Chery Tiggo 4 review

An encounter with the Chery Tiggo 4 is a bit like stepping into a brightly lit supermarket from a chain you’ve never heard of before. At first glance, it lacks the long-standing familiarity of an established name, but spend more time exploring and you notice the branding is smart, the essentials are there and the pricing is very affordable.

That’s where the Tiggo 4 aims to position itself in the crowded small SUV class. It may not carry the weight of a familiar badge, but Chinese automotive giant Chery has already made a strong impact on the UK market since its launch in September 2025. By March 2026, it held a 1.31% market share – ahead of both Fiat and Honda – with the Chery Tiggo 7, Chery Tiggo 8 and Chery Tiggo 9 SUVs.

With the Tiggo 4, Chery’s pitch is similar to those cars: strong value and everyday practicality. As a regular hybrid, it also promises low running costs at the fuel pump.

The real question is, though, like that new supermarket, does the Tiggo 4 deliver more than you anticipated, or simply blend into the background once the novelty wears off? After all, it faces stiff competition from the Dacia Duster, Skoda Kamiq and Volkswagen T-Cross, as well as pricier rivals such as the Toyota Yaris Cross.

What’s new?

- April 2026: First UK drives of the Chery Tiggo 4

- March 2026: Chery opens order books for the Tiggo 4 in the UK, with prices starting from £19,995

- August 2025: Chery launches in the UK with the Tiggo 4, Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 SUVs

How fast is it and which engine is best?

The Tiggo 4 is only available with, what Chery calls rather boldly, the Chery Super Hybrid (CSH) system. It consists of a 1.5-litre petrol engine and an electric motor that combine to produce 201bhp, delivering 0-62mph in 8.9sec. While not supercar fast (as its name might suggest), it’s quicker than the Dacia Duster Hybrid 155 (9.4sec) and Toyota Yaris Cross (11.2sec). There’s plenty of poke when pulling away from a standstill, but it does feel a bit lethargic when merging or overtaking on the motorway.

Being a regular hybrid, the CSH system has a 1.83kWh battery that allows it to travel on electric-only power for very short distances. The hybrid system is paired with Chery’s DHT (Dedicated Hybrid Transmission) automatic gearbox, which operates in a similar manner to a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission), as found in the Yaris Cross.

Is it agile and is the ride comfortable?

Considering the Tiggo 4’s tall, boxy shape, it handles bends pretty well. It might struggle for grip on really sharp corners, but there’s no more body lean than with a Volkswagen T-Cross or Yaris Cross.

What lets it down is the steering. The weighting in Eco mode is super light, which makes manoeuvring in town a doddle but doesn’t add much weight for driving at speed. You can select Sport to add some heft, but there’s still a noticeable dead spot on centre, making it difficult to know what the front wheels are up to. The steering in the Skoda Kamiq and T-Cross is easier and more responsive to use.

Unfortunately, the ride quality isn’t great, either. The suspension has difficulty absorbing even minor road imperfections, so you’re frequently moving around in your seat on patchy roads, while larger bumps and expansion joints result in harsh thumps. The Duster, T-Cross, Kamiq and Yaris Cross all offer a more comfortable ride.

Is it quiet and how easy is it to drive smoothly?

The Tiggo 4’s hybrid system is reasonably hushed. The engine chimes in and out seamlessly, and when it’s running, it’s quiet and smooth. While it does get a bit noisy under hard acceleration, partly because the DHT gearbox causes the revs to flare, it’s still quieter than the Duster and Yaris Cross.

On the contrary, there’s a lot of wind and road noise when driving the Tiggo 4 on the motorway. It’s similar to the Duster, but the Kamiq and T-Cross are quieter.

In Eco mode, the Tiggo 4 is easy to drive smoothly, with power delivered in a gentle, linear manner. Switching to Sport sharpens the response significantly – so much so that it can be jerky and harder to manage smoothly. Regardless of the mode, a firm, progressive brake pedal makes it easy to bring the car to a controlled stop.

“I like how quiet the Tiggo 4 was in electric mode when driving in town. It’s much happier there than on the motorway.” – George Hill, Used Cars Writer

What does the interior look like and is it well made?

The Tiggo 4 might be one of the cheaper small SUVs on the market, but you wouldn’t guess it by looking at the interior. It has a large touchscreen and digital driver’s display on the dashboard, as well as lots of padded faux-leather, soft-touch plastic and metal-effect trim on the dash and doors.

Most of the materials feel as good as they look, while the switches and stalks are neatly damped. It’s more plush inside than the Dacia Duster, Skoda Kamiq, Toyota Yaris Cross and Volkswagen T-Cross.

Of course, the Tiggo 4’s interior isn’t perfect, because there are some hard, scratchy plastics lower down the dash and doors. The steering wheel on the entry-level Aspire car is also made of harsh-grained plastic (as opposed to faux-leather on Summit models), while the rear-view mirror on our test car wobbled around on our test drive. 

Is the driving position comfortable and is it easy to see out?

It’s very easy to find a good driving position in the Tiggo 4. All cars have reach and rake adjustment for the steering wheel, while the driver’s seat has six-way manual adjustment on Aspire and six-way electric adjustment on Summit. The seats are softly padded, too, but there’s no adjustable lumbar support like you get with the Kamiq.

Depending on your seating and wheel position, some drivers might find the steering wheel blocks the corners of the digital driver’s display, which can be a nuisance. Taller drivers might prefer it if the wheel adjusted a bit further outwards, too. 

Fans of lofty driving positions will be very happy in the Tiggo 4, because it perches you nice and high up. You get a good view over the bonnet, but the chunky windscreen pillars and big door mirrors hinder your view at junctions. While the side windows are nice and big, the thick rear pillars and small rear window limit your view backwards. All cars come with rear parking sensors, a reversing camera and blind-spot monitoring to help with this, though.

Are the dashboard and infotainment system easy to use?

All Tiggo 4s come with a 12.3in touchscreen infotainment system as standard. The screen has sharp graphics, a bright display and a quick response, making it easy to get along with. The menu layout is pretty straightforward, too, but the panel of shortcut buttons on the touchscreen are tiny and difficult to tap on the move. All cars come with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as standard.

Below the screen, there’s a row of physical shortcut buttons for the infotainment home button, drive mode selector and volume control. These help make the infotainment system easy to use while driving.

Lower down the dashboard there’s a panel of touch-sensitive buttons and sliders for your climate controls. While we appreciate the dedicated panel for these (as opposed to a screen-only set-up), they are more fiddly to operate on the move than the physical controls in the Duster, Kamiq and Yaris Cross. Upper versions of the T-Cross have a similar touch-sensitive set-up.

For the driver, there’s a 12.3in screen for the digital instruments. It’s not as configurable as the displays in the Kamiq and T-Cross (which can show a sat-nav map, for example), but it is bright and easy to use. It’s operated via physical buttons on the steering wheel. 

“Other than the flimsy rear-view mirror, which annoyed me as it wobbled around on my test drive, I was impressed by the quality of the Tiggo 4’s interior.” – George Hill, Used Cars Writer

How much space does it have for people?

There’s loads of space in the front of the Tiggo 4, with six-footers having plenty of head, leg and shoulder room. There’s also lots of storage space, with a big central cubby, two cupholders and a lower storage tray on the centre console.

In the back, space is pretty good, too. Even those well above six-feet tall will have lots of head room, but leg room is tight if sat behind a similarly tall driver. Fortunately, there’s plenty of room for your feet. While seating three across is a squeeze, there’s only a small central hump in the floor for the middle passenger to contend with.

How much room is there for luggage?

The Tiggo 4 has 430 litres of boot space. That’s a good size, beating the Skoda Kamiq (400 litres), Toyota Yaris Cross (400 litres) and Volkswagen T-Cross (385 litres), and it’s a match for the Dacia Duster Hybrid, but it’s let down by a large hump on the right-hand side, where the 12V battery protrudes into the boot floor. There’s also no height adjustable floor or underfloor storage, like you get in the T-Cross and Yaris Cross.

If you need to carry longer items, the rear seats fold in a class-standard 60/40 split, which isn’t as flexible as the 40/20/40 set-up in the Yaris Cross. They also don’t do anything clever, like slide forwards or backwards, as they do in the T-Cross.

“I found out the hard way that the tailgate doesn’t open very high. Six-footers, be warned.” – George Hill, Used Cars Writer

How much does it cost and what equipment do you get?

The Tiggo 4 is extremely well priced for a small SUV, let alone a hybrid one. It’s far cheaper to buy outright than the petrol versions of the Dacia Duster, Skoda Kamiq and Volkswagen T-Cross, as well as the hybrid-powered Duster and Toyota Yaris Cross. It’s even cheaper than the MG ZS Hybrid.

On PCP finance, it’s a similar story. Other than the ZS Hybrid, which is a touch cheaper, and the petrol Duster, which costs around the same, Tiggo 4 undercuts the Kamiq, T-Cross and Yaris cross considerably.

For the money, you get a lot of kit as standard. Entry-level Aspire trim comes with 17in alloys, keyless entry and start, dual-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, automatic LED headlights, heated and electrically adjustable door mirrors, rear parking sensors and a reversing camera.

For not a huge uplift, Summit trim adds rear privacy glass, faux-leather upholstery, an electrically adjustable driver’s seat, a heated leather steering wheel, heated front seats, a wireless phone-charging pad, front parking sensors and a 360-degree reversing camera. Considering it’s still less than the entry-level price of most rivals, we reckon it’s the trim to go for.

Being a hybrid, running costs are competitive, but not outstanding: the Tiggo 4 can average 53.4mpg, according to official figures. That’s less than the Duster Hybrid (60.1mpg) and Yaris Cross (64.1mpg), but it’s similar to the petrol-powered Duster (52.3mpg), Kamiq (51.8mpg) and T-Cross (51.5mpg).

Is it reliable and how long is the warranty?

The Tiggo 4 – along with Chery as a brand – are too new to have featured in the latest What Car? Reliability Survey. However, to give you some peace of mind, the car comes with a seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty. That’s pretty good, matching Kia’s cover and beating MG’s seven-year, 80,000-mile offering, but it’s not as good as Toyota’s 10-year, 100,000-mile service-activated scheme. The hybrid battery comes with a separate eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty.

How safe is it and is it easy to steal?

The Tiggo 4 was given four stars out of five when it was safety tested by Euro NCAP in 2025. While that’s not the best score, with it being penalised in the adult protection and safety assist categories, the Yaris Cross received four stars and the T-Cross three stars. If you want a car with the full five-star rating, take a look at the Volkswagen T-Roc.

As for safety equipment, all versions of the Tiggo 4 come with automatic emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, speed limit recognition, lane-keep assistance and rear cross traffic alert (with braking).

“The Tiggo 4’s driver attention monitoring system is very sensitive. During my test drive, it told me to look at the road every time I used the touchscreen.” – George Hill, Used Cars Writer

Buy it if…

-You’re after a cheap hybrid

-You want a plush interior

-You value a car with lots of standard equipment

Don’t buy it if…

-Ride comfort is a priority

-You need a practical boot

-You want a quiet car for motorway driving

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