Seal of disapproval
The third fully electric model from Chinese firm BYD aka Build Your Dreams to make it to the UK And all in the space of nine months This is clearly the Chinese year of the car First came the Atto crossover then the ID sized Dolphin now something purporting to be a flagship aimed at the Tesla Model and named for another cute seafarer
The overall aesthetic is one that ought to appeal to European buyers Not least because it has overtones of cars we’re already familiar with The Model for sure but also Hyundai’s Ioniq That’s a more polished machine than this though You can tell Seal benchmarked the Tesla because to drive both feel like they’re going through the motions It does ride And handle It physically does those things but too much road grumble comes back through the chassis at low speeds the steering is distant and the damping is too loose to control vertical motion properly It’s just a little bit scruffy
It launches in both rear and fourwheeldrive iterations each using the same kWh battery The former is and offers a
mile WLTP range alongside a bhp peak for mph in seconds An extra gets you the dual motor AWD version whose power peaks at bhp taking a chunk out of both its range figure miles and mph sprint secs Have the base one the driving experience is less likely to dissatisfy
There’s more originality inside with the same curious steering wheel design BYD has used elsewhere alongside a rotating in touchscreen There are some little quirks the graphics on the screen ahead of the driver are too small to read the main screen is baffling enough to make you need a passenger on codriving duties and the active safety systems make you wish you didn’t have that particular codriver tagging along In the back the panoramic roof creates a sense of space and openness that’ll take you a while to realise is slightly misleading But it does feel well made plus it’s comfortable and welcoming inside
But so is the Ioniq Or Polestar They’re better in fact Better engineered designed and developed and only a few grand more Yet significantly cheaper to lease The Model meanwhile is considerably cheaper everywhere Yes there’s a sixyear/ mile warranty which should give you peace of mind but this is not a bargain nor the best car in its class It aims to win people over with its technology and sheer array of standard kit It’s not enough It grates as much as it soothes