BYD Sealion 7 vs Isuzu NPR

What's the difference?

The BYD Sealion 7 Performance is well-priced and well-equipped. It more than holds its own against its mid-size electric SUV rivals. It has great motor outputs and it handles comfortably on the road. There's a lot to like here but some of the technology needs to be tweaked.

Driving a truck of this size has never been easier than it is with these new Isuzus. Once you’ve worked out how to judge gaps in traffic and have acclimatised to the bulk of a light truck, it’s all pretty straight-forward.

The greater levels of connectivity and safety in this generation of trucks is a big leap on the OH and S front, and there’s no trade-off in terms of the traditional practicalities trucks like these offer.

Our advice would be to option up the suspension driver’s seat and, where possible, look into the independent front suspension, too, as this gives the vehicle a more car-like feel in terms of both steering and ride quality.

Meantime, the option of the ready-to-work packages makes the whole idea of getting into a light truck all the more simple, fuss-free and financially attractive. Which are all things fleet managers around the world can agree on.

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

It may be named after a sea lion but it doesn’t resemble the blubbery cuteness of the creature itself. However, its sleek dynamic styling and performance outputs do call forth some of the creature's water prowess. 

This prowess is hinted at by the 20-inch alloys which are fitted with Michelin tyres and red brake calipers. There’s some Porsche-like design notes in the wide swoopy nose and LED headlights. The rear is also quite handsome with its long LED band strip and narrow window giving it a sporty silhouette.

Head inside and the Performance showcases the best BYD cabin I've sampled. There are no strange accents or panelling like there are in the Atto 3. This proves that BYD can do premium well.

The quilted leather upholstery feels supple underhand and the sports seats with integrated headrests reminds you what it can achieve in a sprint.

The swoopy design is carried over inside with the door panels. The dashboard is simply styled but headlined by an enormous 15.6-inch display that can rotate between landscape or portrait mode. Some may liken it to an iPad but it works.

The panoramic sunroof keeps things bright and cheerful but there are some simplistic elements that are hard to ignore. Like the lack of buttons, minimalist mirror cover design on the sunvisors and a rather plain-looking centre console.

Everything else flows and my favourite feature inside is surprisingly the lever door handles! They're functional but cute.

While it’s generally agreed that trucks trail cars and utes in terms of safety and connectivity, the latest N-Series trucks are aimed at reversing that trend. Lots of active safety gear has been added to the N-Series in the most recent upgrade and that’s led to a much safer vehicle.

The ability to connect Apple CarPlay and Android devices is also a major bonus this time around.

The other element unique to Isuzu is the ability for customers to order a fully-finished truck, rather than order the basic package from the truck manufacturer and then finding a third-party supplier for the body they need.

Isuzu calls it its ready-to-work option and it spans various types of bodies including a service body, conventional drop-side tray, enclosed van and even a tipper body. As an off-the-shelf alternative to the traditional way of ordering and specifying a truck, it’s a surprise nobody else has done it, although Isuzu’s volumes definitely play a part.

The cabin has space, space and then more space. Passenger comfort is all but guaranteed with the available leg- and headroom in each row.

The functions for the electric front seats means it's easy to find a comfortable position. Door apertures are wide for each row and despite a relatively low 140mm ground clearance, it's still an easy SUV to slide in and out of.

Technology looks great and the large 15.6-inch multimedia display is what catches your eye first. Graphics are sharply rendered and the touchscreen responsive. There's a lot of information and menus embedded into the display which means it's a system that will take you a beat to get used to.

It's not unique but the in-built voice assistant rarely works as it should and needs some work. Also, because of the lack of buttons and dials, all functions are accessed via the screen. I don't like this because it tends to draw your eyes from the road far more often than it should and some functions - like the heat and ventilation for the front seats - are buried in a few menus.

There is wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto but there are some gremlins that need to be ironed out. The connectivity is easy enough but the steering wheel mounted phone control didn't access Apple CarPlay. So, I couldn't hang up my phone call properly, it would instead access the Bluetooth phone menu and dial my last call. I had a few 'butt' dials this week because of it.

Storage is on par with the Performance rivals and up front the burden falls across the large glovebox and middle console but there is also a shelf underneath the centre console for bigger items, like a handbag. There are two phone cradles, although only one offers wireless charging, and two height-adjustable cupholders two drink bottle holders and small storage bins.

In the rear, you get two device pockets and a map pocket on the back of each front seat. There is a fold-down armrest with retractable cupholders and a small storage pocket (think Kindle-size) and there are storage bins in each door.

The boot capacity is a decent 500L and the floor can be adjusted to two heights, one offering a level loading space. There is also a frunk storage of 58L for any cables or random bits you don't use often. Under the boot floor there is also enough room for cables and the tyre repair kit. The powered tailgate can be access via your keyfob as well.

For a flagship grade, I would have expected a few extra amenities in the rear, like climate control and sunshades but it does have directional air vents, reading lights and a USB-A and C port.

Because they’re made to work first and foremost, the cabins of these 4.5-tonne trucks are roomy and offer plenty of storage space for clipboards, receipt books, Eskies and more.

As a workspace rather than simple transport, plenty of thought has gone into how they function for an eight-hour shift, too, and options like suspension driver’s seats will make a difference.

They’re a bit of a climb up, though, so getting in and out requires at least some measure of dexterity. But once you are in, the view through that huge, panoramic windscreen is fabulous and if you like the seat-height advantage of an SUV, you’ll love an N-Series truck.

Beyond that, the quality of the interior plastics still trails the car and ute world by a margin, and the hard plastic surfaces aren’t great to look at or engage with. By trucks standards, though, they’re on the money.

Trucks don’t necessarily represent huge value in technology terms, but when it comes to actual metal for the money, they claw back a bit of ground.

Isuzu’s 4.5-tonne GVM N-Series units start at $63,193 for the NSR 45-150 in ready-to-work Traypack form and fitted with the automatic transmission option. You can spend less by buying a bare cab-chassis version of the same truck which starts at $55,676 with the manual transmission.

At the other end of the 4.5-tonne GVM range sits the NPR 45-150 Servicepack which gets you the comprehensive service body, automatic transmission and bigger, 5.2-litre engine for a total of $103,691. In between those two extremes lie the rest of the range including every ready-to-work body, and transmission and engine options.

The big news this time around has been the addition of the active safety features detailed elsewhere in this review.

But for the end user, the bigger news will perhaps be the move to make Isuzu’s CoPilot touchscreen standard across all N-Series trucks.

With smart-phone mirroring, the 10.1-inch screen offers the chance to use Apple and Android apps as well as providing 32Gb of storage space, digital radio and interfacing with the reversing camera, sensors and four analogue cameras around the vehicle. Wireless phone charging is another new-to-N-Series feature.

The Performance is all-wheel drive and is fully electric with dual motors, a squirrel cage induction motor located at the front and a permanent magnet synchronous motor at the rear. Together they produce up to 390kW of power and 690Nm of torque.

This gives the flagship grade a 0-100km/h sprint time of just 4.5 seconds. There’s obviously ample power to be had here which will delight EV fans who like that tummy-falling sensation when accelerating.

The base engine for the N-Series trucks is a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel with 110kW of power and 375Nm of torque. Available across the short and mid-wheelbase N-Series models, the 3.0-litre engine is more or less the same engine as seen in the Isuzu D-Max ute range.

As such, it has a good reputation for durability and although there are some turbocharger and tuning changes compared with the D-Max, the basic engine is very similar.

There’s also a much more heavy-duty, truck-like engine option. That is also a four-cylinder unit, but with a massive 5.2 litres of capacity, it’s a real statement of intent. Although power is only marginally more than the 3.0-litre engine, at 114kW, torque is the big winner with 419Nm at just 1600rpm.

Typically fitted to N-Series models with the wider cabin, the 5.2-litre engine also shifts the GCM up a gear to 9000kg from 8000kg. The braked towing limit of the bigger-engined truck also jumps to 4500kg (from 4000kg).

The 3.0L trucks are fitted with either a conventional five-speed manual gearbox or a robotised six-speed manual (which operates like an automatic and is driven with just two pedals). The bigger engined versions have a choice of six-speed manual or six-speed robotised manual.

The Sealion 7 Performance has a blade battery with a large 82.56kWh capacity which supports a 456km WLTP driving range. This isn’t terrible for city drivers but a regional driver will likely want a longer range. BYD includes a portable charging cable with the model.

Charging is sorted via a Type 2 CCS charging port which accepts up to 11kW on an AC charger and up to 150kW on a DC charger. On a 150kW DC charger, you can go from 10 to 80 per cent in as little as 32 minutes and that increases to more than eight hours on an 11kW AC charger. All of the figures are quite good and help with the general day-to-day convenience.

The official energy consumption figure is 20.4 kWh per 100km but after doing a healthy mix of open-road driving and city stuff, my average has popped out at 19.1kWh. I reckon it's a solid result for a ‘performance’ grade but I didn’t find the regenerative braking to be particularly strong on this model.

The first thing to know is that vehicles in this weight class – unlike passenger cars and dual-cab utes - don’t have to undergo an official government test for fuel economy. So there’s no simple comparison to be made here.

Also, there are simply too many variables in truck fuel economy to make definitive statements. Unlike cars which are usually loaded to within a few hundred kilograms trip-to-trip, a truck’s mass can vary enormously from empty to fully loaded (and with what) and those circumstances will vary nearly every day.

Then there’s the issue of what body is fitted to the chassis. Obviously, a high van body will contribute a lot more drag at highway speeds than a low-line tray body.

With all that in mind, it’s impossible to generalise although you can expect fuel economy to increase the more you put on board or hitch to the tow-bar.

It’s also worth mentioning that Isuzu’s N-Series engines meet Euro 5 emissions standard for diesel engines. N-Series trucks have fuel tanks ranging from 75 to 100 litres.

The Performance grade offers plenty of power that is delivered wickedly quick without feeling overwhelming when you have to accelerate. You still feel in control, which is very important when you have outputs like this does.

The steering is responsive and light enough for quick lane changes. The general on-road handling is quite refined but there is more roll in corners than you’d expect and this is the only time the power can make the handling feel a tad wobbly.

Surprisingly, there isn't a one-pedal function and the regen braking isn’t particularly strong. It’s difficult to ‘creep’ forward in this in stop/start traffic where it can feel a bit jerky at times, so it handles best on the open road.

Visibility is mostly good but the rear window is narrow and a digital rear-view mirror would have been welcomed in this model. Suspension is sports-firm but forgiving over bigger bumps. 

The 360-degree view camera and surrounding sensors makes this super easy to park and honestly, you shouldn’t have any trouble manoeuvring the Sealion 7.

Although the sheer size of the Isuzu can be a bit daunting at first, once you’re in with the excellent side mirrors adjusted, it’s vastly less confronting.

The view to the front and sides is brilliant thanks to the deep glass and the high-and-mighty seating position is terrific for finding the corners of the vehicle, too.

You still need to understand that the length of the truck imposes some unconventional lines through corners, and leaving plenty of space between yourself and the insides of corners soon becomes second nature.

The seating position itself offers up a classic truck-like set-up with an upright seat-back and an almost flat steering wheel. It sounds terrible to car drivers but it’s not. It’s actually very comfortable for long stints at the helm.

Ride quality is compromised to an extent by the N-Series’ role as a hauler (and spring rates to suit that role) but the optional independent front suspension makes it a lot more comfy.

And even with the more traditional front suspension fitted, the fast steering makes the truck a lot more manoeuvrable than you might have imagined.

The biggest gripe for us was the transmission, specifically, the optional robotised manual six-speed. This unit really does hark back to the very early days of the technology (before the dual-clutch layout arrived) and the shifts are slow and stilted with a distinct lurch as the transmission swaps gears and engages the clutch.

You can improve things by lifting off the accelerator to initiate each shift, but fundamentally, modern dual-clutch transmissions do a much better job.

The other issue will be for drivers who like to left-foot brake in any vehicle with two pedals.

Unfortunately for them, the Isuzu places both pedals to the right of the big, almost vertical steering column with neatly cleaves the driver’s footwell in two, making left-foot braking impossible.

It’s generally agreed that trucks have, traditionally, been one or two generations behind passenger cars when it comes to safety equipment and technology.

That kind of changes now, and the N-Series (and other Isuzu models) features a whole raft of active and passive safety features that brings the light truck up to the standard of many road cars.

The newest tech is Isuzu’s ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) which incorporates tech such as autonomous emergency braking, lane-departure warning, traffic movement warning, distance warning and stability control. A stereo camera system combined with a radar unit is at the heart of the technology.

Other safety tech includes traction control, ABS brakes, speed limiter, hill-start assist, automatic lighting, driver and front passenger airbags and seat belt pretensioners.

What’s missing? Mainly side airbags and curtain air-bags for rear-seat passengers in the crew-cab models. Overall, though, the N-Series is setting new benchmarks for light-truck safety, acknowledging OH and S concerns across the industry.

The Sealion 7 is covered by a six-year/150,000km warranty which is good for the class. The battery is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty which is a normal term.

The Sealion 7 gets a 10-year capped price servicing but it’s expensive compared to some of its peers at $4157.

Servicing intervals are spaced at every 12 months or 20,000km, whichever occurs first.

Because trucks are designed to be used day in, day out, the warranty reflects that. In this case, it’s six years and 250,000km of factory cover for any two-wheel drive N-Series.

The four-wheel-drive variants are, due to the tasks they’re usually put to, covered for three years or 150,000km.

Isuzu also provides six years of roadside assistance. There’s also capped-price servicing on a pay-up-front basis although the cost varies between models.