BYD Sealion 5 might be Australia’s New Favourite Plug-in Hybrid
BYD is on a roll in Australia. Sales are skyrocketing and it’s bringing even more models down under. This is one of them. It’s the Sea Lion 5 and it’s a midsize plug-in hybrid SUV due here early next year. Today, we’ve got just 45 minutes to get a first impression, a quick onceover of this car before it arrives next year. And of course, we’ll spend more time with it just before it does arrive early 2026. But for now, consider this your preview. Let’s get into it. Some quick facts before we get started. The Seine 5 sits just below the Seaine 6 in terms of both price and size. Now, we don’t have prices yet, but the Cine 6 starts from about 43K in Australia. And we’re told that this is a more budget friendly sort of option, and the Cine 6 is a little more premium. So, we’re guessing prices will start in the $30,000 mark. It’ have to be. We just don’t know whereabouts in that 30k bracket it’ll sit. Anyway, these will be frontwheel drive only. So, the Cine 6 you can get as a front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. But being a more budget friendly option, this is just frontwheel drive. It’s also about 40 mil shorter. So, it’s a little bit smaller, but it’s still a 5seat midsize SUV. Now, it could also be the cheapest plug-in hybrid in Australia when it arrives early 2026. As I said, we don’t know pricing, but they are targeting a very low price point. And at the moment, the cheapest plug-in hybrid SUV you can get in Australia is the Cherry Tigo 7 Super Hybrid, and that’s $399.99 Driveway. So, below that is where we’re guessing this will sit. First impressions of the Sea Line 5 inside the cabin are good. This feels really premium, but it should because it is the topsp spec version of this car. You get these nice leather appointed seats, a huge panoramic roof with a shade that goes over the top, which still lets a little bit of light in, so it feels nice and airy in here. And there’s such a mix of materials. That’s something BYD always does. But it feels like everywhere you touch is something different, especially on these doors here. There’s like patterns and yeah, different textures. Um whether that’s your cup of tea, who knows? Another thing I’ll mention is the touchcreen. So unlike a lot of BYD models, you can’t rotate the screen portrait and uh landscape. So this doesn’t give you that option. And that’s probably because it’s a more budget focused model. So I’m guessing that’s why. But it’s also more to go wrong in cars. So I feel like maybe keeping it simple is a good thing. Shortly after filming this, a spokesperson for BYD told us the rotating touchscreen featured in many of its models like the Shark 6 and ATO 3 was being phased out following consumer feedback that the function wasn’t frequently used. Therefore, it won’t be offered in the Sea Lion 5. There’s a lot of different functions and menus which can get a bit confusing to find what you’re looking for, especially when you’re trying to switch ADAS systems on or off or um yeah, just find different functions. But I think once you’ve lived with this car and especially cuz I’m only spending a little bit of time with it today, it’s bound to be a little bit more confusing than it should. But um yeah, all in all, the graphics look good and yeah, it’s not a bad um unit at all. the the infotainment screen ahead of the driver is very small though. And the font, again, this is a thing that I have with a lot of BYD models and a lot of newer cars now, they just keep coming up with these tiny screens um with the font really small. So, if you’ve got sort of vision problems, then um it might be a little bit hard to read some of the fonts. But yeah, that’s just a probably a small gripe that I have. One good thing, touch buttons down here. Uh, so there’s actual physical buttons for the fan and you got a volume dial there, demyister, drive modes, those things are easily accessible here with physical buttons, but there’s nothing else around the touchcreen. So if you don’t like having everything in the touchcreen that could get annoying, but I think again learn to live with it. All right, checking out the back seat for the first time. First impressions, it feels pretty spacious. The seat itself has a nice amount of under thigh support. It’s not too bad. There’s um two USB ports down here, USBC and USBA. Air vents. You got this weird BYD design plastic logo thing here. Not sure why that’s there. Um map pockets and you’ve got some storage in the doors as well. Then you’ve also got this center armrest. Wonder if you can make these. Sometimes you can recline the seat back. Not in this one. not just a fixed back. But yeah, all in all, I think taller people with this panoramic sunroof, you might struggle for headroom, but I’m fine. And leg room’s not too bad either. Although, there’s a little air vent or something down here that means I’m hitting it with my toes. But in this side, it looks like, sorry, excuse the stretch. Um, that side looks like there’s a bit more toe room. So, yeah, all in all, not too bad. All right, let’s check out the boot. Now, this midsize SUV is said to have Oh, it’s got an electric tailgate. Possibly not in the lower spec version, so we’ll wait and see about that. But yeah, that’s um electric in this model. Yeah, it is big. 463 L is um the size of it on paper. You got this nice flat loading space. It goes pretty deep. And yeah, I mean, it’s not too bad. You’ve got some little storage spaces here if you want to put like, I don’t know, milk or whatever you put in your boot. I don’t know. There’s no spare tire, but under the floor here, you’ve got your tire repair kit in here. So, bit of tire sealant, the vest to put on so people can see you while you’re fixing your tire on the side of the road. And what else have we got? A wiper blade. Unsure. And yeah, so there’s some extra little pockets and things here. So you could put other things, charging cables, anything you want to hide. If it’s flat enough, you could probably just put it under there. But um yeah, cargo blind. Okay, behind the wheel of the Sea Lion 5 for the first time and in what could be the cheapest plug-in hybrid SUV or even just the cheapest plug-in hybrid when it arrives early next year. Now, we’re at Lang Lang, so I’ve got the road to myself. I feel like most of the driving um assist systems have already been switched off because it did tell me I I was drowsy just before I took off, but it was probably because I was looking over here and it wasn’t seeing my eyes properly because that that detection um camera is or the the camera is just on the little A-pillar here. Um so yeah, first impressions it’s really good. you you don’t feel the transition between the um the petrol engine and the electric motor. I’m doing 100ks now on what sort of simulates a countryish back road. Yeah. In terms of ride and handling, there’s a few bumps in the road back there, but it’s smooth them out really nicely. You hear them more than you feel them. just sort of bounds over the bumps, but yeah, it’s not not coming into the cabin in terms of like shaking up passengers and whatnot. That was a bit of a harder bump there, but even still, it’s yeah, really well composed. All right, let’s see what it’s like under heavy acceleration. So, we’re going to do a 0 to 100 run. And what have we got? We might do a sport mode. So, drive modes are just down here on the center console. So, we’ve got eco, normal, and sport. And I’ll stomp both pedals. I’m sure it hasn’t got any form of launch control at all, but let’s just see what it does. Yeah, nothing. Okay, so I’m just going to have to floor it. Okay, so 3 2 1. Bit of front wheel slip there. Running out of road 100. Okay, hold everything. Okay. Yeah, the the hazard lights come on pretty um I feel like it’s a bit premature. Like I feel like if you just hit the brakes semih hard for you know the light goes orange and you’re like oh no I got to stop the hazard lights come on. But I guess it’s it’s safer than not coming on at all. So I mean that’s yeah I guess it’s probably a good thing um for the most part. Okay I’m now going to go through a little bit of a cone uh slamm type setup. The steering isn’t very fast. I mean, it is a family SUV after all, but seems to change directions pretty nicely in terms of body control. It’s pretty good. And one thing I’ve noticed, especially taking off really hard in a lot of these plug-in hybrids, they’ve got a lot of um power up front to put down. So, you get a bit of torque steer. Just because there’s that electric motor up front, it means there’s a lot of torque steer and um wheel spin. I got a bit of the wheel spin, but no torque steer, which is good. And I mean, this isn’t a super sporty or powerful plug-in hybrid. But yeah, it’s nice that that feels like it’s all pretty well sorted in terms of the powertrain. It’s a fairly modest powertrain in the Cine 5. This thing is powered by a 1.5 L petrol 4-cylinder and then it’s got an electric motor up front. Combined outputs are about 156 kW. Um, and the petrol engine itself is only about 70 kW. So, it’s pretty small, uh, 1.5 L, as I said. So, in terms of the two grades, there’s also two battery sizes. So, both are frontwheel drive. Every CL 5 is a front-wheel drive, and they all get a 1.5 L 4-cylinder petrol engine. The battery packs, however, this is the bigger one cuz it’s the topsp spec model. It’s about 18 kW hours, and you’ll get over 1,000 km of combined driving range. So, with a full tank of fuel and the battery full, um 1,000 ks or thereabouts. So, the 1,00k range or thereabouts is pretty common for a lot of the um plug-in hybrid SUVs or the super hybrids that are coming out from BYD. MG’s got one and Cherry as well among others. I think that’s probably the main the main three, but they all promise fairly long driving range. Um, the battery pack in this will give you, this one’s the 18 something kilwatt hour, so the larger of the two options because it’s the topsp spec. And they reckon it’ll give you around 100 km of electric only driving range, but that is on the NEC cycle. So, it’s a bit more lenient than the WLTP um, range that we normally go by. So, expect a bit less than that if you’re planning on doing EV only. There’s a lot of menus here with the safety assist. I mean, on the move trying to change some of those systems, like if you want to turn off blind spot monitoring or the emergency lane keep assist, [Music] it is difficult to do it on the move and then you’ve got the car telling you to keep your eyes on the road. Rightfully so. I’ll just touch on consumption as well. So, they reckon that with a full tank of fuel and a full battery, you’ll get about 1.3 L per 100 ks in this car. When the battery starts to drain though, they reckon it’s more like 4.6 or thereabouts. So, mid mid four liter per 100ks. Um, which is generally better than or or as good as a lot of hybrid systems, let alone plug-in hybrids with a a slightly bigger battery. Um, at the moment, this car is reading 4.9 L per 100k. So, yeah, just under 5 L. And I mean that’s pretty good for what I’m guessing probably has been thrashed a bit today um by a bunch of different drivers. Yeah. Again, higher speed simulating country road type behavior. 130ks. It feels good. I can still hear a bit of that wind noise, but there’s no complaints when it comes to ride and handling, at least on any of these roads that we’ve been on. This is a coarser chip surface, and again, it still feels pretty pretty quiet in here. I pulled over and worked out how to switch on all the lane assist features to their full strength. And the good news is that they weren’t too intrusive. Yeah, it’s a bit hard to tell whether they’re really good or not good enough at picking up the lines because of the roads that we’re on. They’re not really marked well anyway. So, I’ll yeah, certainly reserve judgment on some of the ADAS features until we get this car on Aussie roads and um yeah, which shouldn’t be too long. So, exciting time. Thanks for joining us for a first look at the new BYD Sea Lion 5. We’ll get to drive this on Aussie roads when it arrives early next year to give you our full and proper thoughts and do a really good test with it then. So, make sure you stay tuned to the car sales website and YouTube for more. In the meantime though, let us know what you think of this car in the comments. Would you get this or the Cine 6 or something else? All right, see you in the next one. [Music]
Chinese car giant BYD is coming to claim the title of Australia’s cheapest PHEV with its new mid-size SUV, the Sealion 5.
BYD has made no secret of its ambitious plans in Australia and the Chinese brand’s local boss is eyeing a top three sales results by the end of the next year. The new Sealion 5 will form part of its bold strategy, arriving in early 2026 as the cheapest plug-in hybrid Down Under. At least that’s the goal.
Measuring up just a little smaller than the established Sealion 6 mid-size SUV it’ll sell alongside, the 5 is pitched as a more budget-friendly offering. It still offers five seats and proper medium-SUV proportions – including a 463 litre boot – stretching to 4.7 metres in length. It’s also tipped to offer up to 100km of electric only driving range in top-spec form.
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