BYD Seal vs BYD Sealion 8

What's the difference?

Those big auto executives have good reason to be worried, because the Seal is yet another impressive offering from China’s most formidable EV player.

It’s not perfect. In some ways it’s trying too hard to be a luxury car, and I think the software in particular could use a little work, but the Seal just does so much right I think it will be hard to be disappointed with one, particularly given its keen entry price.

In fact, if we had to pick one from the range, it would probably be this mid-spec Premium. The range and power on offer are stellar, and all for less money than an entry-level Model 3 or Polestar 2.

There’s quite a bit to like here. There’s plenty of equipment, and lots of choice in price, trim level and mechanical complexity.

The driving dynamics are fine if you’re not looking for anything sporty although the performance offered by the dual-motor variants must be considered excessive, even if it’s pretty exciting the first time.

Perhaps what’s missing from the Sealion 8 experience is anything that stamps the car as something special within its hotly-contested market segment. Which is another way of saying it offers up the same limitations, most notably in the third row accommodation and access.

You only need to drive a one-box people mover and utilise the rearmost seat, to understand that the two-box SUV, while a pretty marketable thing, is compromised once the passenger count exceeds five. Nothing new there, but nothing new in the BYD, either, to change that narrative.

At which point, the front-wheel drive variant emerges as the most pragmatic choice and probably the one that meets all the important family tasks headed its way for the smallest outlay.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

The Seal looks great. It’s about as modern a take on the traditional three-box sedan as you can get. It’s low-slung with curvy lines and a sporty overall feel.

The design touches, like the headlight and DRL surrounds, side skirts, and wheels are maximalist compared to the minimalist vibes of the Model 3 and the Polestar 2. But I don’t necessarily think that's a bad thing as it offers buyers a genuine alternative.

I also like the way the brand has executed the LED lights and particularly the tail-light fittings. There’s also an admirable restraint when it comes to badging compared to a lot of this car’s Chinese rivals. It doesn’t give off the vibe of a cut-price product at all.

Inside there are elements which are appealing, and some things which fall short. First up, I do think the Seal wears its influences throughout the industry on its sleeve a bit.

The digital dash cluster theme, for example, seems to (poorly) emulate the Mercedes-Benz software, the little plastic crystal shifter piece on the inside seems to have been overtly influenced by a similar (actual crystal) piece available in Volvos, while the centre screen and dual wireless phone chargers are pretty obviously BYD’s take on the similar bits available in the Model 3.

Maybe in this sense, it’s trying a little too hard to be a luxury car and a tech-heavy electric vehicle, with items which aren’t quite up to the same quality (particularly the software). But then, it all works well enough, and can you complain at the price?

One thing I think BYD gets right though is the level of comfort on offer in the cabin and the clever little styling bits which remind you of its namesake.

The door handle pieces and integrated speaker bits are shaped like a Seal flipper. As are the dash-mounted air vents, and if you look closely even the plastic garnish on the steering wheel looks a bit like a top-down cross section of the animal.

I like it because its subtle rather than in-your-face as some of the Atto 3's design elements are.

The quality is also up to muster, big time. There wasn’t a creak, groan, or rattle from this car’s interior in my entire time with it, including on some of Sydney's worst roads. And the seats, which are designed like absolute thrones, are clad in lovely soft leather. You sink into them. Even the two-tone Alcantara finish through the doors and centre console is thoughtfully placed.

BYD has done its best to give the Sealion 8 its own character and vibe. In fact, it’s a pretty smart looking thing - although still very much a two-box wagon concept - and that’s no given when you consider how much some big SUVs can start to look like large blobs of nothing when you look closely.

There’s the usual Darth Vader stuff at the front, but in profile, the diagonal vent across the front door makes a bit of a statement. The 'plaited' motif of the tail-lights might be stretching things a bit, though.

Inside, the modern board-room feel is invoked by the angular lines and high-tech look and feel of the large info-screens. The panoramic sunroof of the Premium grade also helps brighten up an otherwise pretty dark space.

The Seal has a huge cabin, and in a lot of ways it feels like the large sedans of old. You can sit nice and low in the cabin, and there’s heaps of knee and headroom thanks to its width.

Soft-clad materials for resting your knees and elbows on go a long way towards keeping this car comfortable on longer journeys, and the presence of a digital dash and a holographic head-up display is nice to have compared to the bare-bones dash of the Tesla Model 3.

The wacky rotating central touchscreen feature makes an appearance from other BYDs, but again, it’s a bit silly and I’m not sure how much use you’ll get out of it. Even Apple CarPlay only works in landscape mode, so I didn’t find it useful.

Practicality features are abundant, with a large bottle holder in the doors, and two more in the centre console. One even has a floating floor, so you can push it down to accommodate large bottles if need be.

Dual wireless chargers are always a nice touch, and the bridge-style console has a large pass-through storage area underneath, which also hides the USB-C, USB-A, and 12V outlets. The armrest console box is nice and deep, too.

The back seat is enormous. Possibly one of the largest spaces in this segment. It comes at a cost to boot capacity, but your rear passengers won’t want for space no matter how tall they are.

At 182cm tall I had leagues of airspace behind my own driving position, and the wide cabin, accommodating seats, and flat floor mean the centre position is even useful for a full-sized adult.

Storage comes in the form of three pockets on the back of each front seat, a large bottle holder in the doors, two cupholders in the drop-down armrests, a small tray on the back of the centre console, and a small flip-out cover which reveals a USB-C and USB-A charging port for rear passengers. The rear seat even gets dual adjustable air vents, but no third climate zone.

The massive fixed glass roof looks the business and keeps the cabin airy, just like in the Model 3 and Polestar 2, but I find these big glass fittings tend to cook interiors in the Australian sun.

BYD tells us the tint is so heavy it has a ‘solar transmittance’ of just 16 per cent, but 16 per cent is still a lot in Australian summer. Thankfully, unlike its two rivals, BYD ships the Seal with a fold-out cover screen as standard.

Remember how I said the massive rear seat comes at a cost to boot space? At 400 litres the Seal’s boot is a bit compact, made worse by the fact it’s a sedan and not a liftback, so the access area is a bit narrow.

It could only fit the largest CarsGuide luggage case alongside the smallest one, but not all three including the medium case. This could be a blow to family buyers who need to fit a pram alongside other things.

Under the floor there’s an extra space great for the storage of your V2L adapter and AC charging cable, but there’s also only a tyre repair kit and no spare.

BYD has made sure all three rows of the Sealion 8 are fit for purpose while attempting to make the rearmost row (traditionally the trickiest to get right) less of a downmarket place to be. With that in mind, both rear rows get air vents and climate-control adjustment for that part of the car. There's also a pair of USB-C charge ports in the second row and a single USB-C and USB-A port in the third row. The third row also has cupholders bult into the wheel arch on each side.

With the third row in place, there’s a decent amount of luggage space (270 litres) largely thanks to the Sealion’s five-metre overall length. There’s no spare tyre, but a puncture repair kit lives under the floor (as does the removable cargo blind) and the rearmost luggage space also incorporates a 12-volt socket and luggage hooks.

A pair of pull-tabs drop the headrests and then the entire split third row in a single movement, at which point you suddenly have a five-seater with a huge, 960 litres of luggage space. And if you need to cart gear over people, the second row also folds flat to open up 1960 litres of space.

Up front, the feeling of spaciousness is amplified due to the low scuttle height and what the aviation industry calls the glass cockpit (no analogue dials or gauges at all). The 15.6-inch central info-screen runs the usual apps and control displays but, thankfully, the climate control touch-controls are tethered to the bottom of the screen, so they’re always visible regardless of what else is going on.

The 10.2-inch driver’s display adds a head-up function in Premium trim and displays the usual array of information required to operate the vehicle. But even better is the steering wheel which features a thick, well-padded rim that looks and feels pretty luxe. It also houses the usual buttons for stereo, phone and cruise-control functions.

A really nice touch is the addition of an extra set of tilt controls on the inside of the passenger’s front seat, allowing the driver to control that seat to allow people in or out without leaving their own seat. Nice one.

It is, of course, the centre row of seats that will make or break a car like this for many families. Even though many clans will not use the rearmost seat much of the time, the central row will get a huge workout. So it’s nice to see that leg, foot and headroom are all sufficient for even growing teenagers. Again, the car’s overall length appears to be the key, but it’s also worth noting the centre row seat is comfy and supportive. The outboard positions in the second row also feature heating and ventilation functions.

The third row, however, follows SUV tradition by being strictly for smaller kids. Access past those huge wheel arches is tight, and once you’re in, there’s a combination of dark trim and tiny windows to limit joy.

While it won’t matter to many buyers, the front-drive Sealion 8 is rated to tow 1800kg with a braked trailer, and up to two tonnes in the all-wheel drive version. But there’s no spare tyre fitted, and roadside flats need to be addressed by the included tyre repair kit.

BYD will offer the Sealion 8 in three trim levels, starting with the front-drive Dynamic at $56,990, before on-road costs, then moving to a pair of all-wheel-drive variants, the first with the same Dynamic trim level at $63,990 and the range-topping Premium AWD at $70,990.

The Dynamic trim level on both the front-wheel drive and the all-wheel drive variant gets you three-zone climate-control, air vents in both rear rows, full connectivity including wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There’s also wireless phone charging. The Dynamic specification also takes on 20-inch alloy wheels and there’s full LED lighting as standard.

Pony up for the Premium trim and you make the switch to 21-inch alloys, a 21-speaker sound system and even a massage function for the first two rows of seats. The Premium also includes a head-up display for the driver.

Not as easy to quantify is the level of plush inside the cabin. There are lots of soft-touch surfaces and the whole interior design looks pretty fresh and modern and well put together. But more than that, there’s a bit of design flair that makes the BYD feel perhaps a bit more expensive than it really is. That’s not an easy thing to pull off. But it seems to work here, even in the entry-level Dynamic trim.

Against the competition, the Sealion 8 can't match the similarly specified Chery Tiggo 8 on price, even though on performance and EV range, the Tiggo 8 and the entry-level Sealion 8 are quite similar. The more expensive Sealion 8 Premium, meanwhile, lines up pretty neatly on price with the Kia Sorento S PHEV. But that vehicle can't get close to the epic straight-line performance of the BYD.

Each Seal variant gets its own drivetrain outputs, and the mid-spec Premium drives the rear wheels with a 230kW/360Nm electric motor via a reduction gear.

On paper, it’s slightly more powerful than the Model 3 RWD, with more power and less torque than the Polestar 2 Standard Range.

BYD has managed to keep a lid on the price of the entry-level version of the Sealion 8, by specifying it with front-wheel drive rather than the all-wheel drive of the other two variants. It still gets the same driveline beyond the lack of a driven rear axle, although battery capacity is the other difference.

As such, you’re looking at a 1.5-litre petrol engine (kind of the default powerplant for Chinese SUVs right now) with a turbocharger. With the 19kWh battery chiming in to power the electric motor, the driveline can achieve outputs of 205kW and 315Nm.

In the case of the AWD variants, the larger 35.6kWh battery and extra electric motor ups the potential outputs to 359kW and 675Nm which is a huge jump any way you look at it and gives the Sealion 8 a huge bandwidth when it comes to matching buyer performance aspirations.

All the variants have the potential for a claimed electric-only range of greater than 100km if owners use the plug-in facility to charge either at home or at work. For the AWD variants, the larger battery stretches the EV range to a claimed 152km. On longer journeys or whenever the battery has reached about 25 per cent capacity, the Sealion 8 acts just as any other hybrid with regenerative braking and electric assistance to aid performance.

In suspension terms, the BYD is pretty conventional but if you do pay the extra for the Premium variant, you’ll gain adaptive dampers.

Providing power is a sizable 82.56kWh lithium-ion battery pack, using BYD’s signature weight and space-saving ‘Blade’ form-factor, and the more affordable LFP (lithium iron ferrophosphate) chemistry.

On the charging front, the Seal Premium can top up at 150kW on a DC unit (using a Type 2 CCS connector) for a 10-80 per cent charge in roughly 40 minutes, while on AC its a disappointing 7.0kW.

The 7.0kW inverter means it’s hardly worth plugging the Seal in at a slow public charger when you visit the shops, as you’ll only get about 50km of range an hour. It’s for this reason most cars with batteries this size have 11kW inverters.

Unlike the Model 3 or Polestar 2, though, the Seal features a V2L system, allowing you to power household appliances from its Type 2 charging port.

Claimed energy consumption for the Seal is 14.6kWh/100km which is low, and about what we were seeing on test. It’s a little hard to tell because the trip computer only offers total consumption over the entire life of the vehicle, or for the last 50km, but not for a set trip interval. Weird.

BYD claims a range of more than 1000km for both variants of the Sealion 8, provided you start with a fully charged battery and a full 60-litre fuel tank.

The BYD can also make use of commercial fast-chargers and, when using the maximum 40kW on the FWD version and the 74kW possible for the AWD variant, the charging times from 30 to 80 per cent are both under 20 minutes. The Sealion 8 can also charge at 11kW on an AC socket and the vehicle also offers V2L (Vehicle to Load) capability, meaning it can power on-site work tools, camping gear or even your house at night.

Provided the EV battery is kept at 25 per cent capacity or above, BYD claims a 1.0-litre per 100km fuel consumption figure for the car based on the laboratory test. In the real world, the results will vary enormously depending on where you drive and how the car is used. Deplete the battery and continue to drive at highway speeds, and your actual fuel consumption might easily increase to many times that 1.0-litre claimed figure.

I wasn’t expecting the Seal to impress me particularly. After all, it’s in this segment against tough competition, amongst recently updated versions of the Model 3 and Polestar 2, and while the previous BYDs I’ve driven have been a cut above their Chinese contemporaries, they also haven’t done a lot to stand out from the crowd.

Clearly, though, BYD has something to prove with its sporting sedan and the Seal is immediately impressive. The cabin is quiet and refined, the seating position is great it's smooth from take-off.

The steering has an artificial tinge to it removing a bit of feedback from the road, but proves at least quick and accurate at speed, and the handling is superb.

I kept pushing the Seal in my test drive, expecting gnarly characteristics to surface but they didn’t. This sedan grabs onto the road with excellent control and traction at the rear, spurred along by its long wheelbase, and improved tyre choice (Continental rather than the sub-par Chinese rubber worn by the Atto 3 and Dolphin).

While on paper it appears to have at least comparable motor output figures to the Polestar 2 and Model 3 - the Seal Premium doesn’t quite feel as rapid, its electric motor having a more relaxed vibe and responsiveness when you stomp on the go pedal.

This can be tweaked a little by dialling it up to Sport mode, and while it still doesn’t feel quite as breakneck fast as the Model 3, in particular, it’s plenty to be going on with.

The most impressive part of the Seal drive experience, though, is its ride. Ride is a constant problem for EVs as manufacturers go to lengths to tame the additional weight of batteries, but the Seal is the most impressive in its cohort, and by quite a margin.

It’s firm enough to be controlled, but has a lovely soft edge to it, so larger bumps, frequent corrugations, or sharper road imperfections don’t ruin your day.

The Model 3 and Polestar 2, even in their improved forms, are not this good. In a lot of ways the Seal’s suspension tune reminds me of the Mustang Mach-e. It has a soft edge, offset by a bit of secondary jiggle as the car settles, which is its only real blemish.

The Seal has no right being this good. It’s now not just matching its far more established rivals but doing some things significantly better.

The first thing you’re going to do in a Sealion 8 is wonder where the gearshift is. It’s a column-shift, but it's not only located where a traditional indicator stalk would be, it looks very much like one, too.

This promises two things. One, you’ll spend a few seconds finding it and two, you’ll try to turn the indicators on with it at least once every drive. (The real indicators are on the other side of the steering column.)

Another note to those test driving a Sealion 8. Sample the front-drive version first. (I’ll get to why in a minute.) When you do, you’ll soon figure out this is a driveline that prioritises electric running. That is, the petrol motor barely ever actually drives the wheels (only at full throttle and higher speeds). Any other time, if the petrol engine is running, it’s to charge the battery that keeps the electric motor purring away. This is how efficiency is defined by BYD.

You’ll also find that the Sealion’s acceleration is purposeful in that electric-motor way, but hardly startling. And when you do smash the throttle and force the petrol engine to drive the axle, you’ll notice that this takes a fair time to play out, and that when everything is grunting as hard as possible, the petrol engine is quite noisy and even a little harsh sounding. Use the driveline sensibly, though, and it’s all smooth and quiet, even if that then means you can hear a little suspension noise creeping into the cabin.

That done, you’re now free to drive the AWD variant. Why wait? Because this thing is seriously off the leash. Bear in mind that 359kW of power is getting on for the thick end of 500 horsepower in the old money, so even though the Sealion 8 is a hefty critter at about 2.5 tonnes, all that power and torque will get it from rest in under five seconds, or thereabouts. The relevance of this to family-car technology is hugely debatable, but it’s one heck of a party trick the first time you try it.

The huge torque also magnifies the Sealion 8’s natural tendency to lift its inside front wheel when accelerating out of a turn. A small tyre squeak can sometimes be heard before the traction control gathers it all together, but even the single-motor variant displays the same trait.

In steering and suspension terms, it’s probably fair to say the Sealion 8 doesn’t unlock any new depths of talent. The ride is pretty comfy but at the expense of body control and the steering points the wheels but doesn’t convey much else to the driver.

That said, the fact everything seems to be tuned to the same frequency means it all works okay. You don’t have too-fast steering fighting the tyres or too firm suspension upsetting the interior calm. Use it as a family would, and it’s 100 per cent fit for purpose.

Any family car needs to be safe, so BYD has thrown the kitchen sink at the Sealion 8 in terms of its active and passive safety gear. That starts with nine air-bags including full-length curtain side bags and a centre-front airbag to help prevent head clashes.

There’s also a 360-degree camera on all grades, front and rear parking sensors, and the full line-up of current driver-assistance functions including autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assistant, rear-cross-traffic alert and assistance, blind-spot monitoring, driver attention monitoring and a tyre-pressure monitoring system.

To that lot, you can add adaptive cruise-control, traffic-sign recognition, adaptive headlights, front and rear collision warning, anti roll-over systems and hill-hold functions. It’s also worth mentioning that the overhead camera system is very, very good with a clear, crisp display and no processing delay.

The driver-attention monitoring seems to behave itself better than some of the over-active systems other makers specify, but the lane-keeping assistance function is still far form perfect. To be fair, it is less aggressive than some such systems and the intervention is more subtle, but the recued aggression seems to be packaged with lower sensitivity. As in, the cameras seem to sometimes miss a critical white line, particularly if its faded or less than freshly painted.

There are also ISOFIX child restraint tether points in both the second and third rows, as well as seat-belt warnings for every position and an electronic child-safety switch for the doors.

The Sealion 8 is yet to be crash tested locally, so no ANCAP star rating is available.

The long-term ownership aspect for a BYD product is still a bit of a mystery as the current crop of cars have only just landed in Australia in the last year or two, but if it offers you any peace of mind, the Seal is covered by a six-year/150,000km warranty with a separate eight-year/160,000km warranty for the battery pack.

In order to avoid having to have a traditional dealer network, BYD has partnered with MyCar to fulfil servicing. Visits to one of these locations is required once every 12 months or 20,000km whichever comes first, and pricing is fixed for the first eight years, working out to an annual average of $299.

Servicing any hybrid can be a bit more expensive thanks to the presence of two propulsion forms.

In any case, the Sealion 8 requires routine servicing every 12 months or 20,000km.

Warranty is BYD’s normal six-year/150,000km cover, although there’s also eight years and 160,000km of cover for the EV battery.

BYD also claims its 'Blade' battery technology is among the safest in the business, and says the design resists damage (and, therefore, the risk of fire) better than the competition.