In this article, I describe all the information about the new BYD Sealion 6 magic vehicle.
I have always considered BYD an innovative, forward-thinking company with full EVs, such as the AT3, the Dolphin, the Tang, and the Han. But they needed one product, one model, to put them over the top and win many hearts and minds in the local car scene.
Table of Contents
Design Features
Regarding design features, car companies usually evoke images of predators and aggressive animals such as Mustangs, cheetahs, and pumas. However, in this case, BYD has always been proud of its ocean face design, and the BYD Sealion 6 is no exception.
You get smooth lines right on the front—no aggressive-looking honeycomb grill. Instead, you get a smooth-looking grill line. You will get LED headlamps. Those are W headlamps.
I don’t understand what W means, but they’re trying to evoke it. The 2024 BYD Sealion 6 badge is on the right side. Because an IC engine is underneath it, you get a nice sloping hood with a slight hint of a power bulge.
Hybrid Technology
That’s right. Some customers are still slightly iffy about buying fully electric vehicles, which BYD initially offered. So they gave us a hybrid, but not just one, a plug-in hybrid, which works very differently from the hybrid. We’ll be talking more about that later on in the drive.
Similarities with ATO 3
Now, if the BYD Sea Lion 6 is like a large BYD ATO 3, you’re not that off because it still has the same character lines that define the ATO 3. You get those sharp creases on the front fender and rear end, miming the ATO 3 again.
Additional Features
This car also has sizeable 19-inch alloy wheels that are two-toned and flat, giving it more aerodynamics throughout the affair. If you notice the right side of this car, it’s got a camera on the side mirrors.
You get a 360° camera system with an advanced driver assist system. We have some sensors up front, on the side, and in the back. So yeah, it’s complete with all those features that we love.
Practicality
It also has almost 200 mm of ground clearance, which makes it an excellent package if you’re in the market for a high-riding crossover SUV. Since it’s a crossover SUV, you will get black plastic cladding. It’s got tint out of the factory and privacy glass in the back, giving you even more privacy, especially when going down our busy, crowded streets.
Charging
You get your gas cap in this car; on the other side, you’ve got another filler, another door where you charge it. It charges in a 7-watt wall charger AC, so it’s easy to charge. It takes around 3 hours to charge completely.
Rear Section and Design
The 18 kW battery continues to the rear section of the BYD Sealion 6. This is my favourite part of the vehicle because the tail lamp, the light bar that runs across the entire vehicle, is mounted pretty low. You’ll get some nice chiselled lines in the back, but it’s my favourite part.
The other cars in BYD’s lineup seem to have this badge called “Build Your Dreams.” That whole typography blew me off just a bit, but having just “BYD” is classy, and that’s something I want to see in many BYD vehicles moving forward.
Tail Lamp and DMI Technology
It gets a little busy right there, and since you have the tail lamp mounted pretty low, it has this wagon-like effect over the whole affair. It looks like a wagon, and I like how that looks.
You get a DMI. DMI stands for Dual Motor Intelligent because it uses a small electric motor with a 1.5 L naturally aspirated engine. We’ll be talking about the drive later, but just so you know, that’s what DMI means—not TMI, DMI.
Additional Features
BYD Sea Lion 6 is proudly written on the side as well. It has another camera, plus a power tailgate. That’s right. With this technology and drivetrain, you would expect more concessions at this price point, but I haven’t seen any.
Plus, the buttons we have up there are too close and lock this rear power tailgate. It gives you access to all this space inside. Sorry, I’m going to lift that real quick. You get an excellent tunnel cover here, plus you’ve got this lovely hard floor. If you need it, you can put all your stuff in it.
We’ve got the BYD charging accessory: the wall charger. By the way, if you buy any BYD, you’ll get this, and they’ll install it in your home free of charge, as well as the wall charger.
Practicality and Interior
I found this a bit iffy: the liftgate on this vehicle’s floor is higher. So, if you’ll be lifting this heavy item, you’ll have to lift it higher this way. It’s small, but you can fold those rear seats if you need more space. You fold in the 60/40 split configuration, and it’s very flat.
It looks like a crossover SUV, as it should, but the technology inside makes it even more exciting. The marine theme that’s been going on in the exterior continues on the inside.
If you’re familiar with the ATO 3, it seems on par with that, but I appreciate this even more because, with the ATO 3, you’ve got all these weird character lines or weird mouldings all around. But here, it just looks like a car’s interior—straightforward.
You get your vents, one on each side, vertical slats on the side, and horizontal in the middle. You have a vast 15.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system that can centre vertically or align horizontally.
Interior Features
This is not a touchscreen, but you can change the settings depending on what you want to see on the screen. You can even change the theme to dark, making it even more appealing to the eyes.
You will get some stitching on the BYD Sealion 6 and orange stitching on the leather. The grey-coloured BYD Sealion 6 has a brown and black interior, which I prefer over the white interior of the other colours. But you get a black headliner, a vanity mirror with a vanity light, your sunglass holder, and a huge panoramic sunroof that works quite well.
Information and Connectivity
One of my favourite features of the BYD Sea Lion 6 is that you will get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto apart from the touchscreen infotainment system. It’s got dual wireless charging pads in the middle. They’re 15W charging pads, which means they have fast charging, so you don’t have to worry about losing charge if you’re using Android Auto and Apple CarPlay wirelessly because they can be quite power hogs for your phone.
Additional Interior Features
It’s got a nice shelf underneath that’s pretty hidden. Underneath, you get a USB-C and USB-A port for connecting your phone if you prefer to use a wired connection with the screen. You get a nice shifter; they call this the heart of the sea.
The buttons on each side of the shifter include the hazard button, traction control, automatic start-stop, AC, automatic brake hold, and automatic climate control. They’re not capacitive but soft touch, so there’s no delineation between all the buttons. You’ll have to look at them to touch them, which can be hard to use muscle memory on, but that’s okay.
Driving Modes and Controls
You have a switch between EV mode and hybrid electric vehicle mode and, of course, your drive mode selector. You have Snow Field, Eco, Normal, and Sport. Your volume knob and your volume scroll wheel are available, as well as two cup holders.
Steering Wheel
The steering wheel is interesting. With the BYD ATO 3, you get a weirdly shaped steering wheel, but this one here seems tame, a little bit more to my liking. You can adjust it for both reach and brake, which is pleasing and accessible. You will get many more busy features on each side, but the most important thing about this is that it looks like a car. It doesn’t look like something that came out of the year 3000.
Familiarity and Futuristic Appeal
This one is very familiar, which BYD would like to leverage, especially with customers who would like a bit more futuristic but stay within contemporary times. Another feature you might want to check out is a 10-speaker Infinity system. What more would you want from this car? But wait, there’s even a lot more. There are power seats for both the passenger and the driver. These are cool and heated. There are too many to mention.
Second Row Comfort
Let’s talk about the back and see what’s what. If you sit in the second row of the BYD Sealion 6, you will get two USB ports: a USB-C and a USB-A. The USB-C also has a fast charging port. You get AC vents right, two map pockets, more speakers in the back, and a centre armrest to boot. What’s most important is the space. My feet are free to move freely.
Despite the panoramic roof, there is still a lot of headroom. These capacitive lights turn on and off like in an aeroplane.
Driving Experience
Now, we’re talking about the BYD Sea Lion 6 driving experience. This is BYD’s first plug-in hybrid in town. I initially thought BYD would only offer total electric vehicles, but I was wrong. They have given us something that many people are looking for.
Electric vehicles are good. We’ve been praising them for the past 2-3 years. However, many people are still hesitant to buy fully electric cars.
Driving Modes and Performance
As mentioned, the BYD Sealion 6 has different drive modes: Snow, Eco, Normal, and Sport. But sports are the way to go.
With Sport mode, you get instant acceleration, and it’s pretty nice. The steering is, well, it is a crossover SUV, though. Don’t expect big things; don’t expect sporty steering in something like this.
If you expect sportiness in a crossover SUV, you should get the Ferrari Purosangue. But I’ve heard many things about it—it still feels like an SUV.
So yeah, if you’re looking for sporty, get a roadster, not this one. SUVs were meant to be, you know, daily appliances, daily drivers, and this is a good one.
Suspension and Safety
Suspension-wise, you get full independent suspension all around. The ride seems to be a little stiff, though. You need that because you need to support the weight of not just the engine but the entire architecture—the battery, the engine, the charger, the motor, and the gas tank. So it needs to be stiff, especially compared to other SUVs, but it’s not bad.
Acceleration is acceptable—it’s just fine, but it will be much quicker than your regular SUV or hybrid SUV. Safety features—you get a complete suite of active and passive safety features, including advanced driver assist.
Intelligent Cruise Control and Safety Features
You’ve got cruise control. They don’t call it adaptive cruise control; they call it intelligent cruise control. And yeah, let’s give them that. Smart cruise control, a 360° camera system, proximity sensors, automatic braking, forward collision assist, and lane keep assist all work.
You can expect car companies to give you that right now. But again, at this price point, you will be surprised how much this will be. You’re going to ask yourself, how is BYD earning from this?
Fuel Economy
But let’s talk about the main reason you want to get a hybrid: fuel economy. Since this is a plug-in hybrid, it isn’t like your regular parallel hybrid, where the electric motor assists the gasoline engine. In this case, you can use exclusive electric mode, running on pure electric mode for a rated 100 km.
Plug-in Hybrid Technology
BYD understands that, so they want to give first-time EV adopters a car to get their feet wet and experience electrified mobility. So they gave us the BYD Sealion 6, which does have a plug-in hybrid. Under the hood, it has a 1.5 L naturally aspirated engine mated to an electric motor that makes 325 Nm of torque.
With that much power going to the front wheels, sound engineering is needed to ensure the power is distributed well. Thankfully, the direct-drive transmission does so admirably.
Practical Usage
So, in theory, if you don’t drive that far, if your commute isn’t that far off—let’s say you live in Tai Tai and work in Ortigas Center—that’s around 12 km. So, back and forth daily, you’ll use about 24–25 kilometres if you don’t take any side trips. I see you take side trips; you don’t go straight home. But yes, if you do that, four days straight of pure electricity will be perfectly possible.
Real-World Testing
Again, these are all estimates. BYD quotes them, so we’ll take their word for it. However, once we get our hands on the BYD Sea Lion 6, we will perform significant fuel economy torture tests.
Battery Charging
Another neat trick the BYD Sealion 6 has is that you can charge or force-charge the battery even when idle. So, the threshold is 90%. If you’re below 90%, for example, at 70%, and want to charge it to 90%, all you have to do is set it on Park and then push the pedal through. It will charge at 8 kW, so you’ll get about 8 kWh within an hour.
Charging and Range
But this is a plug-in hybrid, so that you can use it at home. When you get home, charge for three hours thanks to the wall charger, and you’ll be back on the road with 100% charge easily. Again, this is a hybrid, so the range extender and the gasoline engine charge your vehicle with regenerative braking. There’s no loss to this particular vehicle.
Advantages Of Electric Vehicles
One advantage of plug-in hybrids over electric vehicles is that you don’t have to look for chargers to get you where you need to be. You can fill this up with regular or premium 95 gas. I would do that, and then it will get you almost 1,100 km on a full tank with a single charge. That is crazy.
Some of the best SUVs, the most fuel-efficient small hatchbacks, cannot even get half that rating. But at 1,100 km, you can go far in the BYD Sea Lion 6.
Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) Capability
Then that’s a lot—still a lot. Why would you need that? It would help if you had that because, guess what, the Sea Lion 6 has V2L or Vehicle-to-Load. You can plug in your appliances if you’re camping. You need to power your barbecue, air conditioner, and electric fan—you. You must plug it into the BYD Sealion 6 and have a mobile command centre.
Pricing and Value
With all the features we have here, all the excellent amenities, the good build quality, and the BYD assurance, such pricing for the 2024 BYD Sealion 6 will push it. The BYD Sealion 6 can be had for below 1.6 million pesos. You’ll see the price in the description box below and how much exactly that is. That’s crazy.
Comparison with Rivals
If you’re in the market for the BYD Sea Lion 6, you might be considering its apparent rival—the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid. At that price point, the Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid has a hybrid engine, which all Toyota cars now have.
However, the entry-level G variant lacks Toyota Safety Sense, ADS, or advanced driver systems. If you want to move up, there’s a mid-range V variant, but that’s going to cost a little bit more than this one, and it’s a smaller SUV.
Other Competitors
Now you tell me, well, how about the Toyota RAV4? Good luck finding a Toyota RAV4 or even one in stock at this price point. That thing at 2.7 million pesos is crazy. How about the CR-V and the Honda CR-V? Well, that’s too expensive as well.
Now, how about the others? You get this Ford Territory; you’ve got the Chery Tiggo 8 Pro H plug-in hybrid and the Chery Tiggo 7 Pro plug-in hybrid once they announce them, and we see them in the metal.
Technology and Assurance
But one thing that this has over all of that is the technology. Get blade technology, which gives you more extra assurance when driving, especially when driving a new vehicle with this new technology.
The peace of mind you’re getting from buying a BYD still can’t be purchased. Plus, with a plug-in hybrid, you get a long-range DI and this nice-looking interior. Look at this; this is straight out of a European handbook because it is well-built and looks good. You can seat five people comfortably.
FAQ
Is BYD Sealion fully electric?
Not at all; the BYD Sealion isn’t all electric. It’s a plug-in hybrid electric car (PHEV) with a gas engine and an electric motor.
It can travel a certain distance on electricity alone but also has a fuel engine for longer trips or when the battery runs out.
Is BYD a Chinese car?
Yes, BYD is a Chinese company that makes cars. “Build Your Dreams” is this group based in Shenzhen, China. A big company in the world that makes electric cars is BYD.
Is Toyota using BYD batteries?
No, Toyota doesn’t use batteries made by BYD. Toyota’s hybrid and electric cars mostly use batteries from Panasonic Energy, a Toyota business. Toyota has considered dealing with other battery providers, but BYD isn’t one of them.
Conclusion
That’s everything we need to know right now. You guys are excited to learn more about the BYD Sealion 6, and I am thrilled to take it out for a long drive to show you how it works.
