New Chery Tiggo 9 2025 review: big on seats, big on value

Verdict

As we’ve become accustomed to from Chery, the Tiggo 9 offers great equipment levels, competitive pricing and an impressive plug-in hybrid system. Being a family-oriented SUV, it’s got competition from within the Chery stable as the Tiggo 8 PHEV is almost as practical, but around £10,000 less. The Tiggo 9’s driving experience lets it down slightly, though most big families will happily overlook that aspect. 

Chery's plan to take on the UK market started with the Tiggo 7 – a family SUV designed to rival the Nissan Qashqai, followed by the larger Tiggo 8 SUV. Soon, we’ll have the B-segment Tiggo 4 SUV to act as an entry-point to Chery’s range, but here our focus is on the flagship – the new Chery Tiggo 9.

While it might seem difficult to get our heads around the masses of new metal coming out of China, Chery has at least kept the trim-level structure of the Tiggo 9 simple. There’s just one specification and one plug-in hybrid powertrain, the Tiggo 9 is also available exclusively as a seven-seater. 

There are a few seven-seat SUVs that occupy a similar space to the Chery. The Peugeot 5008, Volkswagen Tayron, Skoda Kodiaq, Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento to name a few. Out of that bunch, only the Peugeot, Hyundai and Kia come with seven seats and plug-in hybrid technology. 

With a price tag of £43,105, the Chery is over £15,000 cheaper than the Santa FE plug-in hybrid and over £5,000 less than the Sorento, so its closest rival is the cheapest version of the Peugeot 5008 PHEV, which costs £43,360. 

The Tiggo 9 – just as we’ve found with the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 – is superbly appointed, despite its keen pricing. In the one-and-only ‘Summit’ trim, there are heated and ventilated leather seats front and rear, a powered tailgate, 540-degree cameras that offer decent clarity and automatic parking. Instead of making their own sound system, like other Chinese brands such as IM have done, Chery has put a a 14-speaker Sony stereo in the Tiggo 9 and it sounds fantastic, there’s also a panoramic glass roof (which didn’t creak, unlike the one in the Tiggo 8 we tested). If you want this kind of kit in the Peugeot 5008 PHEV you’ll be looking at the GT which costs £3,835 more. 

31

Inside, the cabin design is a bit more swish than it is in the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8, though it’s still focused on minimalism. Chery proudly states that the infotainment on the 15.6-inch central touchscreen is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip – and what this means in the real world is a lightning-quick response to inputs and a rapid ability to flick through menus. 

The main screen isn’t perfect, however. To use the ‘control centre’ menu of the Tiggo 9 (to do things like schedule charging, switch driving modes, adjust screen brightness and select hill-descent control) you have to swipe down and occasionally it requires a couple of attempts. Both the main display and 10.25-inch driver’s display are clear and have easy to follow menu layouts, but you do have to position the steering wheel fairly high up in order for the driver’s screen to be unobstructed.

With almost zero physical controls available, Chery puts the onus on using its voice assistance programme. Unfortunately it’s not the best system we’ve encountered, and simple instructions like turning the heated steering wheel on or setting ambient temperature can flummox it. 

Elsewhere, it’s easy to see how the Tiggo 9 could operate as a useful family SUV. There are loads of storage areas – including a split-opening section under the front armrest that’s big enough to store water bottles upright, large door bins (that can also cater to large bottles) and electrically operated sliding and reclining middle-row seats. 

Overall quality is good, too. The faux wood-grain dash has a nice, textured feel, scratchy plastics are reserved for trims low down in the cabin and around the rearmost seats, and the seats themselves are nicely upholstered and comfortable. Heated seat buttons and a climate panel for the middle-row passengers are classy touches as well.  

31

Tall adults might find the third row seats a squeeze in many SUVs, but the Tiggo 9 could genuinely provide room for seven people over six-feet tall – albeit on fairly short journeys. Sitting in the third row, we didn’t find it to be any more accommodating than the slightly smaller Tiggo 8. With all seven seats in place there’s a fairly miserly 143-litre boot but with the third-row down you’ll get 819 litres, extending to a van-like 2,021 litres in two-seat mode. 

The ‘Chery Super Hybrid’ plug-in hybrid unit in the Tiggo 9 is a little different from the Tiggo 8’s. It’s got way more power, a much bigger battery and longer range as a result. There’s still a 1.5-litre petrol engine, but it’s mated to three electric motors (two at the front and one at the rear) for 428bhp and all-wheel drive. 

It’s not the kind of car you’d take off-roading and despite having an AWD system and masses of torque, the towing capacity stands at a fairly average 1,500kg. It feels like an EV to drive, which shouldn’t be too much of a surprise when you factor in the colossal (for a PHEV) 34kWh battery, which provides WLTP range of 91 miles on electric only. The powertrain prioritises electric-only running in all of its modes, so there’s always instant yet smooth power available. When the petrol engine is coaxed into life, either by charging the battery at a very slow rate or for extra power, it’s a little bit gruff-sounding, which isn’t helped by the otherwise refined experience of pure-EV driving. 

It feels its size from behind the wheel, too – emphasised by overly light steering, a visibly long bonnet and a hyper-responsive brake pedal. The softly sprung suspension doesn’t help in this regard, as at low speeds the Tiggo 9 can wallow around. At higher speeds, the ride remains float and there’s an occasional patter through the wheels on broken surfaces – we certainly wouldn’t want rims larger than the standard 20-inches. Changing between the various driving modes doesn’t alter the driving experience on the road, though the AWD system adds Snow, Sand and Off-Road functions.. 

While the petrol engine charges the battery when it hits 20 per cent, you can also plug it in and there’s an excellent 71kW maximum charge rate to provide a 30 to 80 per cent top up in roughly 18 minutes. Unlike the 5008 PHEV, the Tiggo 9 also has vehicle-to-load capability, so you can charge things like laptops and camping gear from a 6.6kW output.