Chery Tiggo 4 review: Bargain small SUV gets an update

In a story that we’re expecting to see more of, the Chery Tiggo 4 was the best-selling small SUV in Australia in July 2025 with 2065 sales. That’s higher than its main rivals, including the MG ZS, Mazda CX-3 and even Hyundai Kona that’s the small SUV best-seller this year – plus, the larger Chery C5 it shares showrooms with.

Earlier this year, Chery gave the Tiggo 4 an update with a much more modern rear end with LED lighting, a few pieces of new equipment and it even dropped the former ‘Pro’ from its name while keeping pricing the same as before. It’s clear that the Tiggo 4’s value equation is winning over buyers, so has that changed with the updated model?

Chery Tiggo 4 pricing (drive away)

2

Chery Tiggo 4 Urban standard features

• 17-inch alloy wheels with a space-saver spare
• Roof rails
• Dusk-sensing automatic LED lighting
• Rain-sensing automatic wipers
• Keyless entry with push button start and walk away locking
• Heated electric mirrors
• Dual-zone automatic climate control with rear air vents
• Cloth upholstery
• Leather-wrapped steering wheel
• Height-adjustable driver’s seat
• 10.25-inch digital driver’s display
• 10.25-inch touchscreen
• Wireless and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
• AM/FM/DAB+ radio
• Six-speaker sound system
• 3x USB ports

Tiggo 4 safety features

• 7x airbags (including a front centre unit)
• Autonomous emergency braking
• Lane keeping assistance with adaptive lane guidance
• Adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Door open warning
• Rear cross-traffic alert (with braking)
• Driver attention monitoring
• Traffic sign recognition
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Reversing camera
• Auto high beam
• Alarm

The Tiggo 4 range was awarded a five-star ANCAP rating in 2024, with scores of 88 per cent in adult occupancy protection, 87 per cent in child occupancy protection, 79 per cent for vulnerable road user protection and 85 per cent for safety assist.

5

Tiggo 4 Ultimate adds:

• Sunroof
• 18-inch alloy wheels
• Auto-folding mirrors
• Synthetic leather upholstery
• Heated front seats
• 6-way electric driver’s seatWireless phone charger
• Colour selectable ambient cabin lighting
• 360-degree camera

Interior, practicality and bootspace

For the price, the Tiggo 4 features an impressive cabin that is more practical than you’d expect given its diminutive size, but one that’s also finished with higher quality materials and is more modern feeling than many of its rivals.

The dashboard and front door tops are all covered in soft touch plastics, while the dashboard fascia also features a strip of synthetic leather. The synthetic leather trim on the steering wheel also feels good in the hand. The cloth upholstery of our entry level Urban test car also adds some warmness to the cabin, and the material itself feels hard wearing and breathes better than the synthetic leather on the upper-spec Ultimate.

The cabin is also set up for practical use with long door bins, a big bin underneath the central armrest, a large tray underneath the centre console and a big glovebox. The two cupholders are also a good size, and there’s even a phone holder ahead of them, though it doesn’t feature a wireless charger in Urban spec.

All Tiggo 4 variants use a 10.25-inch touchscreen with the same infotainment software as the larger C5. Unlike that car, it also includes a row of buttons on the dashboard to help access features such as a home button, the volume and drive mode selection. There are also physical buttons for the climate control on the centre console, which is so refreshing in 2025.

The touchscreen itself is easy to use with colourful icons and good screen quality, though it can be laggy. It doesn’t feature satellite navigation, but wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard. The six-speaker sound system sounds good for the price as well.

2

The rear seat of the Tiggo 4 is more spacious than you would expect given its small exterior, and two average-sized adults will be quite comfortable. There are also map and door pockets, an armrest with two cupholders, a single USB-A port and an air vent as well. There’s also a light in each door that flashes as part of the door open warning system, which we think all cars should feature.

The boot of the Tiggo 4 measures a healthy 380 litres with the rear seats up and 1225 litres with them folded. The boot itself is largely featureless with just a space saver spare below the floor.

Performance and fuel economy

The Tiggo 4 uses the Omoda 5’s turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, making 108kW of power (at 5,500rpm) and 210Nm of torque (between 1,750rpm and 4,000rpm). That’s mated to a CVT automatic transmission and drives the front wheels only.

The claimed combined fuel consumption for the Tiggo 4 is 7.4L/100km with claimed CO2 emissions of 166g/km. That’s higher than rivals and we achieved 8.9L/100km in our testing.

Helping offset that a bit is that the Tiggo 4 Pro runs on 91RON regular unleaded and features a 51-litre fuel tank.

On the road

If you’re buying a car for its comfort above all else, the Tiggo 4 is an excellent option. Its soft suspension, lack of steering feel and less-than-perfect body control are perfect for those who travel on poor quality roads. Thanks to its low road noise levels, the Tiggo 4 is a relatively serene car to drive, especially on Sydney’s awful roads, as not much from the outside is communicated to the driver.

However, if you value even a skerrick of driver involvement, the Tiggo 4 will disappoint. The soft ride quality is accentuated by the poor body control, and bigger bumps see the suspension struggling to settle even after a few bounces. The Tiggo 4’s steering is too light and doesn’t feel connected to the wheels, while the soft brake pedal feel doesn’t inspire confidence either. The Tiggo 4 doesn’t need to be a sports car, but more driver communication to the controls would make it more comfortable and better to drive.

The 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine is unchanged compared with the pre-facelifted model, which is both a good and bad thing: it’s gutsier than its main rivals but it can be loud and its fuel consumption in the real world is too high. Thankfully, the Tiggo 4 hybrid has just gone on sale, promising performance and economy gains and we’re due to test it soon.

What has seen improvement since we drove the pre-updated Tiggo 4 are its range of active safety features, especially the lane keeping assistance and driver monitoring. Both are far less sensitive than before and we appreciate Chery for making the effort to improve them, though we think that the Kia Stonic’s lane keeping systems are more refined again.

3

Service and warranty

Chery covers the Tiggo 4 with a seven-year/unlimited km warranty with 12 months of roadside assistance that’s extended with each dealer service up to seven years in total, and seven years of capped price servicing.

Its service intervals are annual/every 15,000km (whichever comes first) and five years of servicing costs just $1445 ($289 per service).

Verdict: Should I buy a Chery Tiggo 4 Urban?

As its strong sales figures show, there’s clear appeal to the Chery Tiggo 4, especially in tough economic times. The amount of car that the Tiggo 4 offers is astounding with a long list of standard kit, a gutsy turbo-petrol engine, good quality inside and great practicality for its size. Impressively, despite the new look and more features, Chery kept the pricing as it was before.

However, there are some areas where the Tiggo 4 betrays its asking price: the driving experience, for example. The soft suspension and lack of feel for the driver mean that you just don’t feel anything from behind the wheel and it can feel like a pogo stick over larger bumps. Of course, the cheap-as-chips asking price reduces some of that expectation and if you’re fine with the driving experience, there’s plenty else to like about the Tiggo 4.

Tiggo 4 Urban rivals:

Mahindra XUV 3XO

MG ZS

Hyundai Venue

Specs