2026 Chery Tiggo 4 Hybrid Ultimate review

Chery’s Australian model expansion continues apace, but while many new brands have their sights set on more premium models, Chery has lobbed a new hybrid small SUV at an affordable price.

With the Tiggo 4 small SUV already well known in Australia, the Tiggo 4 Hybrid provides a more efficient alternative.

While the price is markedly more expensive than its non-hybrid Tiggo 4 sibling, the Tiggo 4 Hybrid crucially undercuts a number of established rivals.

As more and more brands, and new models, land in Australia’s busy small SUV segment, Chery has its work cut out for it, but the impressive Tiggo 4 Hybrid offers a balance of space, features, and value to hold its own in the class.

The non-hybrid Tiggo 4 range starts from as little as $23,990 drive-away, which is incredibly sharp pricing.

Moving up to the hybrid isn't cheap, though. A base Tiggo 4 Hybrid Urban costs $6000 more than the non-hybrid model, and the top-spec Tiggo 4 Hybrid Ultimate is $6000 more than the non-hybrid version.

That means a starting price for the flagship Tiggo 4 Hybrid Ultimate tested here of $32,990 drive-away until March 30, whereby the price then rises again by $2000. Metallic paint is the only available option, and adds an extra $500 to the bottom line.

The price may sound high, especially when compared to Chery’s on non-hybrid models, but the Tiggo 4 Hybrid Ultimate is actually cheaper than a base-model Yaris Cross GX hybrid – and this one not only comes fully loaded, but is larger – sized somewhere in between a Yaris Cross and a Corolla Cross.

The Tiggo 4 Hybrid Ultimate comes with standard features like faux-leather interior trim, heated front seats, a powered driver’s seat with lumbar support, dual-zone climate control, dual 10.25-inch displays for instruments and infotainment, six-speaker audio, a wireless charger, keyless entry, walk-away locking and push-button start.

On the outside, you’ll get LED headlights and tail-lights, power-folding mirrors, a powered sunroof, red brake calipers, and 17-inch machined-finish alloy wheels with a space-saver spare wheel.

The 17-inch aero wheels are the biggest external difference between the hybrid and non-hybrid versions, with the regular Tiggo 4 Ultimate riding on a set of 18-inch alloy wheels. The only other giveaway is a hybrid badge on the tailgate.

Under the bonnet, you’ll find a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine paired with a single electric motor. There’s a combined 150kW of power and 310Nm of torque.

In the small SUV class, the Tiggo 4 competes with hybrid rivals, including the Honda HR-V, priced from $39,900 to $42,900 drive-away, the GWM Haval Jolion hybrids, from $34,990 to $37,990 drive-away, and the MG ZS, from $32,990 to $34,990 drive-away.

Alongside the more value-oriented brands, the Tiggo 4 Hybrid competes in the same class as more expensive hybrid small SUVs like the Hyundai Kona Hybrid from $36,950, and the Toyota Corolla Cross from $37,440, both before on-road costs.

The regular Chery Tiggo 4 isn’t the most efficient small SUV you can buy. A problem that Drive reviews have highlighted in the past.

The Tiggo 4 Hybrid carries an official fuel consumption rating of 5.4 litres per 100 kilometres. Its non-hybrid equivalent is rated at 7.4L/100km.

The difference widens on the road, though. The last time a petrol-only Tiggo 4 came through the Drive garage, it used 9.1L/100km, which is a lot for a small SUV.

The Hybrid was much more fuel-friendly, even beating its consumption claim and using 5.2L/100km on test. That’s good news, but rivals outperform it in terms of efficiency – at least in terms of what they claim.

The MG ZS is rated at 4.7L/100km, the Honda HR-V e:HEV is rated at 4.3L/100km, while the Corolla Cross wears a 4.2L/100km consumption rating.

The Tiggo 4 Hybrid is happy to accept 91-octane regular unleaded, helping keep a lid on running costs, and the 51-litre tank is quite big for a small SUV, resulting in a 689km driving range based on claimed consumption.

For urban dwellers, that might be enough to go a couple of weeks without needing to stop in at a servo.

Chery offers an attractive capped-price service program, with each of the first five regular scheduled services capped at $299 per service. The sixth and seventh services break with this pattern, at $737 and $288, respectively.

Service intervals are set every 12 months or 15,000km.

Along with the seven-year service plan, Chery offers a seven-year, unlimited kilometre warranty to private buyers, or seven years/150,000km for commercial use (like driving schools, delivery services, rental or rideshare).

The high-voltage hybrid battery is also covered by an eight-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. Chery also provides up to seven years of complimentary roadside assistance, renewed for 12 months at a time each time the vehicle is serviced at an authorised Chery dealership.

Looking at insurance estimates, we were quoted $1527 per year for comprehensive cover on the Tiggo 4 Hybrid, using a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male, living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

The regular non-hybrid Chery Tiggo 4 range comes with a five-star ANCAP rating. ANCAP provides a list of applicable variants covered by its ratings scheme, and at the time of writing the hybrid Tiggo 4 was not yet included.

Technically, the Tiggo 4 Hybrid is unrated by ANCAP, but for some background, the petrol Tiggo 4 was given an 88 per cent adult occupant protection rating, 87 per cent child occupant protection rating, and 79 per cent and 85 per cent respectively for vulnerable road user protection and safety assist systems.

ANCAP did not physically crash-test the Tiggo 4, but rather adapted crash data from the related, larger Tiggo 7, along with additional tests of the autonomous emergency braking and lane-support systems.

The only change to safety equipment on the Tiggo 4 Hybrid Ultimate is the addition of a 360-degree camera system. The cheaper Urban model is equipped with a reverse camera only.

Otherwise, both variants in the Tiggo 4 Hybrid range come with a suite of safety systems, listed in the table below.

Most systems behaved. The driver monitoring isn’t too overbearing, but a few times it would chime for reflections off my glasses in glary conditions.

The lane-support systems aren’t perfect, and can be a little snatchy at times, but are decently tuned. The one outlier being the lane-centring function, which tugs annoyingly at the wheel, won’t allow the driver to make adjustments, and can be quite tiring to use.

The Tiggo 4 comes with a healthy list of standard equipment. Things like dual-zone climate control, rear cabin ventilation, front USB-A and -C, and rear USB-A charge points, 10.25-inch infotainment with wired and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and keyless entry with walk-away lock and push-button start are included on both trim levels.

The Tiggo 4 Hybrid Urban tested here goes further, with heated front seats, faux-leather (instead of fabric) seat trim, a powered driver’s seat with lumbar support adjustment, a six-speaker stereo (instead of four), colour ambient lighting, auto up/down on all four windows, a wireless charger, a sunroof, and a ‘premium’ faux leather-wrapped steering wheel.

The dash design is quite simple, not too fussy, with most controls run through the infotainment system, but a row of easy-to-access buttons to access the around-view cameras, adjust volume, or change the driving mode.

You get nice soft-touch surfaces on the dash and doors, and the Chery doesn't feel like corners were cut to meet a price. The seats feel nice enough, but the sunroof on the car we tested was the source of some minor squeaks and rattles – soft enough that turning the radio on could cover them.

The console is an odd arrangement. A lot of space goes to the climate panel, which is bordered by touch controls and toggles for temp and fan speed. It’s simple to use, but could be condensed down.

Storage space is a bit strange. There’s a slot behind the gear lever that sort of holds the key, and there’s a rubberised slot you can wedge your phone into. The cupholders are small and don't really fit two drinks side-by-side.

The wireless charger is under all of that on a ledge under the floating console, and it’s awkward to get your phone in and out of unless you have the driver’s seat a long way back. It feels like there’s a lot of wasted space in here, and a few too many scratch-prone and dust-attracting gloss black surfaces.

Still, head room is decent, and the driving position feels comfortable. But the small infotainment screen is blocked by the steering wheel and the driver’s left hand, and the thick black borders around it point to where a larger screen could potentially live in a future updated model.

The 10.25-inch infotainment display is responsive, and is loaded with AM/FM and digital radio, Bluetooth, wireless and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and ‘Hello Chery’ voice assist.

It’s also the way you access vehicle settings and menus. Some of the in-car functions could be a little more clearly named and logically laid out, but it’s not too steep a learning curve to decipher what’s included. 

Rear seat space is compact, matching the overall dimensions of the Tiggo 4, but cars like the GWM Haval Jolion and MG ZS fare better in the back.

Again, head room is impressive, but leg room is limited, and there isn’t much space under the front seats to slide your feet in. It’ll hold up for use by kids, but if you plan on carting tall teens or adults, it might not be ideal.

The rear seats get a single air vent, so if you’re travelling with two or three in the rear, they’ll need to fight for who gets fresh air. There’s also only one USB port, suggesting Chery has no idea how at-war siblings tend to be when travelling.

Boot space is decent without going overboard.

Chery rates boot capacity at 470 litres with the rear seats up, which sounds huge for the small SUV segment, but Chery measures to the roof, whereas most rivals only measure to the top of the back seats.

Weirdly, there’s a bump in the boot floor to allow clearance for the car’s 12-volt battery. You won't find this in the non-hybrid model, where the battery is instead positioned under the bonnet.

The boot also goes without things like tie-down points and bag hooks. It feels very basic. There’s not even a cargo blind, although there is provision for one already built in.

The Chery Hybrid Ultimate’s one main advantage lies under the boot floor, with a space-saver spare tyre in place of the inflation kit supplied on the cheaper Tiggo 4 Hybrid Urban.

From the outside, the Chery Tiggo 4 Hybrid is understated and upright. It’s not aiming to be as swoopy or daring as the slightly larger Chery C5, and from some angles it's easy to confuse with the larger Tiggo 7 medium SUV.

The compact LED headlights and full-width LED tail-lights give it a somewhat premium look, with lots of gloss black detailing and small chrome exterior trims to keep it from looking like a budget car.

Changes to the entire Tiggo 4 range have seen the rear styling updated with a wrap-around glasshouse look that puts a bigger black trim panel on the rear pillar, and the new full-width lights that early Tiggo 4s missed out on.

Externally, the hybrid looks the same as the non-hybrid model, with the only obvious changes being the addition of a hybrid badge on the tailgate and a set of 17-inch wheels in place of the 18s on the petrol model.

The Chery Tiggo 4 Hybrid is 140mm shorter than a GWM Haval Jolion Hybrid, as well as 44mm narrower, but a not-inconsiderable 74mm taller. The Tiggo 4’s 2604mm wheelbase is 96mm shorter, which is apparent in the reduced rear leg room.

The compact dimensions make the Tiggo 4 easy to manage in city streets, where space can be at a premium, with the Tiggo 4 Hybrid sitting roughly between the smaller light SUV class and mainstream small SUVs.

The Tiggo 4 Hybrid is fantastically smooth to drive. The hybrid system helps to keep it quiet, and acceleration is almost seamless as a result.

It’s a mild-mannered powertrain, though. Despite the bold 150kW and 310Nm outputs, the system feels more timid. It’ll jump off the lights swiftly enough, but quickly falls behind the pace of other traffic.

There are two drive modes, Eco and Sport, and a voice prompt, “It has selected Economy mode” each time you change modes.

Sport mode makes things a bit more zesty off the line without the need to try as hard, and keeps the petrol engine running longer to ensure the battery has the charge it needs to keep things moving.

What’s great about the hybrid system is its willingness to use electric-only power at low speeds, making it very quiet. Up to about 75-ish km/h, the electric motor does the driving, leaving the Tiggo 4 Hybrid feeling like an electric vehicle in traffic.

At higher speeds, depending on conditions, the petrol engine can drive the wheels directly, or run like a series hybrid, charging the battery to drive the electric motor. The whole changeover is seamless, though.

Dynamically, the Tiggo 4 Hybrid has plenty of room for improvement. The ride is comfy and targeted at city speeds, but can feel a bit bouncy at higher speeds.

The steering is overassisted and almost entirely devoid of feel and feedback. The off-centre urgency makes it feel clumsy too, rocking the car as you move the wheel from straight ahead and making it feel a bit unsettled on highway drives.

Noise insulation is decent, but again points to the Tiggo 4 Hybrid's strengths being in the city. Freeway running is okay, but some rough tarmac surfaces feed a lot of noise back to the cabin.

The gear selector can be a source of frustration at times. The rocker-style gear lever pushes forward for reverse and pulls back for drive, but if the driver doesn’t shove the brake pedal all the way in, it’ll default to neutral, making rushed three-point turns slower and more frustrating.

At $32,990 drive-away, the Chery Tiggo 4 Hybrid Ultimate slots close to the MG ZS Excite Hybrid+ ($32,990 drive-away) and the Essence Hybrid+ ($34,990 drive-away).

Drive’s last review of the MG ZS Hybrid+ praised its fuel consumption, although it used more than the Chery did on this occasion, but with a different driver in different conditions. The spacious interior and big boot also received praise.

The often overlooked Honda HR-V Hybrid from $39,900 drive-away is a little more expensive, but delivers a quality-feeling interior, a flexible cargo area, cheap ownership costs, and a very sophisticated hybrid powertrain.

Unfortunately it’s held back by a four-star ANCAP safety score and a four-seat cabin, and while the seats can flip and fold to increase versatility, the boot itself is compact.

The mid-spec GWM Haval Jolion Lux Hybrid is priced from $34,990 drive-away, or the more comprehensively equipped Haval Jolion Ultra Hybrid starts from $37,990 drive-away, but special offers often see these prices dip lower.

The Haval Jolion Hybrid offers a refined powertrain and a roomy interior – especially in the back seat. The outdated infotainment and clunky driver-assist features aren’t ideal, though, and fuel consumption can be higher than expected.

Chery’s smallest SUV offers an impressive level of equipment, and a well-rounded package when buying the much cheaper non-hybrid models.

The $8000 difference between the non-hybrid Tiggo 4 Ultimate and the Tiggo 4 Hybrid Ultimate is a huge step up, and while Chery’s hybrid powertrain is a good one, it’s not good enough on its own to justify the premium.

If Chery could get that difference down to a more manageable $3000 or $4000, in line with the hybrid surcharge of rival brands, the Tiggo 4 Hybrid would be a formidable small SUV in the segment.

While it’s certainly not a bad vehicle for its intended purpose in its current form, the figures don’t quite add up, and buyers looking to spend their money wisely would be better off sticking with the cheaper non-hybrid for now.

Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.

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