The name Chery may not be familiar to you, but it is a giant company that owns the Jaecoo and Omoda brands and has already launched them into our market with some success.
In this instalment of Drive Time John takes a spin in the recently launched Chery Tiggo 7 super hybrid and reveals how Mercedes will soon be offering a new GLB seven-seater.
So many Chinese brands are entering the UK market at the moment that it is hard to keep track of them all and their models.
The name Chery may not be familiar to you, but it is a giant company that owns the Jaecoo and Omoda brands and has already launched them into our market with some success.
Now they have decided to bring in a range of Chery products including the practical Tiggo 7 which offers a great deal at an extremely competitive price.
The Tiggo 7 shares the same platform and much more with the Jaecoo 7 and Omoda 7 models but it is sold for considerably less money.
Chery has not skimped to achieve the price as the Tiggo 7 is packed with equipment.
The entry-level Aspire has twin 12.3-inch screens with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, LED lights front and rear, a six-way powered driver’s seat, dual-zone automatic air-conditioning and a wide-view rear camera.
The Summit model I sampled adds a powered bootlid, a four-way powered passenger seat, a dual-panoramic sunroof, an upgraded Sony sound system and an around-view camera system.
Prices for the Tiggo 7starts from just £24,995 for the 145bhp turbocharged 1.6-litre pure-petrol, while the Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid costs £29,995 with £3000 more for Summit trim in both models.
As it stands the Super Hybrid is the cheapest plug-in hybrid available in the UK.
The Super Hybrid has a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine combined with a 201bhp electric motor, fed by an 18.4kWh battery.
The gearbox in the Super Hybrid is a three-speed automatic, which is bespoke to the PHEV. It has a top speed of 112mph and takes 8.5 seconds to reach 62 mph.
A choice of three driving modes, Eco, Normal and Sport but I could not detect much difference between them.
The electric motor and petrol engine worked smoothly together but the three-speed automatic gearbox felt slow to react at times.
With its light steering, the Tiggo 7 is easy to drive in town and twisty roads and it also cruises quietly at the 70mph motorway limit.
It offers a comfortable rather than sporty drive and that will suit the customers who will buy this car.
The claimed electric only range is 56 miles and that means the 23g/km emission figure while the overall mpg is supposed to be 343mpg – a figure that you will never achieve under normal driving conditions.
There is nothing special about the Tiggo’s exterior styling with hints of many other models in its looks and the interior is much the same with room for four adults to travel in comfort and a dash typical of other Chinese models.
The boot can take 565 litres of kit making it a practical choice.
I found it difficult to select a lot of functions via the touchscreen and did not like the fact that the indicators did not make the usual noise or sometimes stayed on after you had made a turn.
I also found that you had to slam the driver’s door closed or the Tiggo would not move.
Another annoying feature was a distraction warning message that came on regularly when I was not distracted.
READ MORE: JOHN MURDOCH’S DRIVE TIME: We test the new Kia Sportage and reveal details of the new Nissan Leaf
The Tiggo certainly offers a lot for the money with stacks of equipment, space and practical touches but it is up against tough competition from other family SUVs.
In further motoring news, Mercedes-Benz is launching a new GLB seven-seater in the UK with a redesigned interior featuring its Superscreen technology.
The new model is longer and has increased interior space especially in the second row.
Boot space ranges from 480 litres to 1,605 litres and electric models have a 127 litre frunk.
It will launch as an electric model first with a range up to 392 miles and rapid charging enabling more than 160 miles to be added in 10 minutes.
While it looks similar to the current model the newcomer has a 14-inch central infotainment screen, a 10.25-inch driver display and a third 14-inch display for the passenger.
Hybrid models will follow at a later date, says Mercedes
The new GLB has a comprehensive range of driver assistance systems, including DISTRONIC distance control as standard in Europe.
The hardware in this region comprises eight cameras, five radar sensors, 12 ultrasonic sensors and a water-cooled high-performance computer with sufficient power reserves for future functions and regular over-the-air updates.
Prices and full specifications are still to be revealed.
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