Cheap Chinese SUV: Bargain or Total Disaster?

This is the new Cherry to-go 7. It's a good car and fabulous value for money. However, you probably shouldn't buy it and I'm going to explain why. I'm Watson. You're watching Carwo. Visually, the Tigo7 is a little bit like a wedding band because it does covers of lots of different other cars. The grill and the headlights like that of an Audi Q7. Then this chrome strip running across the roof and the roof bar like a Vauxhall Grandland X. This part of it is like a Lexus LBX. Then if you look at these bits at the rear remind me of a BMW X6. And that continues inside because the dash is like the old X6 and the infotainment screens are like the new X6. And finally, they're keeping the German theme going with a door panel which is very similar to a Mercedes. You know, overall it looks fine, but it doesn't look quite as cool as the JQ7. I think JQ just kept it simple. They copied one car, the Range Rover, and it did the job. You get this car with a 1.6 L turbo petrol with 147 horsepower or as a 1.5 L plug-in hybrid with 204 horsepower. Can you guess what this car is? Any ideas? It's very subtle. Now, this better be quick because bizarrely, it's making some bold claims. Look, never seen this on a car before. Performance there. And on the other side there. So, is it quick? Let's find out. I'm going to time it from 0 to 60 mph. Here we go. 3 2 1 floor it. That was a massive delay off the live. It's going now. And it's pulling quite hard. Now, this car should do not 60 according to Cherry in 8.5 seconds. I've got it at 7.35 seconds. That's really quite quick. Hopefully it stops as well. Okay, here we go. Brake test from 60 miles an hour. Full emergency stop. It needs to stop in around 35 m. Let's find out what it's going to do. Cruising for a stop. That felt good. 34 m. Impressive. However, not everything is impressive about this car. The Chinese are masters at building cars that make you look at them and go, "Looks quite expensive. How do they build it so cheaply? But if you look closely, the car does betray itself. I've not seen a car where you can see the exhaust from the side like that. Apart from maybe a G Wagon, though, that's a styling thing that isn't. Then some of the trim doesn't fit properly. Look at that. It's not snug. And if you look really closely, look at this. It's like it's not finished. It's almost as if it's been in a rear end shunt. It hasn't. It's the same on the other side. This is how they come out the factory. But this is the worst thing. Watch this. Look at the boot when I shut the door. It's moving. What's that all about? And then there's a noise from the motors and not the motors you're thinking about either. For instance, how noisy is this blind? The electric windows. Those motors are really noisy. That's the worst one. Listen to this. Not great. There are some other annoying things about this car. For instance, the rear wiper. Look at the size of that tiny. Oh. Um, there's another area they've cheeded out. You can see that it doesn't really give you much swept area. So, when your rear windows dirty, you've only got that space to look through. Also, the boot doesn't open particularly high, does it? Look at this. It's at maximum heightened. Ouch. And I'm not very tall either. I say white paint. That's the only standard color. Everything else you have to pay for. Also, there's no separate guides for the rear seat belt. So, when you fold them down, this happens. And then sometimes it gets snagged like that. Happened to me yesterday. I got cross. Also, there's not quite enough reach adjustment in the steering wheel. It's actually fully extended. Like, it needs to go further. And then the infotainment screen is just a little bit too far away. So, you have to lean forward to be able to operate it. And sometimes when you've got your seat belt on and you're like, you see what's going to happen now? You go. You go. You go. You go. I can't make it do it. It did it the other day, but now it won't. There we go. I can't reach it. Thankfully, this car has plenty of cool features to help make up for all this. The Chinese are fully aware they're a bit overzealous. And that's why they allow you to turn off the safety function super quick. Look, you just swipe down like that. And then I can turn off the electronic parking brake. Also, while you're there, you can quickly turn off your speed sign recognition bongs and your attention assist. Goodbye. Leave me alone. Thank you. Also, unlike with other hybrids, you don't have to press a button to turn them off. You get out, automatically cuts. So, you're never in that weird situation when you walk away from the car and you try to lock it, it goes, I'm still I'm still on. And when you get in again, you don't have to press a button. You just There we go. Foot on brake. Yeah. Obviously, put your seat belt on. Put it into drive. Oh, obviously it's safety conscious. We got to shut the door. And now we should be able to go. Yeah, the Top Check car has a surround view camera system which you'd expect to find on something German look. So, you can look around the car, put it into 3D mode. Fun fact, they don't have their Cherry logo on the grill. So, you can really pretend it's an Audi, can't you? And I like this. Let's say you're driving along. Oh, I'm driving along. I'm indicating left. You get this image. So, it gives you an idea of what's in your blind spot. And that's what's happening on the right hand side. Nice. There's 50 watt mobile phone charging. When I put my phone in, it should say fast charging. Come on, do it. And can you hear this noise? Can you hear it? Hear that? It's cooling while it charges. Also like this feature. Love this. As someone who enjoys a takeaway and is always worried about it spinning the inside of his car, this is a really handy hook to just hang your takeaway bag off. This plug-in hybrid has some great stats. So, electric power, it can do 56 mi. Unlike other plug-in hybrids, you actually get DC charging, so it can charge up to 40 kW, which is pretty fast for a PHEV. And that's not all. Cherry says it will manage over 235 mp gallon. However, just like with other plug-in hybrids, you should take that with a huge pinch of salt. As Cherry is new in the UK, it has an unproven reliability track record. But not to worry, the car comes with 7 years 100,000 mi worth of warranty. thing is, you don't get the sense you're going to need a warranty because this car feels solid and well built. Look, look, look at this. Doesn't wobble. There's no creeks or squeaks. And things are nicely damp. Like that's feels good. That Oh, yeah. That's good as well. And yes, the dash design is very much like a BMW. And so is the screen. But the switches actually feel more expensive in the way they're dapped than the very latest BMWs. However, does this thing drive like a BMW? spoiler. No, it's already beeping and bonging at me cross about that. The Cherry Tiger 7 is a car that drives perfectly fine, but also not particularly well. And what I mean by that is that for most people most of the time, they'll get in this and go, "H, it's okay. We can live with that." Especially considering how much it doesn't cost. However, if you're really into cars, someone like me, then you do notice its shortcomings. The suspension can be a bit jiggly over bumps. Yet at the same time, when you chuck it into a corner, it does lean quite a bit in the bends. And then there's a steering which just doesn't feel like it's connected to the front wheels because no matter how much lock you put on, the resistance is always the same. I'll tell you what's not always the same. The amount of response you get from the throttle pedal. You can press it a certain amount and you'll get some kind of acceleration. Press it the same amount again and you get a different kind of acceleration. It's odd and unpredictable. The car doesn't do exactly what you expect it's going to, but that only matters when you're really pushing it. And it's only when you're really pushing it that you realize that the Chinese have basically done just about as much as they need to in terms of developing the driving dynamics and certainly not one moment more. So, this is a car I would recommend for people who aren't that into driving and just want to go from A to B. If you are into driving, look elsewhere like a Nissan cash guy. And you can see my full in-depth video review of that car by following the link in the description or by clicking on the pop out banner or scanning the QR code on screen now. And there's some great offers on Nissan Cash guys through CarWow at this moment. Also, I think the quality control of Nissan is probably slightly better and I'll show you why now. Have a look at this. There's a chip out the badge, but that's underneath the plastic cover. And I've just noticed this. The black round here is slightly different. It's actually a wrap. You can see the seam there. Do you know what Nick pointed out that this car is a little bit like a new buildhouse. So when you first look at it, you're like, "Wow, this is great." But then when you start paying attention to it and go looking around a bit, you end up with quite a long snagging list. However, unlike a new build house, this car is actually quite spacious. So, here in the back, head room is good, knee room is good, foot space is good. Under the thigh support could be better. You got a flat floor, which is handy if you need to carry three at once because come on, Louis, jump in with three in the back. It's it it's sort of tight, but okay. I think that a Kia Sportage is a bit roomier in the back. If you want to see my full in-depth video review of that, then just click up over Nick's head or scan the QR code over Louiswis's face. You look better as a QR code, Louis, by the way. Cheers. No worries. Get out. And what's interesting about this is there's some cheap plastics here in the back. That is really cheap. That feels like a prototype. And this here is cheap as well. I don't know why, but it's going to be kids in the back. They're going to have their mobile devices. And yet, you give them a single old fashioned USB. Not ideal. If you're carrying really young children, you got your ice to fix anchor points there. And I fit a child seat to it. It's actually all right, though. The bulky ones are a bit more problematic because of the way that pops out there like that. Underneath here, you got two cup holders. And that brings on to cubbies in the front. There's lots of storage space in here. And it's cooled from the air conditioning. You've got two cup holders there. Underneath here, look, there's more storage in there. And then here, you've got a decent size glove box. And the door bins can hold a large bottle. While I'm here, I'm going to show you the infotainment system. So, the graphics are clear, the colors are bright, but it's a little bit laggy. However, I like the fact that Android Auto is widescreen, which is good. And look, if I want to go into the main menu, I can just hit that and go back to the normal menu. You can see the climate controls there, but there's also this panel here, which you can use. So, this one does the temperature and this one does the fan, though, I don't know what those three buttons for there. I'd like them to be the home setting, but they don't seem to do anything. The boot capacity is also pretty decent. So if you have this hybrid, it's 480 L. And I like this. Underneath here, they have these cutouts for your cables, so you don't have to have annoying charging bag loose in the car. But if you need more space, get the petrol. It's got 570 L of space. All right, you can remove the load cover quite easily, but there's nowhere to store it in this hybrid, unfortunately. You do have 12vt socket there and some hookage action here as well. But that is the functionality really of the boot. fold down the rear seats. Just give it a bit of that up and you get fairly continuous low bed. It's generally really practical this car and it's also quite a lot of space for the money. The Cherry T7 starts from £25,000 which is £4,000 less than a Volkswagen Golf. You don't want that entry- level petrol though. You want the plug-in hybrid and you want it in topsp spec because then you get the extra performance and all the kit you want such as a panoramic glass roof that opens, heated front seats, which are an absolute must in a car like this and a Sony stereo system with speaker covers like in a posh Mercedes. Top spec and fully loaded, this car costs £33,000. Only it doesn't because if you buy it through CarWow, you can save an average of £3,000 off it right now. So, if you're thinking about changing your car, make sure you browse the latest offers on CarWow. So, you might be thinking, "Wait a minute, Matt. At the beginning, you said you shouldn't buy this car." And I stand by that, and here's why. Really, if you're going to buy one of these cars, you're better off spending a little bit extra and getting the Cherry Tigo 8 because it comes with seven seats, and it feels a bit more luxurious inside. Also, there's not much in it in terms of pricing if you lease them. And leasing is actually cheaper over three years. If you want to compare all those costs, I've put a link in the description and the pin comment and actually if you scan the QR code, you can go and call out and see how I've worked out the maths. And then there's another issue. You might be thinking, actually, I don't need seven seats, so why go for the Tigo 8? Well, fair enough, but I still wouldn't go for the Tigo7. I would instead choose the JQU7 because it's pretty much the same car underneath and it looks a lot better. Then there's always the option of upgrading by going used. For instance, I found this 3-year-old 30,000 mi Audi Q5 hybrid on CarWow for £29,000. Now, if you are buying a used car, you do need to do a car vertical history check on it to make sure it hasn't got a problem. The one on car obviously was clean, but that's not always the case because here is an example of a car vertical history check on an Audi Q5 that has a dodgy past. This one, oh dear, it's got dodgy mileage and it's been crashed. Nice. So, if you're thinking about buying a used car, make sure you do a car vertical history check. You can use the link in the description of this video and make sure you use the code car wow for 20% off. You're welcome. So, Cherry Tigo7, it's a decent enough car and it's great value for money. So, too though is the JQ7 and it looks better. And if you need more space, just get the Cherry to go