Chery Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid vs Honda CR-V e:HEV RS

Both of these are five-seat mid-size SUVs wearing their respective brand's most advanced hybrid tech and their longest equipment lists. The gap is the price.

Chery Tiggo 7 (drive-away):

Honda CR-V:

Honda quotes some CR-V grades drive-away and others as recommended retail before on-road costs, so read the right-hand column carefully. The two cars we are comparing are both drive-away figures, which makes this a clean like-for-like.

We are pitting the flagship of each range against the other, because that is the only way into the best hybrid system each brand sells. The Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid Ultimate is $36,100 drive-away. The CR-V e:HEV RS is $51,400 drive-away. That is a $15,300 gap, and the rest of this comparison is really one question: does the Honda earn it?

Worth noting the cheaper plug-in too. The Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid Urban at $32,300 drive-away uses the same 180kW plug-in drivetrain and the same 93km of electric range for $3,800 less than the Ultimate.

This section needs correcting if you have read an older version of it. Neither car holds a five-star ANCAP rating. The Honda CR-V was rated four stars in 2024 under the current protocols. The Chery Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid has no ANCAP rating on record at all, so we will not quote a star count for it in either direction.

On equipment both come with eight airbags including a front-centre airbag and a driver's knee airbag, plus ISOFIX points and top tethers on the outboard rear seats. The Tiggo 7 is the newer design and lists extras the Honda does not, including a door-opening warning and rear-occupant detection. Honda Sensing is the longer-established suite.

The honest summary: on published crash-test credentials the Honda is the only one of the two with a rating you can look up, and it is four stars rather than five. If that is a dealbreaker, look at a RAV4, a Sportage or a Tucson instead.

Both are generously equipped. Shared kit includes 18-inch alloys, LED lighting, keyless entry, a power tailgate, synthetic leather, heated front seats, a panoramic sunroof, dual-zone climate with rear vents, wireless charging and a wireless-capable phone connection.

The Chery counters the price gap with hardware: ventilated front seats on top of the heating, and twin 12.3-inch screens that dwarf the Honda's 10.2-inch cluster and 9.0-inch infotainment display. On paper the Tiggo wins the spec sheet.

Screen size is not the whole story, though. The Honda keeps physical climate dials and a volume knob; the Chery puts climate behind a haptic panel. Both run eight-speaker Bose audio, and the CR-V adds active noise cancelling that the Tiggo does not list. Which layout suits you is worth checking in person, because the specification sheet flatters the Chery more than the ergonomics might.

This is the heart of the difference. The Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid is a genuine plug-in hybrid: a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol four paired with an electric motor and an 18.3kWh LFP battery, for a combined 180kW and a claimed 93km of EV-only range on WLTP. The CR-V e:HEV RS is a series hybrid with a 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated four, two motors and a small battery you never plug in, for a combined 135kW and 335Nm.

Chery's 1.4L/100km claim is technically true and practically meaningless, because plug-in hybrids are measured starting from a full battery. What matters is how you use it. With 93km of claimed electric range, a nightly charge covers more than the average Australian daily commute, and you could go a long time between servo visits.

Leave it to fend for itself and never plug in, and the petrol engine does the work, especially on the highway. Chery does not publish a charge-sustaining figure, but a depleted plug-in hybrid carrying an 18.3kWh battery is not going to beat a purpose-built series hybrid rated at 5.5L/100km. So the Chery's efficiency advantage is real, but only if you commit to plugging it in.

On outright pace the Chery is the more powerful car at 180kW combined against 135kW, but the Honda is the quicker one on the claimed figures: 8.2 seconds to 100km/h against 9.5.

Both get the family-SUV fundamentals right: room for five, comfortable and supportive front seats, good visibility, rear air vents, USB ports and a fold-down centre armrest.

The CR-V is the larger car on a longer wheelbase, and it shows in two ways: a bit more rear-seat space and a much bigger boot, 581L against 475L. It is also the only one of the two with a towing rating, at 750kg braked, where the Tiggo 7 Super Hybrid is not rated to tow at all. If you pull even a small box trailer, that is the end of the conversation.

The Chery hits back with clever touches: extra storage under the console big enough for a small bag, and a built-in glass hammer and seatbelt cutter, which is a genuinely useful thing to have. Dimensions are close, but the Honda's extra length translates into the more usable family space.

On the surface the Chery looks like the cheaper car to own: a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty against Honda's five years, plus longer 15,000km service intervals versus the CR-V's 10,000km.

Dig in and it evens out. The Tiggo's roadside assistance only runs for the first 12 months, then re-activates each year only if you keep servicing within Chery's network. And the more complex plug-in hybrid powertrain costs more to maintain: roughly $453 a year against the CR-V's $199, which is about $3,174 versus $995 over seven years. Honda also offers up to three bonus warranty years (taking it to eight) if you service on schedule within its network.

The bigger ownership number is depreciation. RedBook expects the CR-V to hold about 58.5% of its value after three years; the Tiggo around 38%. On the current drive-away prices that is roughly $30,000 for the Honda against about $13,700 for the Chery after three years, so the Honda hands back around $16,300 more. That is more than the entire $15,300 purchase gap, which is the single most important thing to weigh if you do not keep cars forever.