Item: BYD Sealion 7
Rating: 3

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After shifting 4.72 million electric cars in 2024, BYD’s quest for world domination continues with the BYD Sealion 7, the latest in its maritime model range.

Taxonomies of the animal kingdom be damned: the Sealion 7 starts a new naming strategy for the Chinese brand. In future, new SUVs will all be called Sealion, saloons Seal and hatchbacks Dolphin, each with a number to indicate its relative positioning in the range.

But none of the current crop is being renamed and the Atto 3 is staying put because renaming that would be confusing – obviously. So the Sealion 7 is the SUV version of the Seal saloon (what the Tesla Model Y is to the Model 3) and the brand's fourth all-electric model in the UK. It’s not to be confused with the Seal U, which is a slightly smaller SUV that’s mechanically completely different.

Verdict

Model tested:

Rating: 6

BYD Sealion 7

Quite comfortable but otherwise mediocre all-round.

Good

Quiet at speed

Comfortable seats

Very fast

Bad

Poorly controlled suspension

Disconnected steering

Poor control layout

Inefficient

Annoying ADAS

DESIGN & STYLING

Pros

Choice of powertrain configurations

Quite powerful

Cons

Neither range nor charging get near the class-leaders

Looks rather plain

Heavy

The Sealion 7 is available in three flavours. There’s a standard-range battery of 82.5kWh, which you can have with either a 308bhp single rear motor or an extra 215bhp front motor for a total of 523bhp.

Comfort and Design AWD cars use an 82.2kWh battery for ranges of 300 and 282 miles respectively and can charge at speeds of up to 150kW.

Despite increasingly sophisticated technology for the drive batteries, EVs have tended to stick with old-school lead-acid batteries for the 12V system, but the Sealion switches that to LFP too. It comes with an eight-year warranty and shouldn’t run down when you leave the car stationary for long periods of time.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

Range-topping Excellence AWD models get a 91.3kWh battery with a range of 312 miles and can charge as fast as 230kW.

As with the Seal saloon, the Sealion 7 is based on BYD’s e-Platform 3.0 and uses the company's own lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries.

INTERIOR

Pros

Some high-quality materials

Fairly spacious

Comfortable driver's seat with plenty of adjustability

Cons

Impractical infotainment and control layout

No step up in perceived quality from the Seal

Perched driving position

As BYD matures, it seems to be moving away from the zany, wacky interiors and towards something with more conventional shapes and subdued colours. The result is a bit forgettable, with generally good perceived quality but lots of gloss black plastic.

The Sealion 7 has plush and cossetting vegan leather seats as standard, with genuine leather reserved for the top-spec Excellence. The materials used on the doors, dash and centre console appear soft and premium if a little plasticky, but it’s a step up from the Tesla Model Y.

BYD is clearly listening to feedback when it comes to its infotainment. Hence the permanent shortcut bar and the addition configurability. Apple CarPlay is now also more integrated into the native interface, so music shows in the standard media player. All positive steps, but there's still a long way to go.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

As with other BYDs, the interior is dominated by an enormous rotating touchscreen. It runs a new generation of software, which is prettier, and – praise be – now has a permanent bar at the bottom with a bunch of shortcuts and basic climate controls.

Much better, but it’s still pretty dreadful. It’s riddled with wonky translations, unfathomable menus and wasted space, and in one test car we couldn’t get Apple CarPlay to work, either wirelessly or with a cable.

Practicality is decent. Rear passengers have acres of leg room but not the most comfortable seating position because the floor is high. The boot has exactly the same volume as the Hyundai Ioniq 5's and is similarly shallow, and there’s a useful 58-litre frunk that’s slightly fiddly to access.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Pros

Fast

Good driveability

Cons

Very, very, very bad ADAS

Driving the Sealion 7 is a relatively simple affair. There are drive modes and two levels of regenerative braking, but they don’t make all that much difference. You put it in drive, press the right pedal to go faster and the left one to go slower.

Based on its power and performance figures, the Sealion 7 is no blubbery ocean puppy. BYD presents it as a premium performance electric SUV and it certainly isn’t lacking in power. Even in its entry-level specification, you get 308bhp and a 0-62mph time of 6.7sec.

There's a bit of lag when you floor the accelerator and the brake pedal is slightly spongy, but overall drivability is well-resolved.
Illya Verpraet
Road Tester

Both four-wheel-drive models produce a hefty 522bhp and 509lb ft of torque, slashing that time to just 4.5sec. That’s faster than the Audi Q4 E-tron 55 (5.4sec) and the Polestar 3 in Long Range Dual Motor Performance Pack guise (4.7sec) and impressively quick from a standing start.

Despite a kerb weight of near-enough 2.5 tonnes, 522bhp makes the Sealion 7 very quick, and its power delivery and braking are nice and smooth, with no notable quirks.

That isn’t to say that there’s no typical new-brand weirdness about the Sealion 7, though.

It starts with the assisted driving features, which are diabolical. The overspeed warning doesn’t just bong, it also dims your music, and turning off the audible warning (pretty easy) also turns off the visual speed-limit indicator.

There are two stages of lane keeping assistance to disable; one is so constant that it feels like you’ve got a flat tyre. The driver monitoring system will nag you if you look in the mirrors. Sometimes but not always, weirdly, a voice will tell you “ACC actived [sic]” when you turn on the cruise control.

RIDE & HANDLING

Pros

Fairly soft ride

Stability control keeps things orderly and isn't too intrusive

Cons

Disconnected-feeling steering

Loose body control

But while it fulfils the speed side of the performance SUV brief, the Sealion 7 is less qualified in other vital areas.

You would expect at least a bit of handling talent, but the Sealion 7 doesn’t have any. As with other BYDs, it's very softly suspended. Combine that with very light, remote steering and you end up with a car that inspires no confidence in the bends and actually has pretty poor directional stability.

When you get on the power out of a corner, you can feel it start to send power to the rear axle and start to rotate, which would be a good thing in a car with more control and feel but in this case just feels disconcerting.

But at least it’s a comfy cruiser, right? Well, sort of. Although the driving position perches you over the controls somewhat, the seats are soft yet supportive and other than a bit of wind noise, the car is pretty quiet at a cruise.

But the ride is too softly damped and bouncy (perhaps the only characteristic of the car that lives up to the Sealion name) and can feel uncomfortable on the UK’s lumpier B-roads.

Refinement is better on the motorway, with cracks and bumps ironed out more effectively, even on the 20in wheels fitted to our car.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Pros

Okay range and charging

Cons

Upper models are uncompetitively priced

Inefficient so gets only average range from quite a big battery

The Sealion 7 claws back some plaudits thanks to its impressive standard equipment.

Comfort models start from £46,990 and get a heated steering wheel, a reversing camera, heated front and rear seats, air purification, dual-zone climate control, wireless smartphone charging, front and rear parking sensors and keyless entry.

Cars above the entry-level model appear poorer value. Design models get AWD and more power, plus 20in wheels at £51,990, and Excellence adds leather seats and a head-up display for an eyewatering £58,990.

For £3000 less, you could opt for a four-wheel-drive Model Y or Ford Capri, both of which offer similar equipment and all the necessary performance but, vitally, a significantly longer range and a better ride-and-handling balance.

We're yet to take the Sealion 7 on a proper in-depth economy run, but even the WLTP figures are rubbish, so we wouldn’t expect more than 3.0mpkWh in any version.

BYD quotes 2.9mpkWh for the Design AWD model, 2.8mpkWh for the Excellence and 3.1mpkWh for the lower-powered Comfort.

VERDICT

Verdict

Model tested:

Rating: 6

BYD Sealion 7

Quite comfortable but otherwise mediocre all-round.

Good

Quiet at speed

Comfortable seats

Very fast

Bad

Poorly controlled suspension

Disconnected steering

Poor control layout

Inefficient

Annoying ADAS

Until now, every BYD we've driven has felt like a noticeable step up from the last, and apart from the dreadful touchscreen interface and poor ADAS, we think the Seal is quite an agreeable thing.

This Sealion 7 doesn’t fit in that series. It’s bland, not very nice to drive and not particularly efficient, and while its user interface is a step forward, it’s still not good.

Standard specification is good, it's practical and its impressively powerful, but given its poor efficiency, disappointing ride and lacklustre handling, it’s hard to see why anyone would get one over a Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5 or Renault Scenic.

TECHNICAL SPECS

Model tested:

BYD Sealion 7 Excellence

Price:

£55,000 (est)

Electric motor/s:

1x front induction motor, 1x rear PMSM

Drive battery:

Li-ion, LFP

Driveline layout:

Dual motors, 4WD

Model tested

BYD Sealion 7 Excellence

Price

£55,000 (est)

Electric motor/s

1x front induction motor, 1x rear PMSM

View all specs and rivals

Drive battery

Li-ion, LFP

Driveline layout

Dual motors, 4WD

Power

523bhp

Torque

509lb ft

0-62mph

4.5sec

Top speed

134mph

Kerb weight (DIN)

2435kg

Battery size

91.3kWh (total and usable)

Energy efficiency

2.8mpkWh

Range

312 miles

Max. charge rate

230kW

Rivals Tesla Model Y Hyundai Ioniq 5 Renault Scenic E-Tech

Power

523bhp

Torque

509lb ft

0-62mph

4.5sec

Top speed

134mph

Kerb weight (DIN)

2435kg

Battery size

91.3kWh (total and usable)

Energy efficiency

2.8mpkWh

Range

312 miles

Max. charge rate

230kW

Rivals Tesla Model Y Hyundai Ioniq 5 Renault Scenic E-Tech

Illya Verpraet

Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S.