Chery Tiggo 9 Super Hybrid (2025 - ) review

The combined range on one tank of petrol for the 1.5-litre engine and a full battery is a staggering 650 or so miles, of which just over 90 can be pure electric. From our one-day drive in the Tiggo 9 those claims seemed to be fairly accurate, meaning fuel economy for this seven-seater is off-the-charts insane, and the vast majority of every owner’s weekly mileage will be done on electric power. If you’ve got home charging you’re laughing all the way to the bank. Chery has also been working with risk specialist Thatcham on insurance premiums and safety ratings, so expect all-round low running costs. Note you will get hit with the pay-per-mile hybrid taxation of 1.5p per mile in April 2028. But you’ll have retired to Barbados by then on your savings thanks to running such an economical car!

It’s too early to say. Chery, and sister brands Omoda and Jaecoo, have been in the UK for less than two years at the time of writing, but you get a seven-year warranty and the first year’s road assistance free and customers have been buying these cars in such huge numbers already that, if problems were to emerge, all three brands would have to sort things pronto. What we’re trying to say is, if all else fails, there’s safety in numbers. Not hugely scientific data, but there you go.

All Tiggo 9s comes with 19 safety features, including adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, rear cross traffic alert, emergency braking and so on. You get the idea. Basically, if you smash into something else, there’s no excuse. We’d like a few more physical buttons, and less “you can access this on sub menu B on the touch-screen”, though. And don’t tell us we can programme it as a short cut – just give us a bloody button to press. We nearly hit the kerb just trying to adjust the wing mirrors on sub-menu 2.5, row C, section iii. And stop telling us we’re not paying attention on the road ahead. You’re right, we’re not. We’re trying to find sub-section C, row B of the digital menu to open the window for a bit of ventilation!

With a family of six – including four teenage boys – your tester is something of a seven-seater aficionado. And for this user case the Tiggo 9’s third row is not big enough for anything other than a five-minute hop to the shops. Which means this is more a five-seater with an extra row for short people or emergencies. As such, you’d have to question why you’d pay the extra £10,000 or so for the Tiggo 9, when the Tiggo 8 does the same job. What is impressive, however, is the boot space with that third row in place. There’s room there for a proper supermarket shop where some seven-seaters in a similar configuration leave you with barely room for a paperclip. You also get a massage in the front row, should you want it. The real winner, though, is the lack of road and wind noise, or any vibrations from the road surface. Chery has worked hard on its sound deadening and it shows.

“Hello Chery” is hit and miss, like all voice control systems. Some things she’ll do, some things she refuses to understand, in a very “computer says no” way. And we don’t like the small, fiddly graphics on the screens, which is a common complaint of Chinese-built cars. But we LOVE the 14-speaker Sony sound system, which delivers a really rounded base and clear treble and includes speakers in the headrests. It’s also great to have puddle lamps and illuminated door sills, which normally only come with a luxury price tag. You get wireless phone charging as well as USB ports for everyone, a huge sunroof, pet mode on the ventilation system to keep your dog comfortable, and an electric automatic tailgate for boot access when your arms are full.

Unbelievably quick thanks to its 420 horsepower, unbelievably economical and with handling that more than exceeds any expectations and represents a big step up from its Omoda 9 sister car. Its steering feels hyper connected to the car, the suspension is perfectly attuned to crumbling British roads and the braking doesn’t surprise you with unexpected harshness or softness. On top of that, the car has all-wheel drive and different power settings for snow, sand and off-roading. We’re a little bit in love.