BYD Sealion 5 vs Mercedes-Benz C63

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 Mercedes-AMG C 63 S Aero Edition is an absolute beast of a car, but it comes at a pretty hefty price. Yes you get a lot of performance, and the fact there are only 63 examples being made for Australia and New Zealand could be enough to get you to sign on the line. For me, though, if I was after a C 63, it’d have to be a wagon. It doesn’t need an Aero pack to look better.

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.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of the current C-Class Coupe’s styling. To me, it has always looked a little droopy, a little melted at the back. 

I have to say, the Aero Edition has changed my opinion somewhat, as the new graphic elements help lift it up a bit, visually raising its rear up like a stretching cat, tail in the air. I’m still not 100 per cent on it, but to my eye it’s better.

The carbon-fibre trim elements that have been added to the exterior certainly add some menace to the look, too, and I simply can’t help but constantly notice out of the corner of my eye the AMG pressing in the staggered, dished rims. At a glimpse, from a distance,  it looks like rim damage, but thankfully it’s not!

The staggered set-up does really add some width and mongrel to the look, as if it needed more, with its open maw lower bumper air dam, and the signature 'Panamericana' grille treatment which looks like an evil character out of a movie. If you know the one I’m talking about, let me know in the comments.

As much as the look matters when it’s parked in your driveway, it’s the cabin that arguably matters more, right? That’s where you spend your time, after all. Check out the interior images to see if you think it lives up to the exterior look.

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.

No two-door coupe is going to offer you the space and comfort of a sedan or wagon, that’s just a fact. But that only matters if you plan to actually use the rear seats. If you don’t, then the Coupe version of the C 63 S might be perfect for you.

Even so, I managed to (only just) squeeze myself between the seat and the door opening to slide into the rear row. This won’t be easily achieved by all attempters, especially on the driver’s side.

Let’s just say I probably looked like I was doing something very weird to the driver’s seat as I spider-manned my way in. 

The rear space is tight for someone my height (182cm/6’0”) behind their own driving position, with knees hard-up against the seat in front and not much headroom (my noggin’ was brushing the ceiling) or toe space (size 12s don’t fit so well) to speak of.

It’s certainly a selfish car. Or maybe it’d be fine for smaller kids. There are two spaces in the back, both with ISOFIX child seat anchors and top-tether points.

But there is storage in the back - cupholders and storage caddies either side of the seats, though the storage situation improves in the front zone, with bottle holders in the doors, cupholders between the seats, loose item storage under the media screen and a covered centre armrest bin, too.

The front cabin is a special looking place, with carbon-fibre abounding across the dash and nice trim on the doors. The AMG steering wheel is a sight to behold - it’s a flat-bottomed unit with carbon-fibre and Dinamica (that’s Benz talk for microsuede) trim: perfect for sapping sweat as you manhandle the C63 through the bends.

The seats are AMG Performance sports units up front, and the trim used is reserved for this model specifically: Nappa leather with yellow stripes. There are yellow details elsewhere, including on the rear seats, centre console and dash, and it certainly adds some visual excitement.

Media is controlled by a 10.25-inch display and Mercedes-Benz’s touchpad control system, but there is no touchscreen - rendering the Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone mirroring technology somewhat tedious.

I’ve always had a gripe with screens that don’t allow touch but feature the tech that’s designed to transfer your phone’s screen to the media unit, and I can tell you the longer you spend twiddling the dial to get where you want to go, the more annoying it becomes.

The Burmester sound system has 13 speakers and is rather good, but I prefer the sound from the standard fit variable sports exhaust. So maybe that quibble with CarPlay isn’t that big a deal.

And if you just want to charge your phone, and there’s a second USB port up front, as well. Note: in non-Aero Edition C 63 models without the carbon-fibre interior pack, you also get Qi wireless phone charging, but it’s deleted from this variant and any model with the carbon pack.

The driver has a 12.3-inch digital info display to show where you are and what the car is up to, and there’s a head-up display as well. Yep, there’s standard sat nav with live traffic updates (and even live fuel price updates) - it’s just a shame the maps still look early 2000s-spec in 2D layout.

Cargo space is okay. The claimed cargo capacity or boot volume is 355 litres (VDA) with the rear seats in place. That’s small for a coupe of this size, and the shape of the boot (with a hump behind the rear seat) isn’t great as things do move around quite a bit.

But, thankfully, Mercedes has included its clever foldable storage box system under the boot floor - it goes where you might usually expect a spare wheel, but there isn’t one in this car. Instead you get Mercedes’ 'Tirefit' repair kit with an electric pump.

Look, I’m not likely to ever be in the position to say that a car that costs $188,600 plus on-road costs is “good value”, but to be honest, if you’re in that position, you’ll be getting plenty of car for your cash.

The Carbon Edition of the C 63 S Coupe adds $17,200 over the standard version of the high-performance two-door, but it adds a bunch of extras to help justify its price. A car like this is always going to be seen by some as a profligate purchase, right? You need to be able to justify spending an extra MG3’s worth of cash on this Edition. 

The noticeable exterior bits include an AMG Performance rear spoiler, a model specific front lip, rear diffuser, and side facings for the rear apron air vents. Carbon-fibre is used in the front apron A-wing, the side sill inserts, rear diffuser insert, rear spoiler and the side mirror casings. 

There’s more carbon-fibre inside the cabin, which we’ll cover off in the interior section. Other additions over the standard C 63 S Coupe include ceramic composite front brakes (402mm six-piston) and 360mm single-piston rear brakes, and there are “ultra-lightweight” AMG forged 'Matt Black' alloy wheels with 19-inch rims at the front and 20s at the rear. 

And in nice news, the car you see here has no optional extras fitted at all. The colour is 'Iridium Silver', one of only two options for this limited run model (the other available hue is Polar White, and both come at no extra cost).

Standard inclusions comprise leather interior trim, heated and electric adjustable front seats, dual-zone climate control, a 10.25-inch media screen with sat nav and smartphone mirroring, DAB radio, 13-speaker Burmester sound system, 12.3-inch digital driver info display, head-up display (HUD), ambient lighting, and performance items like active dynamic engine mounts, an adaptive AMG performance exhaust, a rear differential lock, and adaptive sports suspension.

Plus there’s a full-spec safety offering which we’ll cover in the section below.

Thinking about what cars compete with this one? There’s the Audi RS 5 Coupe (from $150,900), the Lexus RC F (from $136,636), and the BMW M4 Competition (from $167,829). So the C 63 S - which is already expensive comparatively - looks positively pricey in Aero Edition spec.

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.

Open the shapely bonnet of the C 63 S and you’ll find a hand-assembled horsepower-monster engine with a printed name plaque to prove it.

The 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 produces 375kW of power at 6250rpm, and 700Nm of torque from 2000-4500rpm. It runs a standard-fit nine-speed 'Speedshift MCT' (multi-clutch transmission) automatic, and it’s rear-wheel drive. And yes, that means it likes to boogie.

The claimed 0-100km/h time is just 3.9 seconds, and top speed is apparently pegged at 250km/h. Yeesh.

The name on the “Handcrafted by” plaque on this particular engine? Hat tip to you, Julian Rembold. This is quite a piece of work. 

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.

High numbers are what AMGs are about. Sadly that’s the case not only for performance outputs but also fuel consumption.

The official combined cycle fuel use claim for the C 63 S Coupe is 10.3 litres per 100 kilometres, and you need to fill it with 98RON premium unleaded fuel, too.

On test? Well, across a mix of different driving - urban, highway, back road and spirited stints - I saw an 'at the pump' return of 12.2L/100km, while the digital readout stated 12.0L/100km.

Given the performance on offer, and how much I took advantage of it during my week with the car, that’s not bad…

Fuel tank capacity is 66 litres. So go easy if you know there won’t be a fuel stop for a while.

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.

Just one word sprang to my mind when it comes to accurately describing the performance on offer from this car. The word is ‘brutal’.

Smash the accelerator and the power and torque on offer is enough to make your eyes feel like they’re not doing the right thing anymore. You get pushed back in your seat with a surge, and your ears are also rewarded with one of the best soundtracks in the automotive world. 

The engine builds pace with enormous intent, and the sound that comes from under the bonnet and out the back through the exhausts is addictive.

Yes, there is an active exhaust button which you have to press to make sure that you hear all that noise if you’re running around in 'Comfort' mode, and during my time with the car it was active the whole time.

I had some questions from neighbours over the week that I had this car about whether it was actually nice to live with on a day-to-day basis. And the answer is yes, if you put it in comfort mode it’s surprisingly amenable. 

The ride is really well sorted at pace despite having a bit of that trademark low-speed wobble that seems to afflict Mercedes products from A-Class through to the GLE SUV. But it wasn’t bad enough to really bother me, as most of my time was on highways and backroads.

The steering is direct and accurate. The only thing you need to be aware of is that you will lose traction at the rear axle when you put your foot down hard. And for the enthusiast that’s exactly what you want. 

I know I want to feel the thing squirm under throttle. It’s a rear-drive V8 coupe, after all. You want to feel like you’re a vein in its bicep muscle; you know, the one you see in a weightlifter’s arms – the one that wiggles around a lot. You want to have that. Right?

On the performance front it is exceptional. Twist the little dial on the wheel to 'Sport' or 'Sport+' (I didn’t sample 'Race' mode as I wasn’t at a racetrack), and everything feels like it’s had a protein shake.

Even so, in that mode it steers brilliantly, there's a nice feel through the wheel, and the ride, while stiff, controls the body brilliantly when you change directions. 

The transmission is very good, too. In Comfort mode it can take just a second or two at first to become accustomed to the idea that you want to drive aggressively.

But in Sport mode, or when you select the manual transmission mode using the trigger button on the steering wheel, you will certainly get the most out of the engine. That’s what I did when I was driving it in a ‘spirited’ manner.

If you are just after that high-end Coupe cruiser experience, it’s a relatively quiet car (provided the surface below isn’t the coarsest of coarse-chip bitumen), with enough luxuriousness to make it feel premium as well as sporty. That’s an important thing to consider, especially at this price point.

There is no applicable ANCAP crash test rating for the Mercedes C-Class Coupe, nor is there one for the C 63 specification. But when it was tested back 2014, the sedan scored five stars - as you’d expect.

It is comprehensively equipped in terms of safety technology, including auto emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection (from 7.0km/h to 70km/h) and it’s active for cars from 7.0km/h to 250km/h.

Plus there’s lane departure warning and active lane keeping assistance (from 60km/h to 200km/h), blind spot monitoring with 'Active Blind Spot Assist' that will stop you from veering into oncoming traffic, front and rear cross traffic alert, and adaptive cruise control (Distronic) with traffic jam assist.

The C 63 also features 'Route Based Speed Adaptation', which can adjust your speed based on where the car thinks you are on the map. Just note - if you’re driving through new tunnels that haven’t been flashed to your car’s nav (as happened to me in Sydney during my testing week) - then you could find the car dramatically braking for surface-level intersections. You can switch the system off, thankfully.

There are nine airbags fitted, and while you mightn’t use the rear seats much there are ISOFIX and top tether points for both positions (yes, only two).

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.

Mercedes-Benz is among the minority of luxury brands now offering a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty plan - most still have three-year cover. So that’s a tick.

And the service intervals are pegged at 12 months/20,000km. Another tick.

Plus you can either pre-pay your service plan in three-year ($3800), four-year ($6000) or five-year ($6550) plans - roll it into the finance package, and it won’t hurt quite as much.

According to Mercedes, the three-year coverage option makes for a $900 discount over pay-as-you-go servicing.

Roadside assistance covers the five-year new car warranty period, too. So Mercedes seemingly takes good care of its customers. But if you have any concerns or questions over reliability, problems, issues or complaints about the C 63, check out our AMG C 63 problems page.