Yesterday after much badgering the owners of Chery Islamabad show room I was allowed to test drive the Tiggo 8. They were a bit ''kanjoos'' about the distance I could drive, so, the distance was limited to about 4 km in front of the show room. I found out that I was the first one to test drive a Tiggo 8 in Islamabad. This I found out when the salesman accompany me, pulled out his cell phone and started making a video like an advertisement saying that this was the first test drive of aTiggo 8 and what my impressions were!!
I wanted to see the ride on rough roads as I had heard that the ride was firm. Here is what I was able to gather in just 4 km.
1 - Part of the test was in the unpaved rocky road. Ride was fine and not as firm as one would expect. The faster I drove the more Tiggo 8 smoothed out the ride and the less I felt the bumps.
2 - Cabin noise insulation was really good. Don't know if that's a good thing with motorcycles and rickshaw walla 2 inches from the sides of the car. I'd rather like to hear how close these fellows are to the car. Its just an added warning on our roads. But seriously it is very quiet in the cabin. I can't say how much tire and wind noise one gets at 120 km/h.
3 - From the service road we turned on to the Islamabad express way on our way back to the showroom. Here I was able to floor the car in normal driving mode. I can assure you that I was VERRY firmly pressed into the seat as the car shot to speed. Of course this was done from 40 km/h to 80 km/h due to traffic and short distance I was authorized to drive.
4 - I have seen videos where the reviewer had mentioned the transmission being a bit clunky under hard acceleration. I did not find it to be so. I drive a Civic gen X and I can say that I had forgotten the immediate power delivery of an auto transmission after driving the CVT for so long. It is utterly satisfying to give this car the beans. Acceleration immediate and is mentioned in other places as 8.8 sec 0-100km. I do not doubt that.
5 - A few unexpected things. There is a proximity warning LED in the driver side door mirror but nothing to warn the driver of any traffic on the passenger side. I find this a bit disappointing. We all know that motorbike walls love to overtake on the left while the car is turning left using the 2 ft of space between car and curb. However when the left indicator is turned on, the left side view is displayed on the center screen. I suppose such quirks will become more apparent after ownership.
6 - I took the opportunity to really see the third row seat space after we got back. The driver seat was set to my height (6ft). Then I got into the second row behind the driver and moved the second row forward until my knees were just about to touch the driver seat. Then I got into the third row. I had about 1 inch of knee room and about 1 inch of head room. So it can be said that a 6ft adult can squeeze into the 3rd row and be driven about the town but not from one town to another. Honda BRV is king of the third row space.
7 - I noticed that there was something wrong with the turn signal when left indicator was selected. The clicking sound was double time as compared to the right. Like the sound when one of the indicator bulbs has fused on our cars. I pointed this out to the salesman but to him I was speaking Greek.
8 - On two occasions the collision warning thingy did its job. Once when a biker was too close to the rear of the vehicle. There was a beep and the 4 way flashers went off giving 3-4 flashes. And the second time a biker shot across the front of the car. Same thing happened. No sudden braking however. Now I don't know if the dealership had turned off this auto brake feature or not. Or maybe the bike was not close enough to merit emergency braking.
All in all a VEERRRY nice car. Heated/cooled seats would be nice. At 6.6 million it is far far superior to the Civic RS at 6.5 million. Too bad the booking is closed at the moment.
