[ajmat]

Great Review Aditya!


This opportunity was of interest to me. Normally, you would expect newcomers into this segment to stumble due to either a lack of detail finish or something lost in translation in the interface. After a facelift or two. it would get there but it would take long time for the brand to be accepted.

In the BYD Seal's case, nothing seem to be left to chance except for the stereo which was just okay. Coming from my Audi, the clarity and crispness ain't there. The interiors are miles apart from the BYD6. Without any product briefing, we just got in the car and drove. It was easy and all controls were at hand. A wrong turning off the highway saw us encounter a rough road but we managed it with care.

In terms of pricing, this car slots between the Ioniq 5, and the C class, A4 and 3 Series at the other end. C class excepted, these rivals have more interior space. However, as personal driven car, it is better value than the germans. It only lacks the plush interior finish but those cars cost over Rs 15 lakhs more.

Equating this to the EQS, this is almost like an EQC sedan - great front passenger space and slightly compromised rear space. The Seal drove and gripped well. The middle version is all the car you need. If given the top variant, I might end up spending a fortune on tyres given the savage acceleration.

A lot of features are in the screen. It took us 3 hours to realise that the screen contained a lot of tricks.

It remains to be seen how the long term durability holds up but the Seal is a serious contender for the lithe. It is lower than a 3 series. The other factor is on how the luxury buyer accepts the BYD brand. If Kia tweaks the EV6 prices, it might be a threat.

Was there anything to moan about? Yes, the shade used for the roof which was an aftermarket accessory fell on us early on in the drive. That was it!

Frankly the European manufacturers stand to be upstaged by both the Koreans and Chinese.

[ghost-was-here]

Originally Posted by handsofsteel

I think there have been many. Offhand, I can think of
Maruti XL 6 has had an all black interior across all variants. (I picked one only for the all black interiors as I have a dog).
The Tata dark editions too. Of course they have variants with beige too.
The older Honda Jazz (launched in 2009), all variants, had all black seats.

and to add to the list,
-even the facelift Jeep compass has all black interiors in the Model-S, and then there are all black night/eagle/dark editions.
-Superb Sportline and Kodiak Sportline had black Alcantara seats
-Baleno zeta CVT had all black(fabric) seats at one point.
-a special edition Safari and Harrier were launched with black seats as well.
-A 35 AMG gets all black seats
-select few shades of mercedes C class and E class get black seats

its not that rare now!
sorry for going off topic but i too really love black interiors + black seat

[Jangra]

So, I checked the review page and there are barely 10 comments after a full day, which is surprising considering I expected at least 5 pages of responses. Even some popular channels haven't released their reviews yet, despite the embargo being lifted on April 22nd at 9 am. It's quite underwhelming, isn't it? The car seems to offer a complete package, so why the lack of interest? Could it be due to its electric nature, or perhaps concerns about the manufacturer's origin?
I wish this complete package a good luck for the potential it brings to the price vs value. Not to mention that even carwow in this this review has a good regards for BYD comparing against Tesla

https://youtu.be/tezLYZHWkK4?si=fv7EfnLVzHtSJRPE

[Pancham]

The package is astounding. 500+bhp and killer looks at 53L - what else do you want. My next car is going to be an EV and this is one of the top contenders. After living with an SUV for 2+ years, I am dying to drive a good fast sedan. No points for guessing the variant I would pick.

[FourBanger]

Great review like always. Thank you to entire team for the review.

I was going through YouTube reviews as well where I managed to see this on motor beam review

Reviewer was alone in the car, I just can’t imagine how this car will go through on any of the normal bumpers too with full board car.


Image is from motor beam YouTube review I just took screenshot from it

[Quasar]

Originally Posted by Aditya

BYD Seal Review

BYD Seal Cons

• BYD's currently small dealership & service network. Even major cities like Mumbai & Delhi have just 1 dealer

Thanks for this wonderful review!

When I was scouting for an EV recently, I had investigated Byd among others & they have three outlets at Bengaluru (Cunningham road, Mahadevapura & Yelahanka).
I just checked on their webpage & they have 3 outlets in NCR too (Delhi, Gurugram/Haryana & Noida/UP). Its only in Mumbai that they have a single outlet but I think they may open more as sales increase.

Btw will GOI permit BYD & other Chinese car makers to invest in high-capacity production in India, in line with the changes recently made?

[GoBabyGo]

Originally Posted by Aditya

There’s a good amount of knee room and adequate headroom for rear passengers. The backrest is placed at a comfortable angle, and the cushioning is spot-on. However, like in most EVs the floor is high. Add low placed seat to the mix and it results in a knees-up seating position. Many will complain about a lack of under-thigh support. Rear passengers get a centre armrest with two cupholders, seatback pockets, smartphone pockets, bag hooks, A/C vents and Type-A and Type-C USB charging ports.

Hi Aditya - In my case (& may be for many others), rear seats are generally occupied by family members (mostly females) with height of around 5 ft 2 inches to 5 ft 8 inches. Please clarify till what height under-thigh support is good & very much acceptable. I have been to rear seat of MG ZS EV & Nexon EV (pre facelift) for a very short journey (less than 10km), I find under thigh support & legroom okay for my height (I am 6 ft tall).

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Frankly the European manufacturers stand to be upstaged by both the Koreans and Chinese.

Very true. The transition to hybrids and EVs will totally upend a lot of things for the established 'old world' OEMs.

Originally Posted by Jangra

So, I checked the review page and there are barely 10 comments after a full day, which is surprising considering I expected at least 5 pages of responses. Even some popular channels haven't released their reviews yet, despite the embargo being lifted on April 22nd at 9 am. It's quite underwhelming, isn't it? The car seems to offer a complete package, so why the lack of interest? Could it be due to its electric nature, or perhaps concerns about the manufacturer's origin?

I think all the above factors are at play here. Most Indian customers are generally still loathe to invest in such premium Chinese personal vehicles due to multiple factors including Galwan, super-thin service network, crash testing opacity and shifting GoI policies.

It may evolve, but am hopeful GoI will find the correct balance between the Chinese wiping out the Indian OEMs (EV + ICE) and ensuring the best cheapest EV tech becomes mainstream.

Originally Posted by FourBanger

Reviewer was alone in the car, I just can’t imagine how this car will go through on any of the normal bumpers too with full board car.

My kiddo quipped that they must have put those black rocker panel inserts to hide just how close they are to the speedbreaker.

Originally Posted by Quasar

Btw will Gol permit Byd & other Chinese car makers to invest in high-capacity production in India, in line with the changes recently made?

Most probably not as countries who share a land border with India are not eligible for the scheme without express pre-authorization. Unlikely Bangladesh and Pakistan are going to invest in India and hence it is China that we are talking about here.

Originally Posted by GoBabyGo

In my case (& may be for many others), rear seats are generally occupied by family members (mostly females) with height of around 5 ft 2 inches to 5 ft 8 inches.

My 5'10" younger kiddo did not complain during the 16 km back seat test ride, but wasn't enthused either. He had no comment really which is a factor in choosing this 62L buy.

[Rohitthebest]

Super like for the excellent first review on BYD Seal.
Looking forward to Overdrive review may be next month.
I believe the first Tesla is still a few years away from India as of now.
Even if they go the fastest route but I guess at this price point even Tesla will not be able to compete with their Imports (after duty etc) to bring their cars as this price point.

My next Car (read SUV) could be electric if there is anything in the market to defer my current choice of a Hybrid AWD SUV in waiting .
Good times are definitely ahead for petrolheads or shall I say Electricheads? Batteryheads? in India.

[alphahere]

This car was one of my considerations when getting an EV in the UK. The only reason to not go for it finally was that it was not a hatchback size and too long for my use case. Lack of physical buttons is really a pain while driving, my final choice which I currently drive is a Volvo EX30 Twin Motor, also has no physical buttons. It has much lesser buttons than even the BYD Seal. Even the glovebox is supposed to be opened via the touchscreen; as is switching on the headlamps. Performance of the Seal was more or less similar with both accelerating to 100kph in a shade over 3.5 seconds. But this level of acceleration is unreasonable as a USP in my experience. There is no practical use for this apart from bragging rights.

[redohabitat]

One look at the photo of the unfortunate fellow sitting on the back seat spoilt the car and it's reputation for me. Please ask this same gentleman to sit in the back seat of the Camry or Superb (which are priced even lower) to have a reality check as to what a fantastic seat should feel like, after all, most of the people paying this kind of money employ a chauffeur.

I don't understand, there is so much leg space at the rear, then why is the seat designed so poorly!

Where shall I use the 500+ HP on Indian roads

The ground clearance is the lowest in the segment. Is this vehicle designed to be driven on "test drive" track only? Why are the real world conditions being ignored, or wait, perhaps this vehicle was never designed for our country

Not to forget un-openable sun roof, no physical controls, and negligible dealer network. Perhaps it is only me, yet I fail to see a single reason to buy this car. I may as well get two cars in this much money, a xuv 400 for the high running / mileage, and EV acceleration, and also buy a Scorpio N / Crysta / Hycross for hauling the whole family. Where is the value for money that fellow members are claiming? Please enlighten me.

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by redohabitat

One look at the photo of the unfortunate fellow sitting on the back seat spoilt the car and it's reputation for me. Please ask this same gentleman to sit in the back seat of the Camry or Superb (which are priced even lower) to have a reality check as to what a fantastic seat should feel like, after all, most of the people paying this kind of money employ a chauffeur.

I don't understand, there is so much leg space at the rear, then why is the seat designed so poorly!

Where shall I use the 500+ HP on Indian roads

The ground clearance is the lowest in the segment. Is this vehicle designed to be driven on "test drive" track only? Why are the real world conditions being ignored, or wait, perhaps this vehicle was never designed for our country

Not to forget un-openable sun roof, no physical controls, and negligible dealer network. Perhaps it is only me, yet I fail to see a single reason to buy this car. I may as well get two cars in this much money, a xuv 400 for the high running / mileage, and EV acceleration, and also buy a Scorpio N / Crysta / Hycross for hauling the whole family. Where is the value for money that fellow members are claiming? Please enlighten me.

Different segments, different purposes my friend.
Just because they are priced around the same range doesn’t mean they should be cross shopped, it’s a lesson I learnt the hard way.

The seal is a sports sedan and its competitors are actually the m340i, c43, m3, c63 etc which are all priced significantly higher and suffer from stiff suspension, impractical ground clearance and lack of rear seat comfort.

Compared to them, the Seal is very VFM. The segment it is tapping into is the same, except no-one could offer something like this before at this price point. It’s a whole new buyer base has that is being tapped into.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by FourBanger

Reviewer was alone in the car, I just can’t imagine how this car will go through on any of the normal bumpers too with full board car.


Image is from motor beam YouTube review I just took screenshot from it

I do not watch MotorBeam but we went over the same hump. With two on-board it was perfectly ok if you anticipated it and approached it with caution

Originally Posted by redohabitat

One look at the photo of the unfortunate fellow sitting on the back seat spoilt the car and it's reputation for me. Please ask this same gentleman to sit in the back seat of the Camry or Superb (which are priced even lower) to have a reality check as to what a fantastic seat should feel like, after all, most of the people paying this kind of money employ a chauffeur.

Not to forget un-openable sun roof, no physical controls, and negligible dealer network. Perhaps it is only me, yet I fail to see a single reason to buy this car. I may as well get two cars in this much money, a xuv 400 for the high running / mileage, and EV acceleration, and also buy a Scorpio N / Crysta / Hycross for hauling the whole family. Where is the value for money that fellow members are claiming? Please enlighten me.

I am the poor unfortunate gentleman and I appreciate your empathy. If rear seat room is the only priority - then its the Nissan Sunny for you!

The sunroof is not possible due to the roof curvature, even the Skoda Octavia does not come with it. Lack of buttons is an issue but some familiarity as an owner might mitigate this.

As for value - its scores on comparative value with the German saloons and the performance. I might not use the top speed but the acceleration is useful in our cut and thrust traffic.

[Pyrotek]

Outstanding car at an outstanding price! The only reason this car might find few takers is nothing to do with the car itself. I'll just leave it at that. It's evident why the Seal has been a hit the world over. This is the performance sedan that every car enthusiast on Team BHP should probably drive once for the thrill of it.

[SR-71]

Curious, just how good is this complete glass sunroof from a safety perspective. Will the glass shatter when the car turns turtle compared to a rigid steel structure? How dangerous can that be for the occupants? Is it less or more expensive to have an all glass roof. The review says it let in about 16% solar transmission. How bad is it for really hot places in our country during the summer?