CHERY PICK? (some text hidden) --NONE--

By Jonathan Crouch

Is the Tiggo 8 7-seat SUV the pick of Chinese maker's Tiggo crossover range? Jonathan Crouch takes a look.

Ten Second Reviewword count: 46

Add Chery's Tiggo 8 family SUV to your list if you're looking for a great value family seven-seat SUV. This Chinese contender might not be particularly full of character, but it's is well equipped, spacious - and efficient in the Super Hybrid PHEV form we'd recommend.

Backgroundword count: 148

If you're looking for a family SUV, it's increasingly difficult to ignore the growing number of Chinese options. Few of which you'll have heard of. Here's another, the Chery Tiggo 8. Let's start with the brand - Chery, China's largest car exporter. It already sells two of its sub- brands here, Omoda and Jaecoo - and they're doing rather well. So well in fact the Chery's decided to also launch in the UK under its own name. The most established Chery product line is that for Tiggo SUVs, globally available in various forms for over 20 years. Enough of a track record then for the Chinese conglomerate to feel confident about launching Tiggo models here. To begin with, we get the compact Tiggo 7 and our subject here, the bigger seven-seat Tiggo 8, which can also be had in PHEV Super Hybrid form. Let's take a closer look.

Engines and Tech Specword count: 223

There's a choice of two Tiggo 8 powertrains. The brand offers a straightforward 1.6-litre petrol model with 147PS and 275Nm of torque, but this unit is not particularly efficient. Much better though, to stretch yourself a little further and get the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid PHEV. As that name suggests, the unit used by this Plug-in Hybrid variant is quite advanced. It's a 1.5-litre petrol engine assisted by two electric motors (one on each axle) which are energised by an 18.4kWh LFP (lithium-ion phosphate) battery supplied by CATL. Combined output is a healthy 204PS with 365Nm of torque. And 0-62mph occupies a reasonably rapid 8.5s en route to 112mph. If you keep it charged, the car will be able to cover up to 56 miles before it is engine cuts in. Up to 745 miles is possible when fully using both power sources. As usual with hybrids, you have to have an automatic gearbox, in this case, Chery's single-speed 'dedicated hybrid transmission'. Only the front wheels are driven. Don't expect very much driving involvement - but customers in this segment are really looking for that. So they won't mind the light steering. What they will want is a complete set of ADAS camera safety features - and the Tiggo 8 doesn't disappoint, though you can expect some of them to be quite intrusive.

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