Let’s get something straight. Wheels magazine (is it still a magazine?) may have
recognised the Chery Tiggo 9 as Australia’s best value large SUV.
But they’re talking about the top of the range Ultimate model, not the entry Elite
which is the one most punters will end up buying at this end of the market.
And the Elite is a quite different beast, front-wheel drive, with a smaller battery, less
powerful drivetrain, less electric only range and of course less equipment. But it
costs less and it still seats seven.
STYLING
There are two grades, Elite FWD (our test vehicle) priced from $52,990 and Ultimate
AWD priced from $59,990.
Although both are described as “super hybrids” with the same 1.5-litre turbocharged
petrol engine, Track has two electric motors, while the Ultimate adds a third motor
and larger battery. This means more power and greater range.
Standard kit for Elite includes synthetic leather trim and two-zone climate air with
rear outlets, heated power-adjust front seats, acoustic glass for windscreen and front
doors, colour selectable ambient interior lighting, cooled console box, power tailgate
and a tilt-slide panoramic sunroof with powered sunshade.
There’s also 19-inch alloys, puddle lights, pop-out door handles, walk-away locking,
LED head, tail and daytime running lights, auto high beam, auto lights and wipers,
and front and rear parking sensors.
Ultimate adds 20-inch wheels, real leather, auto dimming mirror, a heated steering
wheel, heated and cooling for both the front and rear seats, massage for the front
seats, head-up display, automatic parking assist, additional side parking sensors,
and a 14-speaker Sony system.
Tiggo 9 is covered by a 7-year unlimited kilometre warranty, plus an 8-year battery
warranty, with capped price servicing and roadside assistance for 7 years.
Service is due every 12 months or 15,000km, with servicing capped at a total of
$3174 for the first seven years.
INFOTAINMENT
Infotainment consists of a 15.6-inch touchscreen and 10.25-inch instrument display,
with Bluetooth, intelligent voice control, built-in navigation, AM/FM and DAB+ digital
radio, wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Audio is provided by an eight-speaker Sony sound system.
There’s also 50W wireless phone charging, USB-A and -C ports front and back, 12-
volt outlet front.
SAFETY
Tiggo 9 has not been rated for safety yet but features an array of active and passive
safety features.
There are 10 airbags that include front, front side and centre, rear side, driver knee
and side curtain airbags.
The advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) incorporate the likes of
Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Emergency Lane Keeping (ELK), Adaptive
Cruise Control (ACC) and Forward Collision Warning (FCW) — just to mention a few.
ENGINES / TRANSMISSIONS
Powering the Tiggo 9 Elite is a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine,
which produces maximum 105kW of power and 215Nm of torque, together with two
electric motors, both of which are located at the front — delivering 75/170Nm and
90kW/220Nm apiece.
Combined output is 225kW of power and 315Nm of torque.
With three electric motors, Ultimate, in comparison, delivers 315kW and 580Nm. Torque is the more significant figure because it’s the stuff that gets you moving
quickly and makes short work of hills when the car is fully loaded.
In the Elite driving force is sent to the front wheels via a three-speed dedicated
hybrid transmission.
DRIVING
You’re buying this car primarily for the seven seats, right? So, let’s have a look at the
seats first.
The key figures are the length and wheelbase which dictate how much room it has
inside. The Tiggo 9 is 4.8m long with a 2750mm wheelbase.
To give this some perspective, Toyota’s soft road Kluger is 166mm longer with a
100mm longer wheelbase, which means more room for longer legs.
There’s a smaller Tiggo 8 that seats seven too, but at 4724mm/2694mm it has even
less legroom — it is however $10K cheaper.
Other alternatives include the Jaecoo J8 or fancier Omoda 9 (also produced by
Chery).
But back to the Tiggo 9 . . .
Getting in and out of the third row presents some challenges.
First, to raise the two third row seats with the straps provided, you need to slide the
second row forward to provide clearance for the headrests.
Second, the single, second row, tilt and slide seat that provides access is located on
the driver’s side of the vehicle, not ideal in our neck of the woods where it exposes
those getting in and out to the risk of passing traffic.
By rights it should have been switched to the other side as most manufacturers
normally do.
Third, returning the access seat to its original position proved problematic, requiring
the driver’s seat to be moved all the way forward before it too could be moved all the
way forward.
This unlocks the seat and allows it to be returned to its original position. Talk about a
major pain in the butt.
Once ensconced, there’s just enough room for smaller children and even then, some
negotiation may be required with those in the second row. Adults can forget it.
The seat adjustment, by the way, is located on the door, like a Mercedes.
With the seats in use there’s little room leftover for luggage, as is the norm for most
seven-seats SUVs, but at least the third-row packs flat when not required.
Cargo capacity is limited to 143 litres, with 819 litres when the second row is folded,
or 2021 litres with both rows folded.
There’s no spare under the rear floor either, just a tyre repair kit.
Four driving modes are available, accessed by a large circular control knob in the
centre console: pure electric, series, parallel, and energy recovery.
Despite the fact it plays second fiddle to the Ultimate in terms of power, the front-
drive Elite with its single electric motor is by no means a slouch.
Chery doesn’t provide acceleration figures, but it feels around the 8.0 or 9.0 second
mark from 0-100km/h.
Of course, you need some charge to receive assistance from the battery.
With a 70-litre fuel tank the Tiggo takes premium 95 unleaded and has claimed fuel
consumption of 1.5L/100km, but that depends on keeping the battery topped up —
otherwise it reverts to normal hybrid operation.
Power consumption is 15.6 kWh/100km. You can expect to get about 77km (WLTP)
driving on electric power alone (1250km combined).
Driving mainly in normal HEV or hybrid-electric mode, we clocked up just under
400km at a rate of 6.0L/100km.
In our defence, sometimes it is not convenient to charge the battery, but it’s great to
have the option.
AC charging is limited to 6.6kW, but with a fast DC charger it can be charged at a
rate of up to 41kW.
Access to the car is via walk-up/walk-away locking, with pop-out door handles and a
drivetrain that powers up automatically in readiness for departure.
There’s no start/stop button. However, before the transmission will engage, you must
have your seatbelt fastened.
It sounds like a great idea, but in practice it wears thin fairly quickly.
Surprisingly at this price point the steering wheel is power-adjust, but disappointingly
offers very little range of adjustment.
You can also choose between Comfort and Sport settings in the system that alters
the amount of steering effort required.
Of note, sometimes the transmission wouldn’t go into gear and at other times it
jumped out. This happened on more than one occasion.
Once up and running however the Tiggo is an easy, inoffensive car to drive and that
is a compliment.
It accelerates briskly and even handles pretty well as we discovered, pushing hard
through a few corners.
Ride and handling is a pleasing balance of comfort and control and it doesn’t
porpoise the way some SUVs do on undulating roads.
The Tiggo just feels a little disconnected, but that won’t be a problem for the majority
of drivers.
Three-level regenerative braking is offered, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to
adjust it that we could find.
On a downhill run you can actually see the battery level begin to rise.
Thankfully, most of the driver assistance stuff isn’t too intrusive. The Chinese seem
to be getting better at this stuff.
A complete lack of physical controls however became annoying after a while.
Want to change the temperature? See the touchscreen. Turn the radio down.
Touchscreen. Anything else. Touchscreen.
Not only is it annoying, it is also difficult once you’re on the move.
Limited control is accessible via the steering wheel buttons, but these can be difficult
to see in strong sunlight.
Alternatively, there’s always voice control, but after a minute trying — like us — you’ll
probably give up, swearing.
We’ve been doing this job for a long time. Once upon a time glitches in test vehicles
were rare.
These days they have become commonplace, and point to a lack of research and
development.
SUMMING UP
Is the Tiggo 9 value for money? Sure.
Is it cheap? Not really, not when you consider that it costs almost $60K to put on the
road.
When we wonder did this become the price point for a family wagon.
The quality of Chinese vehicles may have come on in leaps and bounds, but so too
has the price. What next?
RATINGS:
Looks: 7
Performance: 7.5
Safety: 7.5
Thirst: 7
Practicality: 6
Comfort: 7.5
Tech: 7.5
Value: 7.5
Overall: 7.2
AT A GLANCE
MODEL LINE-UP
Chery Tiggo 9 PHEV Elite, $52,990
Chery Tiggo 9 PHEV Ultimate, $59,990
Note: These prices do not include government or dealer delivery charges. Contact
your local Chery dealer for driveaway prices.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Chery Tiggo 9 Super Hybrid Elite, 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo-petrol, 3sp Dedicated Hybrid
Transmission, FWD, 7-seat SUV
ENGINE
Capacity: 1.5-litre
Configuration: four cylinders inline
Maximum power: 225 kW
Maximum torque: 315 Nm
Fuel type: Premium 95 RON unleaded
Combined fuel cycle: (ADR 81/02) 1.5L/100km
CO2 emissions: 35g/km
Electric range: (WLTP) 77km
Combined range 1250km
Electric energy consumption: 15.6 kWh/km
ELECTRIC MOTORS
Two permanent magnet synchronised motors (both at front)
Maximum Net Power: 75kW / 90kW
Maximum Net Torque: 170Nm / 220Nm
BATTERY PACK
Type: Lithium-ion phosphate
Capacity: 19 kWh
Max charging rate (AC) 6.6kW (type 2)
Max charging rate (DC) 41kW (CCS2)
DRIVELINE: Dedicated Hybrid Transmission, AWD
DIMENSIONS, WEIGHT, AND CAPACITIES
Length: 4800 mm
Width: 1930 mm
Height: 1730 mm
Wheelbase: 2750 mm
Kerb weight: 1985 mm
Turning circle: 11.8 m
Fuel tank: 70 l
BRAKES
Front: Ventilated Disc
Rear: Ventilated Disc
STANDARD WARRANTY
7 years / unlimited kilometres
