New Chery Tiggo 4 review: £20k SUV’s shortcomings are overshadowed by its unbeatable value
The Chery Tiggo 4 has the small SUV elite in its crosshairs, and it undercuts nearly all of them
Verdict
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.
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 has already outsold the family SUV stalwart that is the Nissan Qashqai. The mission is not yet complete, though, because the Ford Puma remains the nation’s best-selling car, leaving the firm hungry for the roughly 50,000 sales it attracts annually.
The Beijing-owned brand’s answer looks to be this: the Chery Tiggo 4. As with the Ford, it’s a compact B-segment SUV that’s aimed at small families, with order books expected to open for UK customers in the coming months.
Perhaps the Tiggo 4’s price is its greatest asset. It starts from just a fiver under £20,000, which is roughly £7,000 – or in statistical terms, 25 per cent – cheaper than the 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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Two versions will be offered at launch, Aspire and Summit. As is typically the case with Chinese cars, the value proposition is strong, with the entry-level Aspire offering all the kit you really need as standard. Included are twin 12.3-inch screens, dual-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring and a reversing camera.
Chery expects most buyers will step up to the top-spec Summit, which costs an additional £2,000. Doing so nets you heated leather seats, a heated steering wheel, an upgraded stereo, a 360-degree camera system, front and rear parking sensors and a powered bootlid.
Visually, there is very little to distinguish the two trims, with both sharing the same set of 17-inch alloy wheels. While the Summit does get tinted windows to provide a more premium look, the overall design of the Tiggo 4 remains in line with other, larger models from the Tiggo tribe. Sleek headlights flank a large front grille, while rear a full-width rear LED light bar makes Chery’s smallest model look a lot posher than its £19,995 price tag suggests.
Regardless, no matter which version you choose there’s only one powertrain offered at launch: a 1.5-litre full-hybrid petrol unit. Most rivals at this price point only offer more simple mild-hybrid engines, with the full-hybrid Toyota Yaris Cross costing similar money to the pricier Puma.
Despite packing a 1.83kWh battery pack to enhance efficiency and travel on electric power for very short distances, the Chery Tiggo 4 isn’t all that much more economical than its petrol-powered rivals; we only managed around 53mpg on our drive which comprised towns, country lanes and motorways. This is bang-on what was quoted by Chery, but it’s still not quite as impressive as the 60mpg possible in hybrid versions of the Renault Captur.
What the Tiggo 4 does major on is power; with 201bhp and 310Nm of torque, Chery says 0-62mph takes 8.9 seconds. How brisk this feels ultimately depends on the situation. From a standstill, flooring 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.
Things are a lot more refined once you’re up to speed; overtaking on a motorway is fuss-free given the abundance of torque, after which the petrol engine settles down to an unobtrusive murmur. There isn’t a huge amount of wind noise, either, although there is noticeable tyre roar on faster roads.
Yet while the Chery Tiggo 4 is far from uncomfortable, the ride is a little firmer than we’d like; imperfections in the road tend to generate jolts that reverberate through the cabin. In a similar vein, Chery’s so-called ‘Super Hybrid’ engine isn’t the roughest we’ve encountered, either, but poor fitment of the rear-view mirror means it tends to vibrate harshly, thus making it difficult to see what’s behind you.
Forward and side visibility are thankfully solid and the Tiggo 4’s light steering makes manoeuvres a breeze. At higher speeds, though, it does feel like there’s somewhat of a disconnect between the steering wheel and the front axle, offering little engagement on a twisty road. Switching the Tiggo into its ‘Sport’ setting does sharpen the throttle response and add weight to the steering, but it also makes the brake pedal overly grabby.
Most of the time, you’ll be cruising around at a more relaxed pace and, thankfully, the Tiggo 4’s interior is a pleasant place in which to do so. As with its exterior, the design of the Chery SUV’s cabin doesn’t take any great risks, but it generally works well and, on a surface level, feels more premium than pricier rivals. We welcome Chery’s restrained usage of gloss-black plastics, which are easily scratched and marked, as well as the inclusion of the leather-effect trim on the tops of the doors that really does elevate the perceived sense of quality.
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 just hollow. The touch-sensitive climate controls also feel like a bit of an afterthought and don’t always respond to your inputs. When they do, the temperature readings annoyingly take up the entirety of the main screen, while turning on the heated seats require a minimum of three button presses or more.
This moves us on neatly to the twin screens which are neatly housed side-by-side on the dashboard. As with the climate controls, their integration feels somewhat perfunctory; no built-in satellite navigation means you’re forced to use Apple CarPlay or Android Auto – perhaps a blessing given how convoluted the rest of the system feels. The main touchscreen is quite responsive to inputs, though, while the digital instrument cluster can be configured to show your average efficiency or tyre pressures, but sadly no sat-nav maps or directions.
It might be the smallest car Chery offers – the more stylish Omoda 5 and Jaecoo 5 are marginally longer – but the Tiggo 4 nevertheless feels squarely aimed at young families. There’s enough room for adults in the second row, while dedicated air vents bolsters back-seat comfort. We like the inclusion of blind-spot sensors in the rear to warn your child against flinging their door open into oncoming traffic, although we do wonder why the chargepoint mounted on the back of the front centre armrest uses older USB-A technology, instead of the latest USB-C connection. Finally, the Tiggo 4’s 430-litre boot is roomy, if not exactly loaded with practical touches.
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| Model: | Chery Tiggo 4 Summit |
| Price: | £21,995 |
| Powertrain: | 1.5-litre full-hybrid petrol |
| Power/torque: | 201bhp/310Nm |
| Transmission: | Three-speed DHT auto, front-wheel drive |
| 0-62mph: | 8.9 seconds |
| Top speed: | 93mph |
| Economy/CO2: | 53.2mpg/120g/km |
| Size (L/W/H): | 4,320/1,831/1,653mm |
| On sale: | June 2026 |
