2025 Chery Tiggo 4 Urban (car review)

To call the Chery Tiggo 4 Urban a cheap car feels like understating things. It musters up visions of small base models with all the most fun bells and whistles sheered off. This vehicle is none of those things.

Instead, it’s a small to medium-sized SUV with all the technology you’d expect to see in a much more expensive brand. Adaptive cruise control, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, voice control, and large 10.25-inch dual digital displays all feature.

There’s even rain-sensing wipers and walk away locking. That’s an absurd amount of technology for just $23,990 (and that’s drive away, not plus on-roads). Really, there’s nothing on the market competing on inclusions, and that says plenty about Chery.

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Indeed, the brand may have contributed to the end of cars like the Suzuki Ignis. The Japanese carmaker used to be a a leader in this space, but now will no longer be sold in Australia (after failing to reach new Australian safety standards).

Regardless, it’s such an aggressive pricing manoeuvre that one has to wonder whether its sustainable, or if this is an attempt to monopolise the cheap-car market. Frankly, this makes the the Tiggo 4 Urban difficult to review.

There are places it falls short, absolutely. No car is perfect, but the quibbles can be reasonably countered with: ‘yeah but what do you want for $24k?’. So, having waxed lyrical on price, we’re now going to put that firmly aside and address this car exactly as it is.

In terms of design, there is nothing remarkable about the Tiggo 4 Urban. Someone in the Chery design team may well have asked AI to render a car that, in all manners, looks ordinary. It is a mushy visual amalgamation of every mid-priced car you’ve ever seen.

Things improve somewhat inside. The dashboard and trim are finished nicely. The digital displays are sharp, large and customisable – a fun little bonus. If you’re someone who fights with your partner on temperature, the dual-zone climate control will be welcome.

Push button start and a 6-speaker sound system are included, even in the entry-level variant we’re testing here. The Tiggo is also a reasonably comfortable car to drive, though we found the steering to be overly-light.

This is a trivial complaint which one could put down to personal taste, until lane assist comes into the equation. I’m not the only driver, I think, who has had numerous disagreements with this type of technology, across many brands.

I want to control where my car should be placed in a lane and how it should behave. If, for example, there is an enormous truck impinging on my space, I would personally like to be a bit further away from that vehicle.

This inevitably causes a brief back-and-forth tussle with the steering wheel, which eventually the car concedes. This is the case with the Tiggo 4 Urban. But, with the steering being so light, that tussle felt far more aggressive.

On more than one occasion, I was forced to heave the steering wheel to correct the car’s trajectory as it headed towards the underside of an 18-wheeler. Other than this, the driving-assist technology all works well.

The list includes adaptive cruise control (which is equal to more expensive brands like Hyundai and Kia), blind spot monitoring, forward collision warning, autonomous emergency braking and rear cross traffic alert.

The 2025 Chery Tiggo 4 Urban is powered by a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine delivering 108kW of power and 210Nm of torque. Fuel economy is a little thirsty at 7.3-iitres/100km. It’s a reasonable package.

That said, power delivery is not brilliant, and if you’re up for a lot of highway driving, you may resent its limits in terms of get up and go. When you look at the value proposition on offer though, it’s hard to argue with the exceptional value it offers.

The 2025 Chery Tiggo 4 Urban is backed by a 7-year unlimited kilometre warranty with 7-years capped price servicing and an identical period in roadside assistance. The latter is dependent on you servicing your vehicle with an authorised dealership.

We’d throw some decent wiper blades to suit Australian conditions, on it too. It can be had in five colours, including Martian Red, Lunar White, Lunar Silver, Mercurial Grey and Space Black (as tested). You can find out more by visiting the Chery Motor Australia website.

You can also talk to your local dealership. To get a low rate finance quote on your next vehicle, talk to Credit One. To see a great range of vehicles for sale, check out OnlyCars.com.au.