DUAL IN THE CROWN: New Seal U DM-i plug-in hybrid SUV adds even more range to the BYD range

BUILD YOUR DREAMS or BYD for short are the largest electric car manufacturer in the world.

But this week’s test drive from the Chinese manufacturer is a little bit different.

I’m driving the BYD Seal U, or to give it its full title he BYD Seal U DM-i.

The U is for Utility and indicates that it is the SUV version of the Seal saloon, while the DM-i stands for Dual Mode and Intelligence because this BYD is actually a plug-in hybrid.

So will it be the jewel in the crown for the BYD range?

Only time will tell, but it’s the first BYD launched here that’s not fully-electric.

Instead it uses a 1.5-litre, four-cylinder turbo petrol engine and either one or two electric motors depending on spec, and power comes from a 18.3kWh or 26.6kWh Blade Battery.

It’s an electric-dominated Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle so the Seal U essentially tries to operate as an EV for the majority of the time, with the petrol engine charging the battery acting as a range-extender.

Then it’s only after heavy acceleration, or continuous high speed driving, that the engine drives the front wheels too.

And being a hybrid it offers the best of both worlds. If you haven’t time to sit and charge at a public network, you can fill the tank with petrol in a matter of minutes.

Plus it was very refreshing to collect the Seal U press car with over 600 miles of range.

In fact I used it extensively throughout the week and returned it back to BYD with over 200 miles of range still left ? and I didn’t even charge it up.

You can set the level of battery you want to keep, in this case it was 20 per cent, then the hybrid system does the rest.

And I know that EV purists don’t like PHEVs, it’s fully electric vehicles or nothing.

But with PHEV electric-only range increasing as battery tech improves, and them becoming more economical, it’s no wonder why PHEV sales are up.

And I’ll take that hybrid 600-mile range over a 300-mile EV range any day of the week.

The Seal U comes in three trim levels, Boost, Comfort and Design, and it was the entry-level model that I was testing.

All of them are powered by the same 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine with Boost and Design being powered by a 18.3Kw hour Blade battery and the Comfort model a bigger 26.6kW battery, so it boasts the biggest electric-only range of 78 miles.

However both the Boost and Comfort models produce the same combined output of 215bhp and 300Nm of torque, both are front wheel drive with a 0-62mph time of 8.9 seconds and a top speed of 109mph.

But the Design model is all-wheel drive with a rear mounted motor so much quicker, 0-62mph time of just 5.2secs and a top speed of 112mph.

Confused?

Yep, me too, but on the road the Seal U performs well, although the suspension is soft and it does move around quite a bit when cornering hard ? but a bonus of that is that you benefit from a very smooth ride.

It’s a bit generic-looking, the majority of SUVs are, but it’s a handsome machine nonetheless.

And as it’s a BYD it comes fully loaded with kit. A huge 15.6-inch central screen dominates the dash and it does its party trick of being able to be rotated and viewed in portrait or landscape mode.

The latter is very handy when using the Sat Nav.

However, if you are using a smartphone and Android Auto connectivity then the screen can only be viewed landscape which is a pity.

The heating controls are operated via the main screen, so when connected via your phone you have to go back through a series of menus to deactivate Android Auto to get back to the BYD operating system, then navigate to the heating controls.

This means taking your eyes off the road for way too long and as the Seal’s ADAS safety kit is super sensitive it will start beeping at you ? so you can’t win.

There’s a large panoramic roof with electric blind, heated and aircooled seats and a heated steering wheel, but again you have to go digging in the main menu screen to operate them.

The build quality is superb, everything is well put together using quality materials, but BYDs haven’t been here long enough to see how that will fare over time.

Still, so far so good.