BMW X2 vs Chery Tiggo 4

What's the difference?

There is little doubt the new X2 represents a vast improvement over the original model. The design alone gives it a lot more presence. 

More interior and boot space also helps widen the SUV’s appeal and the significant tech updates are welcome.

It is on the pricey side and there are a few too many options that should be standard. 

However, the M35i is hard to ignore as a sporty premium crossover, and the iX2 xDrive30 is the sort of electric SUV that should worry Volvo.

They both have their own distinct flavours, so there’s no dud in this line-up. Of course, we will hold final thoughts for the local launch when we can drive all four grades. But until then, it’s a welcome return to form for the X2.

If you’re just looking for an affordable hybrid which will save you money at the pump, the Tiggo 4 will do the trick, but there are so many little things which could be better here, it’s evident you’re getting what you’re paying for.

This makes the Tiggo 4 hybrid a bit of a let down, because the other Cherys I’ve driven recently have been pleasantly surprising given their price-points, not to mention the price-gap between the Tiggo 4 and many of its rivals is nowhere near as large.

The second-gen X2 looks very different to the original from 2018. That first X2 had a squat stance, looked more like a hatchback than an SUV, and the glasshouse appeared as though it had been squished into the body of the car.

The 2024 X2 adopts a similar design philosophy to the X4 and X6 - swoopy, coupe-like roofline and liftback, and bold styling elements at the front and rear.

It has a much more upright, flush front end, freshly designed large kidney grille and an edgy headlight design. There’s flared wheel arches and broad shoulders at the rear, as well as a cool new horizontal tail-light signature.

The X2 has grown in size in a big way. It’s 194mm longer, 21mm wider, and 64mm taller than the outgoing model. That naturally means more space inside, too.

Inside there are big changes. The X2 adopts elements introduced by the excellent iX SUV a couple of years ago. They include the curved display, and a floating arm rest with a control panel. Some of this is also familiar from the X1.

The materials mostly look and feel like they are high quality, and there is an appealing minimalism to the overall design and layout. The chunky sports steering wheel is visually appealing, but it’s a bit too thick in my hand.

On the outside, I think the Tiggo 4 Hybrid is pretty generic and inoffensive. It shares its 'box-on-wheels' aesthetic with cars like the outgoing Mitsubishi ASX and Hyundai Venue, which, to be fair, have been strong sellers.

It might not be an eye catcher, then, but there’s something to be said for not trying anything controversial, and this is pretty consistent across Chery’s range. In fact, compared to some brands in the market, Chery is doing a solid job of design consistency for its mainline SUVs.

Highlights on the outside include the enormous grille and contemporary LED light strip across the rear.

On the inside things also look pretty swish for this compact SUV category. The seats immediately jump out as a highlight, big and lavishly trimmed in comparatively soft synthetic stuff. The glitzy steering wheel and dual-screen layout continues from other Chery products and the dash design is tidy, if a little generic.

Where the previous X2 was a very small crossover with niche appeal, the increase in size for the new model means more people will be interested in it. Possibly even people with a small family.

Those increased dimensions pay dividends inside, with ample headroom up front and more than enough space across the front row, although the raised armrest console is somewhat narrow. 

The seats in both the iX2 xDrive30 and the M35i xDrive are very supportive thanks to ample bolstering, but both were also on the firm side. The iX2’s synthetic leather was slightly more comfortable than the M35i’s sports-focused front seats.

The power-adjustable seats and height- and reach-adjustable steering wheel means it’s not hard to find a decent driving position, but forward vision is impeded by a very thick A-pillar, and the letterbox-like rear windscreen in the X2 means rearward vision is limited. Good thing it has excellent parking cameras and sensors. 

Storage is decent in the X2, with room for big bottles in the door cavity, and a few nooks and large open spaces in the console. Although secure storage is limited with the armrest housing a very shallow space. I do like BMW’s phone charger setup. Rather than lying on a pad, it slots into a vertical holder that has a latch to keep it in place when cornering. The only drawback is that you can see the screen which could potentially distract some drivers.

The X2 introduces operating system nine to iDrive, which is housed in the central part of the curved display and operated by touchscreen or the controller on the floating central console. After some familiarisation, the functionality isn’t that much different to the previous version of the operating system. The main menu looks cool and is mostly easy to navigate. The sub-menu icons - of which there are heaps - look a little Microsoft Windows.

The X2 has drive modes that also interact with the interior of the car and change lighting, EV noise and more. They include Personal Mode, Sport Mode and Efficient Mode as standard, but if you opt for (and pay extra for) BMW Digital Premium, the modes extend to Expressive Mode, Relax Mode and Digital Art Mode. Some of these are quite cool, especially some of the EV sounds, but would I use them everyday? Probably not.

The clearest indication of increased space is in the second row. There’s much more legroom than the old X2, and behind my six-foot frame I had enough space with a couple of centimetres between my knees and the front seat backs. Toe room was very limited, however. 

The roof has been scalloped out to ensure more headroom, which is welcome given the extra sloping roofline.

There are a pair of USB-C ports back there, lower air vents, map pockets, decent door storage, and a centre armrest with cup holders.

The boot is sizeable, in both engine grades but you only get a tyre repair kit. There is underfloor storage for the charging cables in the iX2.

At 560 litres with all seats in place and 1470L with the second row stowed, the petrol grades have a bit more space than the iX2 at 525L (all seats in place) and 1400L (second row lowered).

I can see this car having a lot of wow factor on a dealer forecourt but up close things are less good. The software on the screens is pretty ordinary; hardly the sharpest, fastest or most logically laid-out. There’s a selection of clumsy-looking themes, and while the multimedia portion has a logical smartphone-style main menu, beneath lies an array of confusing and inconsistently-labelled sub-menus.

The digital dash could be smoother and better looking and it’s a bit confusing to use with the poorly labelled buttons on the steering wheel.

The centre console area is finished in a gloss finish, which is easy to scratch or smear with fingerprints. Up front underneath the main screen is an entirely separate dot-matrix style climate control panel with actual physical buttons. It looks a bit clunky compared to some other solutions on the market, but at least it’s clearly labelled and straightforward to use.

Somewhat infuriatingly, though, interacting with this climate panel brings up a menu on the touchscreen which you don’t need and it takes several seconds to go away. Why?

The cabin is reasonably practical from there, though. There are decent bottle holders in each front door and a further two atop the console. There’s a pass-through beneath, good for handbags and the like. There are some strange additions, like an upright holster with rubberised sides which seems to be for a phone, and behind the shifter there’s a key fob-sized cut-out, but it’s gloss finished, so it will scratch if you actually use it.

The wireless phone charger is tucked away underneath, which makes your phone hard to get at in a pinch, and easy to forget when you exit.

Ergonomically, this car is a bit strange. The seat base is very high, so for me (at 182cm tall) even with the driver’s seat set to its lowest position, my head feels close to the roof. Plus, I’m peering down on the instruments, rather than have them at a comfortable height.

However, there are soft-touch surfaces adorning the doors, which can’t be said for every car in this segment and the rear seat hasn’t been forgotten, either.

I fit pretty comfortably behind my own driving position in terms of knee and headroom and the plush seat trim continues.

There’s a nearly flat floor, so while it’s a reasonably narrow vehicle, at least someone in the centre position will have somewhere to put their feet.

On the amenity front for rear passengers, there’s a small bottle holder in each door, pockets on the backs of the front seats, a weird storage tray and USB port on the back of the centre console and a drop-down armrest with two shallow cupholders. There’s just a single adjustable air vent for rear passengers, so they’ll have to fight over who gets the airflow.

The boot surprised me. It looks tiny, but the brand claims it weighs in at 470 litres. On top of this, the floor is a strange shape because the 12-volt battery is under the floor and doesn’t quite fit level.

However, when I went to load the full three-piece CarsGuide test luggage set, I was surprised to find it fit snugly, with the tailgate able to shut without a problem. I was also impressed to find a space-saver spare wheel and not just a repair kit under the floor.

The Tiggo 4 Hybrid we’ve been driving for this review is the top-spec Ultimate, which wears a price-tag of $34,990, drive-away.

The surprising thing about this is how close it is to rivals. Yes, the Tiggo 4 Hybrid is still more affordable than most of its contemporaries, but it’s not by the same massive margin as its larger models like the Tiggo 7 PHEV ($39,990), which undercut the outgoing Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV by almost $20,000.

Instead, the Tiggo 4 Hybrid only just slips under a Toyota Yaris Cross GX hybrid ($34,790) although the margin increases considering Chery’s offer is drive-away. It also continues to look impressive compared to popular hybrid alternatives from more traditional automakers, like the exxy Honda HR-V (from $39,900) and the sightly larger Hyundai Kona (from $36,950).

The Tiggo 4’s value proposition is also complicated by how much competition there is in this small SUV space. A Haval Jolion hybrid, for example, can be had at $35,990, drive-away and is a slightly larger vehicle with a similar warranty offering, while MG’s ZS Hybrid+ can be had from $33,990, also drive-away, giving you plenty of things to think twice about.

Still, compared to those base prices for rivals, Chery is offering a top-spec and the Tiggo 4 Hybrid is pretty well equipped in this Ultimate form.

On the outside there are some expected things like 17-inch alloys and LED lighting, while on the inside the Tiggo 4 punches above its weight with things like dual 10.25-inch scregens for the multimedia and digital dash, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, synthetic leather seat trim with power adjust for the driver and heatin in the front two positions, dual-zone climate, a sunroof, ambient interior lighting, a wireless phone charger and a six-speaker stereo system.

There’s also a pretty good 360-degree view parking camera, walk away locking and auto-folding wing mirrors.

At this price, and in this segment, you generally have to spend a lot more to get this level of kit.

Each of the four grades come with a different powertrain, and the xDrive20i kicks it all off with its 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol unit, making 150kW of power and 300Nm of torque. It drives all four wheels via a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission and can hit 100km/h in 7.4 seconds.

The xDrive M35i ups the fun factor with a gruntier 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol unit, driving all four wheels via the same transmission as the 20i, all while delivering power and torque of 233kW/400Nm This ensures a 0-100km/h dash of 5.4 seconds.

The iX2 eDrive20 is powered by a 150kW/247Nm electric motor on its front axle, and the iX2 xDrive 30 uses two motors - one on the front and one on the rear axle for all-wheel-drive traction. The total system output is 230kW and 494Nm and the xDrive30 gets to 100km/h in just 5.6 seconds.

The Tiggo 4 hybrid variants pair a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine with a relatively large electric motor housed in a transaxle-style unit driving the front wheels. In effect, it's continuously variable without being a much-derided CVT auto.

Weirdly, Chery doesn’t state combined power figures, just separate ones for each power source, with the engine producing 72kW/120Nm and the electric motor producing 150kW/310Nm.

You’ll note the electric motor is much more powerful than the engine, which has an effect on the way this car drives.

A fuel-use figure for the xDrive20i is yet to be confirmed, but the front-wheel-drive sDrive20i offered in Europe with a three-cylinder engine sips as little as six litres per 100 kilometres on the combined cycle. Expect the Australian version to be a little higher than that given it’s AWD and has a more potent engine.

The M35i consumes 7.7L/100km. 

The high-voltage 64.8kWh lithium-ion battery in the iX2 ensures a driving range on the WLTP cycle of between up to 477 kilometres in the eDrive20 and between 417 and 449km for the xDrive30. 

The latter has an energy efficiency range of 16.3 to 17.7kWh/100km, and BMW says you should be able to top up the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in 29 minutes at a fast charging station.

That driving range is not bad compared with the Lexus UX300e and Peugeot e-2008, but not quite as impressive as the Volvo C40 twin-motor. 

I missed out on checking the energy efficiency figure of the iX2 xDrive30 following our drive, but after an 88km drive loop, the iX2’s range had dropped by 91km, which is just a 3km difference.

The whole point of this plugless hybrid set-up is fuel efficiency and on paper it’s not as good as some rivals.

The official combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) economy number is 5.4L/100km, but we easily beat that claim on test with a figure of 4.5L/100km. Worth noting that average came primarily from urban and expressway driving. It seems the hybrid transmission might require significantly more combustion input in freeway scenarios, hence the higher official claim.

A 51-litre fuel tank translates to a 944km range using the official economy figure and around 1100km based on our on-test average.

The M135i xDriveis undeniably quick off the mark. The lovely 2.0L turbo engine is well matched to the seven-speed dual-clutch and it’s responsive and willing from a standing start and when overtaking.

The engine sounds lovely too, although we suspect it’s amplified in the cabin, and steering is as sharp as it should be in a warmed-up performance SUV. We darted through some very twisty roads outside Lisbon and had quite a lot of fun in the process, so the M Performance badge is justified. 

I drove the previous-generation X2 M35i a few years back and was disappointed with the ride quality. It was quite jiggly on uneven road surfaces and way too firm.

While the new version still has a firm tune to aid dynamic driving, it is much more compliant than the old car and overall ride comfort has improved.

The iX2 is also quick off the mark and in xDrive30 guise is only 0.2sec slower to 100km/h than the M35i. 

That lively, smooth EV acceleration is present here, adding a sense of fun to the iX2.

It too has sharp steering, and the cabin is hushed. Not just because it’s an EV either. We were on coastal roads on a windy day and there was only a hint of wind noise in the cabin.

In some instances taking corners that had typical European walls or houses right up against the road, the iX2 would slow before I had a chance to tap the brakes. But it was hard to tell if that was a vehicle safety function, or the regenerative braking.

The ride in the iX2 was a bit of a mixed bag. It coped with some of the pockmarked roads exceptionally well, soaking up the imperfections. But then on other roads it was a little choppy.

It also bounces a little when you go over speed bumps, but that’s not exclusively an iX2 trait. I’ve felt it on many an EV, given the placement of the very heavy battery packs under the floor.

On the driving tech front, the X2 has a well executed head-up display projected directly onto the windscreen. It includes the speedo of course, nav guidance, a crystal clear display and more info. 

The Tiggo 4 is a strange one. This hybrid one in particular has me in two minds.

My initial impression was not a good one. The high seating position makes you feel as though you’re sitting on the car rather than in it, and the overly electrically-assisted steering removes you from feeling what’s going on at the front wheels.

Even the pedal feel is wooden, with the car having to modulate the electric and combustion drive components and blended regenerative braking at arms length, leaving the driver with little in the way of feedback.

The ride isn’t one of the worst I’ve had in recent years, with an overall soft enough edge to it, but it also doesn’t feel very sophisticated, and harsher over the rear than it is in the front, giving it an unbalanced character. On top of this, our test car had a couple of intermittent rattling noises in the B-pillar (around where the belt retainer is) as well as somewhere in the rear.

Acceleration is pretty impressive at speeds under 80km/h, however, with plenty of power instantly available from the electric motor, although this has the side-effect of being able to easily overwhelm the Sailun tyres this top-spec Tiggo 4 ships on.

One thing I quite like about the Tiggo 4, however, is how smooth it is. The seemingly primarily electric drive is excellent, particularly at lower speeds where this car is at its best, surging forward largely in silence with no annoyances from a fiddly transmission.

Even the way it blends the combustion power in is seamless, even compared to a Toyota, for example, with the engine distantly buzzing away only when required.

It's impressive that unlike the MG3 and MG ZS which have similarly powerful electric motors but run out of juice and lose a bit of punch when the hybrid battery is low, the Tiggo 4 does a better job of managing its battery reserve level, making sure the strong electric power is always available. This might mean the engine idles higher and longer, but with decent sound deadening, it’s not something you notice much.

Overall the Tiggo 4 is okay to drive. The hybrid components impressed me enough, but these are tarnished by sub-par driver feedback and inputs, handling, tyres and some ergonomic issues.

The Tiggo 4 has a lot of safety kit for this segment and for such an affordable price, so much so that combustion versions have a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating (although this hybrid variant didn’t exist when it was tested).

Active equipment includes all the key stuff like auto emergency braking, lane departure warning, blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, adaptive cruise and auto high beams.

The 360-degree parking camera is a nice touch and there are seven airbags (dual front, side, curtain and centre).

Is the active stuff annoying? Yes, but you can most of it off and the car remembers your choice next time you start it, so you can turn the most egregious offenders, like lane departure warning, and speed limit assist off. 

Even when they’re on they are okay, but I found the driver monitoring to be the most annoying of the usual crop, pinging at you constantly, sometimes for reasons beyond my comprehension.

The one you can’t seem to permanently turn off is driver attention alert, which is annoying because it is this car’s most egregious offender, chiming at me for even daring to peer down at the digital dash to see how fast I’m going.

The X2 range is covered by BMW’s five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty - something the German giant only increased from three years back in 2022. This is now the minimum standard.

The battery warranty for the iX2 is eight years or 160,000 kilometres. 

BMW does not have scheduled servicing terms, instead, servicing is condition-based and the car’s computer will alert the driver when to book in for a service.

A five-year servicing package will cost you $3171 for the petrol X2s, while the iX2 is $2186 for six years.

The Tiggo 4 Hybrid is offered with a seven-year/unlimited km warranty, seven years of roadside assist and seven years of capped price servicing with an eight year and unlimited kilometre warranty for the high-voltage battery.

The servicing is required once a year or 15,000km, with each service costing $299 for the first five years. It jumps from there, with a particularly expensive service at $736.62, dragging the yearly average for the warranty period up to $360 a year.

It’s a little pricier than Toyota, for example, but very reasonably priced compared to most.