There are some attempts to give the Tiggo 7 some unique style, but whether that’s successful is a verdict best left to the beholder. It is, admittedly, unique amidst the slew of Chinese crossovers. Chery calls the design lingo, “hydrodynamic” (influenced supposedly by the shaping nature of running water), and as a result combines both hard and soft edges on the car. Subjectively, it’s a mixed bag for me. I actually like the front and rear ends, but I just don’t get the side creases that terminate with the side turn signal lamp. It’s just plain weird. Objectively though, it’s well-loaded with the sole Comfort trim getting HID headlights, 18-inch wheels, power folding mirrors, and as de rigueur with other Chinese offerings, a giant sunroof.

As to the odd bits I was referring to, the most obvious one is the tachometer that swings in a counterclockwise direction. If that’s not weird enough, you also have the positioning of some of the controls. Normally, switchgear is bunched based on function—climate control, infotainment, and what have you. In the Tiggo 7 though, everything is crammed to a set of three knobs and six buttons all located in the same cluster on the dashboard. The air conditioner is controlled by the two outer knobs, while the infotainment volume and power are controlled by the central knob and button. Heck, even the driving mode selector (Eco or Sport) is crammed with the front and rear defogger. Weird as the layout is, at least Chery did provide tactile physical controls as the overreliance on a touchscreen is a mortal sin.

Positioned as the sportiest among Chery Auto’s local offerings, the Tiggo 7 does have the right ingredients, at least on paper. It uses the larger Tiggo 8’s turbocharged 1.5-liter engine (145 horsepower, 210 Nm of torque), and together with a body that’s 101 kilograms lighter it should at least give formidable straight-line punch, right? Well, not exactly. Similar to the Tiggo 8, the 6-speed dual clutch here is tuned more for comfort than outright response. Most of the time, it’s preoccupied in trying to mitigate or quelling shift shock (it does so quite convincingly, actually). Switching over to Sport or jabbing the throttle does liven things a bit, but not by much. Of note though: once it gets going, it’s fast.

Overall, the Chery Tiggo 7 doesn’t carry the same level of whizz-bang as the competition. It can’t claim to have all the toys to make a tech-loving millennial wet their pants, nor can it claim some sort of Swedish engineering connection. What it is, is a silent worker—content to blend in the background, toiling away to make sure you get to your destination in relative comfort. On paper, it blends along with the myriad of Chinese crossovers. In practice though, it manages to nail most of the basic ingredients resulting in a compact SUV that’s comfortable in its own skin.