The first Chery to arrive for an extended stay since the brand's return to South Africa three years ago, the Blood Red-coloured Tiggo 7 Pro Max not only faced the usual day-to-day commute and inter-town travels, but also two road trips.
The final being to the Eastern Cape and this writer's hometown of Despatch as a means of breaking the heavy fuel consumption Chinese vehicle stereotype.
Our three-month tenure with Chery's flagship Tiggo 7 Pro, the all-wheel-drive Pro Max Executive, officially came to an end at the end of November after a total of 4 042km.
Ultimately, this became secondary as during the three months, a number of other gremlins would intervene, resulting in the Tiggo 7 Pro Max being described as a careful consideration despite offering a lot for its R609 900 asking price.
These included the typical Chinese vehicle issue of an awkwardly calibrated throttle mismatched with the engine and transmission, the over-assisted electric power steering, the dizzying rear-view mirror no-one managed to get used to and by far the biggest irritation, the detection module on the steering column for the overenthusiastic Driver Attention Alert system.
Plusses were the level of specification, comfort, no lack of interior space, and a striking design helped not only by the colour and model specific 19-inch alloy wheels but also the various blue inserts and inside, decent levels of fit-and-finish.
After a family trip to Dikhololo Resort in September the pending road trip to the coast was to be the ultimate test.
As it turned out, the trek of 2 092km to Despatch wasn't as plain sailing, but not from an economy standpoint.
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