SA Road Tests

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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Many of the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.

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Much better: 2022 Chery Tiggo 4 Pro

Good and solid

Posted: March 4, 2022

Outside pics by Quickpic, interior by author

The numbers
Prices range from R274 900 to R364 900
*Engines and performance: See text
Real life fuel consumption, Elite SE with CVT: About 8.6 l/100 km
Tank: 51 litres
Ground clearance: 170-180 mm
Standard tyre sizes: 215/65R16 and 225/60R17
Spare wheel: Spacesaver
*Luggage: 340 - 1100 litres
*Turning circle: 10.2 metres
*Dimensions:  4318 mm long on a 2610 mm wheelbase, 1830 mm wide and 1647 high.
Warranty: Five years, 150 000 km with roadside assistance
Service plan: five years, 60 000 km at specified intervals
Engine warranty: Ten years, one million km. NB. Strict terms and conditions apply.
*Overseas sources

The appeal never varies: “Please tell me this is better than that QQ3?”

The little car we had here a while ago was decidedly cheap and cheerful but, in its defence, it was directed at buyers who simply wanted something basic for getting in the groceries, going to work, visiting friends and doing what people do.

Tiggo 4 and its recently announced sister, Tiggo 8, have moved well upmarket without necessarily breaking the bank. Build quality is now on par with almost anything from anywhere else, bells and whistles are simply a matter of choosing models and the engines are right up to date.

The ACTECO 1498 cc engine used in Tiggo 4s is Chery’s own, developed in co-operation with Austrian engineering firm AVL. The details are familiar; dual overhead camshafts driven by silent chain, 16 valves with Dual Variable Valve Timing and Variable Induction, efficient combustion technology, and reduced friction.

The naturally aspirated motor puts out 83 kilowatts at 6150 rpm and 138 Nm at 3800 while the Honeywell-turbocharged derivative ups the stakes to 108 kW at 5500 revs and 210 Nm between 1750 and 4000 rpm. This one sprints from zero to 100 km/h in 9.7 seconds and tops out at 190 km/h. I couldn’t find performance numbers for the plain version unfortunately.

We get three basic trim grades; naturally aspirated Urban with five-speed manual transmission, Comfort with nine-step CVT, and turbocharged Elite with either a six-speed manual box or the same CVT. An Elite SE level adds some appearance kit.

Urban provides most of what one might need: two airbags; ISOFix with top tethers; disc brakes at both ends with ABS, EBA, EBD, ESP and traction control; roll stability control; electric parking brake with autohold; hill start and downhill crawl; automatic locking; rear parking sensors; keyless entry with push-button starting and electric wing mirrors. Other kit includes fabric seats; 16” alloy wheels; automatic headlights; rear fog lamps; standard air conditioning; 3.5” TFT cluster and 10.25” multimedia touchscreen with the usual connectivity.

Moving up through the grades adds side and curtain airbags; sunroof; tyre pressure monitoring; rearview camera; mirror folding; cruise control; three-way driving modes; bigger wheels; LED headlights; 7” TFT; electrically adjustable leather seats and dual-zone aircon. Our test car was a turbocharged Elite SE with red brake calipers; added red trim on the seats and dash, and extra mood lighting.

Performance was competent rather than racy and the CVT worked almost imperceptibly. Manual override can be selected by slipping the gear lever to the right and doing the usual fore-aft shifting.

Space is plentiful with a well sized boot loading at table top height and 60:40 split rear backrest, lots of headspace and almost limousine-like legroom. A 6’4” back seat passenger declared himself comfortable. Apart from rather fiddly access to the trip computer, minor controls were easy to find and use. The big front armrest box can be warmed or chilled, there’s an abundance of power points, the cubby is decently sized and there’s a sunspecs box. But the door bins are rather narrow and visor mirrors aren’t illuminated.

Overall, the Chery Tiggo Pro is a good, solid family car with lots of space, fair performance, enough flash to keep most users happy and, by today’s standards, well priced.

Test unit from Chery SA press fleet.

We drove a Tiggo 7 Pro a few months later

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.

Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads or goat tracks as well. As a result, my test cars do occasionally get dirty. It's all part of the reviewing process.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.

If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles.  And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.

Comments or questions?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you completely disagree with what I say? If you want advice or have a genuine concern, I will be happy to hear from you. All I ask is that you write something in the subject line so I know which vehicle you're talking about.