BYD Seal Sedan: Multiple Flaws
The BYD Seal EV comes in two variants:
A higher-range version with a single motor, for ₹53 lakh on-road ← This is the one I test-drove.
A lower-range version with two motors, for a higher price.
I test-drove it in the city as well as on the highway, and evaluated it against my requirements. I won’t be buying it, for a few reasons:
- It’s extremely cramped. The headroom is bad even by sedan standards, and more like a sports car, which I don’t want. I almost hit my head when exiting the driver’s seat. With that in mind, when I tried to enter the front passenger seat consciously, I still hit my head. The seats1, even in their highest position, are too low. I couldn’t stretch my legs in the front passenger seat2. To add to the claustrophobic feeling, the header bar is huge and the windshield cramped, even compared to other sedans. The windows are small, and my eyes are near the top of the window, blocking my view. In the rear seat, the D pillar also blocks my view. Because of the extremely cramped cabin, I can’t see the USB-C port in the lower level of the floating center console from the driver’s seat, nor the -A from the front passenger’s. I can’t bend, since the steering wheel3 comes in the way, and since the low seating position will squeeze my stomach even more if I bend.
- The car has extremely low ground clearance, and it scraped a speed breaker even at 5 kph. I had to slowly descend the ramp from my parking.
- The suspension is firm, and I feel every undulation and imperfection even on a smooth road, whether a highway or a city road. Bumps are jarring, unlike the buttery smooth ride of the Verna, which eliminates them. At high speed, the Verna maintains its composure over bumps, floating over them, better than the Seal, which bounces. The Verna is both more comfortable and safer.
- The roof of the car is made of glass. It’s not a sunroof — you can’t open it to let hot air out, which cools a car instantly that has been baking for hours in the afternoon summer sun. It’s not even a moonroof — you can’t cover the glass to prevent sun from coming in. I wouldn’t buy this car don’t know if this is a fit for India4.
- Its range is insufficient, at 175 km, at high speed, in Sport. Further, the range indicator is wrong, showing 642 km.
For these reasons, I wouldn’t buy the Seal.
If you’d like to understand each aspect of the car in detail, read on for my full review:
± The car has a deep boot as is the norm in sedans.
+ It has a frunk, which can fit a backpack. However, it’s hot, so don’t store anything heat-sensitive like electronics or curd.
+ The gear lever is tiny, at 2 inches tall. It’s funny (in a good way), even cute. After all, since it’s all electronically controlled, why have a gigantic one? This frees up space for other controls, which is smart design. It’s spring-loaded and returns to its position when let go, so you can’t look at its position to tell which gear it’s in; you have to look at the illuminated indicator on the lever 5.
+ The gear lever’s design reminded me of the Atto 3.
+ Door handles extend out when it’s unlocked, so the problem of pulling the handle only to realise it’s locked is prevented.
± The tailgate is electric, which doesn’t matter since sedan boots are light, anyway.
- The cameras are defective: the rear camera, which you use when reversing, is blurry. The salesman said there’s condensation on it, but even after wiping it, it was blurry. When driving, the right camera’s view was rotated 90 degrees, so people had their feet towards the left of the screen and their head towards the right. The salesman insisted everything was fine. He seemed to prioritise dumping the car on me.
Driving
+ The car is stable in curves at speed. I was more comfortable pushing it just an hour after starting to drive it, which is more than I felt in any car, sedan or crossover, petrol or EV. I think this is because of three factors coming together: it’s a sedan, it’s electric, and it’s RWD with a 50:50 weight distribution.
+ Being a 2-wheel-drive, its performance is noticeably lower than AWD stalwarts like the Volvo EC40 or the Mercedes EQS Sedan:
+ Auto hold
Digital features
- The car still has USB-A ports, one in the front and one in the back. In 2025, we should have only -C.
- CarPlay works only on the USB-A port.
+ 2 wireless chargers that can also be used as places to put a phone when charging wired.
Cooling
- The door can accommodate my Thermos, not a 1-liter Bisleri.
+ 2 universal6 bottle holders in the center.
- No sunshades for the rear windows or windscreen.
Rear seat
- In order to give myself more legroom, I moved the front passenger seat up and front, but the headrest got squished against the roof. This is defective design — the car doesn’t know its own shape.
+ 1 USB-C port
+ Phone holder below the AC
+ Both passengers can independently angle the AC up / down / left / right.
+ Both front seats have a hole at the neck. It feels less isolated.
Both front seats are 6-way adjustable: front / back, recline, height, thigh angle, lumbar up / down and lumbar + / -.
But I could, in the driver’s seat.
As an aside, it tilts and telescopes.
Since we can’t return the car after buying it, I’d err on the side of caution.
This is not a problem since you don’t change gears in an automatic while in motion.
In other words, they have four spring-loaded tabs to grip a Thermos that’s slimmer than the holder, so that it doesn’t rattle.