What is it?
The BYD Sealion 7 is a mid-sized upmarket performance SUV and the latest offering from the Chinese brand that is now rapidly building its presence on the UK market. It is also the BYD model expected to most challenge the class standard-bearer, the Model Y from Tesla – which was the world’s biggest seller of ‘new energy’ vehicles until BYD overtook it.
The Sealion 7 gets its name from the fact that it is another entrant in BYD’s ‘Ocean’ series, following on from the Dolphin and Seal, and the brand’s seventh model to go on European sale – though it’s only the fifth to launch onto the UK market.
On offer are three versions in two distinct formats, all of them pretty potent entrants in their sector. The entry-level is a rear-wheel-drive car dubbed the Comfort, costing from £46,990 (on the road) and combining a 230kW/312hp motor with a 82.5 kWh battery, claiming a WLTP combined range of up to 300 miles.
This is no ordinary power unit – a brand-new development, it is being pitched as the world’s fastest mass-production electric motor, able to spin up to an eye-watering 23,000 rpm. This gives it excellent acceleration despite retaining a single speed gearbox, BYD claiming that it produces the performance of much more expensive luxury vehicles while remaining accessible.
Above the Comfort are a pair of dual-motor all-wheel-drive variants, dubbed Design and Excellence and costing from £51,990 and £58,990 respectively – both employ a second motor on the front axle which boosts power to 390kW/530hp. The Design retains the 82.5 kWh battery while the Excellence gets a larger 91.3 kWh unit – as a result the latter can stretch the Design’s 283-mile range to 312 miles, while both are capable of 4.5-second 0-62mph times, compered to the 6.7 seconds of the Comfort.
Charging capability is impressive, currently outdoing what’s generally available on the public market. While the Comfort and Design variants will take DC charger speeds of up to 150kW, translating to a 10% to 80% replenishment in 32 minutes, the Excellence can be hooked up to an ultra-rapid charger of up to 230kW, cutting eight minutes off that 80% recharge despite having a larger battery pack.
Technically the Sealion 7 follows the form that has become familiar to UK observers of the BYD brand, centred on the Blade battery pack which is mainly comprised of lithium-ion phosphate – this is a safer and longer-lasting material compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries, able to withstand such tests as having a nail driven through it.
Like other BYD models the battery pack is integrated into the vehicle’s structure, the top level of the pack forming the cabin floor and adding extra torsional stiffness to the shell, which is a positive for both handling and comfort. Among further technical notables, all models come with a heat pump as standard, hoovering up waste heat to help with battery range, especially in the cold.
BYD promises plenty of space in the Sealion 7’s cabin, thanks to a long wheelbase of 2.9 metres, even longer than the brand’s Seal super-saloon. Interior space is helped by that flat floor courtesy of the Blade battery pack, while boot space measures up at 520 litres with the seats up, 1789 litres with them folded. That’s not all, however, as the absence of an engine leaves room for a 58-litre ‘frunk’ under the bonnet, most often used to store charging cables but capable of taking an overnight bag.
Again, anyone who has driven a BYD will find the cabin layout familiar, the front dominated by a 15.6-inch central touchscreen which can rotate between portrait and landscape orientation. The driver gets their own 12.25-inch digital instrument panel with on Excellence versions a head-up display also specified.
It may all look familiar but BYD insists the interior controls have been improved over earlier models, notably with better support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity, plus a four-zone voice control which can be individually tailored to respond to different occupants in the car. The touchscreen has also gained more customisation, including a facility to choose a wallpaper that changes every 24 hours.
BYD has earned plaudits for its safety standards and the Sealion 7 comes well-equipped – every version gets an extensive menu of ADAS electronic driver aids including the essentials such as Adaptive Cruise Control and autonomous emergency braking, but also extending to a 360-degree around view camera, lane-centring and driver-distraction alerts. The car hasn’t been crash-tested by Euro NCAP yet but the brand expects to maintain its 100% record of five-star ratings.
In terms of specification distinguishing between models is simple. Plenty of equipment comes as standard, even the Comfort boasting heated and ventilated front seats and on the rears heating and an ability to recline them by 20 degrees. There is also dual-zone climate control, wireless smartphone charging, an enormous panoramic glass sunroof and the useful Vehicle-to-Load function, allowing portable electrical equipment to be powered from the car.
The only major difference between Comfort and Design, apart from the extra motor of course, is the size of the wheels, which bloom from 19 to 20-inch diameter. The Excellence, meanwhile, replaces the vegan leather seats with Nappa leather as well as adding the head-up display and larger battery pack.
Prices for the Sealion start at £46,990 for the Comfort, the Design costing £51,990 and the Excellence £58,990. All versions include a six-year manufacturer’s warranty and eight years on the battery pack.
What do we think of it?
The specifications of the BYD Sealion 7, particularly the all-wheel-drive models, leave one in no doubt that this is a potent SUV, and the visual proportions confirm this, with its swept-back body shape and strong X-shape formed by the headlamps and bumper on the front end. You could argue this is effectively the Seal, but on steroids.
The interior is to the typical design we have rapidly become used to with BYD products – very well put together, lots of soft-touch surfaces, and easy to get comfortable in thanks to plenty of adjustability in seats and steering wheel. Even rear-seat passengers are able to recline their seats to a degree.
One notable aspect of the view out front is that the flanks are easy to see, thanks to the design of the low bonnet with the headlamp areas slightly bulging above it. The rear view is rather more restrictive, the screen somewhat letterbox-like, but this is not really an issue with the plentiful warning cameras both on the rear and the sides, the view appearing on the touchscreen as soon as the indicators are activated.
Dominating the controls is that huge touchscreen, again another BYD staple with its design that allows one-touch rotation between landscape and portrait format. It does mean that there are an almost complete lack of proper buttons in the cabin, almost everything controlled by the touchscreen.
One aspect BYD is very good at is responding to criticism and it’s notable that there has been an effort to make simple things such as turning down the cabin temperature easier, by simply dragging one’s fingers across the screen in various directions – we tried it and it worked, most of the time, as did the voice assistant, though on more than one occasion she did offer apologies for being unable to carry out such basic commands as showing us the navigation map.
Other improvements include a short-cut bar again trying to reduce time looking at the touchscreen and as a result getting a telling-off from the driver-attention part of the car’s safety software. Overall, however the touchscreen controls remain one of the least user-friendly aspects of BYD vehicles, an area where the brand could use some lessons from elsewhere.
There is plenty of space in the Sealion, the rear particularly impressive. BYD tells us that its less high-end models are finding favour with the taxi market and more upmarket chauffeuring services would likely find no comfort complaints from customers travelling in the Sealion.
The cars available on the launch event were all to top Excellence specification, with a great deal of power under the right foot. With this in mind, the Sealion 7 proved to be very well-behaved on the slow-speed roundabout-dominated roads around Milton Keynes. Simply gliding away from a stop in silence, it is very easy to drive, while easily able to instantly dispatch traffic ahead when spaces appear.
Having escaped the sea of roundabouts and got onto the open road the Sealion 7 was a willing companion – as you would expect with two motors and more than 500 horses available acceleration when called for is very swift indeed, but it is also very refined, simply piling on the mph with no fuss. Some might expect more adrenalin-inducing ‘image’ from what is marketed as a performance SUV but there is a lot to be said for smooth…
It’s a similar tale with the steering – taking a corner at reasonable pace you don’t get that directly connected feel of a proper sports car but you do feel confident all the way through that the car is in full control.
Ride comfort is very good – one particularly intrusive pothole forced its effects through to the cabin but they were well damped and easily dismissed. Generally travelling in a Sealion 7, whether muting motorway miles or twisty B roads, is a pleasurable experience both for driver and passengers.
Early international reviews of the BYD Sealion were united in one opinion, one common in the new breed of Chinese entrants to the UK market – over-aggressive driver alerts. Well again there appear to have been instant responses – the alerts are still there, but the speed limit warning, for example, has an audio note that whispers rather than shouts, and can be turned off via the touchscreen.
Having said that, being told to keep one’s eyes on the road simply by a microsecond’s too long a look at the touchscreen quickly becomes somewhat irritating…
Overall the Sealion 7 is very possibly the best model yet from a brand that has oh-so quickly become familiar on the UK scene. It’s well equipped, put together with real quality, offers a more than efficient on-the-road performance and is competitively priced.
Business Motoring First Drives are the initial test of a new vehicle, of usually between 50 and 100 miles. Business Motoring Full Reviews are usually conducted over a full week, completing several hundred miles.
