BYD Seal review

Unlike the more expensive i4, the Seal comes only on passive suspension. Since the four-wheel-drive model is 130kg heavier, it gains an upgrade to frequency-selective dampers – a technology that’s becoming increasingly common. They’re passive dampers, but they’re supposedly firmer when cornering and softer when absorbing bumps.

Interesting though all that may be, it would mean little if the Seal couldn’t cope on our roads. But it can. It’s quiet and supple. It just about avoids the mid-speed pitching motion that dogs most of its Korean rivals (there’s a hint of it, but you have to go looking) and it’s impressively flat and quiet over coarse road surfaces. It equals the i4 – one of the few bigger EVs (aside from the premium-priced Porsche Taycan) that ride with true composure on practically any surface. The 2WD version, being that bit lighter, is marginally the better of the two for suppleness.

You can overlay all this with accurate and communicative steering, which we were able to investigate on a streaming wet handling track. There are adjustments to steering and brake feel built into both versions of the Seal, but those both work best in Normal mode. Sport for the brakes gives slightly too much attack; Sport for the steering adds an unwanted feeling of friction.

Happily, many of the warning bongs built into early models have been quelled and the ‘human’ voice that previously warned you about exceeding the speed limit has been muted. But you still have to kill the lane-departure stuff, several levels of it, every time you drive. I suppose this will soon become automatic, like putting on your seatbelt.