Chery Tiggo 8 vs Toyota Corolla

What's the difference?

Once upon a time, not very long ago, there were tough choices to make when it came to buying a seven-seat SUV. Did you want lots of space? A hybrid? Or, for it to be affordable?

In a move that will no doubt horrify old favourites, Chery’s new Tiggo 8 Super Hybrid sets out to prove you can have all of these things at once.

Offering seven seats in an ideal upper mid-sized format, complete with a plug-in hybrid system at the price of a combustion rival, the Tiggo 8 ticks too many boxes to count.

Is it too good to be true? We went to its Australian launch to find out.

Up until 2024 when its title was nabbed by the Tesla Model Y, the humble Toyota Corolla has been the world’s best-selling car for quite some time. 

A reputation for reliability, affordability, efficiency and in its current guise, being fun to drive, the Corolla has seen off all comers to retain the title of the most popular small car on Earth.

The current twelfth-generation Corolla is now seven years into its life cycle having landed in mid-2018. In that time scores of buyers have moved across into small SUVs, and the Corolla’s competitor set has shrunk dramatically as car brands pull out of the small passenger car segment.

But as we gear up for the next-gen Corolla, is the existing one still worth considering against some newer rivals? And should you look at this instead of a small SUV?

I lived with the mid-range Corolla SX hatchback for a week to find out.