BYD SEAL Premium Electric Sedan Road Test Review – Segment Killer? More Car Per Car!
Chinese Electric car maker BYD Auto lunched their 3rd car model for India with the Seal after the e6 and the Atto 3 which has been received very well due to its pricing and what it has to offer in that segment. We head to New Delhi to experience the BYD Seal first hand to understand it fully and to let you know everything about the most handsome, affordable and feature loaded Premium Electric Sedan currently in the country.
Food for Thought
BYD stands for Build Your Dreams is the worlds largest Electric car maker. BYD announced the Seal in May 2022 with deliveries starting from August 2022 first in the Chinese domestic market. This sedan has been based on the BYD Ocean X Concept which was a part of the Ocean Series lineup from the Chinese car maker. BYD Seal was designed by Wolfgang Josef Egger who was the previous design head for European luxury car brands Alfa Romeo, Audi and Lamborghini and now heads the design at BYD Auto. The BYD Seal goes up against the likes of the Tesla Model 3, Hyundai IONIQ6 apart from other models in the United States where it has been received rather nicely. In fact BYD has beaten Tesla for a second straight year for producing more than 3 million cars last year.
Exteriors
BYD Seal comes with a very modern and sleek body styling. Key styling elements include the long sloping nose that has a unique design white LED headlights with floating DRL and a rather unseen ripple effect LED insert flushed inside the bumper along with black surrounds that enhance the look of the face. The BYD logo sits prominently on the extended nose tip along with smooth flowing character lines on the hood that stylize a clean chiseled look to the nose.
The side profile is low, long and sporty, key styling elements here is the 19 inch wheels with petal design EV specific alloys that hug the wheel arches in typical sports sedan fashion. The waistline gets a character line that flows across the sides starting from a glossy black insert placed on the fender area depicting BYD Design on it. The wing mirrors come with LED turn indicators, camera mounted and body color housing.
The running board gets a glossy black insert that looks kind of air inserts giving the sides a very sporty look. The sloping roofline gives the fastback look to the Seal. Completing the side profiles stylish design are the electrically deployable flush door handles that also get BYD printed on them.
The rear profile of the Seal is very interesting too just like the front and sides. Here the key styling element is the all LED connected tail lights that come with 3D matrix type of glow effect during braking. The prominent BYD badging along with other badges all in chrome look excellent on the Arctic Blue shade Seal that we drove.
The rear bumper gets a glossy black finished large sized diffuser that kind of completes the overall styling element of the BYD Seal. The roof gets an all glass treatment which is fixed type while the top of the car is flushed in glossy black making it a dual tone body color option.
Interiors
Step inside the Seal and you are welcomed with an all black sporty cabin area. The dashboard comes made up of soft material giving that premium car feel. The AC vents come with electrically adjustable flow pattern like your Split Air conditioner, the steering is a flat bottom leather wrapped 3-spoke design with manual adjusts for height and reach. The biggest talking point on the BYD Seals cabin is the 15.6 inch touchscreen AVN system that electrically rotates into portrait mode or back into landscape mode as desired.
This system gets all the connectivity options for Android and iOS mobiles. The drivers display is a 10.25 inch color display which is again crisp and informative reading out everything that one may need. Also included on the package is the heads-up display feature that adds to the drivers aid. The center console houses a 15kw twin wireless mobile charge dock along with a super rich looking drive shifter finished in crystal glass. You get all the drive control buttons placed around this shifter. Cabin gets decked up with the Cool ambient light.
The seats get black leather upholstery with a unique quilted design. Sport seat design on the front seats come with integrated headrests along with full electric adjust and heating or cooling feature. Rear seats get three adjustable headrests, foldable arm rest along with rear AC vents. Sound system comes from Singapore based DynaAudio which is a 12-speaker setup with a sub woofer.
In terms of seating comfort the front seats offer excellent sporty seating dynamics with good sedan style visibility of the road ahead. Rear seats offer good seating angle with loads of knee, leg and head room. Shoulder room is also more than good for three occupants behind thanks to the flat floor the middle passenger gets extra floor space. The BYD Seal comes with a boot space of 400 liters which is more than enough for your weekend trips and your airport drops.
Battery – Drive – Comfort
The BYD Seal is available in three options, Dynamic, Premium and Performance. The entry level Dynamic is powered by a 61.44kWh battery pack making while the Premium gets a 82.56kWh battery pack and the top end Performance trim comes with the same 82.56kWh battery pack but with a dual motor setup. Both the Dynamic Range and Premium Range variants come with a rear-wheel drive powertrain, while the Performance variant boasts an all-wheel drive powertrain. Power output on the Dynamic trim is 201 bhp and 310 Nm, the Premium Range makes 308 bhp and 360 Nm, and the Performance hits out 522 bhp and 670 Nm.
We drove the Premium trim which has all the features of the Performance including the battery pack but on a single motor setup against the twin motor for the Performance. On the move the Seal builds up power in a rather sophisticated fashion just like a ICE engine premium car would. The drive quality is excellent and the overall fell is more than positive. You have a very connected feel with the steering that weighs up very nicely as the speed builds up.
You can also set the feedback as per your liking and driving style. The Seal hugs the road and drives all along at high speeds too while we drove on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway touching speeds of 180kmph more than once and even at the high speeds the car felt right at home oozing confidence and drive pleasure.
The cabin feels very nicely insulated and that enhances the overall drive feel in the Seal. You can toggle between Eco, Normal or Sport drive modes which alter the power delivery with drive range. The Seal does not feel like a dumb dead Electric car but feels lively, connected and has a soul which feels a lot like the ICE engines cars.
Speaking of drive range BYD claims a combined range of 650kms on the Dynamic trim that we drove and for the records the Performance can do 580kms, Dynamic can do 510kms on a single charge. In terms of 0 to 100kms shoot out the base trim Dynamic does it in 7.5 seconds, Premium that we drove in 5.9 seconds and the twin motor Performance in just 3.8 seconds.
Safety
In terms of safety the BYD Seal comes with ADAS Level 2 pack, ABS with EBD, 360 degree HD camera, always On 360 camera, 9-airbags etc. It’s worth noting that the model has already received a 5-star safety rating in Euro NCAP tests.
Charging
All variants of the BYD Seal support up to 7 kW AC fast charging, with the base models also supporting up to 110 kW DC fast charging. The extended-range models, on the other hand, support up to 150 kW DC fast charging.
Verdict
The BYD Seal goes up against the likes of the Hyundai IONIQ 5, Kia EV6, BMW i4 in terms of features and tech this is second to none. The design, comfort and safety is also top class and segment best. BYD has pulled out an ace up their sleeve with the pricing that starts at Rs. 41 Lakh going up to Rs. 53 Lakh ex showroom with the Premium trim that we drove priced at a very tempting Rs. 45.55 Lakh. If you desire a premium electric sports sedan with all the latest features and want to turn a head or two where ever you go and a car that is premium outside in but has a stealer of a pricing then the BYD Seal is just for you, Look no further.
Words – Ritesh Madhok
Video & Edits – Tarun Madhok
