BYD Dolphin vs Toyota Corolla

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 final score for this review makes it look as though the Corolla is a middling effort. The scores for each individual section of the review are well considered and fair. The Corolla does lack the practicality of some of its rivals. A lack of an ANCAP rating isn’t great and the powertrain is just okay. But it remains one of the most fun-to-drive hatchbacks on the market today, even seven years into its life, and I would wholeheartedly recommend the Corolla to anyone looking for a small car. If you can forgive some of the quirks, it is a reliable, adorable, fun and efficient small car favourite. 

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.

It’s been around for a good seven years, but the current-gen Corolla hatch is still a smart design. It has a squat stance and looks as though it has sporty intentions (it doesn’t), and the head and tail-light treatment doesn’t look like anything else in the segment.

The Corolla has adorable proportions and a pert little behind in a sea of increasingly boring small SUVs.

However, in SX trim and in the ‘Sunstone Orange’ body colour of my test car, the Corolla gives off rental car vibes. Which is hardly surprising given lower grade Corollas are a favourite of rental companies.

Inside that vibe continues. This is where the Corolla is really showing its age.

There are various shades of grey throughout the cabin, with a mix of hard and soft plastics. The cloth seat trim is drab, which is a shame because some other brands have managed to make cloth cool again. Not Toyota.

The touchscreen sticks up out the top of the dash like an old iPad and the dash design is old but functional. 

There is nothing inspiring about this interior design. In saying that, of those aforementioned rivals, only the Mazda3 and the new Kia K4 have modern cabins.

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.

The Corolla is a small car and that is evident inside. You might bump elbows with your front passenger, but I have no problem with the front leg or headroom.

Those cloth seats might be drab but boy they are comfy, and the fronts have loads of side bolstering. 

The steering wheel has typically clear controls and looks and feels nice. 

As a more, shall we say seasoned model in the segment, the Corolla still has buttons on the dash for things like air con, but not too many. That bulbous centre stack and the centre console, however, could be better designed for the space.

As it is, the wireless charging pad is hidden under it at the far end of the console. It’s a bit fiddly to get your phone in and out. This is also where one of the USB-C ports lives.

The other one is in the central storage bin which is quite small, but also houses a 12-volt outlet. There are no other places to store things because of the rounded shape of the console, which also features a couple of narrow cupholders.

OurCarsGuide bottle had to be squeezed into the door storage cavity - only narrow, short vessels will fit properly.

That 8.0-inch multimedia screen is very easy to navigate, with logical menus and icons. However, it’s almost too basic, which is not helped by the all-white background. It could be a more engaging set-up but it’s also very hard to fault the functionality. Our Apple CarPlay maintained its connection the whole time with the car, too.

Space is quite tight in the rear, although I have enough headroom for my 184cm frame. Legroom is just okay behind my driving position. There’s more space in the back of a Hyundai i30. It’s also dark because of smallish rear windows and thick C-pillars. 

The rear seat backrest is quite upright, but, like the front seats, well cushioned.

Amenities are just average back there - there’s a weird cupholder high on the door, only a passenger side map pocket, no rear air vents and no USB ports, although you could easily use the one housed in the front central bin. There’s a rear fold-down armrest with two cupholders.

The rear seats split and fold 60/40 and they fold flat making for a better loading space.

The good news is the SX (and the base Ascent Sport) come standard with a temporary spare wheel, which is great news for a hybrid model. The bad news is, that reduces boot space to a paltry 217 litres. 

That’s off the pace of all of its key hatchback rivals, including the Mazda3 which has its own cargo concerns at 295L, and the Hyundai i30 with 395L.

The Corolla ZR hatch has more space at 333L but you only get a tyre repair kit instead of a temporary spare. 

If you’re dead set on a Corolla but need more cargo space, consider the smart looking sedan that has 470 litres.

Toyota dropped all exclusively internal combustion engine versions of passenger car models and car-based SUVs last year so the Corolla is now hybrid-only.

The grade we tested is the SX five-door hatchback which is priced from $35,260, before on-road costs. Interestingly, the sedan version, which has a much bigger boot, is $340 cheaper.

The SX sits in the middle of the Corolla range with the Ascent Sport the most affordable (from $32,110) and the ZR the priciest before you get to the fire-breathing GR Corolla hot hatch.

Direct rivals at this approximate price point include the Hyundai i30 N Line ($36,000 BOC), Mazda3 G20 Touring ($37,110), Subaru Impreza 2.0R ($35,490) and the Kia K4 Sport ($35,190), although that is sedan only for now.

You get 16-inch alloy wheels, cloth bucket seats, a synthetic leather steering wheel, auto-dimming rear view mirror, rain-sensing wipers, rear privacy glass, keyless entry and start, dual-zone climate control, USB-C ports, a wireless device charging pad, six-speaker audio, an 8.0-inch colour multimedia display with sat-nav, digital radio, Bluetooth, voice assistant and wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. 

The standard features list could be described as adequate without being overly generous for the price. A head-up display (standard in the ZR) would be nice.

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.

Since Toyota dropped the petrol engine from the Corolla range, it’s a hybrid-only affair.

The powerplant is a 1.8-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine paired with Toyota’s fifth-generation hybrid system that incorporates a lithium-ion battery, which is lighter yet more powerful since the 2022 update.

The Corolla drives the front wheels exclusively via a continuously variable transmission (CVT).

It’s not the punchiest engine and could do with more poke, but Toyota does do hybrids well. 

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.

According to Toyota the official fuel-use figure for the Corolla hybrid hatch is 4.0-litres per 100 kilometres and CO2 emissions sit at 90g/km.

While the trip computer said 4.8L/100km at the end of our week, my own fuel consumption calculation came to 5.8L.

You will only need 91 RON 'standard' petrol to fill up the Corolla.

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.

Most generations of Corollas have been solid, dependable and occasionally, even fun to drive. 

My first car was a Holden Nova GS hatchback, which was a rebadged version of the seventh-generation Corolla. I loved that car. It was zippy, fun and super economical.

The same principles generally apply to the current-gen Corolla. Thankfully, Toyota’s former CEO, Akio Toyoda, insisted all models from the Camry to the Kluger needed to be injected with more fun. And he succeeded with the Corolla. So much so that they've spun off a wild GR performance hot hatch version.

The Corolla sits low to the ground and it just feels much more connected to the road than a small SUV can. Even in mid-range SX guise, the Corolla can hug a corner and there is ample grip to ensure a fun drive on your favourite winding road.

Sure, the hybrid powertrain might not set your heart racing, but it is quick enough from a standing start and it lacks the lag of some of its turbocharged contemporaries. There’s also plenty of poke on tap for a small car when overtaking.

Even though it has a sporting edge to how it handles, the Corolla SX has been tuned for comfort first and foremost and this is another area it excels. The damper set-up ensures the Corolla soaks up speed bumps, nasty potholes and whatever else our shoddy roads can throw at it. At no point in my seven days with the Corolla did I complain about a harsh bump or thud.

Steering has a mechanical feel but it is still sharp, adding to the ‘chuckable’ vibe of this hatchback.

The powertrain can be noisy when pushed and combined with a CVT auto it’s the nicest sounding engine out there. Also, the transition from electric to petrol power isn’t particularly smooth. Other carmaker’s hybrid offerings - like Honda for example - are close to seamless. 

Some road noise gets into the cabin but it’s no deal breaker.

The Corolla is currently unrated by crash safety watchdog ANCAP. It did achieve a maximum five-star rating back in 2018 but that expired at the end of last year.

Safety features are largely standard across all grades and the SX comes with auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and daytime cyclist detection, lane departure alert with steering assist, speed sign recognition, 'Lane Trace Assist', adaptive cruise control, a blind spot monitor with safe exit assist, a rear cross-traffic alert, reversing camera and front and rear parking sensors and a rear occupant alert.

It doesn’t have a driver attention alert, and it’s all the better for it.

The lane keeping aid is well calibrated and subtle in its interventions, but the adaptive cruise let the speed creep several kilometres over the set speed on several occasions. 

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 Corolla is covered by Toyota’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, which, given Kia, MG, GWM, Jaecoo and more have longer terms (not to mention Nissan and Mitsubishi’s conditional 10-year terms) is now officially trailing its competitors.

However, the capped-price servicing plan of up to five years costs just $250 for each service, which is incredibly competitive. The service schedule is every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs first.