Today I’m driving a BYD Sealion 7 – the recent addition to the expanding BYD lineup. The Sealion has a similar layout to the Seal, in a medium SUV format. It’s a rear wheel drive 230 kW car with a 82 KWh battery. This is the Premium edition, there’s also a Performance version that boosts the acceleration and 4wd.
There are clean lines and flush surfaces, showcasing a design maturity. From a distance, it’s attractive and up close it’s a handsome car with well thought out lines. It’s not a small vehicle, yet its minimalist design gives it presence without being bulky. The front end is well executed while the real with its integrated lights is a highlight.
This car is rather impressive. It’s got quality, sound absorbing materials on the inside. There’s generally a feeling of spaciousness in the car – it’s kind of generous as felt by the driver and passengers. A good steering wheel, a large rotating screen the list goes on. Wireless charging and phone connections come standard, so it fits in with your life. A particular note is the interior design quality, which really stacks up against any of its competitors these days, and in many cases, beats them. Number one being the very comfortable and highly adjustable ventilated seats. All the controls are of good quality and manual air vents get my tick. You do resort to the screen for fan settings, yet it’s no problem, because you can control almost everything with the voice control. Just say ‘Hey BYD’, and you can not only control ventilation, but do things like open and close windows and more. The rear seats have ample room, accompanied by several pockets and USB charge ports. Much to my surprise this car even features an enormous sunroof, with the built in shade for those hot days that you can operate with a single touch. Drivers : Note the heads up display is excellent. It’s full of information and can be positioned to suit. While you’re driving, you almost never need to look at the dashboard. But if you did, you’d notice extras like live tire pressures and temperatures and more. The camera package provides a multi camera surround view, which matches the color of the car, and to my delight synchronizes the virtual indicators on both screens! This gives you a clear view of your surroundings. The 500 L trunk size is generous, and while I didn’t have an overnight trip, I did have a few things to pack in there. It is plenty large, and you can make it even larger with the lie flat seats and the sizeable frunk only adds to the load space.
The Sealion 7 is a pleasure to drive – it’s easy! It does what it says and goes where you point it. And it’s extremely quiet. Every generation of cars coming out of China now is a huge step forward. The medium form factor makes for easy driving around town, yet needed to see how it would manage a road trip. We visited Zealong estate just out of Cambridge making for a 250Km round trip where we could try driver assistance features. The Sealion 7 has got it right, not too many warnings, just assistance when you need it. Assistance is best on open road with lighter traffic, and I found myself pushing the off button occasionally to navigate roadworks, yet 90% of the time it was lane holding, managing speed and making the trip very relaxing. Open road handling is very much on the comfortable side, so after the best part of three hours driving, I hopped out of the car as refreshed as when I got in.
It features Eco, Normal, Sport and a Snow drive modes. I put it on the Sport setting to enjoy the remarkable acceleration. The range suggested I was going to get over 480 kilometers. And I think the truth is probably closer to 450, unless you’re driving eco all the time. That’s enough for most people for a week and can get you from any major city in NZ to the next major city. Need more? You can also visit a DC fast charger at 150Kw to fill up fast.
BYD are making a habit of winning awards at the moment, and I can see why… they’re building good cars that do everything well, at a price that’s even more appealing. Each time BYD brings out a model of car, it almost marks itself as a default in the category, not only a price leader, but setting a benchmark for quality. It impressed everyone who got to experience it. BYD gets it right with the Sealion and has produced a rounded car that will be ideal for a family or a fleet.
The Sealion 7 is available from $67,990
