Chery Tiggo 8 2026 review: Ultimate Super Hybrid long-term | Part 1

We’re only a month into our long-term test of the Chery Tiggo 8 plug-in hybrid SUV and we may have already set a record: most kilometres travelled on a single tank of fuel - 869km.

And we weren't even trying to be fuel efficient, the opposite actually. I hardly charged it, drove with the climate control blasting non-stop, carried heavy stuff in the boot, drove on motorways for hours, did short trips just to buy hot chips and sat in the car idling for ages doom scrolling while our toddler slept in her car seat.

And still we got 869km from one full 60-litre petrol tank and only charged the 18.4kWh battery twice. From experience I can tell you most large SUVs with a four-cylinder combustion engine will give us about 450-600km of range from their tanks with our kind of driving. Regular hybrids tend to go a little further. About 650-700km. 

Read More About Chery Tiggo 8

• 'Irrelevant': Chery dismisses local tuning
• 2026 Chery ute to be hybrid at launch in Oz
• 'It will be obsolete': Toyota RAV4-style hybrids could go argues Chery as it doubles down on plug-in hybrids with 2026 Chery Tiggo 7, Tiggo 8 and Tiggo 9

I have yet to test a plug-in hybrid properly, long term, but the Tiggo 8 isn't even one of those. It’s a super hybrid. That’s what these long-range plug-in hybrids with large batteries are called and they live up to their name with the ability to go a long way on a tank of fuel. 

According to Chery, the range of the Tiggo Super Hybrid is more like 1200km and it official combined cycle (urban/extra-urban) fuel consumption figure is 1.3L/100km. Our average on test was 6.1L/100km.

To hit almost 900km without trying is impressive. Really impressive.

The Tiggo 8 has a 1.5-litre, four cylinder engine which produces 105kW and 2145Nm, as well as a 150kW/310Nm electric motor driving the front wheels. 

Charging the lithium-ion battery is done through a fast charger which can quickly top up this battery when depleted in about 30 minutes. 

There was so much varied driving this month, spanning mid-December to mid-January, I feel for our Tiggo 8. It's been through torture, thrown into the end of the school year, the start of the holidays, as well as three birthdays and one Christmas, all of it requiring us to be places near and far. 

Our little family of four includes a three-year old and an 11-year old, together creating a perfect storm messiness and being rough on a car. From reappearing biscuits to doors being slammed way too hard the Tiggo 8 has seen it all and probably can never unsee it.

The Tiggo 8 handled its baptism of chaos perfectly. This large seven-seater is comfortable, spacious and practical. I can also testify, it hasn't shown any signs of wear and tear... unlike me. It's also excellent value for money.

Our Ultimate grade is $49,990, drive-away, at the time of writing and the list of included features is extravagant, from three-zone climate control, heated and ventilated front seats and 15.6-inch media screen to the head-up display and 10.25-inch driver display. There’s also an excellent-sounding 10-speaker Sony audio system, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus built in sat nav.

However, while the front passenger seat has a massaging function the driver's seat doesn't. That’s a bit odd.

Adding to the value equation is a long seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, plus an eight-year, unlimited kilometre battery warranty.

As for the way the Tiggo 8 drives, the ride is comfortable, but handling isn’t superb. Despite having It doesn’t enjoy twisty roads as much as some I've piloted on my test runs, with traction and body control systems sometimes struggling.

But most of the time we were doing urban duties and for that the Tiggo 8 performed well - apart from the way stationary gear shifting requires a lot of pressure on the brake pedal to enable engagement of Reverse or Drive. This makes three-point turns slow and frustrating for everybody involved including other drivers.

The Tiggo 8 scored it's maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2025. And I'm happy to report driver-assist safety tech isn’t overly intrusive, unlike many new cars we've experienced recently.

Well, that’s it for the first month and now that I know how fuel-efficient the Tiggo 8 is, I want to see just how far I can go on one tank. That said, I'm already off to a bad start, the battery is on 20 per cent and I keep putting off charging it. Anyway, let's see how far we get this next month.

Acquired: December, 2025

Distance travelled this month: 869km

Odometer: 7757km

Average fuel consumption this month: 6.1L/100km (measured at the pump)