Ever since the Chery Tiggo 4 made its debut on the roads I have been quite interested because of its value-for-money and capabilities combined with its quickly growing popularity. It seems like every third car is a Chery Tiggo 4.
In Q3 of 2024, 3 214 units were sold illustrating just how quickly its popularity is growing. It was also Chery’s bestselling vehicle with Tiggo 4s accounting for almost 63% of their vehicle sales.
Granted, concerns were recently voiced about the rapid growth of Chinese vehicles in the South African market and the challenge this creates for local manufacturing. Making it more complicated is that vehicles like the Tiggo 4 vehicles are difficult to beat at such a competitive price and value proposition.
The drive
Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to test drive the first generation of the Tiggo 4. Thus, I was highly anticipating the test of the latest derivative, and I wasn’t disappointed. Drivers can expect a confident and suitably powerful drive for its specifications.
It handled well around the corners, but I would still exercise more caution with the Tiggo 4 pro because it does have a larger body. Sometimes road imperfections were felt a bit keenly but this is not uncommon for crossovers. Otherwise, Chery is quite successful in providing a relatively similar drive between all their derivatives, just with a power and torque differentiator.
At worst, if you accelerated too hard from a standstill you might find that it’s not quite so smooth and has a minor turbo lag – again not uncommon in this price range. It not enough to exclude the Tiggo as an option if you are shopping in this segment.
The crossover has a 1.5 litre, 4-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, offering 108 kW of power and 210 Nm of torque. This is paired with a 6-speed dual clutch transmission which was added to this derivative with the specific purpose of reducing the fuel consumption.
The claimed fuel consumption sits at 6.7L/100km. During our time with the Tiggo 4 in a mixture of driving from highway 2 stop start suburban driving, our consumption stayed within the 8L/100km range.
According to claimed figures, there is actually only 0.1L/100km difference to the first derivative. Perhaps improved fuel consumption is meant to show in the actual figures. As it was my first experience driving the Tiggo 4, I personally cannot say whether consumption improved but the consensus seems like it is around 0.5L/100km better.
Despite this, consumption within the 8L/100km range is quite high still, especially for this market. While the vehicle may offer a lot of bang for its buck, the full cost of ownership is likely to feature prominently in buying decisions – or perhaps not, considering their popularity.
Design updates
The main change to the new Chery Tiggo 4 Pro is its DCT, thus only minor design changes were made. In fact, I don’t believe there are very many changes at all, at most at the lines are sleeker but it still remains a middle of the road kind of design design that will appeal to the majority.
Stepping inside
Some additions to the new Tiggo 4 DCT include a wireless charging pad (SE Elite), a redesigned middle console borrowed from the Tiggo 7 pro, extra storage space, a high res infotainment screen (SE Elite), offline navigation, 17-inch alloy wheels, Sony sound system, and digital driver information screen.
Another addition is the operation of the dual climate control on the infotainment screen. This is similar to the Tiggo 7 pro, which is not necessarily a good thing in my opinion – I found it a tad irritating. I tend to rest my wrist on the lower part of the screen accidentally changing the climate settings which would then take my attention from the road in order to change it back.
Granted, you can set your preference and likely use the voice control to set it back, which works exceptionally well in the Chery models. Thus, if you own the car, this probably wouldn’t be as frustrating to restore but I would still accidentally change it often.
Chery says the Tiggo 4 Pro has a ‘radio data system’ (RDS) which, if you didn’t know, is just a radio system that shows additional information such as the radio station name. It also features Android Auto and Apple CarPlay with wireless connectivity.
The tested vehicle was the Elite SE. It comes with leather trimmed seats and steering wheel which adds a level of luxury that not many vehicles around this price point do. Chery is successful in making affordable appear more expensive.
Like many of the other Tiggos we tested, there is a space in the center console where you can keep your phone or at least that is what I assume it is for. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t put it there in South Africa because it is much too visible to the road and you are bound to become a smash-and-grab victim if you do. I did, however, like the idea of it and maybe in future models they can move it somewhere that is more discreet.
Safety
Several safety features are standard in the Chery Tiggo 4 Pro:
- Four to six airbags
- ABS
- Electronic stability control
- Tyre pressure monitor
- Hill start assist
- Hill descent control
Currently, the biggest challenge for Chery may be their lack of a long history in South Africa. With their impressive engine warranty this may imbibe a lot of people with confidence in their vehicles and it certainly seems so – or it is simply the right circumstances for a vehicle like this to thrive.
Ultimately, the value for money of the Tiggo 4 Pro is quite hard to beat. It offers more comfort, space and also is cheaper than many competitors – something hard to ignore (or beat) in this economy. The only thing holding it back is that even with the DCT, fuel consumption is not great but is that enough to deter potential buyers? I am not so sure.
Good to know
The specs
Engine: 1.5 litre, 4-cylinder turbo-petrol
Transmission: 6-speed DCT
Fuel consumption (claimed): 6.7L/100km
Power: 108 kW
Torque: 210 Nm
Price: starting from R382 900
Warranty and service plan: 1-million-kilometre / 10-year engine warranty, 5-year/150 000 warranty, and a 5-year/60 000 km service plan.
Read more MasterTests
2 comments