BYD’s Sealion 6 is one of the new breed of super hybrids.
So called because they are plug-in hybrids with larger batteries that deliver greater electric only range.
These PHEVs are starting to gain traction in the market, with a 136 per cent increase in sales in recent months.
Fully charged, with a range that exceeds 100km in some cases, they can be used in electric-only mode for the weekday commute.
For longer trips, their combined petrol and electric range exceeds 1000km, removing any lingering fear of being stranded with no access to an electric charger.
STYLING
The five-seat Sealion 6 comes in four grades: Essential, Dynamic Extended Range, Premium, and Premium Extended Range.
Prices range from $42,990 for the Essential, $46,990 for Dynamic Extended, $52,990 for Premium or $52,990 for Premium Extended – all prices before on-road costs.
Not sure why the Premium and Premium Extended are priced the same, but they’re unlikely to sell many of the Premium variants at this rate.
The Essential and Dynamic Extended variants are front wheel drive; Premium models add a second electric motor and are all-wheel drive. Extended Range versions also acquire a larger battery.
Our test vehicle was the entry Essential model. In fact, it presents so well that we needed to confirm it was actually the base model.
Standard kit includes synthetic leather trim and dual-zone climate air with rear outlets, keyless entry and start, six-way power adjustment for the driver seat and four-way for the front passenger, rear privacy glass and a full-length glass roof.
There are also adaptive cruise control, high beam assist, traffic sign recognition, auto lights and wipers, a manual-adjust rear vision mirror, plus LED lighting front and back.
All grades roll on the same 19-inch alloys fitted with the same GitiComfort tyres and there is nothing to distinguish them apart.
Instrumentation is provided via a customisable 12.3-inch digital screen housed in a conventional binnacle.
A tyre repair kit is supplied in the event of a puncture.
Sealion 6 is covered by a six-year/150,000km warranty plus eight years/160,000km coverage for the high-voltage battery.
Servicing is due every 12 months/20,000km with maintenance costs for the first five years a total of $1543.
INFOTAINMENT
Infotainment comes in the form of a 12.8-inch touchscreen that rotates, offering voice control, Bluetooth with audio streaming, FM and DAB+ digital radio, built-in satellite navigation, along with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (both wired or wireless) plus generic six-speaker sound.
No AM radio band means you won’t be able to hear emergency transmissions, for instance when there’s been an incident in one of Sydney’s many tunnels.
Dynamic and up get a premium 10-speaker Infinity system, along with twin wireless phone chargers.
Updates are over-the air and the BYD Store allows users to download a variety of applications, including YouTube and a suite of arcade games (for the kids).
NFC connectivity means you can set up your phone to lock and unlock the car.
There are USB-A and -C charging ports in both the front and back plus a 12-volt socket in the front.
SAFETY
Five-star safety encompasses seven airbags, including a centre airbag to prevent front seat occupants knocking heads in a side impact.
There’s also a 360-degree reversing camera, rear parking sensors and autonomous emergency braking (Car-to-Car, Vulnerable Road User, Junction & Crossing, and Backover).
Lane support includes lane keep assist (LKA), lane departure warning (LDW) and emergency lane keeping (ELK), plus an advanced speed assistance system (SAS).
There’s also blind spot, child detection and pay attention warnings.
Top-tether and ISOFix child-seat anchor points are provided for the rear seats.
ENGINES/TRANSMISSIONS
Essential’s hybrid powertrain produces a combined 160kW of power and 300Nm of torque, driving the front wheels through a reduction-style, single-speed transmission.
DRIVING
The styling is round and feminine, taking its cues from competitors such as Tesla.
The five-seat Sealion 6 is 4775mm long, 1890mm wide and stands 1670mm high, with a 2765mm wheelbase.
Significantly, that is 175mm longer than the best-selling Toyota RAV4, as well as 35mm wider and 15mm lower than the RAV, with a 75mm longer wheelbase – adding up to more interior space.
Parked alongside RAV, the Sealion is noticeably larger and having driven both vehicles back-to-back in recent weeks, it’s the Sealion that stands out – although we should mention there’s a new RAV on the way.
Essential’s hybrid powertrain consists of a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder petrol engine, combined with a single electric motor and 18.3 kWh battery – that sends power to the front wheels.
Extended Range variants acquire a larger 26.6kWh battery.
Essential produces a combined 160kW of power and 300Nm of torque, driving
through a reduction-style, single speed transmission.
With a 60-litre fuel tank, it takes premium 95 unleaded, with fuel consumption a claimed 1.1L/100km with anything more than 25 per cent battery charge.
Electric only range is around 80km (WLTP).
It’s your choice whether you charge the Sealion or drive it as a standard self-charging hybrid.
Time and circumstances will probably provide the answer to that question.
Petrol and electric fill points are located either side at the rear.
Essential can be charged at a maximum rate of 7kW (AC) or 18kW (DC).
It will take up to eight hours using a power point and the supplied granny charger, or up to 10 with the larger battery.
A wallbox reduces this time to two to three hours, while a fast DC charger takes from 30 to 40 minutes.
When driving you can easily toggle between EV and HEV powertrain options (electric or hybrid), with a toggle conveniently mounted on the centre console.
There are three drive modes: Eco, Normal and Sport, plus two settings for the level of steering effort required – Comfort (lighter) or Sport (heavier).
The level of regenerative braking can also be altered, but only through the touchscreen menus.
The touchscreen itself rotates at the touch of a button on the steering wheel, returning to its default landscape position when the car is switched off (but resuming the desired orientation upon restart).
It’s an impressive feature but a bit gimmicky, because there does not appear to be any practical application.
In portrait mode it can’t be seen if you wear polarised sunglasses, nor does Android Auto (and presumably CarPlay) work in this mode.
Our phones connected quickly and easily to the infotainment system which is smart enough to drop aircon fan speed during phone calls to reduce background noise.
The start-stop button for the powertrain is located close to hand at the bottom right-hand corner of the centre console.
The system is designed to operate primarily in electric mode, with support from the petrol engine for charging and additional mumbo if required.
In HEV mode the battery charge in our test vehicle hovered between 60 and 70 per cent.
You can take a deep dive into the system and adjust this figure, but it works well left to its own devices.
Sealion 6 is generally comfortable and easy to drive, with plenty of rear legroom and a good-sized luggage area.
Black and brown upholstery with contrast stitching lends an upmarket ambience, but may not be to everyone’s liking (my wife didn’t fancy it).
There’s plenty of cabin storage, with large door bins, two large cupholders in the centre console and a tray that offers side by side slots for phones.
But don’t expect it to charge your phone, not in this grade at least.
There’s also another largish storage area below the main console.
Luggage capacity is a modest 425 litres, no doubt at the expense of rear legroom.
There’s also some underfloor storage available. We found the charge cable for the car stashed in a bag to one side of the luggage area.
While Sealion 6 is a smooth operator around town, it demanded more rigorous testing on poorer, secondary roads.
We took it for a punt along some of our favourite loop through the backlots and while we can report that like most SUVs it’s a compromise – it’s not the worst thing we’ve driven either.
Handling is safe and predictable and it didn’t start to get out of shape in corners unless pressed relatively hard.
Throttle response in the low to mid range is excellent, but it seems to run out of puff after that.
Rather than punching the accelerator, we found moderate force seemed to elicit a more satisfying response.
Now for the best part. Unlike the majority of Chinese SUVs we’ve tested, the driver assist systems in this car are for the most part unintrusive. Yay!
In terms of fuel consumption, we were getting 4.1L/100km after some 350km of driving, with the promise of 555km to go.
No range anxiety to see here.
SUMMING UP
The BYD Sealion 6 is a keeper.
It joins a short list of Chinese vehicles that we at Cars4starters would consider buying.
It’s cheap, well equipped, fit and finish is good and everything works as it should, without the intervention of annoying safety assistance systems.
It will even retain drive mode settings between starts.
What more could you ask?
RATINGS
Looks: 7.5
Performance: 8
Safety: 7.5
Thirst: 8
Practicality: 8
Comfort: 7.5
Tech: 8
Value: 8
Overall: 7.8
