BYD Dolphin

Irish BYD Doplhin web page is up.

I went for a test drive in the Design spec.

I was amazed how much interior space there was for this size of car. They really stretched the wheelbase and thus there was a lot of legroom in the rear, I felt the seats were reasonably comfortable. Electric seats are have good adjustment but there's no height adjustment on the passenger seat of either design or comfort spec which is a bummer. I wasn't happy with the regenerative breaking and there was not much difference between standard or high. I don't understand why manufacturers can't implement one-pedal mode like Tesla. The brake pedal felt quite soft and didn't inspire much confidence compared to an ID3 or MG4. There was lots of wheel spin, even in normal mode so it's not good at managing traction, I felt the MG4 was far superior in this aspect but it is RWD. I didn't check what tyres were fitted. I would definitely fit some good Michelins after the factory tyres were worn.

The dolphin is advertised as 200hp but it doesn't feel as nippy as the MG4 long range.

The boot is a decent size with the underfloor cover removed.

Servicing done every 12 months/20k kilometres but comes with 2 years free servicing, salesman said its mostly vehicle checks for the warranty. I'm still baffled how manufacturers apart from Tesla fleece customers with servicing on electric cars. I guess they have to keep dealers happy. The salesman said unknown how much servicing will cost in the future.

Battery/vehicle warranty is great and industry leading.

The interior felt well screwed together and material were nice, how it holds up when its driven on some rough Irish roads and hits a few potholes is an unknown. However, the interior is undoubtedly far superior to an ID3 or MG4.

The pedestrian warning sound is too loud and needs to be lowered. There's another music external sound that can be chosen instead of the regular sound, it's so stupid and irritating I have no idea how it was allowed to pass the designer stage, as Bjorn Nyland says its silly Chinese design.

I didn't get a chance to test the wired apple carplay because I didn't bring a cable with me. The default nav system is bad. Audio quality was decent given the price of the car. Infotainment system felt reasonably snappy.

The "Build your Dreams" slogan is incredibly tacky and needs to go, for me it completely ruins the rear of the car. They're deleting it from the 2024 Atto3, this is build into the light bar of the Dolphin but it shouldn't be that hard to remove from the manufacturing stage.

No rain sensor like the atto3 but hopefully they will eventually include it in the coming years.

As expected, the air-conditioning system was blowing cold air even at 27c when ran for a good amount of time. Really needs recalibrating with a software update. It appears to be a continuing problem with Chinese cars.

There's an amazing amount of tech. The camera quality of the 360 system is amazing.

Headlight performance is unknown.

I felt the blind spot warning indicator light in the mirrors was very dim compared to other cars I've driven so I couldn't really see it working in my peripheral vision during daytime driving, they need to fit a brighter indicator or adjust the light output via a software update. For dusk/night time driving I'm sure it's fine.

I thought the noise level was good but hard to get a good idea on a short test drive.

When driving I ensured the speed warning function was disabled but it still gave me an audible warning, I done a deep dive into the menus but couldn't fine another option to disable it.

4 years AA roadside assistance included.

The ID3 is far better looking car but for the price, space and tech this Dolphin is hard to beat.

Design spec: €33,142 OTR @5.9% HP

Comfort spec: €31,268 OTR @5.9% HP

The main difference between the design and comfort was the sunroof which adds to the spacious feeling, and also dual tone paint job.

It not though, Kia is not an upmarket brand.

I agree it's excessive gouging, despite that when you look at the closest competition which is the MG4 long range it's still the better value proposition if you value more interior space, nicer interior finish, better technology package and better overall warranty. I'd love to know what type of margins they're making without the gouging, I wonder what established brand dealers make?

It would be a good option for a main car for plenty of people too.

Cars have got much bigger and a lot of people don't need one the size they have.

yes. most vehicles on irish motorways are driven at less than 120kph, some are driving dangerously too slow(i know as i have cruise control set at 120kph on the M8 5 days out of 7).

the note at the bottom of the link reads...

"Indication of real-world range in several situations. Cold weather: 'worst-case' based on -10°C and use of heating. Mild weather: 'best-case' based on 23°C and no use of A/C. For 'Highway' figures a constant speed of 110 km/h is assumed. The actual range will depend on speed, style of driving, weather and route conditions".

The worst case rarely happens in ireland so the range would - for the vast majority of the time - be better than noted in the worst case (-10 degrees with heating).

true. even if the city mild weather figure dropped to 300km instead of 385km (which it won't, it would likely be higher) it would still probably cover a weeks commute for the average car driver in ireland - a mix of motorway and city driving lets say (44.8km per day - CSO figure from 2019 - petrol drivers only average 33.1km per day).

at around 30 cents per kWh (for example) to charge the battery at home would cost roughly €12 versus circa €40 for petrol to cover the same distance in my 1.0 litre ATECA.

the seal has significantly more range and could do that return journey in mild weather without stopping (if you didn't drive like a maniac)...but a short 15-20 minute stop to stick another 150km into the battery at 50kW would probably be needed for a good chunk of the year.

driving at 120kph will increase the rate the battery discharges...you will get there quicker but will arrive with less SOC.

I've just travelled 43km on 100kph and 120kph roads this evening. I set cruise control to the respective speed limit and overtook 10 cars (3 on the 100kph and 7 cars on M8) and was overtaken by 2 (on M8). Those 10 were doing well below the speed limit...at least 10kph below it.

The point I'm trying to make is that the Dolphins estimated highway range as discussed earlier today is eminently possible given the majority of drivers do not drive to the limit.