Chery Tiggo 7 PRO vs Volkswagen Touareg

What's the difference?

The Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Elite is a part of the brand relaunch for Chery and it showcases the brand's commitment to safety with its five-star ANCAP rating, awarded in 2023.

The medium SUV market is well and truly saturated with options and the Tiggo 7 Pro has rivals like the GWM Haval H6, Hyundai Tucson and MG HS which offer affordable packages for families in an expensive economy.

So, does the newest offering from Chery hold its own? In this review I'll unpack what my little family of three thought after a week with the mid-spec Elite model. (And why I suddenly have a hankering for Cherry Ripes).

It’s big, it’s fast, it’s luxurious, Volkswagen’s Touareg has always been a stand-out large SUV.

This one, the full-fat R is the latest take on the halo Volkswagen model. It has big shoes to fill.

See, top-spec Touaregs in the past are hardly rivals to the Toyota LandCruisers and Hyundai Palisades of this world. They’re a different breed, with the first-generation Touareg powered by a variety of engines up to a 5.0-litre turbo-diesel V10, and the second-gen version packing petrol and diesel V8s in its upper levels.

They were the ultimate sleeper family SUV, ridiculous engines with rich VW Group lineage in a seemingly mainstream family-friendly package.

But this third-generation version can’t quite replicate the over-engined craziness of its predecessors. It has to think outside the box as emissions regulations crack down the world over.

This Touareg R is a plug-in hybrid. A performance-focused one at that. Can it hope to replicate the unhinged nature of its forebears and find an appropriate place atop the hierarchy of Volkswagen’s R models? Let’s find out.