2024 BYD Seal review: first international drive

What's significant about the 2024 BYD Seal?

It’ll be the third car BYD brings to Australian shores, and one that’s a little sultrier in its styling than the more prosaic Atto 3 and Dolphin before it.

Like those, it’s fully electric and based upon BYD’s clever ‘blade battery’ technology that’s said to come with numerous benefits; chiefly safety (due to the strength of its composition) and space (it’s assembled directly to the car’s platform to free up more cabin room).

The slippery aero of its smart-looking body allies with an 82.5kWh battery for range figures of up to 570km on the European WLTP cycle, while 150kW DC charging capability enables battery replenishment from 10 to 80 per cent in under 30 minutes.

But hey, it’s a dynamic-looking thing. You’re probably keener to know about the less mundane stuff.

43

What else is beneath the skin?

The Seal launches in both rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive iterations, the latter deploying torque vectoring. The RWD ‘Design’ offers that headline 570km range alongside 230kW peak output for 0-100km/h in a claimed 5.9 seconds.

A few grand more will get you the dual motor, AWD ‘Excellence’ for which power peaks at 390kW, taking a chunk out of both its range figure (520km) and 0-100km/h sprint (3.8sec). To hammer the point home, it wears a ‘3.8s’ badge on the boot lid. We’ve mixed feelings about that…

There’s clearly an abundance of tech, too. BYD is a ginormous company with iPad and smartphone production in its wheelhouse, so connectivity was always going to be a focal point.

43

Inside you’ll find the same curious steering wheel design BYD has carved out elsewhere, alongside a rotating 15.6-inch touchscreen – press a button and it flips between portrait and landscape – and a full-length panoramic glass roof to help increase the sense of space.

The screen hoovers up almost all functions and while it takes some time getting accustomed to its numerous menus, it’s imperative that you do.

43

When is the 2024 BYD Seal due in Australia?

Order books are set to open before this year is out, so deliveries are likely in 2024.

Prices could start at around $60,000, which would give the car a clear cutting edge, rivalling the likes of the VW ID.3 but with a lot more style and space.

But if the Seal sits too close to its more obvious rivals – the Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Ioniq 6 – it might struggle to sway buyers who are suspicious of a new badge on the market.

43

What's it like to drive?

The fundamentals of the Seal are good, its trick battery yielding perfect weight distribution to keep its two-tonne mass firmly in check.

BYD’s focus for this car has been on comfort and safety – the latter being ‘the ultimate luxury’ in an EV, according to BYD – making it somewhat useful that the German countryside enjoyed some particularly torrential rain for the entirety of our test drive.

Perhaps it should be no surprise that a Seal thrives in wet conditions, both RWD and AWD cars putting their power down cleanly. Neither exhibited any great thrills, going around corners deftly just with no obvious engagement – a fact not helped by their lack of paddles to toggle through different levels of regenerative braking.

43

You’ve one option, and it’s accessed through the occasionally fiddly touchscreen. Enthusiasts ought to look elsewhere.

Refinement is strong, however, with double-glazed windows and a swish powertrain bringing an uncommon level of calm to brisk progress.

This, however, makes it all the more irritating when the Seal’s over-zealous active safety systems interrupt proceedings, the beeps and bongs of its speed limit detection – which sometimes admonishes you when you’re doing nothing wrong – and the occasional writhing of the wheel as the lane-keep assist picks up on rogue lines certainly shattering the peace.

You can turn them off, of course, but they reactivate each time the car is started. BYD isn’t alone in this issue, and modern crash testing demands such things for an exemplary score. But other rivals slip their systems in with a little more subtlety.

43

Is it worth waiting for the 2024 BYD Seal?

If the Tesla Model 3 simply strikes you as too ubiquitous, too Musky or you’re a little worried by reports of poor build quality – all valid concerns – then the BYD Seal could just be the car you’re waiting for.

The company’s engineers have no qualms about naming the Silicon Valley sedan as their number one rival, and the Seal clearly cribs (and improves upon) some of what the Model 3 does, in terms of commendable interior quality and refinement.

It just lacks any real heart or soul. The handling is surefooted, but the car is short on engagement and those assistance systems need to chill – this will be a purchase made to appease your head rather than your heart.

With appropriately keen pricing, though, the Seal might just fit your criteria.

43