Say hello to…
…the Chery Tiggo 9, the third and largest SUV from the brand that also owns Jaecoo and Omoda. The Tiggo 9 is a seven-seat plug-in hybrid, effectively rivalling cars such as the Volvo XC90, the Kia Sorento and the Omoda 9 with which is shares most of its underpinnings.
Chery doesn’t use the word ‘budget’ as a brand term, but it does offer the best value compared against sister brands Jaecoo and Omoda. But don’t think of Chery, launched only a few months ago, as a Dacia rival, the Tiggo 9 is offered in a single, fully loaded, trim level.
Standard equipment on the Tiggo 9 includes 20-inch alloys, adaptive suspension, LED headlights, acoustic glass, powered steering wheel adjust, heated steering wheel, heated and cooled front seats, heated rear seats, powered memory front seats, satnav, wireless phone charging, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, 4x USB sockets, 15.6-inch infotainment screen, 10.5-inch digital driver’s display, adaptive cruise, head-up display, blind spot monitoring, auto wipers and dual zone climate control.
Is The Chery Tiggo 9 Suitable For My Fleet
An EV range of 91 miles (meaning a 6% BIK band), the ability to DC charge and the inclusion of vehicle-to-load means a lot of boxes are ticked for business users.
The extensive standard equipment list, seven seats, a decent boot and a list price of just over £43,000, make this a seriously tempting lower cost option to other seven-seat SUVs.
Residuals may not be quite as good as more established rival vehicles (we’re looking at the Kia Sorento) so the monthly lease rates we’ve seen are running slightly ahead.
What’s more, there’s an impressive amount of space in the cabin with plenty of room for adults in the middle seats, although there’s not much head room in row three. And the boot is a claimed 819 litres in five-seat mode and 143 litres in seven-seat setup.
Leasing A Chery Tiggo 9
Gateway2lease is offering the Omoda 9 for competitive £622 a month on a 9+36 business lease contract with 10,000 miles a year. By way of comparison a Kia Sorento on the same terms is just under £600 a month. But equally a Volvo XC90 is nearly twice the monthly outlay.
Driving A Chery Tiggo 9
Even taking into account the Chery Tiggo 9’s price point, the appeal is clear both from an on-paper and real-world point of view.
While the exterior styling may not be that distinctive, it’s not unattractive either. The same goes for the interior.
The cabin uses a clean, two-screen design with a large central storage area and arm rest.
Chery is supposed to be positioned as better value than the Omoda, but the main infotainment screen is larger in the Tiggo 9, than it is in the Omoda 9. The system is quick to respond relatively logical, although there are so many possible adjustments and functions that it can be hard to find what you want; it took FleetandLeasing.com a while to find the door mirror adjust function and we needed expert advice to find the brake-force adjuster. And for reference, always leave that function set to ‘comfort’ and never ‘sport’.
In fact, the whole car is very much a comfortable cruiser despite the 428hp SUV being capable of 0-60mph in 5.4 seconds.
On the road the ride comfort is decent if not at class best. Body roll is there, but it’s not excessive. Steering is light and there’s little in the way of feedback about what’s going on with the tyres, but again, that’s not unusual in cars in this class and certainly wouldn’t put anyone off.
The Tiggo 9 is obviously fast; even in ‘comfort’ or ‘eco’ modes there’s more than enough oomph to make decent progress. In fact, ‘eco’ mode in the Tiggo 9 still feels more responsive than a lot of rivals’ ‘comfort’ modes.
What is seriously impressive is the EV range from the plug-in-hybrid, which marries a 1.5-litre petrol engine to two electric motors ‘fuelled’ by a 34kWh battery pack. The claimed EV-only range is 91 miles, and in our driving, this didn’t look particularly unrealistic.
For those that have home charging and don’t often cover long distance, the use of the petrol engine would be minimal.
Other than the complex infotainment system, there are very few negative marks for the Tiggo 9. There a small issues such as a lack of under-floor storage which means the tyre foam has to occupy the boot and the middle seat can be a little tricky to slide and fold, but after that this is a car that should worry every other seven-seat SUV manufacturer.
FleetandLeasing.com Verdict On The Chery Tiggo 9
Not just good value, but a good seven-seat SUV too.
Chery Tiggo 9
- Model: Tiggo 9
- Power: 428hp
- Torque: 580Nm
- Max speed: 112mph
- 0-62mph: 5.4s
- Official battery range: 91 miles
- Official consumption: 40.9mpg
- Test consumption: n/a
- CO2 emissions: 38g/km
- BIK tax band 2025/26: 6%
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