BYD Seal - Electric motor, drive and performance

Underpinning the BYD Seal is the same e-Platform 3.0 used on the existing Atto 3 SUV and Dolphin supermini, upscaled for the saloon’s extra length. It’s the first of BYD’s Brit-bound models to switch from front to rear-wheel drive, though the version we tried was the top-spec Excellence with an additional motor on the front axle.

The car feels immediately more focused, even at low speeds. There’s a slight chatter from the ride around town, but this settles at higher speeds where the suspension has greater compliance than earlier versions of Tesla Model 3, helping to take the edge off any harshness, although this softness means it doesn’t feel as controlled as the BMW i4 or facelifted Model 3 over lumpy B roads. The steering is measurably weightier, which, along with the lower driving position, unquestionably positions the Seal as the brand’s most driver-oriented car to date.

The BYD Seal is a quick car. The entry-level 308bhp rear-wheel-drive model provides all the performance you’d need, even after a slight delay in its accelerator response when you try to make a spirited getaway from the lights. The flagship four-wheel drive Excellence model ups the ante to 523bhp and is even faster. We found its additional four-wheel drive traction helps to make a swift getaway, even in some of the worst weather the north of England could throw at us on our test drive. 

Despite not being as sharp to drive as the Model 3, the BYD Seal still has decent body control, and you quickly learn to trust its grip level and build up the confidence to carry some speed through the corners. It’s not as much fun as a BMW i4, which sets the driving benchmark in this class. We didn’t think the BYD was as quiet as the i4 on our tests either, though the aforementioned adverse weather with high winds didn’t do the car any favours in this regard. The side windows of the Seal are laminated to dampen wind noise, which should help refinement at higher speeds.

The differences between the entry Seal Design and flagship Excellence AWD are an additional electric motor powering the front wheels, adaptive suspension, and BYD’s Intelligent Torque Adaption Control (iTAC) system. The latter is, in effect, a torque-vectoring set-up that aims to reduce slip and increase traction in slippery conditions. We’d still recommend the standard model, though, because it’s perfectly capable for most needs and situations unless you really need the additional traction of four-wheel drive.

We think the brakes could use a little more initial bite, especially given that the Seal is a heavy car with a lot of mass to slow down. The pedal travel is long, which some people might need time to get used to. It would also be nice to have the option of stronger regenerative braking, as you’ll find in Model 3. The system in the Seal is too subtle to act like a one-pedal driving mode, which is a setting that works especially well in stop-and-start traffic, because it’ll bring the car to a halt just by lifting off the accelerator pedal.

Rivals like the Hyundai Ioniq 6 have paddles behind the steering wheel to vary the slowing force, which provides an extra element of control over the driving experience, and boosts efficiency by maximising the amount of time you spend generating electricity to put back into the battery. It also has the added benefit of reducing the wear on the brakes.

0-62mph acceleration and top speed

When we say that the Seal is fast, we mean it. The entry-level rear-wheel drive model gets from 0-62mph in just 5.9 seconds, which is faster than the equivalent BMW i4 eDrive30 and Tesla Model 3 RWD, providing more than enough performance to make it our preferred version of Seal.

The top-of-the-range Excellence AWD model is the fastest Seal, and has a dedicated launch control mode that we used on a closed track. Officially, it should take 3.8 seconds to get from 0-62mph, but we recorded a 3.7-second sprint, beating BYD’s own numbers by a tenth of a second. It’s no faster flat-out than the rear-wheel drive model, with both versions hitting 111mph.