New BYD Dolphin Surf Comfort review: the best BYD yet

Verdict

The Dolphin Surf is the smallest and most affordable BYD to reach UK shores, and in many ways, it’s the most convincing model in its range. For such a small car, it’s both impressively spacious and comfortable, with strong equipment levels and competitive pricing relative to the recent influx of new European competition. If it wasn't for the likes of the Citroen e-C3 and Renault 5, we’d be singing its praises even more, but those cars offer a more sophistication to the drive - particularly in terms of powertrain calibration - and better functionality inside to keep the Dolphin Surf off the top of the class.

This is the BYD Dolphin Surf, the latest marine mammal-themed electric car to emerge from the Chinese brand, and one which will look to ride the wave of success churned up by its existing range mates. 

The newcomer is the smallest model from BYD to reach UK shores, and with that small stature comes a very small price; a starting figure of just £18,650 is a few hundred quid less than the base petrol-powered Renault Clio. It’s the latest small car to prove that electric’s price parity with petrol is inching ever closer. 

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BYD is pitching the car at the B-segment; which due to the recent arrival of the likes of the Renault 5, Citroen e-C3 and Fiat Grande Panda, has all of a sudden blossomed with a great selection of capable and likeable small electric cars. That starting price is much lower than the more premium slant that the Renault 5 is taking, and it’s currently a good deal lower than the £22,095 that gets you on board with e-C3 ownership.

For that cash, the powertrain specs are fairly modest, however. That headline figure is for the Active, complete with a 30kWh battery - good for an official range of 137 miles, and an 87bhp electric motor. That’s enough for on-paper acceleration to match the e-C3 – 0-62mph takes 11.1 seconds. 

However, to get specs to run the Citroen close, buyers will need to step up to the Boost. This gets a big uptick in range to 200 miles, thanks to a 43.2kWh battery. It’s driven by the same motor (which due to the heavier battery, dulls the performance slightly compared with the Active), and at £21,950, prices are very close to the entry-level e-C3. 

The model we’re driving here is the £23,950 Comfort model. This uses the Boost’s 43.2kWh battery but it drives a more powerful 154bhp e-motor. This trims the 0-62mph time down to 9.1 seconds, but also knocks seven miles off the official range. 

Step inside, and it really feels like the Dolphin Surf is cracking value for money for that asking price. Equipment levels are extremely generous throughout the range; rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, keyless entry and go, adaptive cruise control and three Isofix mounting points are standard on every model. In addition to the larger battery, the Boost adds electrically adjustable front seats and 16-inch alloy wheels in place of the Active’s 15-inch steel items, while the Comfort benefits from LED headlights, a 360-degree parking camera and wireless smartphone charging. 

All versions also get a 7.2-inch digital driver’s display and a 10-inch touchscreen – the latter feature’s BYD’s signature rotating feature, which sees the screen spin 90 degrees to offer both portrait and landscape layouts - although in the former we found that, if you’re wearing polarised sunglasses on a sunny day, the information on the screen almost completely disappears, making a slightly gimmicky feature even less useful. 

BYD has listened to feedback from reviews and existing owners, though, leading to fixes of quite a few of our previous criticisms of the infotainment set-up. Where the native system would completely disappear when Android Auto or Apple CarPlay were connected, now the main control bar along the bottom remains, so it’s still possible to access the menu and make climate control tweaks. The keys are still small and fiddly to control the temperature, but now a three-finger swipe up or down the screen can adjust that, while a three-finger gesture across can change the fan speed. We found this worked really well in practice. However, there’s still no physical button to defog the back window, and the on-screen key is buried in the climate menu – all the more of a hassle when the Dolphin Surf doesn't have a rear window wiper.

The cabin itself looks fairly smart and inoffensive, with a level of finish that feels on a par with its European rivals. Interior storage is a little limited, though, and a couple of people of varying body types noted that the front seats aren’t the most supportive if you’re sitting down for more than 45 minutes or so.

Interior space is excellent, however. Rear knee room is much more generous than the Renault 5, and even has the spacious Citroen beaten, although it can't quite match the latter’s excellent headroom. With those rear quarters designed strictly for two, the Dolphin Surf’s versatility is limited somewhat, but on the plus side it does mean that shoulder room is great for the two people sitting back there. A 308-litre boot volume is fine, but the shape – both due to intrusions on the floor and the angle of the opening – is a little awkward.

Limit the drives to shorter urban trips, and the Dolphin Surf has plenty to recommend it. The compact size – at a shade under four metres long, it’s about the same length as a Renault 5 – and lofty driving position – but at 1,590mm tall it’s slightly higher than the e-C3 – make it a doddle to drive around town. But it’s the steering lock that really helps it come to its own; a turning circle of just 9.9 metres lets the Dolphin Surf perform U-turns where rivals will leave the driver twiddling the wheel during a clumsy three-point turn. The ride is smooth and overall refinement is good for a car of this size, too, if not quite at the level of the very best in the class. The same goes for the handling; we welcome BYD’s decision to fit some decent Hankook tyres in place of the awful Linglong rubber on some of its earlier cars, but even so, the roadholding is merely fine, rather than fun. 

Beyond those points, the Dolphin Surf’s drive is merely okay rather than outstanding, though; it feels like there are a few areas where there’s room for improvement. 

There’s the steering, which at higher speeds feels both quite sensitive and almost completely lacking in any form of self-centering. As a result, it feels rather odd when driving along a twisty road, while at motorway speeds there’s a constant need for correction to keep it pointing straight. The powertrain in the Comfort mode gives plenty of performance for a car in this segment, but the throttle mapping is rather lazy – even in its most lively sport mode. The upshot of this is that, when trying to pull out of a junction, not much happens initially, causing you to press a little firmer into the pedal’s travel, at which point the wheels can chirp with a touch of wheelspin, which feels a little ungainly. 

Slowing down doesn’t have the slick coordination of some rivals, too. Lift off the throttle, and the motor regeneration (there are two levels to choose from) starts to gently slow the car. However, press the brake pedal gently for a little more stopping power, and the transfer between the two doesn’t line up, resulting in a brief moment where the regen releases before the mechanical brakes kick in. It’s by no means alarming, but it is a sensation which more finely tuned systems in competitors make themselves more obvious. 

But despite those small flaws, the powertrain is certainly efficient. Temperatures in the mid-twenties are about as flattering as they get for an EV’s range, but nevertheless, the 5.6 miles/kWh we averaged on a wide range of roads is still right on the money with its other small rivals. As with the alternatives, that’s only a number that’s possible without much motorway driving, because higher speeds soon take the shine off that figure. Even so, drivers who plan to take their Dolphin Surf on mostly suburban trips look set to match the official range claims in the right conditions.

Can't wait for the Dolphin Surf? Check out our best deals on a new BYD Dolphin or top prices on a used BYD Dolphin instead...

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