Chery Tiggo 7 1.5T CSH Plug-in Hybrid Ultra (2025) Quick Review
Now, I’d like to introduce you to my find of the year. A car that I have actually become rather smitten with. Here at Auto Trader, we love to give unbiased car buying advice to consumers who are in the market to buy a new car or their first car for that matter. In the process of doing this, we get to drive a lot of different cars. Everything from a budgetoriented city hatchback all the way up to a multi-million rand German Luxo barge and everything in between. And that gives us a pretty good grasp on what is what essentially a good car or a bad car. Now, with that being said, there are no more dad cars anymore, just cars that fall short of their peers and lack refinement. And it’s because of this that many people believe that um we’re biased against Chinese cars. And that couldn’t be further from the truth because we actually do like a lot of the Chinese products that are coming out. It’s just that is that little something missing at the end of the day which makes them fall short of some their peers within the different segments. Now I’d like to introduce you to my find of the year. A car that I have actually become rather smitten with. This is the Cherry Tig 7 Ultra plug-in hybrid. So, let’s talk a little bit about what makes this car special. Under the bonnet, there’s a 1.5 L turbocharged petrol engine. The same 1.5 L that you’re going to get in just about everything that uh you get from the Cherry Group, whether it’s a motor, JU, it’s that same 1.5. This vehicle stand out is the hybrid drivetrain that they’ve now included in this PHEV. Gone is the DCT transmission. I replace with a DHT transmission. And what this does with the throttle calibration and the gear changers, it makes this car such a pleasure to drive. And I have to commend the engineers at Cherry. They have literally just now solved the biggest issue that we’ve had with these cars for years with this single model introduction. This new hybrid drivetrain is going to give you 265 kW and 530 Newton meters of torque. And the drive that that delivers is just fantastic. But now what’s even better than that drive is of course the fuel savings. Because one of the other problems that we’ve had with many Chinese auto manufacturers is the fuel consumption. A lot of them claim low figures, but when you actually get on the road and test them in day-to-day living, the fuel figures are there’s a massive disparity. Sometimes up to 5 L per 100 km. Not so with this car. Cherry claims 4.9 L per 100 km when you’re driving in the hybrid mode. And and I can confirm right now 4.9 L per 100 km. It can get as low as 1.4 4 L if you drive the car in its full EV mode. And what this equates to at the end of the day is that on a full tank of fuel and a full charge, you should be able to drive 1,200 km on a on that charge up and fuel up. That is fantastic. And if these figures on the dashboard are to believed, yes, I could probably drive from here to Cape Town without having to stop. Now, one of the other things that you’re not really going to hear us complain about too much is the fit and finish of the interior cabins. The Chinese manufacturers have gotten a lot better with this. And especially with the brands that fall under the Cherry brand, I think they’ve been pinching quite a bit from a motor because the fit and finish in here is fantastic. The stitching all lines up. The colors are nice. The materials have a wonderful touch and feel. And in all honesty, they really have stepped up their game. Even if you are seeing a few MercedesBenz influences, I’m going to go on a limb here and say that this car is actually so good that I’m going to have to nitpick a few things. And they really are around the infotainment. It is a lot better than some of the previous systems we’ve dealt with, but this one does still seem a little bit laggy in between the menus. And then from another point of view, if you are using the touchscreen, you tend to rest your hand on the level of the dash just below it, which just so happens to be a touchcreen panel for the climate control where you invariably end up switching on the heater, turning up the fan, you know, messing around with the controls can it’s a little bit fiddly. Now, a few years ago, I drove a Cherry Tigo 7, and I have to admit that there is an astronomical difference between that car and this one. Where I was very critical of that vehicle and the throttle response and the transmission and the general fit and finish of the interior, I’m not feeling any of that with this car. Now, I know that might make me sound biased, but once you’ve driven the two vehicles back to back, you’ve realized just how much emphasis Cherry is putting on constant development. Now, if you are in the market for a family SUV, of of course, one of the things that you’re going to be worried about is safety. And well, Cherry is once again on the ball. This vehicle scored five stars in its latest ANCAP test and it gets that because well it has a full ADA system. So you’re getting lane keeping, blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, uh lane keep assist, all of that jazz, plus eight airbags and ISO effects and all the other stuff that makes this vehicle incredibly safe. So let’s get down to the brass tax. It’s new car. So much better than the outgoing one. How much does it cost? And there is the another big surprise. The Cherry Tiger 7 Ultra plug-in hybrid 679,900 rand. Now with that, of course, you are getting Cher’s very very comprehensive warranty and service plan. Uh I speak under correction, but I think it is 7 years on the vehicle, 10 years on the drivetrain. and another 10 years on the hybrid parts. You’re also going to get a 5year 60,000 km service plan. So, your first few services will be covered and you don’t have to worry too much. And the fact that you have that 10-year warranty on all of those hybrid parts and that of course industry leading 1 million km distance on the warranty which incidentally Cherry has also just tweaked a little because it would seem that where that million km warranty uh was only prevalent for the first owner, Cherry has now tweaked that so that that warranty will carry over to the next owner as long as you’re selling the car back to a official Cherry dealership and you’re buying from said dealership. And that’s just fantastic news. So, in conclusion, is the Cherry Tig 7 blood hybrid that good? Yes, it is. And I can honestly tell you that without feeling or sounding biased. Um, I’ve had to take my criticisms about Chinese vehicles and re-evaluate them because if this is the kind of work that they can put out when they put their minds to it, it would be incredible to see what the rest of the Chinese automotive sector can do. And if I were a legacy auto brand in South Africa, I’d be worried. We’d like to thank you for taking the time to watch our review on the Jerry Tiger set. If you’ve liked this video, please like, share, and subscribe. And tell us in the comments what you liked about the video, what you didn’t like, and more importantly, what you’d like to see us review next. Until next time.
Chery has seemingly addressed many of the issues we have found with Chinese-made cars with the introduction of a single model. Is this the best one yet?
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