Say hello to…
…the BYD Seal is the Chinese brand’s mid-size saloon and rival to the Tesla Model 3 and the Hyundai Ioniq 6. The Seal is offered with one battery size with a useable capacity of 82.5kWh. There’s then a choice of 308hp rear-drive version for maximum range (officially 354 miles) with the trim level badged Design and then an all-wheel drive version with more power, 523hp, and a slightly less range (323 miles). The quicker version is badged Excellence.
Trim levels:
- Design
- Excellence
Design includes panoramic roof, powered boot lid, 19-inch alloys, auto headlights, auto high beam, auto wipers, metallic paint, leather interior, 10.25-inch dashboard display, 2x wireless charging pads, powered front seats with memory, dual zone climate control, heat pump, surround camera, parking sensors, adaptive cruise, front cross traffic alert, keyless entry and start, 15.6-inch infotainment screen, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
Excellence adds a head up display.
Is The BYD Seal Suitable For My Fleet
On paper the BYD Dolphin looks like it’s spot on for company car drivers. The impressive efficiency and range – you’ll get a real-world range of 300 miles – are very welcome. And no doubt helped by the standard heat pump. The BYD can recharge at up to 150kW which is useful if you want to go beyond the 300 mile range.
The boot is only average for the class at 400 litres, but there’s a useful front storage space of 53 litres under the bonnet.
Leasing A BYD Seal
Intelligent Car Leasing is offering the BYD Seal in top Excellence form for £660 a month on a 3+36 contract with 20,000 miles a year. This is near identical to its closest rival the Hyundai Ioniq 6.
Gensen Reports forecasts the maintenance costs will be a hefty £97 a month. The Hyundai comes in at £74 a month.
Driving A BYD Seal
Design and styling don’t usually impact fleet decision making, but when you’re a new brand (to the UK) these things can have an impact on residual values. Get the styling right and it’s one less thing to worry about in the used car market. While looks are subjective, the BYD Seal only drew positive comments about its design from those that asked what the car was.
A good start.
Inside, the cabin also looks good thanks to some high quality, soft-touch materials. You also sit nice and low, although the seats could offer more thigh support.
As with other BYDs, the large 15-inch infotainment screen dominates the overall look of the dashboard.
The display is clear and fairly swift to respond to inputs, but the user interface is far from easy to understand.
Given how much equipment is standard it’s a bit of a disappointment that it’s difficult to access.
Our car had a few peculiarities too. The head up display reset its position to just out of view every time you started the car, yet the heated steering wheel was always how you left it.
The DAB radio also struggled to gain reception.
BYD makes a big thing about including a high level of safety kit as standard, which is to be applauded. However, the Seal didn’t like traffic on roundabouts and more than once slammed on the brakes as we were trying to pull out.
Even if you turned off some of the more intrusive systems, they car would still give some warnings on what seemed like a random basis.
Get used to these oddities and the BYD Seal is comfortable, refined and, in Excellence form, very fast.
So fast in fact, BYD puts the 0-60mph time on the boot. This mostly serves as a conversation starter when people ask ‘does it have a 3.8-litre engine?’
While the car rides well over typical British roads, the BYD Seal isn’t so good with corners. Even changing lanes anything more than gradually on the motorway highlights an odd disconnected feeling between the steering and the wheels.
The Seal is by far the best BYD. However, it’s not quite up to the best in the market and doesn’t have a particularly large cost advantage to fall back on.
FleetandLeasing.com Verdict On The BYD Seal
Close to being a good car. A lot could be sorted out with an over-the-air update of the software.
BYD Seal
- Model: Seal Excellence
- Power: 523hp
- Torque: 670Nm
- Max speed: 111mph
- 0-62mph: 3.8s
- Official range: 323 miles
- Test range: 301 miles
- CO2 emissions: 0g/km
- BIK tax band 2023/24: 2%
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