Chery Tiggo 8 vs MG Hs Super Hybrid

What's the difference?

A bargain price, clever hybrid system, and a spacious interior with useful third row is a rare and potent combination which should continue to catapult Chery into a successful future.

Sure, the dull driving dynamics, sometimes befuddling software, and over reliance on touchscreens could and should be addressed, but at this price and with these ownership terms, the Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid is a tough proposition to argue with.

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

The MG HS Super Hybrid Essence gets a lot right. It’s well sized for families, comfortable on the road and easy to live with day to day.

However, it misses a few features you might expect for a flagship grade. More notably, the calibration of some of its technology and safety systems could do with further refinement.

Unlike some of its rivals in this space, the Tiggo 8 has a fairly generic boxy SUV design. It’s not as interesting as many of its rivals, but it also strays away from being controversial.

The derivative grille design and light signatures make it blend into traffic nicely, making it an ideal SUV for someone who intentionally doesn’t want to stand out, at least not in quite the same way as something like the BYD Sealion 6.

There’s also nothing that looks proportionally off about it, and the strong lines and spoiler piece over the rear give it a (very) faint air of toughness.

Inside this plug-in hybrid version gets a significantly different interior compared to the combustion Tiggo 8 that launched in 2024. The design is much more contemporary, dominated by the huge central touchscreen which is much bigger than the one in both the Tiggo 7 and the combustion Tiggo 8, and there’s new switchgear for the indicator stalk and for the steering wheel buttons, too.

Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of the climate shortcut panel which remains in the Tiggo 7. Instead, you’re forced to navigate through new software which has a dedicated climate zone.

Still, it’s a glitzy looking interior with big screens and interesting material choices, particularly at this price. The Tiggo 8 even manages to avoid some of the blatant Mercedes-Benz worship as seen in the smaller Tiggo 7, and the synthetic seat trim is also distinct from the rest of the Chery range. In this plug-in Tiggo 8 it’s a kind of sturdy-feeling neoprene finish which looks a little bit like suede. It’s weird, but I don’t hate it.

On the outside, the HS leans confidently into an athletic look, with strong body lines, side steps and a swooping front end. The black accents add a nice edge, while the 19-inch alloy wheels and full suite of LED lighting give it a sportier presence. It looks particularly good in the Diamond Red Metallic paintwork of our test car.

Step inside and the cabin carries through that sharp design, with a mix of soft-touch and well-finished materials. The standout is the optional tan synthetic leather upholstery. At $700, it’s not essential, but it does a lot of the heavy lifting in giving the interior a more premium feel.

A panoramic sunroof and dual 12.3-inch displays help round things out, creating a space that feels well put together.

The Tiggo 8’s cabin is enormous and has had various upgrades since the combustion car launched that make it both easier and less easy to use.

For example, the centre console redesign is more contemporary, offering pride of place to the wireless phone charging bay, offering two larger bottle holders off to one side. Some key driver functions appear on the right-hand side, including a drive mode selector dial and a handful of shortcuts for the most basic climate functions, like an auto AC button and front and rear defoggers.

This means the shifter has moved to the column on the right-hand side, with a multifunction stalk for the indicators and wipers on the left instead.

The armrest console box is an overcomplicated split opening design, but offers plenty of room inside. There are two large bottle holders and pockets in each front door, too, and there’s a large pass-through area underneath the bridge-style console which will be great for a handbag or something.

The seating position is quite adjustable, but you sit unusually high in the car, which makes it feel as though you’re peering down on the instruments.

As already mentioned, the full array of climate functions can only be controlled through the touchscreen, with no physical buttons outside of the handful on the centre console. Would it be so hard just to have a temperature and fan speed dial you don’t have to take your eyes off the road?

The software itself is typical of many Chinese cars at the moment. It looks good, but isn’t as functional or easy to use as you’d like. Some core functions are still buried in confusingly labelled sub-menus, particularly things like active safety features. It’s not the worst I’ve used (the Leapmotor C10 springs to mind), but it should be better given the massive screen is such a focal point of the cabin.

At least the Tiggo 8 doesn’t feel cheap in other areas, with generous soft-touch materials throughout the cabin. It might be fake leather and suede, but it does a good enough job of making the cabin feel plush and comfortable for longer journeys.

The second row is impressive. I had leagues of room in all dimensions behind my front seat position at 182cm tall. The generous amount of soft trims continue and the seat bases are comfortable enough, too. Storage comes in the form of seat-back pockets and large bottle holders in each door.

Maybe the most impressive feature is the third row. While I felt squashed into the rear row of the Mitsubishi Outlander, the Tiggo 8 offers just enough space for an adult to travel in some form of comfort. Access isn’t the easiest, but there’s so much space in the second row the the seat can slide forward to allow sufficient room for my legs. My head touches the roof, however.

There’s not much in the way of amenities back there, with a bottle holder and storage tray for third-row occupants, as well as a 12-volt outlet in the boot.

The boot itself seems large enough, although at the time of writing there was no official boot figure. For context, the combustion version offers 479 litres with the third row down, or 117 litres with it up, and this plug-in doesn’t seem significantly different to my eye.

Unfortunately though, the placement of the battery and DC inverter under the boot floor leaves no room for a spare. There’s only an inflator kit.

The HS covers the basics well when it comes to comfort and space, but its day-to-day usability is let down somewhat by its technology.

Up front, the cabin is a comfortable place to spend time. The seats are supportive with plenty of padding, making longer drives easy. The heated seat function is controlled through the multimedia screen, though, which means it’s easy to forget about and the heating cycle switches off fairly quickly.

Storage is decent for the segment. You get a pair of cupholders, sunglasses holder, large door bins and a phone tray, although the middle console is on the smaller side.

Where things fall down slightly is in the technology. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included, but CarPlay didn’t consistently reconnect on its own during our time with the car, requiring daily set-up. The Bluetooth connection was stable, although it didn’t pull through contacts or call history.

The 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia display can be laggy and because most functions, including climate control and some seat settings, are buried within it, it can become frustrating to use day-to-day.

That said, there are some positives. The built-in satellite navigation works well and can be mirrored in the driver’s display, which is a nice touch. Charging options are also good, with two USB-C ports per row, a 12-volt socket and a wireless charging pad up front.

In the back, there’s plenty of space for legs and headroom and the seats are impressively plush. Access is generally easy, although the side steps feel a unnecessary. There’s a fold-down armrest with cupholders, but the window line is quite high, which may not suit younger passengers.

Rear amenities include map pockets and directional air vents. However, given the price jump over the petrol equivalent, it feels like a few extra premium touches could have been included. It’s comfortable, just not especially feature-rich.

Around the back, the boot offers a solid 507 litres of capacity. The flat loading floor makes it easy to slide items in and out, and there are handy netted side pockets for smaller bits. A powered tailgate adds convenience, though the absence of a spare wheel in favour of a tyre repair kit may be a drawback for some buyers.

There are seven variants in the MG HS line-up, spanning three powertrains: turbo-petrol, hybrid and plug-in hybrid. For this review, we’re in the flagship Essence plug-in hybrid, priced from $46,990, MSRP. That puts it around $6000 to $10,000 above its petrol and regular hybrid siblings.

At this end of the range, it starts to edge into the territory of key Chinese rivals like the Jaecoo J7 SHS Summit and BYD Sealion 6 Premium, which are priced from $47,990 drive-away and $52,990 MSRP, respectively. Against those, the HS doesn’t feel quite as generously equipped.

There’s still a solid list of premium features on offer. You get synthetic leather upholstery, a panoramic sunroof and heated, electrically adjustable front seats. However, it misses a few niceties that are becoming more common with its flagship rivals, like ventilated front seats and heated rear outboard seats.

On the tech front, it’s well covered with dual 12.3-inch displays, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, four USB-C ports, digital radio, Bluetooth, satellite navigation and a wireless charging pad.

Our test car is fitted with the optional tan interior, which adds $700. It’s a worthwhile upgrade, lifting the overall look and feel of the cabin and giving it a more premium edge.

If you want the HS in anything but white, premium paintwork will add a further $700.

Chery’s Super Hybrid system is a little different from other plug-ins on the market. It pairs a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine (105kW/215Nm) with a ‘dedicated hybrid transmission’ (DHT). This is a transaxle which contains a large electric motor (150kW/310Nm) and uses a set of clutches and gears to blend the power sources.

The end result of this is a drivetrain that feels a bit like a CVT but isn’t the much derided rubber-band-on-a-cone set-up. To Chery’s credit, it almost feels like driving an electric vehicle, such is the relatively smooth power delivery and seamless blending of the power sources depending on speed.

Just don’t expect to tow much more than a tinny as capacity is limited to just 750kg.

The MG HS Super Hybrid is front-wheel drive and combines a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine with an electric motor, delivering combined outputs of 220kW and 350Nm.

The system integrates the electric motor smoothly, providing immediate response off the line. Even when the battery charge is low, performance remains largely consistent, with the hybrid system continuing to support the drivetrain rather than dropping off noticeably.

The Tiggo 8 has a headline electric driving range of 95km, although this is rated to the more lenient NEDC cycle. Usually you can expect more like 75km in the real world, but these plug-ins tend to vary greatly from their official figures for better or worse, so stay tuned for a longer test to see what the real-world figure is.

Regardless, it draws this range from a 18.3kWh battery pack, that is capable of charging up on both DC and AC, which is rare for a plug-in. On the faster DC chargers, it is capable of topping up at a maximum rate of 40kW for a claimed 30 to 80 per cent charge in 20 minutes. Combined range, using a full tank of fuel and full charge can have the vehicle travel up to a claimed 1200km.

The overall fuel efficiency is 1.3L/100km, a somewhat useless figure. The actual figure will depend entirely on how you use the car. Have a short commute and charge at least at one end of it? It may as well be zero.

What’s particularly clever though is how Chery has put significant work into the software map of the hybrid transmission to keep it as efficient as possible, even when the battery is drained. 

The vehicles we tested on the launch were all hovering around the mid-5.0L/100km mark, even with the batteries long drained to their reserve level. The brand’s engineering people say the software map is specifically designed to achieve less than 6.0L/100km even when the battery is dead.

Again, not every plug-in hybrid can claim the same.

The HS Super Hybrid is equipped with a 24.7kWh lithium iron phosphate battery, with a claimed WLTP electric-only range of up to 120km.

The combined (urban/extra-urban) fuel cycle figure is 0.7L/100km. In the real world, under normal driving conditions, you won’t see that but you’ll be able to comfortably travel over 1000km before you have to fill up - which is impressive for a 55L fuel tank.

Over a week of driving close to 1800km, mostly on the highway with some urban use mixed in, I recorded an average of 4.6L/100km. Hybrids typically aren’t at their most efficient on longer highway runs, so this is a solid real-world result.

Charging is handled via a Type 2 port, supporting AC charging up to 6.0kW. On that set-up, a full charge takes around four hours, while a standard domestic socket will see it stretch out to an overnight job.

Unlike some rivals, there’s no DC fast charging capability here. That’s something you may notice on longer trips, where quicker top-ups would make a difference.

The Tiggo 8 leans into the traits on display in the smaller Tiggo 7. This means a too-high seating position trading driver ergonomics for visibility, a vague steering tune defined far too much by software, and an overly soft ride quality.

There are various trade-offs here, but it’s about the opposite of a driver’s car. The steering lends hardly any feel to what’s going on at the wheels, and the floaty ride conspires with the tall seat base to feel a bit disconcerting when cornering at high speed.

However, the positives include ease of use and relative comfort. The steering is light enough to make the Tiggo 8 pretty manoeuvrable at low speeds, and the soft ride has the Tiggo 8 floating over road imperfections with relative ease.

It’s also quick, with the electric motor providing urgent acceleration, but this is somehow not very engaging or fun regardless. Plus, slamming the accelerator down, particularly in Sport mode, will overwhelm the front tyres.

This car maintains over 20 per cent of its total battery capacity in reserve, in order to have a large buffer to draw from in hybrid mode to facilitate the smooth electric driving, but this also allows more room to store regenerated energy from idle time or braking compared to a plugless hybrid.

It seems to drive as an EV most of the time, although it lacks a true one-pedal driving mode despite having three levels of regenerative braking.

The cabin is impressively quiet, particularly at lower speeds. It’s genuinely hard to tell when the combustion engine is on to assist the electric driving functions, and the standard acoustic glass keeps most of the nasty ambient noise out. However, at speeds above 80km/h, road noise eventually finds its way into the cabin.

There are many rivals that provide an overall better balance of driving dynamics and handling with comfort, but this Tiggo 8 shoots for a more comfort-oriented family buyer who just wants a quiet and fuel-efficient SUV.

The HS Super Hybrid is an easy car to get along with on the road. Power delivery is smooth and immediate and the transition between the petrol engine and electric motor is largely seamless.

Through corners, it feels composed with minimal body roll, and there’s enough control to make a winding road enjoyable without pushing into anything overly sporty. The suspension strikes a nice balance, remaining forgiving over bumps without feeling floaty, while the steering is responsive enough for everyday driving.

The regenerative braking system offers two levels of adjustment, although it can feel a abrupt on steeper descents, occasionally resulting in a lurchy sensation.

The cabin stays impressively quiet, with minimal road and wind noise even at higher speeds, making it a comfortable companion for longer trips.

Visibility is generally good out the front, though the A- and B-pillars, along with the side mirrors, are on the thicker side, so you do need to be mindful when checking around them.

Around town, it’s an easy car to park. The 360-degree camera system is clear, and the overall size of the HS means it doesn’t feel intimidating in tighter car parks.

The MG HS holds a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating based on 2024 testing and comes equipped with seven airbags.

The safety suite is comprehensive, including front and rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring, lane keeping aid, emergency lane keeping aid, lane departure warning, front and rear collision warning, and tyre pressure monitoring. However, it does miss a couple of features seen elsewhere, such as emergency call capability and side exit assist.

In practice, some of these systems can feel overly intrusive. The driver monitoring system, traffic sign recognition and lane keeping alerts are particularly sensitive, with frequent audible warnings that can become tiresome over time.

For families, there are useful inclusions like two ISOFIX child seat mounts, three top-tether anchor points and seatbelt reminders across the cabin.

Autonomous emergency braking is included with car, pedestrian and cyclist detection, operating from 8.0km/h to 85km/h, or up to 150km/h for car detection. However, it is common to see this system operate from as low as 4.0km/h.

The Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid is covered by seven years and unlimited kilometres of warranty, seven years of roadside assist, and seven years of capped-price servicing, following the successful formula of once-underdog Kia.

The servicing price varies year on year according to the capped-price schedule, between $299 and a particularly expensive service at the 90,000km mark which costs $1291.31.

The average yearly cost works out to $453.45 if you keep the car for the full seven-year duration. Not the cheapest we’ve ever seen, but all things considered, it’s pretty good.

The HS is backed by MG’s seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, which is competitive for the class. There’s also the option to extend this to 10 years or 250,000km, provided servicing conditions are met.

Servicing is covered by either a three- or five-year capped price program, with the five-year plan costing $2166. That’s a reasonable figure for the segment, and service intervals are set at every 12 months or 15,000km.

The HS Super Hybrid requires 95 RON premium unleaded fuel or higher, so while it’s efficient, it doesn’t quite sip the cheapest fuel on offer.

There are 110 MG dealers across the country (plus three service-only sites) covering all states and territories as well as key rural and regional centres.