At first glance, the Sealion 5 U DM-i seems to be priced quite a slug below the brand’s identically-engineered Seal U DM-i – but that’s illusory. The eye-catching £30,000 entry price that the Sealion 5 was launched with only gets you the base ‘Comfort’ version, which uses a relatively feeble 13kWh battery that the Seal U DM-i doesn’t bother to offer. The Sealion 5 U DM-i with the more normal 18kWh battery that most customers will want is the ‘Design’ version – and that cost around £33,000 from launch, just £345 less than an equivalent 18kWh Seal U DM-i ‘Boost’ model. There are no other trim variations with the Sealion 5 U DM-i ‘Comfort’ and ‘Design’ packages.
So it’ll come down to which of BYD’s interpretations of what a mid-sized Plug-in Hybrid SUV should be takes your fancy. Either way, you’ll be getting plenty of standard equipment. Even ‘Comfort’ spec gets you vegan leather upholstery, keyless entry, roof rails, LED headlights and a Vehicle-to-Load function so you can power external devices from the car’s drive battery. Inside, there’s an 8.8-inch Driver’s Display and Intelligent and Adaptive Cruise Control. Media stuff’s taken care of by a 12.8-inch central touchscreen with navigation, intelligent voice control, 4G connectivity, cloud services and ‘Apple CarPlay’ and ‘Android Auto’. The bigger-battery ‘Design’ version adds a 360-degree camera, heated front seats, a powered tailgate and a wireless smartphone charger.
In terms of safety and advanced driver assistance, the Sealion U DM-i offers Forward Collision Warning, Automatic Emergency Braking, Rear Collision Warning, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Rear Cross Traffic Brake, Lane Keep Assistance, Lane Change Assist and Emergency Lane Keep. There’s also Adaptive Cruise Control and Intelligent Cruise Control, a Blind Spot Detection System, ESP, Traction Control, Hill Decent Control, Automatic Vehicle Hold, Intelligent Speed Limit Information and Intelligent Speed Limit Control.
