TOYOTA KILLER? – BYD Seal 5 DM-i Plugin Hybrid Full Review
[Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey guys, what’s up? Welcome to Thai Auto News. Today I’m going to review a BYD, but strangely this is not an electric car. This is the BYD Seal 5, which is a subcompact hybrid. We’ll be checking out the exterior design, the interior design, as well as driving this car to check out the performance from the hybrid power train. Well, if you enjoyed the video, don’t forget to leave a comment as well as hitting the subscribe button to be updated with our latest car reviews from Thailand. Kakun crab. [Music] Okay. So, let’s start off in EV mode. Let’s see how long can we run EV mode in this BYD seal 5 plug-in hybrid. I think the first part will be about 92 kilometers. We’ll be driving from Bangkok to Sabut Saon to have lunch and then we’ll uh drive back to the BYD Academy in Bangatra where we started off just now while cruising with EVO mode. Let’s talk about the powertrain of this BY Seal 5. Well, we’ve got a DMI plug-in hybrid system. This is the second time that the DMI powertrain is being used. First time was the Sea Lion 6, I think. And this one, they’ve uh equipped this plug-in hybrid system into a smaller subcompact sedan. This uh powertrain comprises of a 1.5 L gasoline engine plus an electric motor. B says two motors, but actually one’s a drive motor and one’s the generator. Anyway, the internal combustion engine and electric motor teams up to provide driving power for the front wheels. This one will do a lot of EV uh drive thanks to the large 18 kilowatt hour blade battery. The 1.5 L internal combustion engine pumps out roughly 97 horsepower and not much torque. But uh the highlight is the electric motor. This one is like pretty powerful being able to produce up to 197 horsepower along with 300 Newton meters of torque. And according to BYD, the claimed maximum output from this powertrain is as much as 217 horsepower. We’re driving in the city now and I can already feel that the suspension is quite beefy. The front suspension comprises of microen struts and rear is a torsion beam. And just now going over cracks and bumps on the road, some undulations. Feels pretty solid. Not bad. Not bad feel. Although I think the steering is kind of a little synthetic feel. So kind of a like a game console feel for the steering at low speeds. Haven’t gone up to high speeds yet. We’ll be doing high speeds uh during the way back after lunch. So, the first part will be kind of EV drive. Nice and slow. Check out the battery usage. Whether we will cover 90 is 92 km with a full charge on the 18 kilowatt hour battery. I didn’t have much time to check out or prepare myself before the drive, but just by listening to the presentation just now at the BYD Academy, I can already uh feel that this car is really fully equipped and should provide a really good drive. I mean, I think BYD has uh put in a lot of effort to make this seal 5 a very competitive, if not uh class leading hybrid car in its uh B segment. Well, later this month, Toyota will be launching its own uh hybrid. This one will compete against that one for sure. In addition to the already existing Honda City HEV, we’re heading up the elevated tollway heading towards Ramatu Road where we’ll continue to our destination. So, it should be better traffic up here as well as a higher cruising speed. Okay, first cornering opportunity. I’m not sure if I like this kind of steering. It’s a very light. Yeah, but uh the resistance seems really synthetic. There will be two trim levels for this SE 5. the standard and the premium I guess what that’s what they call it while the specs I told you just now is the the top variant the lower variant the entry level variant will have a smaller battery that one will have about 13ish kilowatt hours battery and the center screen will be a little smaller and the price of course will be less because it comes with a lower amount of features, but still I check out the list just now. It’s still a lot and that’s one thing you can expect from uh Chinese automaker like BYD. Let’s talk about the ADAS features in this BYD seal 5. Uh it comes with the general package. Uh for example, emergency braking, but you do get emergency braking for reverse as well. So that’s special. And then uh cruise control with intelligent cruise control offered as well as lane keeping function which uh personally I don’t like so much kind of uh intrusive while driving. Sometimes you want to touch the lines a little bit right but uh this thing will just force you back. There’s a total of six airbags in the cabin in terms of passive safety and uh the structure of the seal 5 has also been given lots of enhancements especially the roof. So lots of uh safety bars on the roof. Terms of braking as mentioned uh vented disc up front, solid disc at the rear. I’m not sure if uh there should be vent at the rear as well because actually this is a pretty large B segment car. In fact, it’s the largest B segment car uh with the longest wheel basease. This one like 2.7 m wheelbase. So pretty large. It’s like a C segment already, which means uh rear passengers will have a lot of space. So, we’ll be checking out the interior later during the day when I have a chance. Looking forward to a very spacious back seat area in the Sale 5 plug-in hybrid. Okay, we’re on Rama 2 road right now with 55 kilometers to go about 50 minutesish. So, uh let’s talk a bit more about the seal 5. This one is assembled in Thailand at the BYD factory. And you know what? Uh it’s actually like a world a global premiere for the right hand drive seal. So uh good thing for Thailand being able to assemble one of the first uh actually the first right-hand drive variant of this model still in EV mode. Don’t forget we are trying to check out whether this one will cover 92 km. Okay, just 15 km to go and uh I’m going to talk about the suspension a little bit. Well, in the city it was just I mean nice and firm but uh to be honest when I’m on highway at faster speeds it can get a little bit harsh. I think the tires. Not sure uh which brand or which model they’re using, but yeah, we’ve reached Okay, we’ve reached our midday destination, the Buffalo Cafe on the way to the parking lot. And yeah, I’m still in EV mode. So, this plug-in hybrid thing in the BYD seal 5 works pretty well. Okay, where do we park? Right in front. Ah, I’ve got like a time card as well. audio park. So 35% EV I’ll get back to you later on these figures. We started at 99% EV, now we’ve got 35% EV. So, still in some more we can do actually in electric drive. Gasoline started off 894, now 894. Still, we didn’t use any gasoline at all. 0% gasoline used. [Music] Okay, let’s check out the exterior design of this BYD Steel 5. Well, according to BYD, the design language of this one is called Ocean Aesthetics, offering sporty character as well as uh pretty unique styling cues. Up front, we’ve got this dot matrix frameless front grill. Looks pretty sharp. This part looks nice. Let’s see if this air curtain is real. Yes, it is. Up here, LED headlights. And some chrome, some kind of a brush aluminum garnishing up front. Some nice trim over here as well. It looks kind of a high quality actually. You know, I think this kind of design was first used by Peugeot, the French manufacturer, but now I think a lot of brands are incorporating this into their front end designs. Look at all these brush aluminum styling. This 17in wheel comes with Sylon E-Range performance tires. Size is 21555 R17. The length of this seal 5 is 4.7 m. So BY claims this is the largest and longest car in it in its segment. This B segment should have a lot of room inside as well. So that would translate into a lot of interior space. There’s some chrome over here as well adding to the elegance. There are flaps on both sides, one for the fuel chain and one for charging the battery. But uh I don’t know which is which. haven’t opened it since there are seals on both sides because today uh the Thai media are going to compete uh in terms of fuel economy. So uh they have just sealed everything up so no one can you know cheat. Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be competing with the guys today. Yeah, it’s very difficult because the first part although we drove in EV mode on the way back, maybe we might be using some speed to test out the performance from this 217 horsepower plug-in hybrid powertrain 170 180. So, it’s about 186 on the screen on the display. At the rear, the tail lights are connected by a light strip just like uh EVs, but uh this kind of design has crept over to hybrids like this car as well. lower bumper got some glossy black styling, but the exhaust is right uh on the left here. Yep, you can see it. According to BYD, the trunk space is 450 lit. So, let’s check it out. So that’s probably the charging cable. We’ve got a storage net on the right as well. And uh the rear seats also foldable, split foldable 60/40. So, you do get a lot in this car, you know, many many nice things. Let’s see. Oh, safety as well. So, you get if you decide to lock your kids in the trunk, maybe they can open with this uh safety uh trunk lid opener. Okay, let’s check out the interior of the BYD Seal 5. First thing that I’m impressed is the amount of soft touch areas in this cockpit. The whole top part of this front console covered with uh nice uh rubbery material with uh blue and white stitching and even the door panel. Oh, I mean the whole door panel. Nothing plasticky here. Really nice and rubbery and over here and on the armrest as well. Although not so much padding on the armrest, but uh still nothing plastics. So pretty impressed here. Here’s the steering wheel with thumb rest and uh not too many control buttons. So, you’ve got like a roller controls over here, which is uh pretty nice with some aluminum touch up here. We’ve got an 8.8 in driver display, which uh it’s pretty okay in my point of view. Uh the lettering and numbers aren’t too small, easy to make out what’s going on. Although, I think this one still has the sticker on it. So, uh, if I remove it, should be a little bit clearer. But, uh, am I supposed to do it? I’m not sure. But why not? Let’s over here. 12.8 in center touchscreen floating design. We’ve got plast again. Let’s remove it. M so really large center display which is typical for BY or other Chinese manufacturers because their main products are EVs and you know EVs really need large center displays. Good thing about this is that for the air conditioning system, the temperature might have to be adjusted through this screen. But there are a few buttons, physical buttons on the console that you can use as well, like for for example, fan speed or automatic function. These are physical buttons which are good to use when you’re driving, have to concentrate on the road ahead. Down here, you’ve got a wireless phone charger. So you can put the phone right there and can charge your phone over here. Two cup holders. Center console over here is a rotary type gear shift controller. Not common for BYD but uh they start using this already which is uh pretty nice. I mean the feel and the mechanism is okay. As mentioned uh some physical buttons over here. So for the air conditioning on the right side, this is the volume control and uh driving modes as well. EV mode, hybrid mode, USB ports. But what I don’t like is that it’s really hard to reach. So you know to plug in that USB. Oh my god. Very bad position over there. So uh not for the driver. If it’s like like a left-hand drive vehicle, maybe this is right hand drive. So, I really had a difficult time trying to plug in that USB cable. Well, let’s see. Armrest. Nice. And uh there’s some space inside as well. So, well thought of decent space for the storage compartment under the armrest. Closes nicely. We do get wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, so uh can disconnect the phone. Still works. You do get 360 degree camera as well, which is something not easy to find in a B segment car. So, uh press this. There you go. Not bad, right? And you can choose the various uh angles. Let’s check it out. Front, rear, side, lots of stuff. Not bad. So, pretty detailed this uh sensor screen. Check out the settings. I mean, a lot of things you can do. So, uh, here’s the ADAS menu. Cruise controls off, safety assist. Let’s check it out. Steering mode, steering assist, lane keeping, right. Uh, this is lane departure assist, which is a pain in the ass to use. So, got it off already. Blind spot is fine. kept it on. Auto emergency braking. I I’m going to drive fast uh on the way back. So, off. Forward collision warning. Just uh off. So, nice thing about this ADA setting is that uh even if you put it off and shut down the engine and restart, still remains off. This uh assist mode. Yep. Forward collision still off as well. Good. In terms of seating, these seats look really sporty, but uh you don’t have an adjustable headrest. So, kind of a fixed headrest up front. Good thing is that both front seats are powered. So, six way for the driver, four-way for the front passenger. Okay, back seats. You know what? This car is really long and the wheelbase 2.7 m that translates into a lot of room for the rear passengers. This is B segment. Don’t for don’t forget. And look at my knee. A lot of leg room. These seats are adjusted. This driver seat is adjusted to my height. I’m a sixfooter still. I’ve got like plenty of leg room. Well, in terms of headroom, not so much. So uh but but not lacking uh for a six-footer. Still this much left for the head room. There is a center armrest as well. Although a little short if you want to put your drink here then you know gets in the way. Pop up should be better. But I’m not complaining. Uh BYD has not announced the pricing of this car yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be competitive considering all the features and functions offered in this car. Some more features here. Two air con vents and type A and type C USB port here. So covers all sorts of cables. Very good. Back pouches over here. And you do get adjustable headrest for the rear passenger, which is nice. The rear seat is slanted a little bit, like 27°, I think. So, uh, kind of a laid-back position for the rear passenger. After doing lunch, we’re going to continue our drive. This is the performance part. So, the first thing I’m going to do is switch from EV to HEV mode by pressing this button over here. And then off we go with this rotary gear shift lever. Well, according to BYD, this Seal 5 features a plug-in hybrid system consisting of a 1.5 L Atkinson cycle petrol engine capable of producing 97 horsepower which is made to a dual electric motor system comprising of a drive motor and a generator motor. This is the highlight of this car actually. It pumps out as much as 197 horsepower and 300 Newton meters of torque. Well, uh in most cases, this Seal 5 is driven in EV mode. A lot of time, you know, except when uh going up steep inclines, which uh is the weak point of electric motors, so the engine will kick in more while going up steep inclines. But in general, a lot of EV mode being used. Well, BYD claims a total system output of as much as 217 horsepower when both the electric motor and the petrol engine kicks in together. And the maximum torque is still the same, 300 Newton meters. In terms of performance, the claimed 0200 acceleration is 7.5 seconds. So very quick the Cal 5 while the top speed is claimed at 180 km/h. So uh unfortunately not 200 km/h for this much of an output and torque. But uh considering that this is a B segment car, I’m not complaining. But it’s just strange, right? The acceleration is like 7.5 and uh top speed is not even 200. But yeah, that’s in general electric cars are like that as well. So not very good at top speed, but in general day-to-day driving very good. So thanks to the electric motor, always a lot of torque on tap and it’s a flat torque as well. So, if you plan to get this car, be ready for really quick performance. Well, there are many nice things in this seal 5, but if I had to pick out one thing that I don’t really like so much about this car is the steering feel. I mean, it’s not so connected. You don’t feel so connected with the car through this steering. Still feels a little vague, especially uh with that lane departure warning. No, lane departure assist on. That one’s like really bad. But uh even with with the setting to off, I still feel that kind of synthetic, you know, not so connected. So uh if that could be improved, it would be like perfect already. But uh yeah, so maybe just one small thing I don’t like about this BYD. Okay, finally got some open road. So, uh let’s use this rocker switch to get into sport mode. All right, I’m cruising at about 100. Let’s step on it. Three, two, one, go. Instant response just like an EV 140 150 160 already. So quick acceleration. This is the type of hybrid that provides EV level acceleration. So about 160 right now. 170 180. So it’s about 186 on the screen on the display. In terms of fuel economy, the claimed average fuel economy is 26.6 six and we do have a 45 liter fuel tank. Well, according to BYD, this one will do a,000 kilos on a single tank of fuel, but uh that’s NEC, right? So, I guess uh in WLTP, which is more realistic, you’ll get a little bit under 800 kilometers. So, 700, maybe 760, I think. And uh watch out this year Thailand car of the year. Maybe this BYD Seal 5 being assembled in Thailand as well might be a very strong contender or even winner. Who knows? End of the year. We’ll find out. Okay, so arrived the gas station where this car will be refilled to check out the fuel economy. I’m not sure what I’m going to get because just now as you as as you saw 180 186 so shouldn’t be uh that good but uh for this car since the average fuel economy is like 26.6. So I’m also curious to see what uh kind of figure I will achieve today. In a minute get back to you again. Still waiting to refill because long line over here. Okay. So my turn to refill. Okay. Already. Okay. So, this is the technique to refill the fullest amount of fill. You got to shake it a bit. Okay. So, a little bit more. So, we’re refilling 95 Castle Hall. So, in the morning they also did this full tank. So now it’s again once more full tank. Still not okay. A little bit more. Little bit more. A little bit more. Okay. So how much? So 7.19 liters I use today. [Applause] Okay. Okay, so I’m back at the BYD Academy now and we have reached the end of our review of the BYD Seal 5. Well, I guess uh if you’re still watching right now, you probably enjoy the video. So, uh don’t forget to leave a comment and subscribe to our channel. You can also press the like and bell icon to be notified whenever we have a new car review from Thailand. Well, uh, in summary, I think this BYD seal 5 is going to cause a pretty strong impression in the Thai B segment, the Thai subcompact car segment with a it’s a large amount of features and the strong performance from the hybrid powertrain which really offers a lot of EV drive As you saw today in the video, I mean almost 100 kilos and that’s a lot of battery left still. So I guess the claim figure of 120 km in EDC could be uh pretty realistic. Okay, so uh guess that’s all from me today. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat.
NOTE: On the way back we covered 152kms in hybrid mode, using up 7.19 liters of fuel, averaging 21.1km/liter.
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BYD has introduced the Seal 5 DM-i, powered by a 217-hp plugin hybrid powertrain.
The Seal 5 DM-i will compete against market leaders like the Toyota Yaris ATIV HEV (Vios) and Honda City HEV, boasting a 1.5-liter plug-in hybrid powertrain with an all-electric range of over 100kms.
There are also plenty of advanced features, ranging from 8.8-in driver display and 12.8-in center touchscreen, 360-degree camera, ADAS package, powered front seats and soft-touch interior.
With a body length of 4,780mm and wheelbase of over 2,700mm (longest in class), there is plenty of interior space, plus 450 liters of luggage capacity and split-foldable rear seat backrests.
Being a BYD, pricing is also competitive at Bt769,000 for the fully-loadad Premium variant (Bt699,000 for intoductory period) while pricing of the lower Standard variant will be announced later this year.
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