Mercedes-Benz GLC300 vs BYD Dolphin

What's the difference?

The GLC300 Coupe isn't quite as great when it comes to being a family car as the regular SUV version of the GLC, and that's purely down to the sloping roofline which not only makes access more difficult to the second row but reduces boot capacity.

That said, the GLC300 Coupe makes a much better family car than a Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan, or any sedan.

Easy and enjoyable to drive, packed with great features and still practical, the GLC300 Coupe would still cut it as a good family car.

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.

Coupe SUVs aren’t for everybody… they’re not even for lots of people. But the design of an SUV with its roof cut down so that it meets the tailgate at an almost sportscar-like angle appeals to more than a few fans. The thing is they don’t just like the look, they love it, and they also probably enjoy how much the styling makes other people cranky.

To my eyes the GLC300 Coupe is the best execution of the bodystyle compared to those of BMW and Audi. There’s an elegance to the GLC300 Coupe and the AMG-line adds a tough look that only enhances the solid, powerful but pretty look.

The GLC Coupe is a mid-sized SUV and this new generation model is a bit bigger the previous one and now measures 31mm longer at 4763mm end to end, it’s 1890mm wide, 1605mm tall and has a wheelbase of 2888mm.

It’s also more aerodynamic than ever. No seriously, it’s drag coefficient is now 0.27 and it looks like a bar of soap - and it's about as slippery as one, too.

More curved surfaces await inside with a dashboard that pours down into the large centre console and it's adorned with a sloping and large portrait-style media screen. 

At night or in tunnels the ambient lighting glows through the air vents and skirts the edges of the door trims, console and dashboard.

It’s a minimalist and high-tech cockpit with modern sports seats up front and a Nappa leather wrapped steering wheel with its twin blade design.  

So, how does the coupe design work for family practicality? Let’s take a look.

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.

SUVs are the most practical cars for families because of the better access to the cabin thanks to their large doors and slightly elevated ride height, their big boots with wide and tall hatch openings and their high flat rooflines. They’re essentially raised station wagons.

A coupe-style SUV still has four doors but they are less boxy due to the sloping roofline which falls away quickly to meet the tailgate at a lower point. The effect is a sporty-looking shape but practicality is lost in this exercise of form over function.

The second row doorways aren’t as large as those on the regular SUV. I did a side-by-side test and felt like I had to duck under the sloping roof when getting out of the back seat.

The smaller opening also made it trickier to lift my toddler daughter into her baby seat.

The sidesteps are also surprisingly handy for bigger kids and my eight-year-old used them every time when climbing into the car.

Cabin storage is outstanding with huge door pockets and cupholders in both rows, and while the 545-litre boot in the GLC300 Coupe is 80 litres smaller than the cargo capacity of the regular GLC SUV, it's bigger than the previous version of the Coupe.

As for people space, there’s enough headroom for me at 189cm tall in the back seat and heaps of legroom, even behind my driving position.

I’ve mentioned the lack of climate control in the second row, but also should point out that there are no USB ports back there either.

There are USB ports in the big centre console box upfront and a long cord should be able to make it to the second row. 

There’s a wireless phone charger but it's housed in the bowels of the centre console too, and you’ll need to weave your hand while clasping the phone under the shiny black trapdoor, past the cupholders possibly with drinks in them and almost under the dashboard.

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.

Yep. This is the new cheapest electric car you can buy in Australia. This title is a frequently moving target, but again, at the time of writing, the entry-level Dolphin variant, at $38,890, before on-road costs and state-based incentives, undercut the MG4 by just $100, and the GWM Ora by $1100.

Importantly, its starting price is now in the realm of relevant combustion rivals. For similar money, you can hop into a high-spec Corolla (ZR Hybrid $39,100) for example, so this is the first time electric cars have become so affordable for the average consumer.

There are two Dolphin variants for now. The entry-level Dynamic, and the top-spec Premium. Both share more or less the same standard equipment levels, although they are differentiated by having different battery sizes and electric motor outputs.

You can’t talk electric car value without talking range, but thankfully, despite its low price, the Dolphin delivers on this front.

The base car scores a 44.9kWh battery, granting it a 340km WLTP-certified driving range, while the top-spec Premium ups this to a 60.5kWh unit, delivering a more substantial 427km range.

The entry battery is more than enough for city commuters, while the larger battery is enough to suit intercity freeway drives.

There are also plenty of longer-range EVs on the market, the Polestar 2 and Tesla Model 3 being chief among them, but for a vehicle at this price and in this market segment, the Dolphin is a huge improvement on some mainstream offerings, like the Mazda MX-30 and Nissan Leaf which can’t offer the same price-to-value ratio.

A lot of BYD’s ability to provide such an appealing price and driving range is down to its battery technology.

Unlike other automakers which need to buy batteries from suppliers, BYD designs and builds its own batteries, using an LFP chemistry which is cheaper and uses fewer scarce materials while offering economies of scale as well as the exact right size and form factor for its vehicles.

If this leaves you thinking the Dolphin must be sub-par when it comes to standard inclusions, you can think again, because this car also delivers with 16-inch alloys, LED headlights and tail-lights, a massive 12.8-inch multimedia touchscreen with built-in nav as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, a wireless phone charger, electrical adjust and heating for the front seats, keyless entry with push-start ignition, climate control, and a comprehensive suite of active safety items.

Not bad at all, and the interior blend of neoprene and synthetic leather feels a bit nicer than the base MG4's cabin, for example.

The Dolphin might be as cheap as it gets when it comes to an electric car, but the value on offer here speaks for itself.

The GLC300 Coupe has a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine making 190kW of power and 400Nm of torque.

There’s also an overboost function which allows the engine to make an extra 17kW and 200Nm just for a brief moment, but that extra dollop of grunt combined with the regular output provides impressive acceleration (0-100km/h in about 6.3 seconds) for overtaking or moving quickly when you need to.

A smooth nine-speed automatic transmission sends the drive to all-four wheels.

The GLC300 Coupe is all-wheel drive and while there’s a setting for rougher terrain, along with one for comfort, eco and sport, but I’d make sure that it doesn’t get any more adventurous than tame gravel and dirt roads.

Mercedes-Benz refers to the GLC300 Coupe as a mild hybrid and this is because it has a 48-volt system and an integrated starter-generator.

This type of hybrid doesn’t use electric motors, doesn’t drive the wheels and won’t save much fuel, but it will provide efficiencies by supporting the engine and when coasting, plus will reduce petrol consumption to a small degree.

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.

As we mentioned above the GLC300 Coupe's 48-volt mild hybrid system is not the kind of hybrid that will allow you to drive miles on electric power, nor will it dramatically reduce fuel consumption in the way a parallel, series or plug-in hybrid will. But every bit of efficiency helps.

Mercedes-Benz says the GLC300 Coupe will use 7.7L/100km after a combination of open and urban roads. 

We had the GLC300 Coupe for just two days, but in that time my family covered 176km of regular daily usage which took in motorways but mainly suburban duties such as the school run, supermarket dashes, that sort of thing.

In our fuel test we measured 14.48 litres at the fuel pump which works out to be an on-test fuel use figure of 8.2L/100km and not far off the manufacturer’s claim. 

While this fuel consumption isn’t overly high, a plug-in hybrid or even a parallel or series hybrid could return about 5.0L/100km or less.

Mercedes-Benz has dropped plug-in hybrids from its Australian range which is a shame because it would be good to see more efficient options in the GLC range. Of course if you want more efficiency from a Benz of the same size, there is always the fully electric EQB or EQC.

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.

There’s a lot to like here but the short version is the GLC300 Coupe has a comfortable ride, but good handling, with a responsive engine, although rear visibility through the small back window is poor.

If we drill down a bit further I can tell you that excellent cameras around the car will help you check to make sure kids aren’t running around behind you and that forward and side visibility through the window is good.

An important takeaway is that the GLC300 Coupe is easy to drive with light steering and an engine that’s mild and controlled in its power delivery.

The gear shifter is mounted on the steering column, in the same way an indicator lever is. So putting the car into Drive, Reverse and Park is so easy and means you don’t have to take your hands off the steering wheel. 

As a family car I liked the good body control and composed ride. We have a small toddler that we can sometimes only get to sleep by taking her for a drive and we found that she could nod off and not be woken by potholes and speed bumps or too much leaning in the corners. 

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.

The Dolphin was recently awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating and is equipped with seven airbags and a robust list of active safety gear.

There’s auto emergency braking, lane keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, driver attention alert, rear cross-traffic alert, front cross-traffic alert, traffic sign recognition, and adaptive cruise control.

It’s one thing to have great active safety items, it’s quite another to calibrate them well so they don’t interfere with the driving experience.

The Dolphin does okay on this front. I found the lane keep system could occasionally be alarmingly heavy-handed, although it activates less than the very annoying system on my Haval Jolion long-termer.

The pre-collision alert also triggered several times due to parked cars on the side of the road, but turning down the sensitivity seemed to solve this problem.

Also included is an excellent 360-degree camera suite, ISOFIX points on the rear outboard seats, a ‘child presence detection’ system, which apparently sounds a warning if you leave a child in the back seat, and turns the air conditioning on if you ignore it, and there's even a tyre pressure monitoring system to top it off.

The GLC300 is covered by Mercedes-Benz's five-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty. 

Services are annually or every 25,000km. And you can buy a three-year service plan for about $3000.

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.