Faults:

5 months after purchasing the vehicle, the car switched itself off at a traffic light. Could not start it and had to tow it to a Chery dealer for repairs. First dealership fixed it and it lasted a week. Without warning, in the middle of the busiest freeway in South Africa, it lost power and stopped. Took it to another dealership who managed to fix it until today.

I also had an issue with the dashboard which suddenly lost colour. Fortunately my car was still under warranty and on both these occasions I did not pay anything for the car to be fixed.

Every 5000km a light comes on (spanner sign). I only managed to have it removed only once. I eventually gave up trying to have it removed as it stayed permanently on on the dash.

No one could get the clock right as the time was always wrong.

Automatic central locking was never automatic; I always have to manually lock the car when driving.

Air con blew cold air when the car was fairly new, but later it became useless. Took it to air con people who could not get it back to what it should be (fortunately I do not use the air con at all).

General Comments:

The car is very comfortable and can do long distances without one feeling exhausted from driving. Space in the car is great including the boot. Sunscreen adds to the "beauty" of the car and is helpful when driving at night or cloudy days.

Maintenance of the car is VERY high. Car parts are expensive and are not readily available from all dealership places.

Faults:

The car won't start. I have checked all the fuses, the battery is working fine and there is a spark. Still the car cranks but won't start.

General Comments:

Not my wisest buy ever...

Faults:

Power steering pump failed twice; once under 1000km, and the other time under 30 000km; both times replaced under warranty.

Rear tires were swapped with worn out ones at the 15 000 service. I had to purchase new ones as the garage denied this.

ABS light is always on. Been to the service station 5 times; they are unable to fix this.

Catalytic converter had to be replaced at 60 000.

Spare wheel cover at the back was broken when I received the car. Was promised a new one. After 76 000 km and 16 months, still nothing, except that they expect me to pay for the replacement.

Service book not stamped at services.

Tow bar fitted by the dealer catches the bottom of the boot door when opening and closing, and reduces the car's ground clearance by about 200mm as it's mounted under the body.

Lists of issues reported before services do not get looked at at all, like replacement of batteries on the remote, checking of oil leaks.

Shudder and noise when I reverse, started directly after I received my car back from a week's service to fix a problem caused by the catalytic converter.

Service team did not do the scheduled check and replacement of front brake pads at the 75 000km service.

General Comments:

This car is really great to drive on gravel roads; very soft and comfortable. However the ground clearance is significantly reduced by the tow-bar and this limits me a lot, as it catches on the average speed hump in my complex.

The service in South Africa is past the point of being unreasonably bad; I serviced my car at the head office and three other garages; only one gave me service where I did not have to go back to them afterwards. My car was booked in for a week at one dealer with a list of issues to be looked at; they only did an oil and filter service, and ignored all the other problems. Got the car back after a week with all the problems listed exactly as they were before. The service manager just ignores emails, and claims they fixed everything. Remote battery is still dead, oil leak is still there, shudder on reverse is still there, non closing spare wheel cover is still not closing.