BYD Sealion 5 vs Jeep Gladiator

What's the difference?

Cars that don’t always appeal to enthusiast buyers are often seen by manufacturers as a way of not bothering with the dynamics. Good enough is, apparently, good enough. Thankfully, BYD hasn’t taken that path here and the local suspension tweaks have turned what could have been a me-too product into a bit of a dynamic class leader. And even if buyers can’t verbalise the benefits of that, they will still be subliminally enjoying them with every kilometre.

The other stand-out feature is the price-tag which represents an awful lot of car for the money. And, in such a price-sensitive market as this one, that will get the BYD over the line for a lot of families. That it also offers a vastly better driving experience simply makes the value equation – and the purchasing proposition – even stronger.

The Gladiator is far from the most practical, versatile, or sensible dual-cab on the market. Not going to lie, though. This is the most fun I’ve had in a ute in a long time.

The interior of the Sealion 5 feels pretty well-made and there are soft-touch surfaces on most of the touch-points. The steering wheel, too, is thick and chunky and nice to hang on to. But there’s a lot going on in terms of different colours, textures and surfaces, and it can all look a bit busy, despite the high-tech boardroom overall flavour. It’s also worth mentioning the trim material is synthetic but does a great job of looking and feeling like real leather.

Externally, there’s not a lot to grab the eye. Sure, it’s not an unpleasant looking vehicle, but neither does it stand out from the mid-size SUV pack. At least BYD decided against those cheap-looking plastic tack-ons on each wheel-arch.

Despite a legion of trendy retro-styled off-road pretenders, from the Ineos Grenadier to the GWM Tank 300, there’s nothing quite like the original Jeep style which the Gladiator shares with its Wrangler sibling. Unless you’re Mahindra which has technically been producing Willys Jeep successors for longer, but that’s another story for another time).

The new Rubicon looks a bit more swish in 2026, with the body coloured wheel arches and a tweaked grille which is now wider and shorter. The two-tone roof which was previously optional is now standard.

It looks rugged, tough, and undeniably classic, with the mud terrain tyres sealing the deal.

Of course, you can’t forget the many so-called ‘Easter eggs’ Jeep hides about the place. In the case of the Gladiator, these include a silhouette of a Willys Jeep climbing up the driver’s side windscreen, a gorilla imprint on the opposite side signifying the windscreen is now constructed from the same stuff designed to make your phone scratch-free. The tray features imprints of dirtbike tyres where you might want to strap two in and even the recirculate button on the climate unit is in the shape of a Wrangler. Nice touch.

On the inside generally, it feels like a purpose-built vehicle in much the same way as an old Defender. It leaves you with a sense of how genuine it all is, with loads of physical switchgear and an overall shape meant to replicate the no-nonsense appeal of Jeeps dating back to the Willys.

Here’s the other big shock relative to the price-tag of the Sealion 5: This is not a small car. Based on the price, you might have been thinking the vehicle would be a compact SUV. And you’d have been wrong. This is a proper mid-sized SUV with room for five and luggage and an overall length of 4.7 metres and change. And to put that into some kind of perspective, that’s just 30mm shorter than the Sealion 6 which costs about $9000 more at its starting point.

The wheelbase is long, too, and the 2712mm between the axles helps make the interior even more spacious. That means there’s lots of stretching room in the front, but also that a grown adult can comfortably sit in the back seat behind another grown adult at the wheel and still have enough room in every direction. The window sills are commendably low in the rear seat, too, ensuring even littlies can see out.

The biggest problem in the back is that the seat cushion is a bit flat, but, like the front chairs, it’s still pretty plush.

With all five seats in place, the Sealion 5 boasts 463 litres of luggage space and the cargo area is well done with storage pockets at each side, a light and an under-floor tray designed to transport charging cables and a tyre repair kit. Yep, that’s right, there’s no spare tyre of any sort here. No surprise, really.

Fold the rear seat down and you’re suddenly looking at 1410 litres of cargo space and your SUV is now a panel van.

As well as the dual-zone climate control, the Sealion 5 also offers a single USB -C and a USB-A charging port in the front and rear compartments.

The Sealion 5 also offers a V2L (Vehicle to Load) function, meaning it can power camping or on-site work equipment and even act as your home’s battery.

However, also like an old Defender, the Gladiator’s interior is full of compromises to maintain its iconic design.

The seating position is awkwardly high, which is fine when off-roading, but can be limiting when you’re just driving around a city, and the footwell is half taken up by a transmission tunnel so there’s nowhere to rest your foot.

The door cards are pretty basic because the doors are removable (although Jeep stresses this is only legal on private property), but elsewhere there’s much-appreciated levels of functionality in an era of touch-based controls.

The centre control panel, for example, features physical dials for high-use functions and toggles or buttons for everything else. It’s mercifully easy to use and old-school motorists will also love the physical shifters for gear selection and the transfer case alongside. And an analogue handbrake is an increasingly rare sight.

There are even buttons we didn’t ask for, like the four pre-wired auxiliary switches, and while the dash trades away a fully digital panel for a digital supervision screen with analogue dials either side, it suits the character of the car.

It’s not the most comfortable space to be in, however. Not only is the seat base super high off the ground, but despite the Gladiator’s imposing dimensions the front seat somehow feels narrow.

Storage is okay, but not on the same level as many rival utes. The basic doors score nettings on each side, with two deep and useful bottle holders in the centre console. The armrest box is two-tiered which is handy, and there’s a small glove box. Outside of this, there’s not a lot of storage up front.

The rear seat is decent when it comes to space for the ute segment, although it is also very high off the ground and hard to clamber into thanks to the way the rear door is shaped. Once you’re in there, be sure not to smack your head on the frame, which seems like it could be an easy thing to do.

Again, nets feature in the doors, with two more nets on the backs of the front seats, which also feature luggage hooks. There are dual adjustable air vents back there and two bottle holders moulded out of the centre console. They're nicely-sized, but will eat into the legroom of any adult you want to put in the centre rear position, making it extra cramped if you have three across.

The back seat features some things I’ve never seen before, though. There’s a huge storage area underneath the seats with its own lid, and some limited storage space behind the seat backs which features a removable Bluetooth speaker which also automatically re-charges when it’s docked back there. Cool.

The rear window features an opening port, which is also rare, while all the main storage compartments are lockable for when you want to leave the car with the roof and/or doors off.

Capacities and payloads have never been a strong point for the Gladiator. The tray measures 1531mm long, 1443mm wide and 1137mm between the arches, making it unable to fit a standard-sized Australian pallet. The payload is also limited at just 693kg, far short of the close-to-one-tonne many work-focused dual-cabs can hit.

However the tray isn’t for show only, featuring an array of useful tie-down points and a built-in rail system to help secure all sorts of objects. There are even steps built into the rear bumper design for easier access and a full-size spare wheel underneath.

The braked trailer towing capacity is limited to just 2721kg which is also short of the industry benchmark 3500kg, all of which may limit its use as a work vehicle, or even its appeal as a touring vehicle. I could see how these capacities are easily exceeded with a rooftop tent, recovery gear, a fridge, supplies and at least one passenger.

For this update, the Gladiator has been trimmed down to just one variant, the fully-loaded, top-spec Rubicon.

While the lesser Night Eagle grade has been discontinued, the good news is the Rubicon is now more affordable, starting at $82,990, before on-road costs. Although this still pitches it against only the most expensive mainstream dual cabs.

At this price, for example, you could pick a Ford Ranger in luxury Platinum or sporty Wildtrak form, or even as a plug-in hybrid. However, this car’s classic vibe and purpose-built feel, with a big six-cylinder petrol engine, is more reminiscent of the Ineos Grenadier Quartermaster, which wears a price tag well in excess of $100,000.

While it might be a pricey ute, the Gladiator Rubicon comes with all the gear plus extra stuff for this update, including new 17-inch two-tone wheel designs clad in pricey BF Goodrich mud terrain tyres, Nappa leather seats and a more powerful standard alternator with pre-wired auxiliary switches.

There are also body-coloured fender flares replacing the previous black plastic ones, 12-way power adjust and heating for the front seats, extended soft-touch materials throughout the cabin, a much larger and better-specified 12.3-inch multimedia touchscreen (with built-in nav) as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. In addition, the LED headlights have picked up an auto high-beam function and the spray-in bedliner for the tray is now standard.

Standard overlanding kit includes the brand’s signature 'Roc-Trac' on-demand 4x4 system, which includes front and rear differential locks, an electronic sway bar disconnect (pretty rare), manually selectable low-range gearing (with a 4:1 ratio), as well as additional underbody protection and rock-slider side steps.

Not enough? This is the only ute on sale in Australia where you can remove the roof and pop the windscreen flat for a full-on Barbie (or maybe Ken) Power Wheels vibe.

Both variants of the Sealion 5 have the same driveline – mostly. They each use a 1.5-litre petrol engine teamed with a single electric motor, both driving the front wheels. Unlike the bigger Sealions, there’s no all-wheel drive version. Power peaks at 156kW and torque at 300Nm.

Why a non-turbocharged engine? BYD tells us the non-turbo engine helps keep cost out of the vehicle and, since the engine really only runs to power the electric motor and charge the batteries, it does so at a relatively constant engine speed, negating the need for a wide spread of petrol power.

The only major difference is that the Essential version has a 12.9kWh battery-pack, while the Premium gets a bigger, 18.3kWh pack for longer range, but precisely the same output and, therefore, performance.

A single-speed transmission is part of the BYD driveline package, also made possible by the fact that the vast majority of the driving of wheels is done by the electric motor.

There’s a relatively massive 3.6-litre non-turbo, non-hybrid ‘Pentastar’ petrol V6 engine under the bonnet, producing 209kW/347Nm. 

Sounds old-school because it is, and it remains the only option for this machine in Australia despite emissions regulations closing in and a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine available in the current Wrangler and overseas versions of the Gladiator.

The V6 is mated to a predictable ZF-sourced eight-speed (torque converter) automatic transmission and drives either the rear- or all four wheels depending on the mode selected.

The Premium’s bigger battery claims to up the official NEDC range from the Essential’s 71km to 100km. BYD reckons with the 52-litre fuel tank brimmed and the car operating at its claimed 1.2 litres per 100km efficiency, the range of either version is just on 1000km. In the real world, that’s likely to be closer to 800km (especially with some highway running thrown in) but it’s still one heck of a solution to range anxiety.

There’s no DC charging function for the Sealion 5, so forget about commercial fast chargers. But on a 3.3kW AC power outlet, the maker claims the Essential can reach full charge in under four hours, while the Premium’s bigger battery will take under six hours to fully charge. A Type 1 charge cable is included.

As you might imagine, the large naturally aspirated petrol engine combines with the over 2.0-tonne Gladiator to make for a relatively steep fuel bill.

Consumption is a hardly-impressive 12.4L/100km on the official combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle, with our car consuming even more - 12.9L/100km - on our three day test covering nearly 500km and with no shortage of freeway time either.

Brim the 83-litre tank and theoretical range is around 670km, dropping to just over 640km using our on-test figure.

You don’t have to drive very far to realise that the local input into the Sealion 5’s suspension and steering have been worth the effort. BYD Australia has a local engineering team on call these days, and it shows here.

Actually, the steering is not the highlight; it has some weight but not a whole lot of feel, or, indeed, feedback for the driver. The ride and handling combination is what stars. Obviously well-damped, the suspension allows for a ride that is both complaint and quiet, without causing the car to wallow around like some jacked-up designs can with their higher centre of gravity.

In fact, the BYD is athletic to the point where keener drivers will find it an entertaining drive; hardly something that can be said for the majority of medium SUVs.

Performance is strong without being overwhelming and even though the Sealion 5 has that signature electric-drive feeling of effortlessness, the accelerator pedal has been calibrated to avoid the neck-snapping surge of grunt off the line. As such, it emerges with a fairly flat acceleration curve, and no hint that the petrol motor is cutting in or out.

Until, that is, you bury the throttle all the way at which point the petrol engine takes a few second to join in. And when it does, it’s pretty vocal – shrill, almost – as it catches up with the rest of the car and starts directly driving the wheels. To be fair, though, this is not going to be a common occurrence in everyday life thanks to the flexibility of the petrol-electric system for 99 per cent of circumstances.

On the move, the cabin is perhaps most notable for its soft, plush seats that are a nice change from the church pews of some manufacturers. And although the driving position is about right, taller drivers might prefer a steering column that extends out another few millimetres.

The driver display screen is another source of annoyance. It’s pretty small and contains lots and lots of information, to the point where the typeface is too small to be read on the run by anybody who relies on reading glasses.

The Gladiator is interesting to drive for many reasons. Mainly, because as a purpose-built off-roader it's a little compromised when it comes to on-road manners.

For example, the high seating position and tapered bonnet shape might be great for visibility off-road, but the boxy design of the chunky A-pillars (designed to keep the car in one piece when the doors roof and windscreen are removed) make it a little difficult to see properly around corners at T-junctions or roundabouts in the confines of a city.

Even proximity of my head to the roof presented a problem when trying to see whether traffic was coming at an intersection with the vehicle angled downhill.

The next alarming trait is how vague the steering is while on the tarmac. It’s an unfortunate characteristic of the Gladiator’s rugged live front axle, making this ute a bit of a handful to steer at low speeds. And it tracks all over the place on the freeway, requiring constant vigilance and steering input from the driver at higher speeds.

It’s also noisy, despite this 2026 version featuring extended sound deadening in the cabin. It needed it. The knobbly mud terrain tyres make their presence felt through a resonant droning entering the cabin at all speeds.

Then, at freeway pace, the wind noise from the Gladiator’s blocky shape picks up. You can feel the sound waves leaking in through the removable doors and plasticky removable roof. There are even silly things like being able to feel reverberations of the sound system through the accelerator pedal.

So, I should hate the Gladiator, right?

Wrong.

This thing is ridiculous amounts of old-fashioned fun. The V6 engine is keen to rev and the transmission lets you ride the gears out, creating a throaty roar and lurching acceleration reminiscent of old Commodores.

While the mud terrain rubber is noisy and offers questionable levels of grip on tarmac or in the wet, the thick sidewall combines with coil springs and chunky Tenneco shock absorbers all-around to make for a pretty decent ride for a ladder-frame vehicle.

In addition, we took the Gladiator for a quick off-highway jaunt as its design intends and it performed as-expected. It has great approach and departure angles, with good visibility for peering over moguls and into ruts or dips.

The mechanical hardware feels up to the task, and while it might slip once or twice as the less sophisticated traction systems (compared to, say, a modern Defender) find their bearings, the Gladiator ate up the moderately challenging trails we found for it.

The chunky tyres come into their own, with the sidewall offering confidence, and the car clambers about with relative ease. Obviously, the enormous 3488mm wheelbase and resulting 18.4-degree breakover angle are the Gladiator’s Achilles heel, making me think twice about cresting certain hills or objects, and making this ute particularly prone to cringe-inducing underbody scraping.

Still, despite its comparatively unsophisticated approach and lack of environmental responsibility the Gladiator is a huge amount of fun to drive.

The previous Gladiator was awarded just a three- out of five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2019, although this updated version gets a few notable upgrades including side curtain airbags, seat reminder alerts and auto high beams.

On the modern active safety equipment front, the new Gladiator scores auto emergency braking, blind spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, roll mitigation as well as front and rear parking sensors and a halfway decent reversing camera.

Not present is lane departure warning or lane keep assist, and given how long the Gladiator is, it would be nice to have a front parking camera, too.

It’s disappointing to see the Gladiator miss key kit like lane keep assist, but unlike a lot of modern vehicles, the Gladiator isn’t annoying to drive and I didn’t find myself needing to turn any equipment off to make it work off-road, either.

Like other BYDs, the Sealion 5 comes with a six-year/150,000km warranty. Some of the competition have unlimited kilometre warranties, but to be honest, 150,000km in six years is going to be beyond the need and aspirations of most owners.

The EV battery is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty, and let’s not forget, BYD was a battery manufacturer before it started making whole cars. Certainly, the company is very bullish about the quality and safety of its 'Blade' battery technology, claiming it easily passes the technically-daunting 'nail-puncture' test.

BYD plans to have capped-price servicing for the Sealion 5, but no pricing announcements have been made yet.

Servicing also falls into line with other BYD models, so that means 12 months or 20,000km intervals.

It’s no secret ownership has long been an awkward topic for Jeep, with models like the Grand Cherokee previously causing all kinds of dramas for owners. A quick scan of forums suggests the Wrangler and Gladiator are less prone to issues compared to their more mainstream siblings in the Jeep line-up. So, food for thought.

Regardless, the Gladiator is offered with a five-year warranty which is distance-limited to just 100,000km, which is well off the pace, although a five-year capped price servicing pack is priced at a reasonable $399 per annual or 12,000km workshop visit.

The brand also offers lifetime roadside assist so long as you continue to service your Jeep in its authorised dealer network.