By Carlos A. Pefaur
Herald Staff

The entrance of the Chery Tiggo into the Argentine market represents an important landmark: the arrival of Chinese models. Robust, considerably equipped, and comfortable, this SUV — brought by Franco Macri— comes determined to make prejudice regarding its origin disappear.

Rumours about the quality of this SUV have been circulating for a while and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have doubts when I first sat in front of the Chery Tiggo’s steering wheel. But all prejudice gradually disappeared after I took a quick glance at its interior and, mostly, when I started driving.

The Chinese automaker has set its South American headquarters in Uruguay after having closed a business partnership with Socma (Sociedad Macri). Socma’s chairman Franco Macri is highly experienced in the industry: he was chairman of SEVEL co. from 1982 to 1996, which manufactured numerous models for Fiat, Peugeot, and GM.

This new Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) has many virtues, including its great functionality, its splendorous and smooth driving on pavement, and its extraordinary low equipment/price ratio.

The Tiggo is a family car that successfully accomplishes this purpose, thanks to its large interior space, great equipment, and a general design, which in spite of not being impressive is very versatile.     
The car comes with an advanced chassis for sedans that matches perfectly the car's engine, thereby bringing great driving pleasure.

The car’s front comes with a parallel chromium air intake grille, and large surrounding angle type crystal headlamps. The R16’ tyres are also to be noticed.

The Tiggo not only shines because of its exterior: its interior also surprised us.

The Chery Tiggo allows a variety of combinations for the front and rear seats, which are all height-adjustable. The carrying capacity for both passengers and goods is much larger than in other sedans. The space can be configured flexibly to give you more living space.

By dropping down the back seat one can enlarge the trunk capacity from 827 litres to 1,935 litres, which makes loading of large objetcs a lot easier.

The rear spoiler tilts to the right, which makes loading activity much easier. The high-mounted brake lamp and the fashionable spare tyre form an integral part of the vehicle and provide stylishness, security, and a sportive look.

The Chery Tiggo is powered with a 2L petrol engine that delivers 127HP at 5,500 rpm with a torque of 18nm at 4,000 rpm.

The engine transmission is a five-speed manual, and according to information provided by the manufacturer, the Tiggo reaches a max speed of 170 km/h and offers a mixed fuel consumption of 14.8 km per litre.

Those interested must know that these kinds of vehicles were not born for the off-roads (mud, sand, etc.) as they were manufactured to surf the urban roads. Thus, the Tiggo has been thought for normal driving situations and to cover the expectations of an average family looking for some fun time.

As far as the driving test is concerned, the engine has the right power, though it does seem to lack some power when the 127HP are tried with the car at its full capacity (passengers and load). Even though acceleration is not the Tiggo’s strongest characteristic, the speed progression is just perfect.

On pavement, the Tiggo rides smoothly offering great driving comfort thanks to an elastic suspension system. On curves, the car proved that its lack of stiffness doesn’t translate into a risk factor. As we mentioned before, the Tiggo is targeted to average urban users and not for those looking for off-road adventures.

The car’s visibility is perfect as well as its leg room.

For those waiting for harsh criticism over the interior’s materials, we can say that the pros overshadow the cons. We can mention that the glove compartment doesn’t close properly or that some plastic parts show sharp ends, but it’s also fair to say that the interior panels are well assembled, the console with compact design looks very stylish and the upholstery is of an excellent quality.

After all, Chery is one of the most important Chinese automakers. Much more than what one expects, the Tiggo brings down many prejudices.

• VW Amarok at Expoagro

• The new Berlingo captivates the public