Chery Tiggo 8 PRO MAX vs Skoda Octavia

What's the difference?

This mid-sized seven-seat SUV segment is dominated by just a handful of nameplates, and it’s easy to see how some of them might be under threat by something like the Chery Tiggo 8 Pro Max.

There are a few areas where it could use some fine-tuning, but these are mainly restricted to being pedantic about the drive experience. There are no dealbreakers here as there often can be for low-cost alternatives, and so long as you’re primarily putting kids in the back seats, this Tiggo is well equipped, comfortable, plush, and surprisingly refined.

With a robust ownership proposition as well, it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t consider one of these if you’re shopping in the seven-seat SUV space - and that's why this could be Chery's shot at the big leagues.

While other brands may have a higher profile, the quality of this Octavia RS proves Skoda deserves a greater share of the limelight. If you’re thinking about a primo mid-size sedan, or wagon, or even a medium SUV, this car combines satisfying performance with low-to-the-ground dynamics, immense practicality, top-shelf safety and solid value-for-money. It’s nicely put together using quality materials and the ownership package is class competitive. Do yourself a favour and add it to your new-car shopping list.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

The Tiggo 8 Pro Max just looks like a mid-size SUV. Perhaps if you calculated the average design cues of every mid-size SUV on the market, this would be what you end up with.

Of all the Chinese automakers currently in the market though, the Tiggo range of SUVs are the least controversial. There’s no weird theme to the design, there’s no bizarre light fittings or controversial angles. You could stick a badge on this car from any Korean or Japanese brand and you wouldn’t think twice about it.

It doesn’t say much for innovation, but I think it will very much work in this car's favour. It provides a much more globally appealing look when compared to the controversial design of BYD products, the crazy grilles and badging on GWM products, or the derivative style of the MG range.

For this reason it won’t turn heads at the school drop-off, but that’s perfect for families who want to run incognito and would normally buy a conservative mainstream SUV from Toyota or Mitsubishi.

Inside things get a bit more interesting. The Tiggo 8 has a contemporary design, complete with a high-riding bridge-style console, and the dual-screens are encased in a single housing that spans half the length of the dash.

It’s ambitious too, with generous amounts of soft-touch surfaces and synthetic leather finishes. Clearly, it’s inspired by others in the industry. The dual-screen layout is very Hyundai or Kia via Mercedes, while the Benz influence extends to the wood grain-look plastic inserts and even the little silver finishes covering the speakers up. Rather than a naff knock-off though, the Chery interior genuinely feels its own space.

The only areas that you can see through the facade to a car built-to-a price is in a handful of places. The steering wheel buttons, for instance, feel a bit cheap, and when it comes to those big screens, the resolution isn’t as high as you might expect, and the processing isn’t as fast as it could be, leading to a slightly laggy experience.

Still, the same can be said for many mainstream manufacturers, and at least Chery’s native software has been localised and is easy to navigate. Also, none of this stops the Chery from feeling properly plush on the inside. It was also seemingly pretty well put together, free of rattles, switchgear with too much play, or nasty hollow plastics.

First impressions are good.

The current Octavia complies with Skoda’s sharp and angular approach to exterior design, with cool, jagged LED headlight clusters sitting either side of a blacked-out octagonal grille.

A brand signature is the bonnet shutting low and flush over the front guards to create a broad hood panel with longitudinal character lines running down its length. Similar creases flow confidently along the car’s flanks with 19-inch alloys filling the wheel wells nicely.

A smoothly tapering turret ends with a steeply raked rear screen on the sedan and wagon with angular LED tail-lights following a similar pattern to the headlights.

As well as the black grille, car-spotters should look out for the RS’s black finish on the window frame surrounds, roof rails (wagon only) wing mirrors and tailpipes as well as red brake calipers and RS sports bumpers front and rear.

Always a subjective call, but I for one think this car looks distinctive and contemporary while avoiding unnecessary flashiness.

Inside, the treatment is relatively reserved, with a grey through to black colour palette and high-quality materials, including soft-touch surfaces around the dash, doors and console, as well as ‘mouse fur’ and faux carbon sections on the upper dash.

The sports front seats are trimmed in a combination of synthetic leather and synthetic suede with quilted panels in the centre of the cushion and backrest. They feel as good as they look and are easy to get in and out of. Red contrast stitching throughout the interior dials up the racy tone.  

A sizeable central media touchscreen sits proud of the dash with the VW Group’s ‘Virtual Cockpit’ ahead of the driver configurable through multiple set-ups. And a smattering of dark chrome and brushed metal highlights (including on the pedals) finish off a beautifully executed interior.  

The interior is also thoughtfully designed, but it needs to compete with user-friendly cars like the Honda CR-V and Nissan X-Trail in this segment.

The front occupants are treated to a reasonably spacious cabin, which for the driver is quite adjustable, although the design of the dash means it sticks out into the front passenger’s knee area. Head and shoulder space is impressive, and everywhere you put your arms or knees there’s a soft-clad finish rather than hard plastic to greet you.

As already mentioned, the software isn’t half bad when it comes to ease-of-use, however the lack of tactile toggles or dials for the climate unit is a bit of a miss. It has its own dedicated set of touch controls below the screen itself, but they provide no tactile feedback, so are a little hard to use while on the move.

Storage is great, with large pockets and bottle-holders in the doors, a further two bottle holders in the centre console, a wireless phone charger, and a neat little set of drive mode buttons and a digital shift lever within easy reach.

The bridge-style console also offers a large pass-through area underneath for the storage of larger items, and there’s a deep centre armrest console box, too.

The second row is quite versatile, offering rail adjustment for the base, so you can maximise the room available to the third row if need be.

Second-row occupants (with the seats set to a decent position for myself at 182cm tall) have plenty of knee room and plenty of headroom, and the doors open nice and wide for the loading of objects or people.

Storage includes large pockets on the backs of the front seats, a bottle holder in each door, and a further two in the drop-down armrest. There is a set of adjustable air vents on the back of the centre console, with both a USB-A and USB-C port for power delivery.

The third row is a bit more challenging. I had to contort myself to get in with the second row seat either slid forward or folded flat. Once I was in there, I was surprised to find I fit, but only just.

My knees were hard up against the seat in front, while my head was touching the roof. Mercifully, I had enough room to slide my feet under the seat in front, otherwise it would’ve been too tight. It’s passable for adults then, but only in a pinch, and you wouldn’t want to be back there for long. No problem if you’re just putting kids back there though.

The third row gets air vents on either side with an independent fan speed controller on the mid-grade Elite and top-spec Ultimate, and there’s a useful storage tray, and small bottle holder on each side. You don’t get USB ports, but there’s a 12 volt outlet available just behind the rear seats in the boot.

On the topic of the boot, it is not as large as I was hoping, but then neither is the car itself.

The boot measures 479 litres with the second-row up, or just 117-litres with all seven seats deployed. It’s smaller than some mid-size rivals, but not enough for it to be a dealbreaker. We’ll get it back for a longer test to see what does and does not fit.

The floor is quite high to facilitate those fold-flat rear seats, and there’s a small under-floor storage tray where you can hide the retractable luggage cover on the Urban and Elite variants. Unfortunately the Ultimate gets a subwoofer here.

All variants get a space-saver spare wheel mounted outside underneath the car, so at least you don’t need to deal with a tyre repair kit.

Practicality is an area where Skoda comes into its own. At every turn the brand’s design and engineering teams have obviously kept day-to-day usability in mind with thoughtful tweaks to make life easier.

Some have become low-key famous like an umbrella slotted into the driver’s door (Rolls-Royce-style) and a small lidded rubbish bin in the driver’s door pocket.

But over and above that, the Octavia’s efficient packaging means in a car measuring just on 4.7m long there’s heaps of room up front for the driver and passenger, with lots of handy storage options. 

Aside from generous door pockets there’s a box between the seats with a padded lid (adjustable for height and length when in use as an armrest), a 15W wireless charging pad (with ventilation from below to keep devices cool), a big glove box (with pen holder), multiple cupholders, a cupholder insert able to hold a phone and/or some coins, numerous oddments trays and a sunglasses compartment overhead (not fitted with optional panoramic sunroof).

And in the back, sitting behind the driver’s seat, set for my 183cm height, there’s tons of leg and headroom with more practical design thinking on display.

For example, map pockets on the back of the front seats have a phone-sized slot stitched into them. There are pull up shades for each window, big bins in the doors with plenty of room for bottles and more, a pull-down centre armrest with fold-out cupholders (plus some oddments space), adjustable climate control vents plus a box on the floor for extra bottles and ‘stuff’ (removable if you need foot room for a centre passenger).

Power and connectivity runs to five USB-C sockets (two front, two rear and one near the rear-view mirror for dashcam duty) plus a 12-volt outlet in the boot. 

Speaking of which, head to the boot and the ‘plenty of room’ theme continues. With the 60/40 split folding rear seat upright there’s 600 litres of space in the sedan and 640 litres in the wagon. Lower the backrest and that number increases to 1555 and 1700 litres, respectively. That’s plenty, and more than the Mazda6.

The sedan and wagon feature anchor points for securing loose loads, extra storage bays behind the rear wheel wells, there’s a ski-port door behind the rear armrest, load divider rails in the sedan, remote release handles for the rear seat, bag hooks, a luggage net… the lot. 

The powered tailgate includes hands-free opening, there’s a space-saver spare under the floor and towing capacity for a braked trailer is 1600kg (750kg unbraked).

Priced at $58,490 for the sedan and $59,990 for the wagon, both before on-road costs, the Octavia RS has one competitor that meets the mid-size sedan and wagon criteria with cost-of-entry somewhere in the same ballpark. And that’s the current Mazda6 20th Anniversary Edition.

Pitched at $54,385, before on-road costs, for the sedan and $55,685 (BOC) for the wagon, the Mazda goes toe-to-toe with the Skoda on size, equipment and performance, although the ‘6’ leans more towards a premium rather than outright performance vibe. And the Mazda has recenetly been discontinued in Australia.

The Accord VTi-LX Hybrid ($59,900, drive-away) puts Honda in the sedan mix and if you’re considering a pure electric medium sedan, the BYD Seal Premium comes in at $58,798, before on-roads while the Tesla Model 3 Single Motor RWD sits at $54,900.

So, aside from the safety and performance tech, covered a little later, what can you bank on in terms of included features for a price tag giving $60K a serious nudge?

The answer is… heaps. Standard equipment on the Octavia RS includes three-zone climate control, adaptive cruise control, a 13-inch multimedia touchscreen, sat nav, 12-speaker Canton audio (with digital radio), a 10-inch configurable digital instrument display, a head-up display, sports front seats (heated with six-way power adjust, memory and massage function), heated rear (outboard) seats, a power tailgate (with hands-free opening), keyless entry and start and rain-sensing wipers.

There’s also ‘Intelligent Park Assist’, LED external lighting (including matrix LED headlights), 19-inch alloy rims, heated and power-folding exterior mirrors (with memory function), synthetic leather and synthetic suede trim, a flat-bottom leather-trimmed steering wheel, alloy finish pedals and rear privacy glass as well as wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. 

Worth noting solid, metallic and pearlescent paint options (seven colours) are included as standard, with the single premium metallic ‘Velvet Red’ colour adding $770. 

That’s as much fruit as you should expect in this part of the market and a bit more.  

There is only one engine option in the Tiggo 8 Pro Max range, a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol unit that produces 180kW/375Nm.

No matter which variant you choose, it’s also mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The Urban and Elite variants are front-wheel drive, while the Ultimate scores a Borg-Warner-sourced all-wheel-drive system with additional off-road drive modes.

The outputs are more than competitive with a lot of rivals, but there’s no fuel-saving hybrid option in the line-up just yet. It’s something Chery wants to add in the future.

Especially for Australia, the folks at Chery also made sure to get the Tiggo 8 Pro Max certified to tow. It can do that at up to 1300kg braked, or 750kg unbraked.

The Octavia RS is designated ‘195TSI’ which relates to the power output of its 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine driving the front wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch auto transmission.

It’s a fourth-generation evolution of the Volkswagen Group’s long-serving ‘EA888’ engine series, an iron block/alloy head unit featuring direct-injection and variable valve timing to produce (you guessed it) 195kW and 370Nm.

The 2.0-litre turbo engine has an official/combined consumption rating of 8.1L/100km for the front-wheel drive variants, or 8.7L/100km for the all-wheel drive Ultimate.

On our drive route for the day which took place on curvy country roads and expressways, my Ultimate all-wheel-drive test example produced a figure of 9.5L/100km which seems reasonable.

Unfortunately the engine also requires mid-shelf 95RON unleaded fuel, so this will push your running costs up slightly.

The Tiggo 8 Pro Max has a 57-litre fuel tank, indicating an estimated maximum cruising range of 703km for FWD variants.

The Octavia RS’s official fuel consumption figure on the combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle is 7.0L/100km, the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine emitting 159g/km of CO2 in the process (wagon 160g/km).

A start/stop function is standard and on a launch drive program through rural Victoria, covering several hundred kilometres’ worth of urban, B-road and freeway running we saw a (dash-indicated) figure of 6.9L/100km. With a 50-litre fuel tank on board, the RS’s theoretical range is around 715km.

In the city, expect an average in the high 8.0 range, which isn’t out of order for a 1.5-tonne sedan (1.6-tonne wagon).

Cars from Chinese brands often fall short of expectations when it comes to the drive experience, but the Tiggo 8 Pro Max moves everything in the right direction, and importantly it doesn’t add any deal-breaking characteristics along the way.

Visibility is great out of the cabin, with large windows all-round. The wing mirrors are great, but the centre rear-vision mirror is a quirky piece with a wide viewing angle. In a way this is great for parents, because with one glance you can see both out the rear of the vehicle and the rear seats to keep an eye on kids, but it does mess with your depth perception a bit.

On multiple occasions I felt like the car behind was tailgating, only to peer in the side mirrors to find that it was actually quite far back. Odd!

The steering is very light, and a bit disconnected as a result. While this sounds like a negative, I actually think suburban buyers who often negotiate with shopping centre parking lots, apartment towers, and school drop-offs will love it. It makes a big SUV feel really easy to steer and position.

Sure, it feels a bit doughy out on the open road, meaning it's hardly a confident corner-carver, but that’s not really the point of this car.

The engine on the other hand has loads of poke. Power of 180kW sounds like a lot because it is (once upon a time not so long ago this was well into V6 territory) and actually for the front-wheel-drive versions it might be a little bit too much power. It will readily spin the front wheels with slightly too much throttle input, which brings us nicely to the dual-clutch automatic which is responsible for communicating that power to the ground.

Dual clutches rightly raise a bit of a red flag for some because they can be particularly jerky from a standstill and have some pretty questionable gear shifts once you’re rolling. For the most part though, the Tiggo 8’s dual-clutch unit is pretty good. The brand stressed that it had done significant software tuning to this transmission to try to iron out nasty characteristics, and while it's still occasionally caught off-guard, I’ve certainly driven worse. It will occasionally produce a bucking feeling rather than a full second of lag like some rivals, but its enthusiasm to deliver power to the ground quickly gives the front-drive versions that slightly skittish feel.

It is one of those rare occasions when it’s worth splashing for the all-wheel drive. I found the Ultimate to be much more sure-footed and confident on the road, able to handle the engine’s relatively mountainous torque with ease.

On the open road I was impressed by the Tiggo 8’s level of refinement. The amount of sound entering the cabin in both variants was low, with minimal tyre roar or wind noise. Thuds from the suspension and roar from the engine under load were also pleasingly distant, even at freeway speeds.

When it comes to the ride it’s built to a certain cadence. It’s soft and comfortable, matching the semi-luxurious cabin feel nicely, but it can be a bit springy and lose a bit of body control over undulations and corrugations. Again, it’s not exactly an athlete, but then for most people, it won’t have to be.

Importantly, it filters out sharper bumps like potholes, road imperfections, and speed bumps with relative ease. It’s even better in the 2WD versions thanks to larger tyres and smaller alloy wheels.

Mercifully, the active safety systems don’t intrude on the driving experience either. Chery has apparently learned some hard lessons after the feedback it received on the overbearing lane assist equipment on the smaller Omoda 5, and applied those learnings here in the Tiggo 8.

The lane systems are still there, but they only intervene when they really have to, while warning chimes from things like the traffic sign recognition, blind spot monitoring, and driver attention alert are, at worst, background. It’s a good thing too because of all the systems, the driver attention alert is the one that triggers most often as you look away from the road to adjust the touch-based climate systems.

Where does that leave us? Actually pretty impressed. The Tiggo 8 Pro Max might not have the balancing act between ride quality and performance quite as well tuned as some of its Japanese and Korean rivals, but this is a comfortable, quiet, and refined SUV that, importantly, feels very normal. There’s no deal-breaking safety bugs, or a terrible transmission or frustrating software that takes away from the experience. Chery is learning, and it’s learning fast.

Skoda claims 0-100km/h acceleration in 6.4 seconds for the Octavia RS sedan and 6.5sec for the wagon and it feels willing with solid mid-range punch available. 

Peak power comes on stream up high (5250-6500rpm) but maximum pulling power is on tap from 1600-4500rpm, which is spot-on for urban running, easy highway cruising and safe overtaking.

A sports exhaust dials up a rorty note when pushing on and the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission proved quick and smooth on a launch drive covering mainly rural B-roads and some freeway sections.

Steering wheel-mounted paddles add extra involvement when you’re in the mood to push through some twisty stuff and select ratios manually.

Speaking of corners, suspension is by struts at the front and a multi-link arrangement (unique to the RS grade) at the rear, with an electronically controlled limited slip differential and ‘Dynamic Chassis Control’ standard. Ride height is 15mm lower than the standard Octavia.

DCC is Skoda code for an adaptive damper set-up and the system offers a ‘Comfort’ mode to help manage bumps, although it adds an air of floatiness on the open road. As the name implies, ‘Sport’ buttons everything down and road imperfections immediately make their presence felt. ‘Normal’ is surprisingly comfortable without upsetting the car’s balance and overall compliance. 

Standard rubber is 225/40 Bridgestone Potenza S005, providing a good grip vs comfort compromise, and the electrically assisted progressive rate rack and pinion steering is accurate, providing good road feel without being too sharp or ‘pointy’. Braking is by ventilated discs all around and the pedal is strong and progressive.

Under the heading of miscellaneous observations, engine, wind and road noise are modest, the grippy sports front seats remained comfortable over several hours behind the wheel, plus a relatively tight 10.4m turning circle and standard 360-degree camera view system make parking easy.  

The current Skoda Octavia was given a maximum five-star ANCAP rating following assessment in 2022. High scores in the adult and child occupant protection categories focused on the stability of the car’s passenger compartment in front offset, full front, side and pole impact crash tests.

For the 2025 model year, standard active (crash-avoidance) tech now includes turn assist and advanced driver fatigue detection, which is on top of auto emergency braking (AEB) operating from 5.0-250km/h (with car and ‘vulnerable road user’ detection plus junction assist), lane keeping assist (and emergency lane keeping), rear AEB, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, a reversing camera, a 360-degree camera view, tyre pressure monitoring, front and rear parking sensors and more. 

If, despite all that, a crash is unavoidable the airbag count runs to 10 - dual front, front side, rear side, side curtain, front centre and driver's knee.

There are three top tether points for securing child seats across the second row with ISOFIX anchors on the two outer rear positions. 

That’s an impressive safety run down, as good or better than any category competitor.

Chery offers its line-up with seven years and unlimited kilometres of warranty, seven-years of capped-price servicing, and seven years of roadside assist.

The roadside assist is topped up on a 12 monthly basis so long as you service with Chery. At the time of writing, Chery was yet to provide costings for its capped-price servicing program, but if it follows the same scheme as the Omoda 5 and Tiggo 7, it will be competitive.

The Octavia is covered by Skoda’s seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which is ahead of the mainstream five-year warranty pack, although a little short of some, like MG and Mitsubishi at 10 years.

Service is recommended every 12 months/15,000km and a four-year/60,000km service pack will set you back $2000, with 12 months’ roadside assistance topped up for another year after each trip to an authorised workshop.

That $500 per service charge is a solid amount but not outrageous for a premium, especially Euro, mid-sizer. For reference the Mazda6 20th Anniversary averages $552 per service over the same period.