Pros: spacious, well equipped, likely to be good value, handles tidily
Cons: stiff ride, annoying ADAS, infotainment issues, unrefined drivetrain
BYD Sealion 5 DM-i Design
The Sealion 5 stands out in BYD’s product portfolio because it has the ‘Dragon Face’ front end, which means it has a pronounced radiator grille and a silver bar linking its headlights – the rest of the manufacturer’s cars tend to have more smoothed-off noses than this. However, despite this calling card and some other attempts at aesthetic interest – such as an undulating upper swage line on the doors and a ‘floating roof’ with a metallic-effect D-pillar – the Sealion 5 is hardly stunningly beautiful. It is what it is: a bland but sizeable SUV from a relatively new company. All models of the Sealion 5 sit on 18-inch alloys and there are just four choices of body colour, which are white, grey, black or blue.
BYD Sealion 5 DM-i Interior
Material quality is pretty good in the BYD Sealion 5, while there’s loads of space for passengers in the rear and the boot is a decent size at 463 litres with all seats in use. Storage room throughout the cabin is OK, although there are some awkward-to-access USB ports in the front, while technology on show comprises an 8.8-inch driving cluster and a 12.8-inch infotainment screen. The former of these is fine, although its graphical congestion and pointless ‘last 50km’ trip computer are both minor irks. Too many of the BYD’s ancillaries, such as its climate controls and heated seats, are run through this screen, so you’ll be taking your eyes off the road too often to tap at it and operate it on the move if you’re driving alone – and as the Sealion 5 has some truly vexing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) that you’ll want to turn off immediately, then you have to be searching around in various submenus (rather than just one) to deactivate lane-keeping assist, overspeed warning and the particularly distressed driver-monitoring array.
BYD Sealion 5 DM-i Performance & Drive
There are two versions of the BYD Sealion 5 and the ‘DM-i’ in the model’s name means they’re both plug-in hybrids (PHEVs). They both use the same 1.5-litre non-turbo four-cylinder petrol engine and powerful 145kW electric motor to deliver system maximums of 212hp and 300Nm, so the only difference between the Comfort and Design variants is that there’s a bigger battery in the upper derivative. This, however, brings 61kg more weight, so the Comfort is quicker for 0-100km/h (7.7 seconds, as opposed to 8.1) than the Design, but, with 12.96kWh to play with, the Comfort will do up to 61km on electric power alone, has a combined petrol-electric range of 992km, emits 62g/km of CO2 and will official use around 2.7 litres/100km. Yet the Design, complete with a 18.3kWh battery, improves all the equivalent data to 86km, 1,016km, 48g/km and 2.1 litres/100km, respectively.
To drive, the Sealion 5 is acceptable, with real praise deserved for its surprisingly adept handling. It’s not exactly fun in the corners, mainly because the steering robs the driver of a crucial level of connection with the BYD’s front wheels, but body control and grip are both of an above-average standard so the SUV. Sadly, the payoff for that is a poor ride, with the Sealion 5 never truly settling down on its springs and dampers – and really thumping loudly and uncomfortably through only midsized compressions in the road’s surface. Further, the hybrid drivetrain is slow to respond to throttle inputs and noisy when revved, so the BYD never feels quite as quick as the 212hp output figure might suggest it will.
BYD Sealion 5 DM-i Pricing
Prices for Ireland are not as yet confirmed, but looking at where the BYD Sealion 5 should slot into the existing line-up from the Chinese outfit, there’s every chance it will be in the €30,000-€40,000 bracket – because it needs to be cheaper than the bigger, more powerful Seal U, and it may even undercut the all-electric analogue from BYD, the Atto 3. However, given the way it drives, the Sealion 5 really needs to be competitively priced because it competes in a very tough section of the market.
Carzone Verdict
One of BYD’s more convincing efforts, the Sealion 5 DM-i provides an intriguing option in the C-segment SUV marketplace, but – as usual with the flood of new cars coming to Europe from China – you’ll have to swallow several compromises if you select this vehicle. Chief of these are the gritty ride comfort, intrusive ADAS and the unrefined drivetrain, but with its spacious and well-equipped cabin, decent chassis and promise of one-thousand-kilometre-plus driving range, there’s still enough in the Sealion 5’s DNA to recommend it.