish, but it’s not. It’s a vigorous little motor, though Chery could have refined it in other areas, too.
This Chery has driving modes of Standard, Eco and Sport, but it can be plagued by overeager engine responses that at times lead to spinning its front wheels. You learn to moderate the throttle and, like its smaller siblings that are known for being thirsty, it consumed a relatively high 10.5l/100km average.
On the move, the turn signals prompts an active graphic of the vehicle superimposed on live images of the car’s surroundings captured by cameras. It also has a fairly good turning circle for its sheer size, and its high-speed turning is decent, too. The Tiggo 8 Pro does not lurch much through fast or slow bends.
The drive feels confident on varying surface conditions while the driver sits in a commanding, reasonably comfortable position with a good allround view.
A word of advice — especially in this season of rain and adventure travel it’s not a 4x4 by any means and should be treated as such. It only has hill descent control as an off-road tool of sorts. Stick to tarmac and gravel roads to avoid getting stuck.
Another foible was the wideangle interior rear-view mirror. It has a magnifying effect that made it hard to look at. Chery needs to address this issue.
But, in a nutshell, the Chery Tiggo8 Pro is a lot of SUV for the money and it’s impressive to see how far the brand has come in upping its ante from the previous Tiggo models it sold in SA.
The spacious cabin is a big plus and it’s packed with feelgood creature comforts for a fraction of the cost commanded by similarly sized alternatives from Europe, South Korea and Japan, and it benefits from Chery’s enticing 1-million kilometre engine warranty for the first owner. It’s really worth a look.