Suzuki Fronx vs BYD Sealion 5

What's the difference?

If you’re considering a small car, particularly if an SUV is the goal, a Suzuki should in most cases be on the shopping list. Back-to-basics motoring is key to the brand’s identity. Its most popular model is a tiny ladder-frame 4X4, for example. Hi Jimny.

The Fronx doesn’t break new ground in any practical sense, but it does come in with a decent price and list of features that should sway plenty of small-car fans in the showroom.

It’s decent to look at, comfortable for the segment, and easy to get used to and drive. The numerical rating on this review betrays just how likeable the car is.

It’s not extremely refined and it starts to lose its dynamic shine on rough roads, but in an urban setting the Fronx should excel.

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

While the BYD Sealion 5 lacks the polish of some more established plug-in hybrids, it has a seriously compelling price advantage over some competitors. It makes a base-model Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV feel positively outdated and it’s $13,800 cheaper.

BYD's lack of ANCAP rating for the Sealion 5 and the uncertainty around it still being a new brand are downsides, even if BYD is quickly moving past the latter. But being the most affordable PHEV available while having this much showroom appeal is bound to work in the Sealion 5’s favour, just don’t expect a dynamic masterpiece once you’re out on the road.

‘Fronx’ as a name doesn’t exactly scream ‘cute’, but the little SUV has a pretty classically Suzuki design. This is not a complaint at all.

The Fronx is 3995mm long, 1765mm wide and 1550mm tall, but despite its diminutive dimensions the brand has opted to lean into a ‘coupe’ style with a sloping roofline that creates a relatively sporty look, especially for something with a two-digit power figure.

So while some of Suzuki’s designs have been divisive in Australia (Ignis, anyone?) the Fronx takes a slightly more conservative approach by leaning into more design trends than just the coupe-back SUV shape. 

For example, its tail-lights span the width of the tailgate rather than simply flanking the boot as was standard for decades.

The LED daytime running lights at the front are also arranged in a slim, high-up position with a set of headlights below.

Inside is arguably more conservative than out, as the Fronx goes with a fairly standard formula in terms of its layout, with few premium materials (the synthetic leather on the seats feels cheap for example) or adventurous design elements to be found.

But that’s not such a bad thing.

The BYD Sealion 5, from the outside, is inoffensive but also uninspiring. That’s likely not such a bad thing for a mid-size SUV – it’s rare you’re hearing someone talk about how beautiful the Mazda CX-5 or Toyota RAV4 is. 

Its quartet of colour palette options comes in on the safe side, too. Aurora White is standard, Atlantis Grey, Harbour Grey and Cosmos Black are cost-options.

Our test car is Atlantis Grey, which is interestingly quite blue. 

The relatively upright shape is a slight departure from the more ‘aquatic’ silhouettes of BYD’s line-up, but the front grille and light layout are decidedly in step with the brand’s oceanic design language. There’s a bit going on, you could say.

The slimline tail-lights are the rear, especially from a three-quarter angle to the side, look attractive and help break up the rear without looking messy.

The Sealion 5’s design is overall net-good, but it’s inside where the mid-sizer feels like you’re getting plenty for your dollar.

The seats, despite the leather fakery, feel like decent material, and the layout uses buttons and physical controls cleverly without feeling outdated.

Because for all the conservative, even outdated, styling in the cabin, the fact is it’ll be refreshingly familiar to someone who’s getting out of a car from perhaps even before the year 2000.

Suzuki’s place at the budget end of the new-car market means its customers are likely either quite young and buying their first new car, or relatively old and looking for a cheap, rarely used runabout as the ‘last car’.

For the former, a lack of techy distractions is paramount. For the latter, ease of use wins over cutting-edge tech in most cases. Which is why it’s probably okay that the Fronx’s multimedia touchscreen and software wouldn’t feel out of place almost a decade ago.

It can be a tad fiddly to use at speed, but it’s still more straightforward than the ‘iPad-like’ systems Tesla has made popular, and there are physical controls for important functions like climate control.

There’s also a row of ever-present haptic buttons for volume controls and navigation shortcuts.

The ergonomics of the interior are quite basic, but there are no red flags in terms of visibility, reach, or placement. 

The head-up display is a bonus, but the physical dials on the dash rather than a digital driver display are clear enough, despite again feeling nabbed from a time before head-up displays even existed. 

Space for the front passengers is decent, it’s not cavernous but it’s far from cramped. Elbow rests and seating positions allow for a relaxed ride.

The back seat is a slightly less comfortable place, but at 178cm I can sit behind my own seating position without my knees touching the seat in front, and my head has just enough space above to accommodate the top of a mullet.

Behind that, luggage capacity in the boot is 304 litres, or 605 litres with the rear 60/40 split seats folded.

There’s also no space-saver spare tyre, just a repair kit as standard.

To actually interact with the interior is, at times, another story. BYD’s tech interface is generally easy to manage, but could be simpler when it comes to navigating menus for the sake of driver distraction.

While larger text and buttons would be welcome, the multimedia system is easy to use when parked, and the functionality is impressive for the price point.

Winning more points for the Sealion 5, though, are the physical controls – buttons and the traditional gear selector – which make the cockpit much more intuitive while on the move.

Ergonomically, though, the adjustment between the steering wheel and driver’s seat could do with some work, as I found it difficult to find a truly comfortable driving position. This is coming from someone 178cm tall, a very normal height in Australia.

Better adjustability on the steering column would be helpful, as it’s something I’m not sure I’d ever get totally used to.

Visibility and physical space inside the Sealion 5 is impressive, though. The car is 4738mm long, 1869mm wide and 1710mm tall, and the roof and window lines don’t swoop too aggressively towards the rear.

There are low window shoulders even into the rear, so light isn’t at a premium, though under-leg support could be better on the pew.

It’s otherwise un-cramped. The 2712mm wheelbase means decent legroom for second-row folk, plus behind the 60/40 split-fold seats there’s 463 litres of space for luggage. That becomes 1410L with the seats folded.

There’s unfortunately no spare tyre, just a tyre repair kit.

The BYD Sealion 5 Essential kicks off from $33,990 before on-road costs, four big ones less than the Premium ($37,990). We’re focusing on the Essential today, but don’t think that means a shallow list of features.

As you’d expect from BYD if you’ve been paying attention to the Chinese brand in its emergent years, the Sealion 5 comes with more than $34K would normally get you – a 10.1-inch central multimedia touchscreen, an 8.8-inch driver display, synthetic leather upholstery, dual-zone climate, a six-speaker sound system, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, USB-A and -C ports front and rear, digital radio and keyless entry.

On the outside, LED headlights and tail-lights are the same for both variants.

Both also have 18-inch wheels, not unwelcome for the benefits of on-road comfort.

Consider that the most popular SUV in the country, the Toyota RAV4, costs at least $45,990 without the benefit of a plug-in drivetrain (yet) and comes with, on paper, a more sparse list of features.

The closest PHEV competitors are still more pricey, including the Geely Starray ($37,490) and Chery Tiggo 7 ($39,990), and arguably lack the brand power BYD has come to enjoy.

The Fronx is powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine with mild-hybrid assistance, driving the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission. 

Its outputs are quoted at 76kW and 137Nm, not exactly high-grade stuff and part of the reason the Fronx feels like it takes more than 10 seconds to hit 100km/h.

The Sealion 5’s front wheels are driven by a combined maximum of 156kW thanks to a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine (145kW/300Nm) and a permanent magnet synchronous motor (72kW/122Nm).

BYD claims a 0-100km/h sprint of 7.7 seconds for the Sealion 5 Essential, four tenths faster than the Premium despite only a 61kg difference in kerb weight.

Suzuki claims fuel consumption at 4.9L/100km. With its 37-litre fuel tank, the Fronx should be able to manage more than 600km on a single tank, though theoretically its maximum range given its claimed fuel efficiency is 755km.

With a charged 12.9kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery and a full 52-litre (95 RON minimum) fuel tank, BYD reckons the Sealion 5 Essential can cover 1001km under NEDC testing, which is optimistic. It claims 71km can be done on EV power alone.

Not only due to the lenient nature of NEDC testing (WLTP is more common and usually results in lower ranges), but the reality is that once the battery is flat, the engine is doing a lot more work.

Charging is slow, limited to 3.3kW (AC only), which should take between 4 and 5 hours to charge from the lower end of the gauge for the battery size. Given most PHEV owners will do this overnight at home, that’s certainly not the end of the world.

Claimed consumption figures are 1.2L/100km with more than 25 per cent battery charge, or 4.5L/100km when it dips below that.

Realistically you could do sub-50km trips and use no fuel, or never plug your Sealion 5 in and see fuel consumption soar. In any case, anything close to 1001km in a single run is extremely unlikely.

How you plan to use the Fronx will make a big difference in whether what you’re about to read is a good thing or not. 

The Fronx is a light SUV for a start, so expecting brilliant handling, effortless acceleration and a dead-quiet cabin is going to mean you’re disappointed.

But if you want something easy, engaging and fun, the Fronx might work for you.

Our brief test loop wasn’t entirely indicative of what the Fronx is likely to face day-to-day. With limited time and no preset drive program, the roads within a 20-or-so minute drive of Nagambie, Victoria had to suffice.

The Fronx fared well on the average road, it turned out, with the 1064kg Suzuki managing to feel planted enough to hurl along 100km/h back-roads without complaints. It rides on the same platform used recently by the Suzuki Baleno, something I’ll admit to not having driven.

The rougher roads didn’t faze the light SUV too much, though consistently uneven surfaces made it feel unsettled in some cornering.

Its steering and suspension give enough feedback to make the right inputs easily, though the nature of its light weight and minimal accoutrement in terms of driver assistance make the Fronx feel very rudimentary from the driver’s seat.

At low speeds around the centre of town, the Fronx manages the state’s terrible roads well, though taking off from intersections can be laborious. Much like overtaking, the drivetrain will complain.

And don’t expect its mild hybrid system to do a lot in the way of hard work - or any work at all, really. You could take the hybrid badge off the car, let someone have a drive, and they’d be none the wiser.

From the limited observations on the launch, the Fronx would feel best at home in suburbia or a metropolitan centre more so than on the Hume Highway or the towns dotted alongside it.

Essentially, this is not a refined road trip car for the highway, but its no-fuss approach to getting around means you shouldn’t be surprised if you start seeing them in the car parks at universities or bowls clubs.

You might expect a car at this price, regardless of its drivetrain, to be underwhelming from behind the wheel.

That, then, makes it even more pleasantly surprising that the BYD Sealion 5 is actually rather competent. Not massively exciting or dynamic, but certainly not a disappointment.

The Sealion 5 is, save for a couple of arguably minor annoyances, quite easy to get used to and drive.

Firstly, when making proper use of its electric power, the drivetrain provides enough shove for its intended use. It’s not overly powerful, but you won’t have trouble overtaking. It’s the same with most of the inputs, the steering is light but not completely numb – again about right for how the Sealion 5 will be driven.

Perhaps its biggest departure from expectations based on other cars from China is its suspension is on the stiffer side of things, but again it’s not unruly or too rugged. In fact, it does provide a better sense of control than many of its compatriots.

Again, the biggest issue with the Sealion 5 day-to-day is its driving position, the steering column adjustment isn’t up to scratch and there’s not really a perfectly comfortable seating position (I’m a very standard 178cm).

On long trips, you might also find the engine gets quite noisy once the battery power is gone as it works hard to pull the mid-size SUV along under acceleration.

Its driver-assist systems are, you might be pleased to hear, on the calmer side of things – BYD is getting better at calibrating its safety features and I didn’t find myself rushing to switch it all off as quickly as usual.

It can still be a bit too persistent in its lane-keeping, but it’s a big improvement on the way things were.

There’s no ANCAP rating for the Sealion 5, but the list of safety kit isn’t lacking on paper.

BYD lists seven airbags ,including full-length side-curtain bags and an important centre airbag, plus there’s a whole suite of tech that’s, as noted, better behaved than past driver-assist systems from BYD.

The Essential only misses out on a surround-view parking camera and front parking sensors, both arguably important safety features for parents, but the rest of the list is the same as the Premium including adaptive cruise control, lane-keep and lane departure assist, traffic sign recognition, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert with rear AEB (as well as front AEB, of course) and tyre pressure monitoring.

Suzuki has a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty for its new cars, which is a little behind the curve compared to many budget-friendly brands these days. 

Suzuki does have a five-year servicing schedule, with intervals every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first. Total cost is $2005 over the five years, with services averaging $401, which is not particularly cheap.

BYD has a six-year/150,000km warranty, which is probably more than you’d need in terms of distance but is behind many competitor brands’ timelines – seven to 10 years is becoming the norm, even if it’s conditional.

An eight-year/160,000km warranty covers the battery, which is about par for the industry.

Servicing for the first five proper services ranges from between $285 and $930, plus there's a free check-up six months into ownership and a total cost over the span of $2355 – an average of $471 per service.

BYD has just over 100 dealerships in Australia, so finding one for servicing shouldn’t be too challenging.