Chery Tiggo 4 review

Our opinion on the Chery Tiggo 4

The Chery Tiggo 4 is a good, if not particularly inspiring small SUV. It's roomy, powerful and reasonably efficient, plus base models offer plenty of standard kit. But at £7k less than a Ford Puma, price is the Tiggo's trump card. Sales figures show that Brits favour value above all else – and for this reason, this cheapest Chery is very hard to ignore.

About the Chery Tiggo 4

Chinese conglomerate Chery’s blitzkrieg of the British car market has thus far been an unprecedented success; the Jaecoo 7, for example, only arrived in the UK last year and is already challenging best-sellers like the Nissan Qashqai and Ford Puma for sales.

The Beijing-owned brand’s Chery Tiggo 4 is targeted squarely at the Ford Puma in the lucrative small SUV class where those looking for small family cars tend to shop. It enters a tough segment, going up against the likes of the Nissan Juke, Toyota Yaris Cross, Renault Captur, MG ZS and our favourite small petrol-powered SUV, the Dacia Duster.

The smallest model in Chery’s Tiggo line-up of SUVs, the 4 is offered in two trim levels – Aspire and Summit. There’s only one powertrain offered at launch: a 1.5-litre petrol hybrid which compares well with rival models in that most only offer 48-volt mild hybrid assistance.

Chery Tiggo 4 prices and latest deals

The Tiggo 4’s price is perhaps its greatest asset. It starts from just a fiver under £20,000, which is roughly £7,000 – or 25 per cent – cheaper than a Ford Puma. Chery says with a £5,000 deposit, customers could be paying as little as £250 per month on a four-year PCP finance deal.

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Opting for the top-spec Summit model will only cost you an additional £2,000, meaning a fully-equipped Tiggo 4 dressed in optional metallic paintwork will set you back less than £22,500. This is significantly cheaper than similarly-specced rivals.

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Driving the Chery Tiggo 4 is a pretty mindless experience in the sense that keen drivers will be disappointed, but anyone wanting a generally fuss-free means for getting from A-to-B won’t have all too many qualms.

The steering, for example, is incredibly light which makes manoeuvring a breeze; even when we drove the Tiggo 4 through Milton Keynes, the onslaught of roundabouts was no issue whatsoever. 

Problems do arise when you start pushing the Tiggo 4 through corners at speed; here, the steering can feel somewhat vague, making it difficult to ascertain what direction the front wheels are facing. Switching the Tiggo into its ‘Sport’ setting does add weight to the steering and sharpen the throttle response, but the brake pedal remains grabby at low speeds regardless.

With steering that’s overassisted to a fault, you’d think the Chery Tiggo 4 would instead focus on comfort, but we found that not to be the case. While it’s generally quiet at motorway speeds with only a bit of tyre roar seeping into the cabin, a brittle ride means you feel the ruts and bumps of Britain’s broken roads a little more than we’d like. A Skoda Kamiq will be gentler on your spine in this regard, but the Tiggo 4 is by no means uncomfortable.

Also rather overbearing are the Tiggo 4’s driver assistance features; throughout our time with the car, we were incessantly hounded by the over-sensitive lane-keeping assist system. We were also nagged frequently by the driver attention monitoring system for taking our eyes off the road, despite the fact we were only checking our speed and mirrors.

Performance, 0-60mph acceleration and top speed

As mentioned, there’s only one engine offered in the Chery Tiggo 4 at launch: a 1.5-litre full-hybrid petrol unit with 201bhp and 310Nm of torque. While Chery says it’s capable of 0-62mph in 8.9 seconds, how brisk this feels ultimately depends on the situation.

We found that from a standstill, pushing hard on the throttle results in the Dedicated Hybrid Transmission (DHT) gearbox fumbling around for a moment only to send the revs flying upwards once it’s ready. This generates a rather unpleasant groan from the petrol engine akin to a teenager’s reaction when asked to put the bins out.

At higher speeds things do improve; the rather substantial amount of torque available becomes apparent, making motorway overtakes a breeze. Ultimately, though, while the Tiggo 4 offers an abundance of power for a small SUV, the somewhat portly 1.5-tonne kerb weight combined with its lacklustre handling make for a much less exciting package than the headline figures might suggest.

“The calibration of the Tiggo 4’s steering is disconcertingly inconsistent; it starts off heavy then becomes incredibly loose, offering minimal feedback from the road.”  - Tom Jervis, consumer reporter.

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Starting at under £20,000, the Chery Tiggo 4 is, at face value, a cracking deal when you compare it with rivals – especially when you do so like-for-like. Most people don’t pay cash, though, so we’d recommend keeping your eyes peeled for deals offered by more established manufacturers that might mean rivals with higher list prices are available for similar monthly payments.

Where you probably won’t save all that much money is in terms of fuel; while on our drive we got near enough bang-on the 53mpg that Chery claims, the Tiggo 4 offers similar running costs to an efficient petrol model, despite its hybrid powertrain. Still, this means that CO2 emissions are pretty low, undercutting even the Toyota Yaris Cross.

One area where the Toyota has the Tiggo trumped is in terms of insurance; the Yaris Cross sits 10 insurance groups lower than the Chery, meaning owners of the latter will pay higher premiums. Thankfully, the Tiggo 4 is priced well below the threshold for the expensive car supplement of VED road tax, meaning you’ll just be paying the standard rate.

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Open the door to the Chery Tiggo 4 and you’ll be immediately taken aback by how premium its cabin looks. As with its exterior, the Chery SUV’s interior design doesn’t take any great risks, but it generally works well and, on a surface level, feels posher than rivals from Ford, Toyota and MG.

Note that we said ‘on a surface level’ and ‘perceived’, because flick any of the interior trim or knock your keys against the centre console and you’ll find it’s all as hollow as a politician's promise. Poor fitment of the rear-view mirror on our test car also meant it vibrated significantly, making it difficult to see what’s behind you.

We appreciate Chery’s refrained use of easily-marked gloss black trim, though. What we don’t appreciate is how the touch-sensitive climate controls feel like a bit of an afterthought; they don’t always respond to your inputs and when they do, the temperature readings annoyingly take up the entirety of the main screen. Turning on the heated seats requires a minimum of three taps of the display, which seems excessive.

While the heated seats are the preserve of the top-spec Summit model, base spec cars do get twin 12.3-inch screens, dual-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring and a reversing camera. Stepping up to the Summit adds those aforementioned heated seats, as well as a heated steering wheel, leatherette upholstery, an upgraded stereo, a 360-degree camera system, front and rear parking sensors and a powered bootlid.

Infotainment, sat-nav and stereo

The Chery Tiggo 4’s dual-screen set-up might be reminiscent of the one in the Mercedes A-Class, but its implementation feels somewhat perfunctory; a lack of built-in satellite navigation means you’re forced to use wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto – perhaps a blessing given how convoluted the rest of the system feels. There’s no home screen with configurable widgets and certain functions and settings are buried within obscure menus.

The main touchscreen itself might not be all that bright or vibrant, but it nevertheless responds quickly to your inputs. We were far from impressed with the sound from the Tiggo 4 Summit’s upgraded six-speaker sound system, though, which offered acoustics like the inside of a baked bean tin.

It’s also frustrating how the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster lacks much scope for configuration. You can pick from one of two appearances for the dials, but other than that your only choice is whether to display your tyre pressures or fuel economy. This problem isn’t exclusive to the Chery – lots of other manufacturers sleep on the untapped potential of instrument cluster screens – but the full-screen maps offered on the Renault Captur and Skoda Kamiq show what’s possible.

“Given the Tiggo 4’s price tag, it’s surprising to see an interior draped in leather and metal-effect materials. The lacklustre infotainment system brings things back down to earth, though.” - Tom Jervis, Consumer Reporter.  

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The Chery Tiggo 4’s boxy SUV shape means there’s plenty of room inside. With the driver’s seat in position for an average-height adult, we found that there’s still sufficient space in the rear to carry two more adults. There is a third seat in the middle, but this is only wide enough to squeeze into in emergencies.

Fold down that middle seat and this transforms into an armrest for rear occupants, complete with cupholders – although sadly these aren’t adaptable, meaning some drinks can be easily knocked over. Two Isofix mounting points are housed within plastic covers and given the rear doors open decently wide, fitting a child seat should be pretty straightforward.

Dimensions and size

The Chery Tiggo 4 is amongst the largest cars in its class, coming in at slightly shorter, but taller and wider than a Dacia Duster. Despite this, it’s still relatively easy to park. At 11 metres the Tiggo’s turning circle is marginally wider than other small SUVs, but strong all-around visibility nevertheless ensures parking and manoeuvres lack trepidation.

Boot space

The Chery Tiggo 4’s boot might be marginally smaller than a Puma or Duster’s, but it’s still more than sufficient for small families, with enough space for a large suitcase. That is, if you can get it inside. 

While the Tiggo 4’s boot opening is large and top models get a powered bootlid, there is an awkward hump in the boot floor. This is obviously a lackadaisical attempt at making room to house some of the car’s electrical components and it makes sliding larger items inside difficult.

Open the rear doors, pull a lever on the top of the rear seat backrests and you can fold them down in a 60:40 split, expanding space to 1,155 litres. 

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It’s difficult to say how reliable the Chery Tiggo 4 will be given it's a new (to the UK) car from a new (again, to the UK) brand. What we can say, though, is that Chery is now fully established here in the UK, with dozens of dealerships under either its own banner, or its Jaecoo and Omoda sister brands.

The badge-engineered Ebro s400 (effectively a Spanish version of the Tiggo 4) was tested by Euro NCAP in 2025 and awarded a four-star safety rating. While protection of the driver’s chest was described as “marginal”, the Tiggo 4 can be praised for its long list of standard safety equipment. This includes: autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assist, lane departure warning, blind spot monitoring, parking sensors and a reversing camera.

• Best buy: Chery Tiggo 4 Summit

Given there’s just one powertrain available at launch for the Tiggo 4, picking which version to choose is simply a case of selecting a trim and colour. While the base model has all the basics, we’d recommend splashing out an extra £2,000 and picking the Summit model as this really helps elevate the overall package and represents great value considering the extra kit it gets. In fact, Chery believes the vast majority of its retail customers will indeed make this step up.

Chery Tiggo 4 alternatives

The small SUV segment is perhaps the most overdiluted in the car industry right now, so the Tiggo 4 has multiple alternatives. 

If you’re looking for a fun drive, few cars in this segment can beat the Ford Puma which can be specified with a slick manual gearbox with its base engine configuration. The Dacia Duster, like the Chery, offers strong practicality at a bargain price, but its level of standard equipment isn’t quite as generous. A Renault Captur, Nissan Juke, MG ZS or Toyota Yaris Cross are your choices if you want a full-hybrid that isn’t the Chery, although all of the above are more expensive at face value.