Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Ultimate PHEV Review

With the company dominating the world of small SUVs while having a solid footing in the conventional midsize SUV segment, the Tiggo 8 steps into the fray as Chery's seven-seat SUV offering for growing families.

The Tiggo 8 Pro stacks up on paper as one of the most affordable and value-packed plug-in hybrid, seven-seat SUVs, but does this price accessibility come with any major catches and is it worth upgrading over the regular, petrol-powered Tiggo 8 Pro Max range?

We got behind the wheel of the top-spec Ultimate trim level of the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid to find out.

Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Competition

How Much Does It Cost?

Chery offers the Tiggo 8 range in two different flavours, both of which picking up some extremely sharp price tags to win over buyers in the seven-seat family SUV segment.

The entry-level Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Urban is priced at $45,990 drive away while this range-topping Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Ultimate variant is priced at $49,4990 drive away.

• Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Urban - $45,990 drive away

• Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Ultimate - $49,990 drive away (tested)

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What Features Does the Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Have?

The entry-level Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Urban comes riding on a set of 19-inch alloys and picks up LED headlights with LED tail lights, adaptive cruise control, leatherette upholstery with a leather-wrapped steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, six-way power adjustment for the driver's seat, a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, a wireless charging pad and a surround-view monitor with front & rear parking sensors.

Stepping up to the range-topping Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Ultimate range adds a powered boot lift, a head-up display, heated and ventilated front seats with power adjustment for the passenger's seat, passenger seat massaging, a panoramic sunroof, puddle lights and speakers built into the seat headrests.

Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Connectivity & Infotainment Features

The Chery Tiggo 8 range picks up a massive 15.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system that dominates the cabin design.

It's a very solid infotainment display for the price, offering high brightness levels and a snappy screen refresh rate that makes things feel brisk as you navigate through menus.

The menu layout is relatively simple, though hot tip: swiping down from the top of the screen presents you with a dozen configurable shortcuts. You'll need to learn this one quickly, because the touchscreen controls everything and some fundamental controls are best accessed with this top-down swipe of the homescreen.

There's also a voice recognition system that was actually pretty responsive to our requests and can help to cut out the middleman.

Chery bundles in AM/FM & DAB+ digital radio as well as factory satellite navigation and gives both the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Urban and Ultimate a pretty beefy ten-speaker sound system.

All up, Chery's 15.6-inch display and infotainment suite certainly makes a great first impression and holds its own against virtually any display on the market, letalone at this end of the price spectrum.

Does the Chery Tiggo 8 Have Wireless Apple CarPlay & Android Auto?

Buyers will be pleased to know that Chery’s 15.6-inch infotainment system comes packaged with the company's latest hardware and an OS that offers both wired and wireless smartphone mirroring.

That means you can climb aboard with your iPhone or Android device sitting in your pocket while accessing your contacts, making calls, sending messages, playing your own tunes or using your preferred navigation app.

You can also utilise wireless Apple CarPlay and/or Android Auto while fast-charging your device at speeds up to 50-watt via the air-cooled charging pad.

Handing over the primary Apple CarPlay connection to our co-pilot was a simple process via the settings menu and we experienced no drop-outs in the connection over our week behind the wheel.

Is the Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Comfortable to Drive?

While the Tiggo 8 blows its competition out of the water on the features front, the same cannot be said about the driving experience.

It’s pretty much on the money when driving around town, though you’ll quickly find it’s a bit out of its element when tacking a pretty regular stretch of country road that wouldn't phase an number of its biggest rivals.

Before we get into that, let’s take a quick look at what's powering the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid range.

There's a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine kicking out 105kW of power and 215Nm of torque paired with an electric motor that sends an added 150kW of power and 310Nm of torque to the front wheels.

The company doesn't quote any official combined power figures, though we can say that with a fully charged battery, the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid feels responsive, eager and pretty brisk thanks to that electrical assistance.

It's clear the Tiggo 8 platform is designed for city buyers in mind.

Admittedly, it ticks the brief for metro buyers pretty confidently, offering an incredibly lightweight steering rack and a decent turning circle that makes it a reasonable package to navigate through a tight car park.

Likewise, the acceleration off the line is perky and a regenerative braking system helps to feed all the energy you'd otherwise lose in a conventional car back into the battery pack.

It's strangely difficult to adjust the levels of regenerative braking on the move, however, which is typically an easy thing to change.

The sportiest setting of the regen braking is still too light for serious efficiency gains, however, and we found the friction brakes themselves to be a bit too sensitive, but you'll get used to it.

We also found the steering to be far too light for our liking, even in the sportiest driving mode, while the overall steering at speed is devoid of feedback and even a little twitchy, but fast nonetheless.

In terms of the ride, the suspension package does pretty well to keep things cushy around town, absorbing a lot of the punishment of speed bumps.

It’s quiet and floaty when you're just cruising around town.

Where things get a little shaky, however, is when you leave the city in the rear-view mirror.

The soft suspension package translates to a considerable amount of bouncing over high-speed bumps and road undulations.

Push it a little too hard around a corner and you're slapped with a face full of understeer, which, combined with the bouncy road, means the Tiggo 8 SH does not inspire confidence running up a country road.

Even with the added weight of the PHEV battery and motor components, it just doesn't feel tied down enough.

Cruising along the highway, the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid feels nice.

It's quiet inside, with Chery obviously paying quite a bit of attention to optimising NVH levels and makes light work of a long run up the highway.

We’ll close with a quick note that may well prove to be user error, though it's worth pointing out.

We just couldn’t get the hang of Chery's column-mounted gear stalk, which, over the course of a week, constantly denied us quick gear shifts that made traversing a busy car park or even a three-point turn a near constant frustration.

The best way we could find was with a tonne of added pressure on the brake pedal, though even this method is far from perfect.

Is it Fuel Efficient?

The feature piece of the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid is obviously the plug-in hybrid architecture underneath - so how does it hold up on the efficiency front?

Very well, actually.

The added electrical assistance from that electric motor takes a lot of the burden off the 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol unit, while the hefty 18.3kWh lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) battery pack means there’s plenty of juice to go 'round.

The company claims fuel economy figures of just 1.3L per 100km on a combined cycle.

Bundle that with electricity efficiency figures of 15.4kWh per 100km, and company says you can extract up to 95km worth of electric range.

In the real world, we found Chery's electric range claims actually held up quite well, while fuel economy figures climbed to between 5.1 - 6.0L per 100km when battery capacity dropped.

We also got to within 80 per cent of Chery's 95km EV driving range figures.

The company has configured the battery pack to sit around the 30 per cent mark to ensure there's adequate juice to power the electric motor.

In terms of charging speeds, the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid's 18.3kWh pack can be DC fast-charged at speeds up to 40kW, resulting in a 30 - 80 per cent charge in around 20 minutes.

The Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid comes equipped with a 60-litre fuel tank and requires 95 RON fuel, at a minimum.

Is it Practical and Spacious?

The Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid presents an incredibly neat, well-equipped cabin for buyers.

That said, we were surprised to find out that it's far from the best in segment when it comes to accommodating tall drivers, with some pretty fundamental ergnomic boxes left unchecked, at the very least, partially ticked, depending on how generous and forgiving you are with that price tag in mind.

For context, I'm 185cm tall - definitely on the taller end of the spectrum but still well within averages.

Climbing aboard, I was disappointed to find a lack of seat width, under-thigh support and just how high the driver's seat sat in its lowest possible position.

The problem wasn’t so much headroom, it’s that the seating position is so high, the top of the windscreen is perilously close to being an obstruction of my view; the A-pillar is also quite chunky but this isn't a big issue.

Chery’s dashboard design sinks quite low, which opens up some visibility; it’s just worth pointing out that I've never really been behind the wheel of a car that, in its lowest possible driving position, had me bending my neck with regular head checks.

Strangely enough, in-seat massaging is on the menu, though it’s reserved only for the passenger's seat.

Another pet peeve is the fact the steering wheel buttons are completely invisible to the naked eye during the day, making it virtually impossible to navigate unless you're familiar with the layout.

That complaint aside, there’s no denying that Chery's interior design presents a particularly sleek cabin up front.

Materials used are a strongpoint, with barely any cheap, piano black trim used. Instead, there's an interesting leatherette finish that feels more like a neoprene wetsuit than anything else wrapping the seats and door surrounds.

Storage options are also a strong point, with the floating centre console housing a separate layer of storage underneath which can swallow up handbags and some decent-sized items.

Up top, there's an air-coooled 50W wireless charging pad sitting beside a vacant pad for another large smartphone, a pair of cupholders, a pretty deep centre console bin, an average-sized glovebox and small bottle holders inside the door sills.

Move to the second row and the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid proves itself a nice, practical affair.

It treats those in the second row to a very healthy amount of legroom, even behind a fairly tall driving position.

Adults won't have a problem sitting in the second row, with a nice, wide cabin featuring a near flat-floor design, decent toeroom and the ability to both slide back and forth on rails and recline the seatback considerably.

Amenities in the second row of the cabin come in the form of a USB-A & USB-C port, small door bins, map pockets, two small air vents and a folding armrest with two cupholders.

Move to the third row of the cabin and you'll find that accommodation in the rearmost of the Tiggo 8 definitely is pretty much par for the course.

It’s far more of a five-plus-two seating arrangement that a fully-fledged seven seater which is what we've come to expect from midsize SUV platforms offered in a more family-friendly layout.

Access into the third row is a bit tight, especially if the driver is tall, because the second row seat slides forward with the seatbase. In some cases, you might even need to move the pilot's seat forward to make it a realistic proposition.

Once you’re inside, it’s a kids-only affair in the third row though, once again, it's a confident par for the course with the Tiggo 8 offering much the same experience as its major rivals.

For the parents, there's two separate ISOFIX anchors and three top tether mounts in the second row, though unfortunately, nothing in the third row.

Accessing the cabin is, at least, nice and easy thanks to the wide aperture doors.

How Big is the Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid's Boot?

As we've come to expect from three-row, midsize SUVs, boot space is tight when all seats are deployed.

Chery doesn’t give us any official volume figures for the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid, though it's definitely closely matched with the petrol-powered Tiggo 8 Pro Max.

In that model, boot space figures rise from 117L in a seven-seat format up to 479L in a five-seat layout.

There's a few hooks to secure loose items as well as a 12-volt outlet hiding in the boot.

We will say that Chery's seat folding design is practical, with the second and third row seats folding nearly completely flat which makes it easy to unload bulky cargo.

Is it Safe?

Chery has loaded the Tiggo 8 range with safety tech, though some of the ADAS tech still needs a bit of polish.

Namely, the driver attention monitoring, which has a complete disdain for sunglasses and suggests you pull over more than a todler with a short bladder and the lane-keep assistance system which has a knack of being confidently incorrect and insisting it takes control over the vehicle.

While some systems kindly suggest a steering correction, Chery's LKA system actively grabs the wheel and holds you within a certain margin that it deems appropriate.

When you fight it, the wheel suddenly jerks one side and believe us, you will be fighting it, because these driving lines it seems to suggest are often completely off the mark.

While few safety systems currently on the market are perfect, we find those that grab the wheel to be unnerving, to put it kindly.

That said, there's a tonne of active safety tech bundled into the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid range, with the list headlined by AEB, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alerts, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep and lane-change assist, tyre pressure monitoring, traffic jam assist, driver attention alerts and a surround-view monitor with front and rear parking sensors.

The Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid is yet to receive its own ANCAP safety rating, though the petrol-powered Tiggo 8 Pro Max has picked up full marks, scoring a five-star rating in 2023 testing.

While this doesn’t transfer over to the Super Hybrid range, it’s a good reference point for the Super Hybrid's safety chops under laboratory testing.

What Warranty does the Chery Tiggo 8 Come With?

Chery offers the Tiggo 8 range with a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

Buyers also pick up a 12 month roadside assistance membership which can extend out to seven years in total if you keep the Tiggo 8 serviced within the network.

There’s also seven years' worth of capped-price servicing bundled in, with maintenance costs totalling $3,174.15 over the course of seven years.

Service intervals for the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid stand at 12 months or 15,000 kilometres, whichever elapses first.

Our Verdict: Is the Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Worth it?

The Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid demands attention due to the simple fact it's one of the cheapest seven-seat, plug-in hybrid SUVs on the market.

It undercuts most of its rivals considerably on price while exceeding them on features.

That said, there are some compromises you’re making when bargain hunting - namely the lack of ride refinement for regional buyers, tight ergonomics for tall drivers and the fact it doesn't offer the most practical packaging in the segment.

It's more of a five-plus-two seating arrangement rather than a fully-fledged seven-seater, which is something for true family buyers to take note of - as well as the fact a larger Tiggo 9 range is joining the ranks.

As a standalone plug-in hybrid SUV package, though, the Tiggo 8 is a damn solid package that ticks fundamental boxes of EV range and driving efficiency.

While its on-road manners are far from inspirational, in many ways the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid is a pragmatic option in the seven-seat, PHEV SUV segment, though we do think the active safety tech needs some polishing and some pretty basic ergonomics need to be sorted before it's a no-brainer.

If you're looking for the best possible price on your next car, reach out to one of our car-buying experts today.

Five Chery Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid Specs You Need to Know

1. Seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty

2. CVT transmission and front-wheel drive, only

3. 1.3L per 100km claimed fuel economy figures

4. 95km EV range from 18.3kWh LFP battery pack

5. 40kW DC fast charging for battery