2025 Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid review

News.com.au

6 days ago

This is a moment that established car brands need to sit up and take notice of.
Chery has just launched a plug-in hybrid seven-seater SUV with almost 100km of EV driving range for less than $50,000 drive-away.
In fact, it's even more affordable in the base model Urban grade, which is $45,990 drive-away. That means it's about $25,000 cheaper than a seven-seat Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, and undercuts options like the Mazda CX-80 PHEV by about $35K, and you could buy TWO Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrids for the cost of ONE Kia Sorento PHEV.
It's also about $17,000 cheaper than the most affordable Toyota Kluger, which doesn't even offer a plug-in option.
For the moment, then, this SUV has some white space.
But soon there'll be a BYD 7-seater PHEV called Sealion 8. Not to mention the Omoda 9, which is from the same family as this brand, but with a more premium bent, bigger battery, and all-wheel drive.
Back to this model, though, you are getting a lot for a little when it comes to standard spec, too. The Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid essentially ushers in an updated version of the Tiggo 8, with a new look front and rear, new doors with flush-close handles, and a heavily redesigned dashboard.
The cabin includes a bigger (and notably better!) 15.6-inch touchscreen media system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Yes, it is a screen-dominated environment, but the display is very fast and intuitive, with a drop-down menu screen that works even if you're using smartphone mirroring, and there's a home bar at the bottom for climate controls that can be swiped up if you're using CarPlay.
And while there are three rows of seats, the back row is a 'sometimes' set-up – there are no ISOFIX points or top-tethers back there, which is a shame. But with the middle row adjusted suitably, you can fit adults in all three rows at a pinch, provided they aren't in Sumo training. No third-row air-vents, either.
It's similar to an Outlander in terms of back-row space, and with the third-row seats up there's space for a couple of small rolly bags or the kids' backpacks. Fold down the rear row, and you get a very usable amount of cargo capacity for a growing family.
It doesn't miss on equipment either, with standard inclusions like LED lighting, 19-inch alloy wheels, a surround-view camera system with parking sensors all-round, puddle lights, fake leather interior trim, electric front seat adjustment, ambient lighting and a wireless phone charger.
Choose the $50K Ultimate spec and you'll score heated and ventilated front seats, a head-up display, a panoramic glass roof and more. There's a full host of active safety tech like autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping, adaptive cruise control, speed sign recognition and a driver monitoring camera system – and they're well calibrated.
It shares the same PHEV powertrain with the smaller Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid: a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine teamed to an electric motor. There's a single-speed transmission sending power to the front wheels only – no AWD model is available.
It has a claimed EV driving range of 95km from its 18.3kWh battery pack – good enough for the majority of commuters to get to work and back fully electrically. It can drive up to 120km/h in EV when the battery is above 30 per cent charge.
Once the battery depletes to around 20 per cent, the powertrain will kick the petrol engine into life to run in HEV (hybrid) mode, using petrol, electric or both to keep things moving – and it is a very smooth, extremely quiet operator.
On the launch drive I saw 78km of EV driving before the engine properly kicked in, and when it did, the efficiency was still super impressive. Beyond EV driving with the car in HEV mode, I saw a displayed average fuel consumption of just 4.6L/100km.
The Tiggo 8 has a more mature drive experience than the cheaper Tiggo 7 five-seater, which is a big reason I'd suggest you look at this one if you like to drive. Because it's smoother riding over bumps thanks to a longer wheelbase and different suspension tune, and feels far more convincing when the surface is a bit challenging. Not super squishy or soft, but markedly better than the 7.
And while the steering still won't stoke many fires, the fact it rides on Continental tyres means you have predictable response and quietness.
The brand offers a seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty for the vehicle. Servicing is every 12 months/15,000km, and there's a seven-year capped-price plan, too.