BYD Dolphin review

Is the BYD Dolphin a good car? 

The BYD Dolphin is one of the best-value electric hatchbacks around. It doesn’t feel like a low-cost product thanks to its pleasant interior and impressive battery, but aggressive finance packages mean that it undercuts most other EVs when it comes to monthly costs. It’s not all that great to drive, but it is reasonably comfortable and has enough space in the cabin to work as a family car. Rivals like the Fiat 600e and MG4 are more fun and stylish, but if you don’t care about that, the Dolphin is the pragmatic choice.

How much does the BYD Dolphin cost? 

The BYD Dolphin range has four trim levels: Active, Boost, Comfort and Design. The entry-level car starts at around the £26,000 mark, and prices rise to just under £32,000 for the top-spec car, with the best-value versions being the Comfort and Design trim levels because they bring more kit for not much extra outlay.

The entry-level Active includes a 44.9kWh battery with 211 miles of range, a 12.8-inch infotainment screen, faux-leather upholstery, metallic paint and 16-inch alloy wheels. Boost trim boosts performance to 174bhp, increases the wheel size to 17 inches, and offers slightly quicker 11kW AC charging – although you’ll need access to an equally capable charger to take advantage of this, and not every home charger supports this. 

Spend a bit more, and the Comfort model comes with a 60.4kWh battery and a more potent 201bhp front-mounted motor that brings the range up to 265 miles on a single charge. This trim also has automatic folding mirrors, heated front seats, rear USB ports and an upgraded stereo. Meanwhile, the top-spec Design adds a panoramic sunroof, tinted windows, a wireless phone charging pad, and some tri-colour alloy wheels.

It’s not much fun to drive, but the BYD Dolphin is comfortable enough for daily use

There are three powertrain combinations in the BYD Dolphin. You can choose the entry-level model with a 94bhp motor and a 44.9kWh battery, or a 174bhp car in ‘Boost’ trim with the same battery size. The two higher-spec models in the range use a 201bhp motor alongside a 60kWh battery, giving greater range and faster acceleration.

Base versions are quite slow as electric cars go, taking 12.3 seconds to go from 0-62mph, which is longer than the cheaper Citroen e-C3 and entry-level Vauxhall Corsa Electric. The more powerful Boost trim does the same sprint in a swifter 7.5 seconds, while the 201bhp Comfort and Design trims cut this down to 7.0 seconds. You can easily provoke wheelspin in the latter 201bhp version if you press the pedal too hard at a standing start. 

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s all that much fun; it’s just a useful amount of additional power to help get up to speed faster when needed. As with most electric cars, the motor is very quiet – there’s a typical whine, but it’s all in the background and isn’t so intrusive that it stops the Dolphin from being relaxing to drive.

Since it’s an electric car, there aren’t any gearbox options; it’s all done using a single-speed gearbox, so driving in traffic is very easy. 

What is the BYD Dolphin like to drive?

In town

The soft suspension means the BYD Dolphin is comfortable when driving over speed bumps and potholes in the road. It stays nice and smooth in traffic, and the cabin is well-insulated, so it’s hushed inside at low speeds.

On A- and B-roads

The car’s squidgy suspension and high weight mean its composure falls apart on twisty country roads. There’s very little fun to be had because the controls don’t feel enjoyable to use, and you need to be careful around corners due to a lot of body lean.

We also found the electronic stability control to be over-zealous and intrusive if you ask for swift acceleration in certain situations. It can deliver the power of even the most potent version in a straight line, but around corners, it doesn’t feel like it has the traction of more sophisticated-feeling rivals.

On the motorway

At motorway speeds, the BYD suffers from road and wind noise. In our long-term test car, we found that the wind noise was especially bad, requiring us to turn up the music to drown it out. The ride feels comfortable on the motorway, though, and the soft suspension means rough sections of road aren’t an issue.

Engines, 0-60 acceleration and top speed

The entry-level BYD Dolphin has a 94bhp motor and a 45kWh battery, but there’s also a 174bhp car with the same battery. Top-spec cars have a 201bhp motor and a 60kWh battery. All Dolphin models come with front-wheel drive.

The base 94bhp version is relatively slow compared with most EVs, taking 12.3 seconds to go from 0-62mph, but all the other versions are more than fast enough for a family car. The 174bhp Boost can do the same 0-62mph dash in 7.5 seconds, while the 201bhp Comfort and Design trims trim this down to 7.0 seconds. You can easily provoke wheelspin in the latter if you press the pedal too hard at a standing start.

Despite being available with a bigger battery, the heavy BYD Dolphin has similar electric range to its rivals

If you choose the entry-level BYD Dolphin, you get a 94bhp motor and a 44.9kWh battery pack. The mid-spec Boost version changes the motor to a more powerful one, while top-spec Comfort and Design versions come with an even more powerful motor and a 60.4kWh battery pack. 

BYD has its own design for the batteries called “Blade”, as the brand was primarily a battery maker before it branched into making cars. The benefit of this is that the Dolphin in 60.4kWh form has more capacity than rivals like the Fiat 600e. The downside is that this also adds weight, so the electric range figure is on par with lighter rivals since efficiency takes a slight hit. During our testing, we’ve achieved an efficiency rating of around four miles per kWh, which is pretty average for an electric car in 2024.

Electric range, battery life and charge time

The entry-level car has a range of 211 miles on a single charge from its 44.9kWh battery pack, while the bigger 60.4kWh battery affords up to 265 miles of range. The smaller 44.9kWh battery takes a little over seven hours to fully recharge from flat using a 7.4kW home wallbox charger, while the bigger 60.4kWh pack takes around 10 hours. 

The smaller battery pack has a maximum charging speed of 65kW, allowing for a 10 to 80 per cent top-up time of nearly 40 minutes. To maintain a similar 10 to 80 per cent charging time with the bigger 60.4kWh pack, the maximum charging speed is increased to 88kWs.

Tax

As with all electric cars (at least until 2025), annual VED costs nothing, plus company car tax is far more affordable than a petrol or diesel car. Affordable company car tax is one of the biggest incentives for choosing an electric vehicle because Benefit-in-Kind (BiK) rates are currently at two per cent.

Insurance groups

The entry-level Active trim starts in insurance group 23 (one less than the entry-level Renault Megane E-Tech), while the Boost trim goes up to group 31. Both the Comfort and Design trims are in insurance group 33.

Our example insurance quote came back as £764 for the BYD Dolphin Design, which is very high despite its relatively reasonable group 33 rating. This compares unfavourably with the rival Fiat 600e La Prima in group 26, which had a quote of £487 for the same driver.

Depreciation

Our experts predict that the BYD Dolphin will retain around 54 to 58 per cent of its value after three years or 36,000 miles, which is really impressive – a similar MG4 will only hold on to about 44 per cent of its value in the same period. 

To get an accurate valuation for a specific model, check out our free car valuation tool...

The cabin looks higher quality than the price might suggest, and the rotating screen is a neat feature

Some of the Dolphin test cars we’ve tried have come with fantastic blue and red interior colours, but – for now at least – BYD isn’t offering these choices for sale. Your only choice is a more grown-up black and grey interior. We like the top-spec Design model’s panoramic sunroof because it helps to keep the interior from feeling too dark.

We found the seats in the front to be an odd shape. Some testers found that the headrest, which isn’t adjustable, seemed to be pushed too far forward, requiring the backrest to be adjusted to an uncomfortable position to compensate for this. It might be an issue for some buyers, so try before you buy.

What is the BYD Dolphin like inside?

The materials inside aren’t any more premium than rival models like the Fiat 600e, but BYD has done a great job of making them look more attractive. Even in places where hard plastic is used, the texture looks like denim. The cabin has some physical buttons, but they’re not as comprehensive as we’d like. For example, the climate system is controlled through the touchscreen.

What is the interior quality like? 

While the materials look good, they’re of similar quality to more budget-oriented family EVs like the MG4 and Fiat 600e when you look closer, and the build quality is about the same as well. You’ll find the cabin of a Peugeot E-208 is a bit more luxurious, even though it’s a smaller car.

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment 

The big selling point of the BYD Dolphin is its 12.8-inch touchscreen infotainment system. It has a fun gimmick: you can press a button to rotate the entire screen from portrait to landscape at any time. It’s not all that easy to come up with a reason why this is useful, but it’s a good party trick.

The system is good to use because the large screen is easy to see and is responsive to inputs. There are climate controls within relatively easy access, but we prefer to have actual buttons for making small adjustments instead of fiddling with a screen, which can be distracting while driving.

Standard features include a DAB radio, Bluetooth, 4G connectivity for ten years, sat-nav, voice control, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. A wireless phone charging pad is only fitted to top-spec models, but there are USB-C ports in the front for charging devices. You will have to go for the top model to have USB-C charging ports in the rear, though.

Luggage space isn’t a highlight, but there’s plenty of room for people in the BYD Dolphin

The BYD Dolphin is a five-door family hatchback, about the size of a Volkswagen Golf or Ford Focus. Its electric rivals are the Volkswagen ID.3 and MG4, as well as more SUV-like options like the Fiat 600e.

All versions are the same size no matter what trim you pick because there’s no raised-up SUV-lite version or lowered sporty model in the range. Boot space stays the same no matter which model you choose since the 45kWh and 60kWh battery packs don’t compromise interior space.

Dimensions and size

The BYD Dolphin is 4.3m long, 1.77m wide and 1.57m high, so it’s bigger than a Fiat 600e. It’s slightly longer and taller than a Volkswagen ID.3 but not quite as wide. It may be BYD’s smallest car, but it’s not a supermini like the Peugeot E-208 and Vauxhall Corsa Electric, which are both smaller and more cramped inside.

How practical is the BYD Dolphin?

Seats & space in the front

The front seats are an odd shape, and some of our testers found them to be a bit uncomfortable, so you should sit in them before you buy a Dolphin to check if they work for you. There’s plenty of space up front for two adults.

Seats & space in the back

The Dolphin’s back seats are comfortable, with lots of legroom and headroom, so it’s ideal for families. Kids will have no issues fitting in the back seats, and even adults will find it pretty comfy. Three ISOFIX child seat mounting points are standard, so finding a position for a car seat will be no problem. There's one on the front passenger seat and two on the outer positions of the rear bench, and the fixing points in the back are easy to locate through large plastic openings.

Boot space

The BYD Dolphin has a 345-litre boot with the rear seats in place, which can be expanded to 1,310 litres with the 60/40 split rear seats folded down. This is quite a bit smaller than the Volkswagen ID.3, which is considered one of the less roomy cars in its class, and could be an issue if you have a large buggy to carry. If you spend more on something like a Renault Megane E-Tech, you’ll find a much more spacious boot. 

However, models around the same price as the BYD have less space, such as the supermini Peugeot E-208 (311 litres).

It’s too soon to make a call on reliability, but a six-year warranty shows BYD is confident about its cars

The BYD Dolphin and the BYD brand are too new to have appeared in the latest Driver Power customer satisfaction survey. We’ll have to wait to hear more from owners about what it's like to run a Dolphin, so if you buy one after reading our review, please submit your experiences to our survey to help future owners out.

Safety is good because all versions of the Dolphin come with plenty of safety kit; you don’t need to upgrade to a high-spec model to get all the latest tech. A 360-degree camera with parking sensors is standard, along with lane assist, blind spot monitoring and autonomous emergency braking (AEB). You also get traffic sign recognition and speed limit assist technology on all models.

Euro NCAP gave the car a five-star rating in 2023, scoring 89 for adult protection and 87 for child protection. Safety assist was rated at 79, which is a little behind the Smart #3 tested at the same time.

Warranty

BYD offers an excellent six-year warranty for the whole car, which covers all the normal things for up to 93,750 miles. That sounds like an odd figure, but it’s just the converted 150,000km figure used for Europe.

There’s also an eight-year warranty for the drive unit and the same for the battery, although the battery cover gets an even longer mileage limit of 125,000 miles. The body is covered for 12 years against rust, plus four years’ worth of breakdown cover included.

Servicing

Servicing is required every 24 months or 20,000 miles, whichever comes first. That’s typical of an electric car, although the Volkswagen ID.3 has a two-year, unlimited mileage service interval, which might be worthwhile to high-mileage drivers.

BYD offers a service plan for initial owners to manage the cost of maintenance.

BYD Dolphin alternatives 

The BYD Dolphin is the brand's smallest model, below the BYD Atto 3 SUV and BYD Seal saloon. It’s a hatchback and uses electric power only, so it’s a rival for models such as the Citroen e-C4, Fiat 600e, and Volkswagen ID.3, as well as higher-spec versions of electric superminis like the Peugeot E-208 and Vauxhall Corsa Electric. The MG4 is another hatchback EV focused on value, and it’s worth considering if you fancy something sharper to drive than the Dolphin.

BYD Dolphin long-term test

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Our senior sub-editor, Andy Pringle, lived with the BYD Dolphin for six months as part of our long-term test fleet. Andy was quickly impressed by the BYD's practicality, technology and low starting price, and this combination convinced him that the brand’s future in the UK is a bright one.

BYD’s battery expertise was evident in the Dolphin, too, with Andy managing to achieve over 200 miles of real-world range between charges. You can read the full long-term test here…