BYD Seal

[Delphi]

Never heard of BYD before, but this looks like quite a compelling proposition if you're looking for an EV.

[Jobbo]

I've seen a couple of BYDs around (I keep reading it as BYO, or Build Your Own). Shit brand name. And it looks like a bad Chinese copy of an Ionic 6 merged with a Model 3. If I were in that market, I believe there are some good deals on Polestar 2s.

[Sundayjumper]

I read BYO as bring your own. As in taking booze to a party.

It’s making me thirsty.

[Mito Man]

The BYD hatchback thing looks terrible, this looks better on the exterior but the interior is odd. It's like it's trying too hard to be posh but then looks cheap at the same time. Strip club type vibes. The cool thing is it has the LFP battery which is way better for longevity but comes at the cost of being a lot heavier. The cheap RWD Model 3/Y uses the same BYD blade battery but in a smaller capacity to save weight. I remember reading that the BYD interior quality and fit and finish isn't as good as the Model 3, which is pretty unacceptable.
Also I have concerns about the longevity of these Chinese EVs. The SAIC vans and MG EVs are all shite and rusting now that they're a few years old. Unless you're leasing these for 18 months at a rate of peanuts like that pickup truck, I'd avoid.

[Ascender]

BYOD for me too as a nerd.

There really is a template for the styling of these things isn't there?

[Beany]

I keep seeing BYD Seal here and think it's something to do with this:

A penguin is driving around town when all of a sudden his car begins to splutter and die out. He drives into the nearest service station and tells the mechanic there about the hassles he's having. The mechanic gives his car a quick once over, and says to him "This should take about half an hour - come back and pick it up then".

Penguins, being the frigid creatures they are, he decided to grab himself an ice cream while he is waiting. He buys the biggest, creamiest vanilla ice cream money can buy, and lacking an opposable thumb, pushes his face into it to eat it.

Ice cream goes everywhere - all over the floor, all over the counter, all over his face. He takes a quick look at his watch and realises he's late, so forgoing the clean up, he races back to the mechanic.

When he gets there, the mechanic looks him up and down, and says "Well, it's not pretty, but it looks like you've blown a seal."
To which the penguin replies "Nah mate, it's just ice cream."

[Jobbo]

I had a drive in a BYD Seal last night. My stepson now works for BYD and brought it round on his way home. I was fairly 'meh' when he offered me a drive but it's a car, I had to have a go.

First, I had a good look round on our drive. This is a special paint colour which is £875 extra I think. Really quite nice and different.



The outside has a few flourishes - the sill 'vents' which aren't actual vents but look pretty good, for instance. Once you get past the generic nature of a modern EV saloon it's not bad; more interesting than a Tesla Model 3 and more appealing proportions, albeit a bit fussy perhaps.
Inside it has all the toys though the panoramic glass roof is fixed. It has ventilated seats but the operation is subtle enough that I could only tell they were working from the noise of the fans, not any noticeable effect on my arse. The rotating centre display screen seemed to appeal to my stepson who kept demonstrating it; there's even a dedicated button the steering wheel to rotate it. Useful in portrait mode for sat-nav but otherwise it's landscape all the way for me.

The boot isn't enormous, though it's big enough for a fat dachshund. The aperture is small but it goes a long way into the car. There is a small frunk but it was mostly full with cables. Not sure why you'd need to carry three separate cables around with you. One thing I noticed was the very obvious fuel filler flap on the rear quarter; it just covers the charging port but looks and feels rather historic and ICE with a manual press to open and being in the mdidle of the panel; surely you'd choose somewhere a bit more convenient for a charging cable?



The leather and materials generally inside are really good. Apparently it's all vegan leather; it was pretty convincing and way nicer than Merc's Artico or BMW's actual lower range leather. Some alcantara-ish stuff on the door cards too. The steering wheel is quite small. And that takes us on to what it's like to drive. Not that exciting, frankly - just turning on our drive and pulling out the steering felt very rubbery, like it wasn't actually connected to the wheels directly. That disappeared when moving but then it didn't feel too refined; surfaces affected it but not by steering feel, more like lack of NVH suppression. The accelerator didn't feel well calibrated which wasn't helped by the systems trying to keep me to the speed limit - not that it's sporty enough to want to break the speed limit.

Overall, compared to the VW ID Buzz which was absolutely lovely to drive and incredibly smooth and refined, this felt like the money had been spent on features and not on refining the mechanicals. I can definitely see why you might buy one from a visit to the showroom; I don't feel like it would be massively satisfying to live with because it's better static than moving. Still, Colin the dachshund didn't take a shit in the boot so overall I'd say it was a win.

[Holley]

It does look interesting, shame it's not fun to drive.

My Tesla is due to go back in December but will likely extend the lease another 12 months. There's just not much out yet that's decent to drive (Polestar/4 series perhaps, but too similar to the 3. Ioniq 5 N but range too compromised).

[Mito Man]

Thing with the Seal is it’s a $30,000 car retail. It’s amazing for that price. Just not in Europe/UK once the usual taxes, tariffs, dealer margins are applied.
I glossed through Bjorn’s video on this last night - he’s very boring but he does a spreadsheet at the end and probably does the best real world test. The car seemed to have piss poor thermal management - 13 Celsius in Norway and the battery would overheat after 10 mins of charging and throttle right back to the point that it was faster to just charge to 35% each time during a longer road trip. Then the car would have a power limit imposed for that drive as the battery was too hot and had to cool down.
Also not particularly great efficiency.

[V8Granite]

The one I had a nose in at Brighton on this London to Brighton electric rally look pretty tired as a press car. Interior was scuffed and tatty.

Dave!

[Simon]

Amazingly there are no dealers anywhere near me - nearest is London Mayfair or Basingstoke.

Not that I want to buy a car from a country we'll be at war with in a few years....

[IanF]

Amazingly there are no dealers anywhere near me - nearest is London Mayfair or Basingstoke.

Not that I want to buy a car from a country we'll be at war with in a few years....

So no Tesla either

[Simon]

Amazingly there are no dealers anywhere near me - nearest is London Mayfair or Basingstoke.

Not that I want to buy a car from a country we'll be at war with in a few years....

So no Tesla either

I'm never giving _that man_ some of my money, so that was already a no.

[IanF]

Amazingly there are no dealers anywhere near me - nearest is London Mayfair or Basingstoke.

Not that I want to buy a car from a country we'll be at war with in a few years....

So no Tesla either

I'm never giving _that man_ some of my money, so that was already a no.

[Explosive Newt]

I glossed through Bjorn’s video on this last night - he’s very boring but he does a spreadsheet at the end and probably does the best real world test. The car seemed to have piss poor thermal management - 13 Celsius in Norway and the battery would overheat after 10 mins of charging and throttle right back to the point that it was faster to just charge to 35% each time during a longer road trip. Then the car would have a power limit imposed for that drive as the battery was too hot and had to cool down.

Driving like that sounds appalling. How far would 35% get you? The logistics of mapping out chargers for your drive and coffee breaks would get very tedious.

[Explosive Newt]

Amazingly there are no dealers anywhere near me - nearest is London Mayfair or Basingstoke.

Not that I want to buy a car from a country we'll be at war with in a few years....

So no Tesla either

I'm never giving _that man_ some of my money, so that was already a no.

That was what made me try everything else before buying a Tesla. But at the time it had the best drive and the best tech in the sector.

[Ascender]

It looks ok, that's a very nice colour and clearly a good price. I think?

I wonder with the way EVs are going if they are going to become more and more function over form to the point where most new cars outside of a couple of manufacturers all look like a variation of this design and we just accept the interiors are going to be low quality.

[Mito Man]

I glossed through Bjorn’s video on this last night - he’s very boring but he does a spreadsheet at the end and probably does the best real world test. The car seemed to have piss poor thermal management - 13 Celsius in Norway and the battery would overheat after 10 mins of charging and throttle right back to the point that it was faster to just charge to 35% each time during a longer road trip. Then the car would have a power limit imposed for that drive as the battery was too hot and had to cool down.

Driving like that sounds appalling. How far would 35% get you? The logistics of mapping out chargers for your drive and coffee breaks would get very tedious.

No idea, I wasn’t watching that closely but I’m guessing you’d not want to be going more than 80 miles - I think at that point you’d be more limited in terms of picking your next supercharger because there’s not one every few miles like a petrol station.

[Mito Man]

It looks ok, that's a very nice colour and clearly a good price. I think?

I wonder with the way EVs are going if they are going to become more and more function over form to the point where most new cars outside of a couple of manufacturers all look like a variation of this design and we just accept the interiors are going to be low quality.

Until one manufacturer makes one with a really upmarket interior for the same price, then everyone will have to up their game.
Current problem is the benchmark for efficiency/range is the Tesla, and that just happens to have a shit interior.

[Simon]

I glossed through Bjorn’s video on this last night - he’s very boring but he does a spreadsheet at the end and probably does the best real world test. The car seemed to have piss poor thermal management - 13 Celsius in Norway and the battery would overheat after 10 mins of charging and throttle right back to the point that it was faster to just charge to 35% each time during a longer road trip. Then the car would have a power limit imposed for that drive as the battery was too hot and had to cool down.

Driving like that sounds appalling. How far would 35% get you? The logistics of mapping out chargers for your drive and coffee breaks would get very tedious.

Oh I get it. I completely understand that for many a Tesla is absolutely the right choice. It's just not _my_ choice, regardless of its benefits.