Chery 1-Tank Challenge | Tiggo 9 PRO PHEV vs Tiggo 7 PRO PHEV | Real-World Fuel Economy Test

Chery 1-Tank Challenge | Tiggo 9 PRO PHEV vs Tiggo 7 PRO PHEV | Real-World Fuel Economy Test

[Music] It’s a chilly morning in Josie and I’m at the big bed engine one-stop garage in Midland. Cherry South Africa said we must come here. For what I don’t know, the only thing that they said, they said we’ll only find out when we get here. So, I’m patiently waiting, but at least I’m not alone. I’m with Lato. Hey, Zako. Lato. How are you? How’s it man? Good, man. Good. Good. So, what are we doing here? I have no idea. I tried to put OnePlus 1 together. Uh I couldn’t come up with uh with something. Okay. Something’s come through my phone. Maybe it’s them. Dear Top Gear South Africa magazine. Okay. We know you love a challenge. Uh of course, of course. So, we put together yet another one for you in the parking lot. You’ll see our new Cherry Tigo 9 Pro PHEV. Uh there’s a lot we could tell you about this car, but for your first challenge, you’ll be the most interested uh in the new Cher’s hybrid system. It’s a new powertrain that will see this car do more than 1,400 km in a single tank. Now, they’ll be pushing it,400. Yeah, that’s a bit much, eh? So, rim the tank and see if we can beat and get to the southernmost tip of the continent. You know where that is, right? Cape Town. That’s probably Cape Town. of Hermanas. That’s very far from here. That’s far. Oh, and make sure you stop in Bloom for a surprise. Oh, what’s that? Oh, that’s a tiger knife. This thing hasn’t launched in South Africa, but does look good, eh? It looks good, but it’s big. And you know, massive big means more weight. [Music] All right. Okay. So, Zako, here it is, man. Uh, the yet to be launched Cherry Tigo 9. It’s a massive car. It is. Uh, plug hybrid BHEV. Yes, absolutely. Do you think we’ll make it? Um, 100 km. Yeah. No, we’ll see. Uh, because it’s a big car, that means it’s more heavier. Mhm. Uh, and you know, weight and efficiency don’t go hand in hand. Sure. But but uh it is a challenge for us at Top Gear and we don’t turn down the challenge like this. No, we love challenges. We got 1,400ks ahead of us and uh a nice surprise apparently in Bloom is awaiting us. So uh shall we fill this car up and get on the road? Let’s do it, man. Let’s Let’s go. Let’s go. All right. [Music] Do you think this is the last? No. Taco, please come, man. Come. More. More, man. More. More. More. [Music] Okay. So, Zakov sealed. The tank side is is is sealed. Now, um remember this is a plug-in hybrid. So, we need to seal the battery side as well. So, no cheating. No cheating. Yeah. So, you’re going to do this properly. Okay. Hold that sight. Did you check the tires? Uh, no, man. These tires are fine. Of course I did. Okay. Yeah, [Music] there’s no turning back now. Uh, it is Top Gears cherry one tank challenge. I mean, I’ve I’ve done this before. I’m the reigning champion. Just a reminder, did you get a jerry? Just in case we run out of fuel. Jerry can. Yeah. Jerry Ken. Yeah. No. Taco. Jerry Ken’s are for amateurs like you, man. Okay. No, we’ll see. We’ll see. At least I’m with you to coach you out. We’ll see. Game is on. The game is definitely on. Hey, okay. All right. All right, man. We’re leaving Mid Ranch. The car is full full in terms of fuel. Um, it’s saying on the fuel side, we can do 1,4 km and then on the battery side, just the petrol side. The battery 154ks. So I’m not good at math. So what what’s that? 1,000 60 1,160 60 odd or thereabouts. So yeah, and we want to achieve 1,0004. So at some point we need to try and recoup uh some energy. So there’s a lot of work to be done and uh I’m sure the a lot of not a lot of downhills. So we need to play it. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Play it well and see. Let’s see. Okay. All right. [Music] So, yeah, we just got on to the N1. Yep. Took a while. Took a while to get on the N1. Uh terrible, terrible traffic driving out of Jo, but um yeah, we are 51.2ks into our trip. Yeah. Long way to go. A long way to go, of course. Um but we are currently according to the trip meter we we haven’t touched the petrol engine. Um we’ve just been running on battery alone. Um I think when we set off we had about 152ks in the battery. We’re now sitting at 118 118 ks. Yeah. And um yeah we haven’t touched the fuel. It still says the fuel tank still says we can do 1,4 um which is good. Our average currently is 5.1 L. So 5.1 we’re doing okay if we can dip into the Yeah, I think we’ll we’ll manage to get to bloom and we still we will still have more juice left and then we’ll we’ll see from there then we’ll give an update to say hey look we I don’t know we’ll see how far we can get. Yeah. So uh yeah stay tuned guys. It’s um yeah, it’s early days into our journey, but like I said, we’re very confident that we’ll get to to bloom without any issues. It’s probably the the leg after that that we’ll start panicking and we we are burning here because remember we we don’t have to use don’t have to open the windows because of drag obviously and uh no speeding. Yes. Yeah, we are driving very moderately by our standards even. So yeah, but stay tuned guys. It’s um it’s going to be very exciting. [Music] Woo. Okay. Y Yeah. How you feeling? Look, we’re probably probably a quarter of the way in. Yeah. And already I’m feeling a bit um You were complaining about Yeah. My foot my foot was starting to cramp. Um Yeah. Yeah. Because obviously I’m I’m I’m staying away from using the cruise control because that’s going to mess up mess up our entire range. Um yeah, but so far I think uh how far have we have have we gone so far? We’ve done We’ve done We’ve done just on just under 300ks. Just under 300ks. We still have odd 980 kilometers. Yeah. To go. So, next stop is Bloomfentine. Um our range is a little bit somewhere in the air. Yeah. Um the road the main one is very flat. So, we’ve um you can’t recover energy. There’s nothing flat. There’s absolutely nothing there. So, we struggled a bit just recouping uh some power there. M um but I’m sure we’ll find sections somewhere to just you know recover and gain more range in terms of the battery. Yes. Yes. I seem to have a plan because I think you are the problem here. Not the car. I’ll do the driving from here. You’re a funny guy. You should you should try standup comedy. I don’t like this plan. Um I’ve got more experience than you behind the wheel. So Okay. I I’ll keep driving, man. Let me keep driving. I’ll prove you wrong. I’ll prove you wrong. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go. [Music] right? Uh we’re finally finally finally in. Um yeah, it’s been uh it’s been quite a a long day on the road a taco. Yeah, I know it’s been a long one. Quite a can see it’s in the evening now. Yeah, it’s night time now. Um, so just an update in terms of where we are in terms of our mileage. We’re averaging about 4.6 L per 100, which is very good. Very very very good. Um, in terms of range, we’ve got about 31 km left in our in our battery track. So, it’s been juggling that. Yeah. 30k 35ks thereabouts. Um, and then our fuel range is about 829 km. So, yeah, it’s getting it’s getting more intense. Yeah, it is getting a bit eerie now. Um, but yeah, we’ll uh we’ll see what uh what tomorrow has in store, but uh we are in Bloom now and we’re looking forward to this uh surprise that we’ve been promised by Cherry. So, u yeah, stay tuned. [Music] Woo! Yep. Okay. You can tell. Yeah. From the way I look. It’s been It’s been 8 hours on the road. Yeah. It’s been 8 hours on the road. Yeah. But we are finally finally in bloom. Bloom. So that’s good. Um, yeah. I think it’s uh the right time we get to see the surprise because I don’t see an out. The only thing I see here is a truck. Yeah. I I don’t think a fireplace enough. Yeah. It’s chilly out here. Okay. Um, so I’ve got another text. Oh, is it okay? It says, “Dear Top Gear South Africa magazine, welcome to Bloom Fontain. Sure. We are sure your trip is going well so far, but you are not even halfway yet. As promised, there’s a surprise waiting for you. Taco, we are sure you’ve missed being behind the wheel. Of course, there’s a charging station where you are that you’ll find the all new Cherry Tigo 7 PHEV. Cool. Okay. And just like your current ride, you’ll be interested in the new Cherry hybrid system. At least it’s a hybrid as well. The Tig 7 PHEV will see a return of more than a,000 kilometer on a single tank of oil. That’s a lot. Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right. We’re still going. It’s about time you entered the game. Brim the tank and hit the road. Let’s see who runs out of well first. Good luck. Okay. So, you know what this means? It’s challenging. Accepted, I suppose. Yes. But it means one thing and one thing only. Let’s This is the end of our relationship. Are we s enemies now? Not so much because I mean we still in two cherries. But before we part ways, let’s go find this charging station. Yeah. Let’s go find the charging station and your Cherry Tiggo 7 PHV. PHV. Okay. Good luck because you’re going to need it. You know me. You know me. [Music] Okay. So, this is it. Oh, yeah. Finally. And here it is. Okay. It does look stunning. Does look very cool. Yeah, it does look very cool. The key is over here. Oh, the key is already there. Okay. Cool. All right. But you know what this means then? N Mhm. Mhm. We’re doing the same thing we did in Joic. We need to fill up that tank. Yeah. To the brim and then hit it. Yeah. Hit it. Good luck. You’re going to need it. I know. You know it’s I I trust myself. I trust myself. Ah. All right. See you on the other side. It’s on. Yes, please. I don’t want any, you know, you need to fill all the gaps. I want to make sure I’ve done this before. Lat doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. I’m sure you’ve noticed that was just chilling at the back there and not even helping me. Um, I sense a bit of jealousy here because you know I’ve been doing a lot of, you know, assisting him in Jober putting on the tape and look at me doing it on my own. But, you know, he knows I’m the reigning champion. going to show him, please. Okay. Are we not finishing here? What’s happening? Even though you didn’t want to help me. Come on, man. My car is charged. Okay. My petrol is full. All right. I’m ready to hit the road. Good. Just go. Told you you’re going to need all the luck in the world. Come. Good. I’m good. You didn’t even offer to help me. Nah, man. You’re a big boy. [Music] So we are on our way to our overnight stay which is about 200 km away from Bloomfe. Uh so we’ll be staying by the Karib Dam and so far this car has been a huge surprise. a huge surprise. I mean, I was not expecting to see the Tig 7 PHEV in South Africa because this thing hasn’t been launched in SA. So, I was not expecting it. It was a pleasant pleasant surprise. And what’s surprising as well is the fact that I have about 910 km of range uh after I filled it up, which is roughly the same amount of kilometers that Cherry claims I can do on a single tank of petrol. So, what I’m going to try and do is to try and drive for over 1,000 km on a single tank and then see how far we can both get. Welcome to day two of the Cherry One Tank Challenge. With day one behind us and a good night’s rest to kick off day two, we find ourselves here at the Har Dam. And as you can see, there’s two cars in the mix. And there’s still a very, very long way to go. But before we do that, let’s do a bit of a check in. Okay, so it’s day two. Let’s check in and see where we are. Um, I was given where Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Context in be patient, man. Okay. Um, I’ve traveled 620k. My range says I can do another 630 km. Um, yes, I know what you’re going to say. Okay. I know what you’re going to because I understand you did a lot of driving yesterday, but you still have 1,000 ks left to drive. And where are you sitting? 630 km. So that’s clear. Clearly you’re not going to make it. We’ll see. It’s an obvious case. Yeah. Well, it’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine. It’s fine, Zako. But uh you you only drove 215ks. And how much range do you have? Uh I still have about 820 km left. Okay. All right. You’re not as bad as me. You’ve got 1,000ks to go. So your math is not ming. No, but it is ming because these two cars are both hybrids. And I’m planning to gain more mileage from the hybrid system. I don’t know how you’re going to do that in I don’t know how you I’ve fiddled with the car a lot last night. So, I know my ways around it, right? And I know how to, you know, play the tricks. Okay. Yeah. All right. Let’s see how your tricks work, Zako. We’ve got a lot of driving to do stuff. So, um, we better get on the road, man. And, uh, let’s hit it and see how far we can go today. Sure. Yeah. [Music] I don’t know what’s happening with Taco, but um I’m making good progress now towards uh probably covered about give or take and something odd kilm now into day two. Things are going very well. Um I’ve got a range of about 534 km left on the petrol side and my battery says I’ve got 35 k to go. So, I’ve already covered 738 km since I left Johannesburg yesterday. So, technically technically I could do just over 1,000 km um in this car. Let’s see how far I can go. But I don’t know if we’ll make the 1,400. But yeah, stranger things have happened, I suppose. So, let’s just wait and see. [Music] That was coming from the Mason. Driving alone can get very boring. I was starting to fall asleep and that’s unsafe. Okay, let me hit the road. Let me hit the road. I still have a long wheel of me to go. [Music] [Music] Welcome to Kafrenette. Um, yeah, it’s been an epic day. We’re busy with our cherry one tank challenge. Quite an interesting day today, I must say. Um, lots of downhills, which has been great, but we still have another 300 km or so to go before we reach our overnight stay. The vehicle currently sits at about 340 odd kilm range that we can still kind of drive. It’s starting to get a little bit nervous for me at the moment because yeah, Our is about 317 km away from from where we are. So stay tuned. Let’s see what happens in the next couple of hours. While Larto is getting more nervous, I’m still confident on my side because I still have about 650 km of range left in my car. But remember, the plan is to get to the southernmost tip of South Africa, which is Cape Agalos. And um because Cherry claims this can do 1,400 km on a single tank and mine can do over 1,000 km on a single tank. We should be able to get close or get there. But let’s see how it all goes. [Music] [Music] and hey man. Yeah, finally we’ve reached the end of day two. We had to um it was a bit um interesting today. We’ve covered just over 600 kilometers from Kharib Dam tow. And how are you looking there? Yeah, it was good. Um I was bit skeptical about the Tigo 9 making it all the way to Otwaren cuz I had just under 630 km when we left Dam. Um but here we are. I’ve got 95 kilometers to spare and my uh my reserve light has come on. Yeah. Um after 105 km uh at 105 km my reserve light came on but uh my total distance now since I left Joberg yesterday is 1,246 km which is very impressive. Impressive for such a large car. Absolutely. So today was your first day of a long driving stint. Um, where are you in terms of your figures? Um, yeah. No, I pushed it today. Okay. Pushed it today. Yeah. Uh, so I’m I’ve done over 800 so far since we picked up the car. Okay. Uh, what’s your what’s your range now looking? 350. Wow. So 350 and I still have about just over 300 to drive. It’s amazing. Yeah. Tomorrow is a day of reckoning. We need our rest. So, um, good luck for tomorrow, man. Good luck to you, too. Thanks. U, we’re going to need it, but Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let’s go get some rest, man. All right. Cool, my man. We’ll check you tomorrow. Good night. All right. Have a good one. Cheers. [Music] Welcome to day three of the cherry one tank challenge. We are currently in Oats Warren. We are about 330 km uh out of our final destination which is Cape Agalas. So it’s uh the final stretch man. Um last one. It’s really final stretch. Uh we’re not sure whether we’re going to make it to uh the southernmost tip which is Cape Agalas but um we are hopeful. I think um I am confident. Yeah. Yeah. But the jury is still out. Um Yeah, man. There’s only one way to find out. So, um let’s make our way to Cape Agalas. Let’s hit the road. Okay. Let’s hit the road. See you on the other side. Cool. Good luck. Okay, boys. It’s real. Basically, we’ve depleted the fuel tank. Uh, it’s now telling me we are only on electric mode driving. I’ve only got 19ks on the battery. So, yeah, let’s just hope we Yeah, I don’t know if that’s 1350 is going to happen. I’m on 1331 at the moment, but um that’s been a good effort so far, guys. So, yeah, I’m happy. I’m happy. But, uh let’s see where we end up here. Amazing, man. Amazing. You’ve got that. I think you can make that last 20. Uh yeah, let’s see with this downhill if you can recuperate some energy for that electric motor. Um but yeah, amazing, man. Amazing. We We’re right there. We are right there. Woohoo. [Music] Running out of power, but the right is getting stuck now. It’s cocking out. Let’s see. This is it. No more power. I’ve got my foot flat on the throttle and um yeah, the car is just coming to a complete stop. Okay boys, it’s completely shut down now. So yeah, done. 1374. Well done. Well done. Okay, so that’s it. Um yeah, the Tigo 9 has taken us from Johannesburg to um yeah, just uh probably about 50 odd ks just outside of Bry Dale uh or approaching Berry Dale. Um and the total total distance covered is 13741. So yeah, I’m happy with that. Um we’ve managed to go over the 1350 plus um claimed figure. So well done, Cherry. Um, yeah, this car is really just phenomenal. So, I can’t wait to see where this car will be priced when it eventually launches soon. Hey, hey, hey, man. The time has come. Oh, no. I need fuel. I need you push, man. You push. I’m really impressed. Us very much so. So, I still have 260 kg on the road. All right, you better get going then. Yeah, let me hit it and then you’ll need this. We’ll see you in Cape Galas then. Cheers. Cheers. [Music] Okay guys, uh that’s it for me. Day three for the one for the Cherry one tank challenge. It’s been great. I’ve covered 1,371 km on one single tank and one charge. I think that’s mighty impressive. Zako is still basically in the game. He’s carrying on. We’re about 20 say 210 km from our final destination which is Kagalas. So yeah, let’s go catch up with Nako and see how he’s doing. Officially, I’m at 1,000 kilometers, which is what Cherry claims this Tiger 7 PHEV can do on a single tank, and I still have 2222 km to go. So, that should give me about 1,222 according to the onboard system that I have in front of me. But the point is to go to Cape Agalas uh which is our destination which is um 153 km from where I am right now and I still have 222 km. So I should confidently make it to that um to that point and uh even further than that if I want to push it. It’s game on. I’m still soldiering on and seeing and continue to do what um I do best. My reserve light just came on at 98 kilometers. Yeah, but I’m here. I’m at Cape Balas. I’m just driving around checking out the houses all the way from Brooklyn. Yeah, Cher’s surprise has been a very good one, I must say. I must say. Um, I’m just driving in. Uh, but I mean, 98 km, I can still do more. Who knows? Yeah, but it just came on at 1,152, but I still have 98 km to go plus the hybrid. So, let’s see. Beautiful houses. [Music] Woo! This is it, guys. We made it. We’re here at the southernmost tip of Africa. And as you can see, I still have my axes. Not the actual axes, but the axes. and Lato doesn’t have because I mean I’m surprised to see you here. No, it’s I I had to come and support you, man. And well done. Well done. Thank you so much. Congratulations, man. Uh it was a tight one. It does. It was. I did a lot of driving after handing you that jerry can. But um yeah, I’ve done I’ve actually gone over what Cherry claims. Yeah. So Cherry, you remember Cherry claims 1,000 km. I’ve done 1,150. That’s amazing, man. That is amazing. Amazing. That is amazing. And I’m still going because I still have about 98 km left. Okay. So, that should take me to I don’t know, Cape to Cairo. Cape to Cairo. But uh tomorrow Yeah. Uh I’ll make a U10 and I’ll start heading back heading back to Johannesburg and see where see where you end up. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I think if this car can do a,00 200, it’ll be very very good. Very extremely good. It should go over that. Okay. Yeah. Um I think maybe it should just do maybe 1,300. Yeah, that will be amazing if we can do that. So I’m looking forward to that in SA. But well done. Thank you so much. Um yeah, we are on the southernmost tip and uh man, it’s been an incredible day. It it has been and I look forward to tomorrow because I’ll be putting it again to the test and I’ll go further. If it means driving over the ocean, I’ll do that. But yeah, awesome, man. All right. I think uh welldeserved break today. Yeah. Uh we did very well. So um it’s getting a bit windy here. I think let’s get out of here. Let’s get out of here. [Music] It’s done. We finally reached the southernmost tip of Africa. And because I still have petrol in my car and I’m arrogant just like that, I’m going to try and push this car to its very limit. That according to me is maybe push it to 1,250 km. I still have about 98 km left in the tank. And I will see how that how far that actually takes me because we are making our way back to Josie. So Josie, here we come. [Music] officially at 1,200 km, guys. And at the same time, my range just vanished. It just vanished out of nowhere at 60 km. So, remember what the plan is for me. as to push it to over 1,250 kilometers. So, I just need only 50ks from now. I’m only 50k and that will be possible because I still have about 26% on on the battery and I don’t know about the range uh foil range because it’s just it just says low here. Uh yeah, but let’s I’m soldiering on. I’m soldiering on. Yeah. And I I’ll see where it’s it’s going to it’s going to conk out. [Applause] I’m stopping. I’m stopping. I’m stopping. I’m stopping. Wow. Wow. Let me find a soft spotoo. This thing just in the middle of nowhere ran out of power. [Music] Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys. 1,290Ks later. 1,290Ks later. And this thing just kept going and going and going and going and going. And this is why I always say hybrids in South Africa are the way to go. Let me take off my sunglasses. So you know what the Tigo 7 PHEV and the Tigo 9 PHEV both are winners. So Cherry has built winners and looking at the infrastructure EV infra infrastructure in South Africa these are the way to go. These are the way to go. So to Cherry South Africa this is a win. Yes. Yeah. Here. Hold up. Hold up. [Music] Heat. Heat. N. [Music]

Chery South Africa threw down the gauntlet: drive from Midrand to Cape Agulhas—the southernmost tip of Africa—on one single tank of fuel. Enter the new Chery Tiggo 9 PRO PHEV, a plug-in hybrid SUV claiming up to 1,400km of range. Could we actually do it? Lerato had to try.

In this video, we document every twist, turn, and tollgate of the epic 1-Tank Challenge, battling real-world traffic, unpredictable turns, and the pressure of making every drop count. But just when we thought the challenge was clear, Chery added a curveball: the Chery Tiggo 7 PRO PHEV would be joining us for the ride. Ntsako, the reigning fuel efficiency King was called in to bat.

The results? Genuinely surprising.

The Tiggo 9 PRO PHEV managed a real-world range of 1,374.1km on a single tank and charge, despite spending over 90 minutes in bumper-to-bumper traffic leaving Joburg.

The Tiggo 7 PRO PHEV, with its smaller petrol tank and possibly more strategic driving, reached an impressive 1,290.5km.

Both cars use hybrid petrol powertrains—but their performance on this long-distance mission might just change how you think about fuel economy and hybrid tech.

Watch the full film to see how it all played out, who came out on top, and what this means for Chery’s future in South Africa.

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