The comparison of the Sealion 7 would be against our current SUVs at home, the Volvo XC60 D5 and the Citroen C5 Aircross
BHPIAN SRISRI_90 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Disclaimer: We are folks who go by how the car FEELS to drive, rather than what is on the spec sheet.
With all the hype surrounding the BYD cars, it was about time for me to check out what the fuss was all about. On a drive back from Bangalore, I noticed that a new BYD showroom had popped up on the outskirts of Mangalore. I found them on Google Maps and called the Showroom. They said that they had the BYD Seal and Emax 7 on display, but no TD cars as of now.I was put in touch with a sales assistant, Mr. Kavan, who promptly called me the next day. I then booked a test drive slot for the BYD Sealion 7 Performance as soon as it became available in Mangalore. Within a week, the SA called and confirmed the arrival of the Sealion and the Test drive slot as well.
The SA came home on a Lazy Sunday afternoon, and the first and most important test for all cars is the sharp turn to reach my house. We live at the dead end of a Narrow Lane, and one needs to perform a skilled manoeuvre of a 90° turn to reach our home. Any car above 4.5 metres long will have a tough time passing this one. Surprisingly, the Sealion was able to pass through in a single attempt, and the 360° cameras helped; they even show the remaining distance to the obstacle in centimetres.
Interiors
With that out of the way, my wife and I first checked out the interiors of this beauty. It is super plush inside, and the front seats are just perfect. The seating height is spot on. The Instrument cluster does have too much info and but it’s all neatly laid out the and the crispness of the display is good. Next is the Massive Centre screen, which rotates as well. It is unbelievably slick and easy to use, again filled with loads of Information, but most of it is hidden under various submenus, so you do not feel that it is an overload of Information. Ambient lighting looks premium too!
Rear seats are a lovely place to be, you sit a little lower than the front seats and that gives you a hemmed in feel, but the fat front seats block your vision so much that you have absolutely no clue what’s happening ahead on the road, the Tinted windows didn’t help either( SA said 2025 model onwards BYD does not provide tinted windows in any of its cars)
The boot is massive, but a big miss is the non-provision of a spare tyre. For regular highway drivers like us, that will be a negative point. Also, the Tyres are runflats, and it brought back the traumatic memories of our Mini Cooper S getting stuck on the highway in the middle of nowhere due to tyre bursts!
Exterior
The Sealion is massive, but somehow hides its bulk thanks to the coupe body shape and the black colour of this car. 20” wheels look solid and proportionate to the body size. The front looks generic in shape, but the rear of the Sealion 7 is stunning in design. Looks like they drew inspiration (copied) the design from Porsche. The car does grab eyeballs everywhere! The paint quality on the BYD looks average, or maybe the TDcar wasn’t maintained well.
Drivability
I am happy to say that the Sealion feels way advanced as far as drivability is concerned; the instant torque and the smooth power delivery make it an absolute breeze to drive in traffic and on highways alike.
A typical ICE car with so much power would have a certain characteristic, which would make you feel that you are driving a powerful car. But that does not happen with the Sealion 7. It feels very natural and easy to drive. Even the brakes are extremely well calibrated, and the braking feel is very similar to an ICE car. I did a couple of 0-100 runs, and it literally takes your breath away with that instant acceleration. BYD claims 4.5 secs, but multiple media outlets have shown that it is a fair bit quicker at 4.2 or 4.3 secs to reach 100kmph from standstill.
I even took it up an unscientifically designed uphill road near my house, and the Sealion just blazed through the incline like it was no big deal. Truly impressive.
Suspension & Handling:
The Sealion 7 weighs nearly 2.5 tons, and you can feel that weight when you try to take corners at high speed. You feel like you are not in control of the car at times. The car does not misbehave or lose composure, but you do feel a sense of disconnect from the steering.
The suspension is on the stiffer side, and combined with the 20” wheels, the ride feels like a proper European car. The low-speed and high-speed ride quality is pretty good, but no comparison to the cars we have in our stable. In the front seats, you feel very comfortable, but at the rear, the ride is not great. You feel the potholes and expansion joints, and even the road noise in the back seat is surprisingly high. I feel the European car feels is only for the front passengers, and the rear seat’s ride feels mediocre.
Battery Capacity
The Sealion 7 comes with an 82 kWh battery and a range of 540 kms, I guess 450 kms would be the real-world range. My requirements was a that the car should be able to go from Mangalore to Bangalore including the climb up the Shiradi ghat, the SA said that if I maintained speeds between 95-110 kmph, that should be entirely possible and he also Mentioned that the TD vehicle was driven back the previous week from Mangalore to Bangalore in a single charge.
I did click pics at the beginning and at the end of the test drive. The distance covered during the test drive was 22 km, and it lost 7% SOC. These figures cannot be extrapolated as they involved multiple hard launches, some stupid uphill drives and some spirited driving on the highways.
I started the drive at 29% SOC and an indicated range of 158 kms.
Ended the test drive with 21% SOC and an indicated range of 112 Kms.
Conclusion
Well, no conclusion
At the end of the Test drive, the SA asked the typical question,” Sir, when are you booking the car?”. I did not have an immediate answer to that question, mainly because of the discounts being offered on EVs! He confirmed that there are no discounts on BYD cars as of now and that this BYS Sealion 7 Performance model would cost me nearly 64 Lakhs on road here in KA.
Is it worth the price? I don’t know, because we do not have a similar car to benchmark. Maybe once the Tesla models are out, we might have something to compare them to.The nearest comparison would be the KIA EV6. I have driven fellow Bhpian Rossiter’s KIA EV6 and that was pretty impressive too. But i think the BYD Sealion 7 is significantly better than the KIA! The BYD certainly impresses with its Mental performance and superb drivability!
Parting shot of the BYD Sealion 7
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