BYD Seal long-term test: report 2
Can a brand that's relatively new to the UK show established names a thing or two in the highly competitive executive car class? We're finding out...
The car BYD Seal 390kW Excellence AWD Run by Steve Huntingford, editor
Why it's here To see if BYD's flagship electric car is a worthy alternative to the Tesla Model 3 and prestige German saloons
Needs to Combine comfort and refinement with cutting-edge tech and a good real-world range
Mileage 3182 List price £48,695 Target Price £45,936 Price as tested £49,571 Test range 304 miles Official range 323 miles
20 October – For better and for worse
I mentioned in my first report that on paper the BYD Seal offers many of the same qualities as the BMW i5 that I ran previously, despite costing around half the price. And after a month living with my new car, it's clear that while there are certain areas where you get what you pay for, in others it does indeed deliver a huge amount of bang for your buck.
You see, it's an easier car to manoeuvre in tight spaces than the i5, just by virtue of it being smaller, yet this doesn't translate into it being smaller inside. On the contrary, the Seal is actually more comfortable for a central rear passenger due to its less sculpted rear bench and completely flat floor. Plus, there’s so much rear leg room that there’s no sign of my seven-year-old daughter’s footprints on the back of the front passenger seat.
True, the Seal doesn’t handle as sweetly as the i5, but nor is it poor in this area once you’ve switched the steering and brakes out of Comfortable mode and into Sport (something you have to do only once). What's more, I’m really impressed with the performance; the Seal’s 3.8sec 0-62mph time is sports car rapid, yet the accelerator pedal has enough travel to prevent the car from being jerky in stop-start traffic.
On the other hand, the Seal’s infotainment system is nowhere near as good as the i5’s – and not just because it lacks physical controls. In fact, I actually think this is less of an issue than it is with most touchscreens, because the Seal's menus are generally simple enough and the key icons are big.
Instead, it’s the responsiveness of the system that most disappoints, with every change of radio station requiring a few seconds to take effect. And the clunkiness of the voice control can also frustrate. For example, if I ask the Seal to phone someone on their mobile, it will ask me to choose between their home and mobile numbers. Then when I reaffirm that I want the mobile, it tells me that it has only one number for this person, and asks if I want to call it. “Yes, already! Call it!”
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