BYD Dolphin vs GWM Haval H7

What's the difference?

Chinese manufacturers have been impressing us lately with the strides they’ve been making, and BYD is no exception with its Dolphin.

Not only does this hatch help bring the price down for prospective EV buyers, but it leaves a solid impression of a cohesive, well-built car, which is also quite a bit of fun to drive.

It’s not the fastest, nor is it the most practical, and there are a handful of downsides to its design and software, but when it comes down to it, this is simply a great value entry-level electric car.

The H7 might struggle to secure a big chunk of the mid-size SUV market, which is probably why GWM is only offering one variant, but if you like the way this Big Dog looks, there’s a decent SUV underneath the boxy surface.

While it’s no dynamic masterpiece, there are no big issues in day-to-day driving, and even though the boot space is small it’s an otherwise decent interior to live with, if you don’t mind the busy design.

Being just a little more expensive than the more traditional looking H6 means the H7 feels well-placed to find itself in the driveway of those few buyers who want their family car to look a little more rugged, even if the car doesn’t have the off-road chops to back it up.

You wouldn’t know it in Australia, but BYD has a huge and diverse range of vehicles with lots of different styling approaches in its home market of China.

The cars we get here, though, consisting of this Dolphin hatch, the Atto 3 small SUV, and the upcoming Seal sedan all seem to share more or less the same curvy, futuristic theme.

Contemporary touches on the exterior of the Dolphin include the bar light and full ‘Build Your Dreams’ typeface embedded in the rear, the blocky gloss black alloy wheels (17-inch on the Premium we tested), the two-tone colour scheme, and of course, the grille-free face.

Short overhangs and a tall body seal the EV deal, with the Dolphin looking closest in its aesthetic to something like the Volkswagen ID.3 than anything else on the market. It perhaps won’t be for everyone - it’s a little more experimental than the more conventional look worn by the MG4 - but then, for others this distinctiveness may be a selling point.

The interior look and feel is the biggest surprise. Somehow, the Dolphin, despite being more affordable than its larger Atto 3 sibling, feels a cut above when it comes to its design theme and build quality.

The weirdly organic touches designed to mimic muscle fibres in the Atto 3 have been traded out in favour of something a bit slicker.

I really like the material choices here. The use of neoprene across the lower half of the dash, in the doors, and down the centre of the seats feels a lot less pretentious than the standard synthetic leathers you usually get at this price-point, and there’s an agreeable mix of plastics as well as gloss and matt finishes. 

The nods to this car’s name which are present are a bit more toned down and fit with the design in a more subtle way.

The floating door handles, designed to resemble a fin, are a much nicer piece than the weird rotary ones in the Atto 3, and the wavy touches across the top of the dash aren’t too in-your-face and add an element of intrigue. I like it much more than I expected to.

It’s clear this space is designed around the giant multimedia panel, for better or worse. It looks spectacular, it’s nice and sharp, and the software, which looks as though it’s trying to emulate Tesla, does a pretty good job.

It’s quick, sharp, colourful, and has nice large iconography to jab at while you’re on the move, although some of the driving settings are ambiguously labelled and require clicking through to a sub-menu to alter. You’d get used to it, but it isn’t as slick as a Tesla operating system.

It also rotates, because of course it does, although one quirk I found with this is the polarised coating on the screen made it impossible to see when in portrait mode if you were also wearing polarised sunglasses.

Also, Apple CarPlay doesn't work in portrait mode. A gimmick? You decide.

The floating physical rotary controls jutting out below are a also a brilliant little piece of design. On one side you have your gear shifter, and on the other you’ve got your volume control, between them there are core functions, an on/off switch and an auto button for the climate, as well as the hazard light and drive mode controls.

It would be nice to also have a fan speed and temperature toggle, as these functions can only be used through the touchscreen, but there are worse offenders for clumsy climate controls on the market.

The aforementioned colours, Golden Black, Moon Grey and especially Dusk Orange don’t contrast as strongly as the white with the extensive black trim on the H7, which includes its badging and sections like the grille surround.

The main selling point of the H7 compared to the H6 is, of course, the way it looks.

GWM claims the H7 is for "a bit more adventure" thanks to its “off-road inspired design”, but the real point is to “stand out”. And that it does. Some fake-bolted wheel arches and a decent 210mm ground clearance make the H7 look more ready to hit the trails than it probably is.

The boxy, squared-off silhouette and trim elements separate it both from the majority of the GWM line-up and from many other new mid-size SUVs.

The front grille and headlights look closely related to the GWM Tank 300, but the grille inserts that flank the Haval badge look a little ‘Mustang RTR’. The rear, too, looks familiar with the rounded shape and tail-light arrangement having a hint of Mazda MX-30 to them.

Step inside, and a visual assault of different materials in a busy cabin belie how useful the space in the H7 actually is. Fake carbon fibre, fake aluminium, fake bolts and a fair bit of plastic could certainly have made way for something more subtle.

The clever design bits don’t end with the controls and themed motifs, either. While the Dolphin’s cabin feels a bit smaller than many of its rivals (because, physically, it is), efforts have been made to make it a versatile space. 

There are plenty of little storage areas throughout. There’s the floating one below the touchscreen, which suits wallets and sunglasses. There’s one with a roll-out cover set low below the controls which is good for smaller objects you don’t want moving around the cabin.

A large cubby is located underneath the armrest between the two seats for bigger objects and a slick wireless phone charger cut out from the top.

The two centre bottle holders are a little small, as are the cut-outs in the doors, so if you’re negotiating with an XL takeaway soft drink you might run into trouble.

The dark theme for the interior in our car doesn’t help the more closed-in feel, but the standard panoramic fixed sunroof (mercifully with a rolling shade) helps to keep the space airy.

I found it easy to set up my driving position, another clever touch being the little digital instrument panel perched on the steering column, so no matter how you adjust it you can always see it.

I was a little concerned the rear seat would be tiny, because this car doesn’t look big from the outside, but I was most definitely wrong.

Behind my own seating position, at 182cm tall, I had leagues of knee room and plenty of space for my feet thanks to the flat floor. I also had sufficient but not stellar headroom, and the soft-touch materials continue into the doors and seat trim.

I will say, the abundance of synthetic leather is much more evident for rear passengers, but it feels like a minor complaint.

Again, the bottle holders in the doors are tiny, but at least the ones in the drop-down armrest are generous. The middle seat is very useful thanks to the flat floor, although there are no adjustable air vents for rear passengers.

The backs of the front seats have a variety of pockets in different shapes and sizes, and there are USB-C and USB-A ports on the back of the centre console, alongside a bizarre centre bottle holder which is on an angle.

Boot space is 345 litres if you move the false floor to its lowest position. I was just able to squeeze in the three-piece CarsGuide luggage set with a bit of fiddling around.

With the second row down, room expands to 1310L, and you can bring the false floor up in the boot to make the load area flat.

The space underneath is quite good for storing charging cables and such, but keep in mind the Dolphin doesn’t offer additional frunk storage.

What it does offer is a vehicle-to-load adapter, which lets you power household appliances via its external charging port. Neat, and rare at this end of the EV market.

While the space inside the H7 looks rather busy, there’s actually a very usable space on offer, with plenty of storage and decent ergonomics.

Perhaps most importantly, the tech is smooth to use and doesn’t distract from the main point of the car - driving. GWM’s current software (despite still using a huge screen) doesn’t suffer from unclear sub-menus and has easy shortcuts.

It’s not perfect - it’s still essentially an iPad you need to use while on the move - but it’s better than some systems from rivals, including manufacturers that have been around for decades.

Physical climate controls that bring up the corresponding menu when pressed are a welcome addition, and wireless phone mirroring works flawlessly if our test was anything to go by.

The driver display is clear, and the seating position is nicely malleable thanks to the seat’s electric adjustment and manual steering wheel adjustment.

Controls are all within reach, and after a quick familiarisation the placements and functions all make sense.

The space also provides more storage than is probably necessary for most. There’s a space under the centre console, the central storage bin is huge and has a cooling fan, there are two cupholders and one can deepen for a tall bottle, there are strapped bottle holders on the doors to stop them shaking around and there’s more door storage space next to that.

There’s of course also the glovebox and phone charging pad, then in the rear there’s more door storage space and an armrest with two cupholders again.

Second-row space is generous, even a tall adult will find plenty of legroom (and foot room under the front seats) and headroom isn’t an issue.

Behind that, the boot space is compromised by the hybrid battery so it’s not huge, and the load height is tall. Its 483L of boot space expands to 1362L with the rear seats folded, and there’s unfortunately no spare wheel under the floor.

Available in a single Vanta Hybrid grade at launch, the Haval H7 costs $46,990 drive-away, with no option for other drivetrains, but a long list of standard features.

At $3000 more than the similar grade of H6, the H7 comes with a lot of the same kit like a leather-accented interior with heated and ventilated electrically adjustable seats, a big 14.6-inch multimedia touchscreen and a head-up display.

A combination of wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, wireless phone charger and an eight-speaker sound system make for a solid media setup, while a panoramic sunroof and ambient lighting help create a fun vibe.

The H7 also boasts 19-inch machined alloys, LED auto headlights, daytime running lights, tail-lights and fog lights. There’s also keyless entry and an automatic tailgate with handsfree opening via a ‘kick sensor’ for convenience.

Premium colours that aren’t ‘Hamilton White’ (pictured) are all $495.

There’s the choice of two powertrains for the Dolphin. Both are single-motor front-wheel drive set-ups.

The base Dynamic can make use of 70kW/180Nm which sounds underpowered to me, but the car we tested for this launch review was the Premium which offers a much healthier 150kW/310Nm.

As well as the increase to battery capacity the Premium upgrades the suspension to a rear multi-link set-up.

While the base car seems like such a value buy, the increase in power, ride quality, and range seems to justify stretching to the Premium if your budget allows.

The H7 has just the one drivetrain, as mentioned, consisting of a turbocharged 1.5-litre, four-cylinder petrol engine assisted by an electric motor and mated to a nine-speed dual-clutch transmission.

It drives the front wheels only, providing 179kW of power and 350Nm of torque.

As previously mentioned, each variant also gets its own battery capacity. The entry-level Dynamic offers a 44.9kWh battery and 340km of driving range, while the top-spec car offers a 60.5kWh unit with a driving range of 427km.

Charging on a fast DC unit maxes out on 60kW for the Dynamic or 80kW for the Premium.

This sounds slow, with many rivals offering in excess of 100kW charging at a minimum, but because the Dolphin’s battery sizes are so trim, it still means an 80 per cent charge will arrive in a little over half an hour.

On the slower AC charging standard, the max speed is a disappointing 7.0kW. For a fully electric car, we prefer to see at least 11kW as it makes it worthwhile to plug-in to an AC unit at a shopping centre to add roughly 70 - 100km of range an hour.

Because the Dophin is also quite efficient, though, you can still expect about 50km an hour to be added on this charging standard.

Official energy consumption for the Premium as-tested is 14.2kWh/100km, and we saw an impressive 14.1kWh/100km on our brief test program, making it one of the more efficient EVs I’ve ever driven.

GWM claims the Haval H7 consumes 5.7L/100km under the combined cycle, though during testing we saw a figure of 7.1L/100km after a spirited drive.

The H7 has a 61-litre fuel tank and requires 91 RON fuel at a minimum. With careful driving and in the right conditions, you could theoretically get around 800km from a single tank.

The Dolphin is immediately impressive. From the get-go I was greeted with a feeling of quality from the car in ways I didn’t expect. The steering feels nicely balanced and not too artificial like it can be on some EVs, while the interior is refreshingly ergonomic.

The ride might be the Dolphin’s most impressive trait, with a feeling of balance across both axles, and a spritely feel to the whole car.

It is trim for an EV, with a kerb weight of 1658kg, which no doubt helps the steering feel, and the efficiency.

As it is, I didn’t experience the kind of crashing and wallowing many EVs suffer from on larger bumps, and smaller bumps seemed to be filtered out with ease.

It even feels nicely balanced in the corners, pairing nicely with the great steering feel which is not something we’ve come to expect from Chinese cars.

The motor is also willing, with software tuning keeping power delivery on the right side of overwhelming, although the warm-hatch equivalent's seven second 0-100km/h sprint time is a hint at what it’s capable of.

Unfortunately, it is let down by a pretty sub-standard factory tyre package. The LingLong Comfort Masters are designed for the Dolphin, complete with little Dolphin markings on them, but are hardly inspiring for traction when you plant the accelerator or tip it into a corner with enthusiasm.

They are better than the pretty much no-name Atlas Batman A51 tyres which came on the Atto 3, but even MG has wised up to putting tyres from renowned manufacturers on its Australian-delivered cars.

The Dolphin is also easy to park, thanks to its excellent surround camera suite and tight footprint, but visibility out of the tiny rear window is limited and made worse by the huge headrests for the outboard back seats.

In terms of electric driving characteristics the Dolphin offers two levels of regen braking, one which is virtually non-existent, and another mild tune.

Surprisingly, there’s no single-pedal mode, and the Dolphin leans on blended braking more than some of its rivals. It feels a lot more traditional to drive in this sense, so may be well suited to someone hopping out of a combustion car.

The drive modes are quite dramatic, with 'Eco' mode limiting motor torque and even switching off the climate control, while 'Sport' will make bouts of wheelspin a bit too easy by upping the response time from the motor. I found it best to stick to the nicely-balanced 'Normal' setting.

Tl;dr? The Dolphin is impressive. It’s responsive, relatively light, and has a sense of quality to it through its great ride and decent handling. Not bad for the cheapest EV in Australia.

One of the first things I noticed is that the hybrid system’s initial burst of torque has the potential to overpower the front wheels from a stand-still, especially if it’s wet or you’ve got some lock on to turn out of a driveway.

But once rolling, the power delivery is smooth and doesn’t lack in pull even once up to highway speed. The H7 is also stable when it comes to day-to-day driving, with its suspension striking a good balance between communication and comfort.

Big bumps and rough roads neither unsettle nor rattle the H7 too much, though given it’s a front-drive hybrid we wouldn’t be testing just how rough a road it can handle - the H7 is not an off-roader despite its looks.

If you start trying to push the SUV along a twisty road it’ll lean more than some rivals through cornering. Not to an unsafe degree, given if it’s happening you’re probably pushing it more than you should. The steering feel itself isn’t anything to write home about, but for a family car it’s accurate enough and predictability is key when you’ve got a car full of humans.

Road noise and wind noise are present, the latter more so than you’d like given we tested the car on a relatively still day, but it’s not unacceptable. 

Ergonomically, the driving position and visibility provide comfort and safety, though the rising shoulder line towards the rear slightly limits visibility on shoulder checks.

The H7 hasn’t been tested by ANCAP, but there’s a decent list of features on paper that show GWM hasn’t half-baked the H7 when it comes to safety.

Seven airbags cover the front and side in the first row, there are curtains down the sides too and the all-important central airbag.

The H7 has a strong list of active safety features like collision avoidance thanks to lane-keeping and departure warning, front collision warning with pedestrian and cyclist detection, junction assist for its auto emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control with traffic jam assist, plus there are features like traffic sign recognition and driver monitoring.

The H7 also has parking sensors front and rear as well as a surround-view parking camera.

Its safety features all work well without being too distracting or intervening unnecessarily, although its lane-keep can be a little stubborn and the default speed limit warning is ‘0km/h’ over the limit, however, thankfully that can be adjusted.

The Dolphin is covered by a six-year or 150,000km warranty, which beats a lot of mainstream rivals for its duration, but not its distance.

In the EV segment it plays in, though, things are a bit tougher, as its primary Chinese rivals, GWM and MG, are offering seven year and unlimited kilometre warranty promises.

Service pricing is available all the way out to 96 months or 160,000km, averaging $299 per year for the duration, which is pretty good.

Many rivals are offering free servicing for several years, and there are also many electric cars which only need to see a shop once every 24 months or 20,000km, compared to the Dolphin’s more traditional 12 month intervals.

The H7 is covered by a seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, as is standard for GWM.

Additionally, the high-voltage battery pack is covered by an eight-year, unlimited-kilometre warrant. GWM also has a five-year roadside assist program, and capped-price servicing for five years.

Servicing costs a total of $2145 over five years, with intervals each 12 months or 10,000km, averaging $429 per service, which isn’t incredibly cheap.

GWM started 2025 with 113 dealerships across Australia, and aims to have 125 by the end of the year.