First Drive: Chery Tiggo 7 Pro. Best-priced small SUV?

First Drive: Chery Tiggo 7 Pro. Best-priced small SUV?

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Few cars fill their niche quite as completely as the new Chery Tiggo 7 Pro. Riding high on the outlook for possible record passenger car sales, Chery's attention has turned to the growing midsize-SUV category, where the pickings are rich if you get the packaging right, but fierce competition leaves little margin for error. Go big, go bold, or go home.

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The Chery Tiggo 7 Pro is no "four-door sports coupe-sedan crossover" designed to squeeze a few thousand extra sales out of the grey area between existing models. Slotting in-between the smaller, less powerful Tiggo 4 Pro, and the larger, three-row Tiggo 8 Pro, this newest SUV is designed to staunch a leak in Chery's newfound and growing customer base.

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Sports goggles

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It looks tougher than the Tiggo 4 Pro. Beefier and more purposeful. More good news is that the 18" alloy wheels are standard regardless of trim. The front-end styling is distinctly Chery too, with bold LED headlamps in its three-dimensional diamond-shaped grille. Up close, the mesh looks a little plasticky, but from across the mountain plains the whole effect leaves the Tiggo 7 Pro as though wearing sports goggles.

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Or, more likely, viewed across the parking lot. Chery says it built the SUV for adventurers and off-roaders. The reality is that the furthest most drivers will get into the rough and tough is jumping a curb or towing a few MTBs down a muddy path. Handily, then, the Tiggo 7 Pro is built for just such eventualities.

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No Baja in the cards

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There's front-wheel drive only, which pairs a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder engine with a 9-speed CVT transmission.

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Chery's test route was no Baja rally, nor was it more than most Tiggo 7 Pro owners would consider tackling. It was an urban road trip which featured a gravel stretch with decreased visibility at times. The 108 kW and 210 Nm of torque figures were more than sufficient, particularly when the gravel surface got skittish and the Tiggo 7 Pro's rear end could be provoked into some entertaining – but readily-controlled – sliding.

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Chery quotes fuel consumption at 6.8l/100 km, which proved to be quite a stretch compared to the 10l/100 km recorded during our launch drive. The brake pedal has been tweaked over the bigger three-row SUV, for what Chery says should be a more responsive feel, though it's still on the soft side. Better is the quick ratio for the steering.

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On the road, though, things are far less entertaining. The Tiggo 7 Pro is certainly not the quietest, but where it does make up for this shortcoming is a cabin that is spacious front and rear. Chery's cabin is well designed and the touch-points punch above the sticker price. 

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Screens and more screens

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Dual-zone climate control, power-adjustable front seats, and smart entry and start are standard across the range. For convenience, there's a triple-screen setup; a large 10.25" touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto rests in the middle, flush-mounted below is a high-resolution screen for the climate control system, while a 7" digital centre information panel is reserved in front of the driver. 

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Elsewhere, the Executive model has a myriad of safety and security features as standard; collision mitigation braking, lane-keeping assistance, lane departure warnings, and adaptive cruise control with a 360-degree around-view monitor. 

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It's a bit of a shame, though, that the whole cabin is needlessly dark and sober. The seats are offered in black, while the dashboard is monolithic in its slabs of black in various textures. I wish Chery had reconsidered the gloss black plastic – it's a magnet for dust and fingerprints – and borrowed some of the lighter finishes it used to such good effect in the Tiggo 8 Pro. 

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More… of nearly everything

Practicality really is the key here, and while the Tiggo 7 Pro may look tougher and more rugged than the average Chery, the engineers and designers made sure it didn't fall too far from the family tree. That's only a good thing, really, as is competitive pricing. The Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Distinctive is priced at R409,900 and the Executive at R444,900. 

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Chery needed a five-seat mid-CUV. It could've taken the easy route, dropped the third row from the Tiggo 8 Pro, and called it a day. Instead, the Tiggo 7 Pro stands apart from its bigger brother, a little more dynamic and a little more aggressive, though without sacrificing practicality or safety. It's hard to imagine that not being a winning combination – sluggish engine aside. 

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