2025 BYD Tang DM-i | Car Review
BYD is showing a lot of strength lately and they’re showing it even more and they plan to show even more of it with this the Tang DMI. Let’s do a review. [Music] So to gain even more strength, BYD does have to compete with one of the larger segments in our market, which is the midsize SUV segment. And they plan to do it with this. plans to compete with the likes of the Mitsubishi Monto Sport, the very popular Toyota Fortuner, and many other SUVs. And it well, do you think they’ll be successful? We’ll find out. So, for starters, this is priced at 2,98,000 pesos. So, it’s very much lower than what you would get in most SUVs. Anyway, let’s talk about what this has to offer. So, so the front fascia here, you can see that it’s very similar to what you will find in the BYD Tang EV, except for the fact that this has a large front grill. In fact, it’s very in-your-face and it, well, it’s a very aggressive look, very nice look here. We have the same LED headlights from the Tang EV, which also look very nice. It’s a little bit of an older design compared to some of our other BYD models in our market, but this is still very good. Then you’ll see that we do have these black accents and the blacked out BYD logo. It only comes with this color which is called moonstone gray. Yeah. So very nice. Tell me if you like it in black or the other variants which get this in light gray or silver. And moving here to the side, we have our 20in alloy wheels right here. They’re wrapped or rather painted in black again for this color. So everything is blacked out in this version and it’s wrapped in GT control tires. And again, 20 in, one size lower than what you would get in the T. Easy. Then here we have this very sleek side mirror with our NFC card reader over there. So that one you just tap a card to unlock, unlock, and even start the vehicle. So moving here to the back, we have this kink over here, which I think is one of the best features of the Tang overall. It’s a very nice design. It really looks very distinct. They got I think. Anyway, so moving here to the back, we have of course our full width light barf and it’s also its own unique design for the DMI. It sets it apart from the EV very well. Blacked out badging again. So thankfully BYD also got rid with their redundant badging cuz it’s just BYD tang dmi. In the old one it was BYD tang or BYD by Tang and EV. So now it’s just BYD tank DMI thankfully. Then opening this we have our power tailgate. very fast. And you can see here that there’s just a good amount of space, a right amount of space for our stuff back here. And to fold down the third row of seats, simply pull this strap and it will fold flat to the floor and give you a very expansive amount of room. So come here and check it out with me. So you can see that we do now have a lot of space back here. And also, I’d like to show this to you. So, this is our charger right here, which comes with every BYD tank. So, this also has our V2L stuff. So, here we go. We have an extension cord. You can plug this into the vehicle and power up your devices such as your laptop or pretty much anything that it can take. So, this works very well, especially when there’s a power outage and such. So, speaking of charging, follow me here. I will show you our charging ports, which is right here. So, we have a DC and AC charging ports, a type two or CCS2 and right there. So, of course, you can drive this on full electric power and charging it. I’m not sure exactly of how long it would take, but I’ll just put it here on the screen so you know how long it will take to charge. And of course, cast it up on the other side. Now, we’re inside the BYD tank DMI. And like in every other PYD video, I’m going to tell you right now that this is typical BYD. That’s because they have the same design language in every single model that they offer here in the Philippines. But that’s not a bad thing, especially for the Tang because here you can feel that it is quite elevated compared to the rest of the lineup, especially with the color scheme. So they have this, they call it gray, but for me it’s like beige and black color scheme for the interior. It looks very premium. It feels very premium as well when you touch it. So everything is soft touch on the dashboard here. Leather right there. Door panel very soft on top. And here as well, everything is covered in soft touch material which just makes this a very elevated experience. There’s so many bugs. Anyway, also you will see that we do have loads of piano black, gloss black plastics here. So, as far as the I can see, everything is in gloss black from the steering wheel, from the door panel, and this huge piece on the dashboard, which you will definitely need to protect with PPF because you can see, I don’t know if you can see it right now, but it is already very scratched. So, if you’re considering buying a BYD Tang DMI, make sure to cover that up because, well, you’re going to want to. Anyway, other stuff here. It’s pretty much similar as the BYD Tang EV as well. There are a few differences, such as the mood lighting, which has been reduced to just the strip down here. And then the door panels. I like that more compared to the Tang EV because that one was just too flashy. And also, you’ll notice here the steering wheel is matching the color of the lower part of the dashboard and the seat. So, not a huge fan of the steering wheel design. I don’t like two spoke steering wheels, but this one works. I guess could be better. I do have the tendency to press the next track when I am turning a bit faster and it kind of reminds me of a fish, a Chinese fish or maybe a dragon even. Anyway, this is very well adjustable. So, there is a good amount of adjustment right there, which is really something that I appreciate with my very short arms. So, that’s good over there. And behind that you’ll find the fully digital instrument cluster which looks really good especially in fashion mode which we are using right now. This is my preferred setup and it shows us the typical information our battery over there and well I’m there. So our fuel economy tire pressures and everything even a timer a lap timer you can find you can set our theme right there. So that’s it. So, it’s a very detailed system right there. And it’s also similar to what you will find in the BYD C Lion 6 DMI. And then here in the center, we have our 15.6 in touchscreen infotainment system. So, this is new for a BYD because it no longer rotates. So, we don’t have that setting there anymore. No more button on the screen as or on the steering wheel as well for that. So it’s fixed which is really nice because the honestly the rotating screen was a gimmick and it’s very responsive and by now we are very much used to Oh oops. So you can do this for the fan speed. You can see that temperature up and down. So the air con controls are all here. You just press this right there and you can see can adjust everything here. Unfortunately everything is there but it is something that we have already gotten used to. And we have our different apps right there. We have our Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, of course. So, giant iPad right there. Very responsive screen. So, you’ve gotten used to. And down below the screen is our air vents. So, typical BYD, they’re located down here. Then below that, we have under this cover two cup holders, which well, they’re pretty small, but you know, it works. You can put your fast food beverages inside that. Then, right here in the center console, we have pretty much our other functions. So, we have our volume toggle right there. Push start button and our hazard button right there. Our electronic gear selector. So, it’s very simple to use. So, just pull it back for drive. Push it forward for reverse and park is the button. And I’ll show you real quick. Here’s our 360 camera, which is pretty high resolution. That’s very nice with our dynamic guidelines, of course, and different views, which are very helpful when driving, especially in narrow areas. And I do apologize for the noise right now because we are in along a highway. Moving on, we have again those functions. We have our automatic function for our air con, air con on and off button. We have our defoger for the front, different drive modes here. So eco sport and normal. And then here our eight and h mode. So to switch between hybrid and full electric, just press this toggle which is very easy to access. Next to that, our auto hold function, our blind spot monitor, and our parking sensors right there. Then, right next to that, our wireless charger located back here. Other people don’t like this location, but I personally prefer this because it will it makes you avoid using your phone when driving because you’re not supposed to do that. Then here, our storage area with this flip to the side covers, our USB ports are right there, USBA and C and a 12vt power outlet. Then moving on to the seats. So, these are actually very nice seats because they feel very comfortable. They’re very soft and they are perforated, ventilated, and heated as well. So, to use that, simply access them here on the screen. There’s a button right here on the lower part or rather a function which shows us our controls for that. Also, a heated steering wheel, by the way, forgot to mention that. So, everything is controlled over here. And the seat material again itself, it’s of course wrapped in leather, perforated, very soft. You can see that if you just zoom into my finger right here and you can see how soft that is. It’s very nice, very comfortable. One thing that is lacking for these seats. So for the passenger seat, it is a bit too high. While here in the driver’s seat, you will have no lumbar support. So there is a bit of a downgrade compared to the Tang EV. And also we lost our memory function for the seat. So I wish we still had that. By the way, our audio system, it’s a D audio or D audio system. So very nice actually, very nice sounding and something that is mostly what we like about BYDs that have them. And up top you can see that we do have a panoramic sunroof which is very tinted because you need it because if you do close the shade which is obviously powered. It isn’t that thick unfortunately. So I don’t know why but it’s not so thick. It’s actually very thin. You can see that it’s literally a piece of cloth when you can even see through it some at some point. So yeah, BYD, I hope you do change that to something thicker. But at least if you have this tinted with maybe ceramic tint, that will help a lot. So now let’s check out what’s in the back seat. Now we’re here at the back seats of the Tang DMI. And since this is a sevenseater, of course, you will put much importance in what’s at the back because here you can see that I do have a lot of space. I’m 5′ and 7 in in height. This is in my driving position. And I am very comfortable. Here you can also see how much space the panoramic sunroof adds for us. And you can also see how dark it is. Other than the fact that the sky is getting quite dark. Anyway, the seats themselves are still very soft just like in front. They have the same exact same pattern and material. Very nice. Here a center armrest with our two cup holders popping out of there. And this storage area as well which is lined in some very fancy material inside. So that’s very nice. Other stuff you will find here. We have our dual seat back pockets which are very much like what you would find in an airplane. So fancy thigh high. And then our two air con vents and down here two USB ports. So one USBA and one USB C right there. Also the floor is very flat as you can see. So the middle passenger won’t have any trouble here at all. Also to our door panels very much the same as in front. Very fancy, all soft touch materials everywhere you touch. And now let’s check out what’s in the third row. And you can see that we already folded the second row the other side because you can fold it almost flat. And to access the third row, simply push this forward very easy. And you do have a decent amount of room to get inside the third row back here. And it’s plent of space. Oh, so once you are back here, there is a decent amount of space. So you do have to slide the second row a bit more forward. So let’s just put this back here. Put it on your ideal space because there is a lot of space for second row passengers anyway. So it won’t really matter. And in this case, which is the ideal for me, it’s actually still pretty good. So I have a decent amount of knee room. Foot room is pretty good as well, both for the left and right passengers. And well, the unfortunate thing here is despite the seats actually still feeling okay. And well, the sad part of my knees being this high up, there is nothing for the rear third row passenger. So there’s no air con vents back here. There’s just one cup holder on each side. And yeah, that’s it. We’re forgotten on the third row. Unfortunate. And now we are driving the BYD Tang DMI. So obviously this will differ a lot with the BYD Tang EV because this is obviously a plug-in hybrid. But still, since this is a DMI, it’s mostly electric anyway. So, this is powered by a 1.5 L engine, which acts as a generator for our electric motor and lithium ion batteries. The exact measurements or outputs for those two are already on the screen. And then this produce a total combined output of 271 horsepower and 315 Newton m of torque. So, first things first, you can see that it’s very different from what we get from our other or BYD’s other BMI products with the output because this one gets a turbocharged engine instead of a naturally aspirated one, which definitely ups the power and torque of this vehicle by a lot. And speaking of torque, we will start with that because that is something that I think this vehicle needs to improve. Yes, we have the 350 Newton meters. That’s a lot. And these numbers again are very competitive with what the what with what this vehicle’s rivals have. So this is aiming for our turbo diesel SUVs, midsize SUVs. But again, that torque is something that needs to improve because it does have for starters a lot of torque steer. That one we noticed before when I showed you this few months back and until now it’s still very noticeable. So, if you do floor the vehicle, I’m not going to show you now, but if you do floor the vehicle, it will, you know, kind of steer left and right a bit. So, that’s something that it could improve better. And another one is when I was going up my parking ramp from a stop. It was a rainy day, so the tires were wet, but the ramp was dry, but I did encounter a lot of wheel spin considering that I was barely accelerating on the throttle. So, it really needs improvement when it comes to torque management, which I think BYD can of course do, but it doesn’t it’s not really a dealbreaker for me because you won’t be flooring the car, the accelerator every day. Oh, and by the way, that torque of course is all going to the front wheel. So, torque steer is a common problem for high torque vehicles that have that are in front drive. So, the Tang DMI unfortunately does not come with a with an all all-wheel drive variant unlike the BYD Shark 6. Anyway, once you are away from that torque, you will feel just the typical BYD tmi system because there’s a lot of power. There’s a lot of torque. There’s no complaining at all when it comes to that. And also, one thing I did notice is the way that this handles because it is quite different from the other BYDMI. So, this really handles better in the same way. Well, it’s the same as the others how it has less body roll and such because our battery and motors are placed low on the floor. But really, the way that this has a steering feel is something that BYD really did some work. It’s still very light, which we already expect from pretty much any BYD and many other new vehicles these days, but it still provides us a little bit of feedback that we really like. It’s also a bit more weighted compared to the other vehicles because, well, we’re we’re using sport mode right now and comfort mode doesn’t exactly feel like the best. It’s too light for my tastes, but this sport mode just feels like a perfect balance of lightness and that weight that we still long to have with these vehicles. So thankfully it doesn’t feel so artificial. Same with the brakes. So thankfully BYD has done a great job with the brakes of this vehicle. So it doesn’t feel so artificial and you can you know that it just feels normal. Everything just feels normal in this vehicle. So, like I mentioned earlier, BYD is aiming for our midsize pickup based turbo diesel SUVs with the Tang DMI and maybe even the likes of the Hyundai Santa Fe and those other smaller midsize SUVs or crossovers. But mainly, yeah. So, the big SUVs and one thing that this has an ace over those is definitely the ride quality because it’s just of course a very smooth vehicle because this is a crossover for starters and you know every bump you don’t feel all of them and at the same time it’s firm enough that it doesn’t become a bouncy ride like many other Chinese vehicles. So, even the BYDC Lion 6, this way this suspension is just better. We do lose out on the adaptive suspension from the Tang EV, but PYD did have to cut some costs to bring the price of this to where it is. And also, they’ve done a good job with NVH insulation. So, road noise, it’s a very quiet place to be in. So, you can probably hear now it’s there’s barely any road noise because we do have some double glazed windows. And our tires, they’re not the best tires because again, you I told you earlier that they do have the tendency to be a bit slippery, but yeah, no road noise, double glazed windows, no wind noise in this cabin. It’s a very quiet place to be. And even the engine, you can barely hear it if ever you do activate it. And speaking of that engine, again, you’re probably wondering about fuel economy in the tank DMI. So, we are able to get around 25 km per liter in mixed driving, although that is mostly with our electric motor activated, but also we have been using HEV mode most of the time. And speaking of that mode, HEV mode once you put it in there, you do have the option to force charge this vehicle. So, I already showed you earlier our DC charger outside, but you don’t actually have to use it, especially if you need a to use a public charging station. You can force charge the vehicle up to 70% just by using the engine. Simply keep it on HEV mode, drive it on the highway, maybe or just idle in the parking lot with the gas engine running. So that will force charge the vehicle up to 70% which also makes you not need to hog public charging stations, which has been quite the problem with some anyway, but I don’t want to rant about that right now. But anyway, that also keeps our gas or our fuel pumps, everything working properly because after all, you should still use that gasoline engine when you have it because well, you can’t drive on electric all the time anyway. So, moving on, we also have a full suite of advanced drivers assist systems or BYD’s Thai pilot system. We have adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, autonomous emergency braking. So, everything pretty much that we need is already equipped here. And BYD has done a great job of how they’ve developed these systems. It’s still not as good as our mainstream Japanese vehicles, but it’s almost there. So BYD, yeah, really has done a good job in that. The adaptive cruise control is very smooth. Haven’t had any ghost applications of the autonomous emergency braking and our lane keep assist is actually very smooth as you can see right now. So yeah, that’s pretty much it for the BYD Tang DMI. And so far looking at it, is it a good buy compared to our pickup placed SUVs? If you do realize that you don’t need all that ground clearance, all that capability, the 4×4 system, then the BYD tank DMI is definitely a perfect choice for you. And also since there is really no signs of electrification going on in that segment except maybe for a few mild hybrid systems with their diesels. So this is really your next step in going through to electrification. If you still cannot buy a smaller EV, you want something that can still fit seven people, then this is definitely the way to go. And of course, it’s a lot more refined than all of those. So yeah, the BYD Tang DMI is a very good choice for sure.
We’ve taken it out on a quick drive during the pre-launch shoot, and now, the BYD Tang DM-i is back with us for a full review. Is this plug-in hybrid seven-seater the PPV market disruptor that we were all thinking it to be?
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