Chery Tiggo 4 vs Ram 1500

What's the difference?

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.

As with all current-generation Ram 1500s, the Rebel remains one of our favourite full-sized American utes on the Australian market.

Yes, it is not cheap, and a few items standard on the Laramie Sport have been deleted for better or worse, but the Rebel offers better off-road capability without losing any of the regular 1500’s driver enjoyment, comfort, refinement and overall class.

An upsized Ranger Wildtrak with more civility than its redneck reputation suggests.

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.

Essentially, the 1500 Rebel is a Laramie Sport with a few changes to make it look a little more athletic.

Changes include an extra power bulge in the bonnet, a restyled grille treatment, black powder-coated steel bumpers, daytime running spot lights, 18-inch rather than 20-inch off-road alloy wheels and the aforementioned one-inch (26mm-ish) suspension lift – partly as a result of the knobblier tyres, Bilstein off-road dampers and revised springs, all for better clearances.

Speaking of which, that’s why the retractable side steps have been deleted. The approach/departure/breakover angles are rated at 20.9, 22.2 and 19.2 degrees respectively.

That the Rebel loses the RamBox does mean a bit more tub width, but at the cost of 210 litres of hidden storage.

What’s left are mostly visual changes, including a two-tone colour scheme with black paint on the lower sections, extra blacked-out trim, Rebel badges and decals and three grade-specific hues: 'Bright White', 'Flame Red' and 'Hydro Blue'.

Dimensionally, the 1500 is definitely in the next-league up compared to a Ranger or HiLux, with length at 5916mm, width at 2057mm (excluding mirrors – that balloons out to 2747mm with them) and height at 2006mm. Wheelbase is set at 3672mm. Which does wonders for interior space.

Inside, a red and black look pervades, resulting in Rebel upholstery and material applications, but the seats and dash remain pure Laramie Sport – and that’s no bad thing, as the DT series remains the most car-like and refined interior of all the big US utes.

Let’s dive in.

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.

This is as much an interior review as anything else, because the Walkinshaw Automotive Group’s engineers have created nearly 50 unique dashboard parts in the 1500’s transition from LHD to RHD.

These join the hundreds of other items that have been modified throughout the big ute.

Haul yourself up and inside, and what you’re met with is essentially a Laramie Sport, but with a more-athletic vibe due to the red-and-black Rebel trim upholstery. In this evaluation example, the presentation, fit and finishes were exemplary.

Everything seems to be in Cinemascope. The sheer girth of the cabin; the excellent vision afforded by lofty seating as well as the deep windscreen and side windows; the abundance of light showering in from the dual-pane sunroof; wide yet cosy front seats that ensconce you like a bear hug – are there comfier ones out there in the world of utes? We doubt it; and heaps of space for your head, shoulders, arms and legs.

Most people should be able to sleep crossways on the back seat floor.

Back up front, the vast multi-layered dash is conventionally designed, with a 12-inch instrument display ahead of the driver and a long, portrait-oriented 14.4-inch touchscreen (containing a superb premium audio system).

But, unusually, there’s also a 10.25-inch multimedia screen for the front passenger, which isn’t visible to the driver for road-safety reasons.

Drilling into the details, there’s a satisfying attention to design to the instrument dials that you’d expect from an Italian brand – Ram owner Stellantis is partly consisted of Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia, after all, as well as Citroen and Peugeot.

It’s also in the feel and quality of the presentation, as well as the general ergonomics, where most of the controls and switchgear are within reach, readily understood and easily operable – after a few moments taken to learn what’s what.

Confidence and swagger, without being too brash or ostentatious. An F-150, in contrast, seems cheap and hard inside.

Weirdly, given all the room around you, there’s also a sense of being a bit hemmed-in, thanks to the ultra-wide centre console. It houses an attic’s worth of storage capability, and is nicely integrated within the overall dash architecture.

It’s a pity, then, that Ram doesn’t offer a three-person bench seat up front – or, at least, a two-person love seat for the passengers right beside the driver’s bucket. There’s certainly enough space for that.

A half-day with the Rebel failed to showcase too many faults or irritations. There’s too much wind noise coming in at speed due to those elephantine exterior mirrors, there’s no digital radio and not everybody will like the red trim inserts. In this regard the vibe is more garish Germanic than restrained Italianate.

Remember, too, the Laramie Sport’s sliding centre console and reclining rear backrests aren’t fitted to the Rebel.

Not that you’d necessarily miss the latter, since the bench is nicely angled and seems comfortable enough. Obviously, there are acres of space to move and lounge about in, and pretty much all the usual amenities are present.

These include USB ports of both varieties, heated outboard seats, face-level ventilation, cupholders, map pockets overhead lighting, a coat hook, and the glorious sunroof that allows so much light to flood in.

There’s extra storage beneath the cushions as well as in the door panels, while a small portion of the back glass slides open. Apparently, that’s handy for hearing and giving instructions when working with the ute. Clever.

And, of course, so is the massive tub out back, complete with a full-sized spare wheel.

For now, Australia only receives the five-foot/seven-inch – or 1.7m long – tub, rather than the longer 6' 1" option offered in earlier 1500s. The Rebel’s payload jumps 30kg, and still maintains its 4.5-tonne towing capacity.

Note that, with the deletion of the RamBox cargo storage units, load-area width increases, but only by 15mm, and you lose 210 litres of hidden tub storage.

For the record, the tub dimensions are around 1700mm (length), 1295mm (width) and 543mm (height). The upshot is about 1500 litres of cargo capacity.

And, of course, there’s the maximum braked towing capacity of 4500kg (with a 70mm ball), 750kg unbraked, 7771kg for Gross Combined Mass (GCM), 3505kg for Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) and an 893kg payload maximum.

Finally, a heavy-duty tow bar, 12-pin wiring harness and trailer brake controller are standard equipment.

This isn’t a replacement for the bombastic Ram 1500 TRX, which has sadly disappeared along with the classic Hemi V8 (though it may come back sometime in the future), but rather an adjunct to the base Laramie Sport. Just with more off-road sportiness.

Like all 1500s, as well as the conceptually-similar Silverado 1500, Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra big utes, the Rebel is fully-assembled in the United States in left-hand-drive form, then shipped to and remanufactured in Melbourne for right-hand-drive.

This is no small task, with the Ram boasting hundreds of new and/or modified parts, needing over 80 man-hours of labour in the process.

Hence the high prices – with the Rebel matching the Laramie Sport at $141,950 (all prices before on-road costs).

More than just a sticker pack, the Australian Rebel includes one-inch higher-riding suspension, Bilstein off-road shocks, 32-inch all-terrain Falken Wildpeak 275/65R18 tyres, an electronically locking rear differential, underbody skid plates, a higher payload, special off-road cruise control and a so-called 'Power Bulge' bonnet – though there’s no extra performance under there, sadly, over the Laramie Sport’s existing SST (for Straight Six Twin-turbo).

You’ll need the $159,950 Limited flagship with its High Output SST engine tune for that.

Like the Laramie Sport, the Rebel seems almost sumptuously equipped, and includes goodies like a separate 10.25-inch multimedia display for the front passenger as well as a 14.4-inch central touchscreen and a 12.0-inch electronic instrumentation, 19-speaker Harman Kardon audio, dual-pane sunroof, heated seats front and rear, dual wireless phone charging, a sliding back window, power adjustable pedals and a fully-powered tailgate.

These come on top of a spray-in bed liner, cargo tie-down slider rails, LED headlights, wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, a reversing camera and front and rear parking sensors. Handy in a truck this long.

There’s also a decent wad of advanced driver assist systems too, like autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control. More on those in the safety section later on.

But it also loses some interior items too, like a sliding centre console, a reclining rear bench and 'RamBox' cargo storage, while digital radio is not available at all… which – to paraphrase '80s punk-rocker Billy Idol – might have Rebel owners yell out for more, more, more!

Anyway, there are also a few things missing outside too that are otherwise standard in the Laramie Sport.

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.

Underneath the power bulge bonnet is a 3.0-litre twin-turbo in-line six-cylinder petrol engine known as the 'Hurricane'.

Sharing just five per cent of its parts with Jeep’s version, the Rebel uses the Standard Output (SO) tune, meaning this Euro 5-rated direct-injection unit delivers a heady 313kW of power at 5200rpm and 635Nm of torque at 3500rpm.

The High Output (HO) in the Limited, on the other hand, ups the ante with 403kW and 707Nm.

Compared to the old 291kW/556Nm 5.7L Hemi V8, the Hurricane SO lacks its evocative exhaust burble and effortless low-down grunt, but the figures don’t fib: 7.6 per cent more power and 14.2 per cent more torque.

Tipping the scales at 2615kg, the Rebel returns an impressive 120kW/tonne (versus 109kW/tonne for the V8), resulting in a 0-100km/h sprint-time of just 6.0 seconds, according to Ram (HO: 5.3s). That the Hurricane weighs nearly 60kg less than the Hemi helps.

Torque is sent to either the rear wheels in 2WD mode or all four wheels in 4WD mode via an eight-speed torque-converter auto, that Ram evocatively calls ‘TorqueFlite’ – memories of old Aussie Chrysler Valiants here.

A full-time on-demand transfer case is fitted, offering '2WD High', '4WD Auto' and '4WD High/Low' along with a locking rear differential.

As with all 1500s, there are wishbones up front and the rear axle is a coil-sprung rather than leaf-spring set-up.

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.

Ram says the Rebel returns a combined average of 10.7L/100km, which translates to about 283 grams/km of carbon dioxide emissions. That’s a small improvement over the Hemi V8’s 12.2L/100km and 325g/km figures, aided by stop/start tech. But stirring performance, rather than outright economy are the priorities here, according to Ram.

Brimming the big 98-litre fuel tank with 91 RON standard unleaded petrol should see a theoretical average range between refills of 916km.

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.

If you’re a dyed-in-the-wool Hemi V8 lover and dread the notion that a mere ‘six’ has taken its place in the Ram 1500 – and particularly in the sporty off-road Rebel we have here – then a rethink may be in order.

That’s because, in the spirit of iconic sixes of the past, including Ford Australia’s legendary Barra in the Falcon and Territory, the Ram’s Hurricane should blow any scepticism clear away.

And it’s all in the delivery.

Smooth and sophisticated, the 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight-six idles with a muted rumble at start-up, but then roars off the line with an unexpected and prolonged burst of hungry acceleration.

And the power piles on effortlessly as the revs rise, with the auto seamlessly shifting through each ratio without putting a foot wrong.

Reflecting the interior design’s overall cohesiveness, the powertrain possesses a sophistication that’s far beyond what a big American truck ought to have.

That’s in 'Normal' mode. Choosing 'Sport' ups the stakes, as it also seems to stymie the stability/traction control intervention. Throttle response is noticeably sharper and more urgent, but other than the opportunity to more-easily break traction whilst getting to licence-losing speeds slightly quicker, there seemed little sense in staying in Sport.

This is a very fast ute as it is, and also an enjoyable one to drive, with a level of nuance at odds with its excessive proportions.

Even on wet and windy back roads the Rebel feels connected and controlled at speed.

The steering is appropriately weighted, with a sufficient amount of response for the driver to push on with confidence when taking corners quickly.

Remember, this is a 2.6-tonne-plus full-sized ute on off-road-biased tyres, yet getting into a rhythm and flow with the road is easy. Yes, you feel the mass, but the 1500 also feels taut and secure. And you’re not constantly harangued by over-zealous driver-assist systems going off all the time.

The wishbone front/coil-sprung rear suspension set-up must take much of the credit here, smothering bumps and tracing the groove of the road without jolting or stepping out of line.

Comfortable and quiet, there is a sense of isolation from the outside world that, incongruously perhaps, is in league with better premium SUVs. Again, this is a big American pick-up, remember.

On a few downhill twisty bits, the driver of course feels the shift in mass, but deft handling, adequate grip (great for off-road tyres) and effective brakes mean the Rebel doesn't break a sweat, even through puddles blanketing the bitumen.

Downsides? Well, it's still a large, lumbering truck to drive and park, with an inevitably massive turning circle to make heavy work of manoeuvring this beast around. Regular car park spots are almost always too small.

There's some wind noise rustling around the large exterior mirrors. And a bit of road noise coming through over certain coarser surfaces.

Overall, though, the Rebel behaves way-better than expected – and you don’t often get a chance to say that about a ute. Rapid, refined and engaging from behind the wheel, it is the best-driving full-sized US pick-up by some margin.

What V8!

That’s on road. We also had a brief off-road stint in the Rebel at the ex-Holden proving ground at Lang Lang, and we were pretty impressed with the ability and ease demonstrated over some short but demanding rough-track sections.

We doubt – at nearly $150K – that most buyers will go bush-bashing in this, but it’s good to know the hardware is there underneath to get you through.

Neither ANCAP nor Euro NCAP have tested any full-sized American utes at this stage.

However, the Ram DT 1500 has scored a five-star result in the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rankings.

Keep in mind, too, that the Rebel shares the Laramie Sport and Limited’s advanced driver assist systems, ushering safety like AEB (including cyclist and pedestrian detection), 'Forward Collision Warning', rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring, a 360-degree camera view, trailer-sway control and tyre pressure monitors.

Additionally, there are six airbags (dual front, front side and curtain), traction and stability controls and adaptive cruise control.

No speed operation data for the AEB and lane support systems are currently available.

Like all Ram DT 1500s, the Rebel includes three child-seat restraining top-tether points fitted, along with two ISOFIX latches in the rear outboard seats.

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.

Ram drops the ball when it comes to warranty.

That’s because, like GMSV’s Silverado range, it only offers a three-year, 100,000km warranty with roadside assistance, which falls short of the rival Ford F-150 and Toyota Tundra’s five-year/unlimited kilometre coverage.

In an era where Chinese rivals are rolling out utes with seven-year schemes, Ram's (and GMSV's) warranty is severely lacking.

Service intervals are at every 12 months or 12,000km, and there is currently no capped-price servicing on offer.