Say hello to…
…the Chery Tiggo 7 a low cost, high value family SUV. New entrant brand Chery offers the Tiggo 7 with a choice of petrol engine, or tested here, as a PHEV.
The five-seat plug-in hybrid uses a 1.5-litre petrol engine plus a motor and battery and has an EV-only range of 56 miles.
The Tiggo 7 is available in two trim levels.
- Aspire
- Summit
Standard equipment on the Aspire includes powered driver’s seat, 60:40 split fold rear seat, keyless start, dual zone aircon, drive modes, adaptive cruise control, 12.2-inch infotainment screen, 10.25-inch digital driver display, wireless Andriod Auto and Apple CarPlay and 4x USB sockets.
Summit adds powered boot lid, powered sunroof, heated and ventilated front seats, powered passenger seat, power fold door mirrors and a uprated stereo.
Is The Chery Tiggo 7 Suitable For My Fleet
On paper, the Tiggo 7 looks entirely suitable for fleet use. It’s a plug-in hybrid, so the BIK band is low (9%), it got a huge 565 litre boot, there’s loads of room for passengers and it’s well equipped. However, the unproven record on residual values or parts supply may put some fleets off.
Leasing A Chery Tiggo 7
Gateway2lease is offering the Chery Tiggo 7 for competitive £381 a month on a 3+36 business lease contract with 10,000 miles a year. Maintenance is forecast at £40 a month, according to Gensen Reports, and Class 1A NIC comes in at £33 a month.
Driving A Chery Tiggo 7
On first impression, the Chery Tiggo 7 majors on comfort. The suspension is exceptionally soft. So much so that even modest throttle or brake inputs cause pronounced squat and dive. Under acceleration the nose lifts noticeably; under braking it dips to an extent that, at night, you can inadvertently dazzle oncoming traffic and be met with retaliatory main beams. While the soft suspension delivers a cushioned ride over broken surfaces, the trade-off is a lack of body control that never quite inspires confidence.
That softness also defines the powertrain experience. The Tiggo 7 defaults to Eco mode each time you start it, selected via a rotary drive-mode controller on the centre console even if you’ve left in one of the other modes. In truth, Eco suits the car best, smoothing responses and encouraging a steadier driving style. Switch to comfort and the throttle sharpens, but progress can become jerky as small pedal inputs, amplified by the compliant suspension, translate into unsettled progress. Sport mode exaggerates this further and feels out of character with the chassis.
More concerning is the hesitation when pulling away from rest. At junctions and roundabouts, where a decisive burst of acceleration could be required, the gearbox and hybrid system are sluggish to respond. That delay makes nipping into tight gaps something to approach with caution, a drawback fleet drivers will quickly note in urban traffic.
The infotainment system itself is quick to react, but almost all vehicle controls are buried within its menus, and the layout is far from intuitive. Simple tasks take longer than they should. There is no obvious way to reset the efficiency trip computer, which will frustrate drivers keen to monitor consumption accurately.
The logic of the control architecture raises further questions. Adjusting ADAS systems requires diving into the touchscreen menus, yet the volume of the indicator ‘tick-tock’, which varies with speed and often needs tweaking between motorway and town driving, is controlled by physical buttons beside the driver’s display. Door mirror adjustment can be carried out via conventional switches on the driver’s door, but there is also a steering-wheel-operated menu option labelled ‘rearview mirror’ for the door mirrors, despite the interior mirror being adjusted manually in the traditional way.
On a more positive note, interior space is competitive. There is decent room for passengers and luggage, making the Tiggo 7 a practical proposition. However, from behind the wheel, its overly soft set-up and inconsistent responses mean it never quite settles into an easy, confidence-inspiring rhythm.
FleetandLeasing.com Verdict On The Chery Tiggo 7
Low cost and impressive on paper, but a compromised real-world experience.
Chery Tiggo 7
Model: Tiggo 7 Summit
Power: 204hp
Torque: 365Nm
Max speed: 112mph
0-62mph: 8.5s
Official battery range: 56 miles
Official consumption: 47.8mpg
Test consumption: 48.7mpg
CO2 emissions: 28g/km
BIK tax band 2025/26: 9%
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