BYD Seal 6 DM-i Touring (2025 – ) review

Pricing up a new car is more complicated than comparing bottom-line ‘list’ numbers these days, especially if you’re running it as a company driver. With that in mind let’s try and break down why the Seal 6 DM-i looks like such a cracking deal! First up, all models will be below the £40,000 cut-off for the ‘expensive car supplement’ on your VED (or ‘road tax’) many rivals sit the wrong side of. That’s an immediate and significant monthly saving over equivalent plug-in hybrids like the Vauxhall Astra Sports Tourer, Peugeot 308 SW or VW Passat estate whether you’re buying, financing or leasing. If you’re running it as a company car the extra range of the Comfort models slashes your Benefit In Kind tax bill as well, which should more than cancel out any extra cost. No brainer, given the extra kit. The fact the Seal 6 DM-i can potentially go over 800 miles on a full tank of fuel and charged battery means fill-ups and charging stops will be few and far between, too.

BYD might be a new kid on the block here but the Seal U SUV powered by the same hybrid technology is well-proven in other markets. A six-year warranty is, meanwhile, welcome reassurance for buyers likely taking their first punt with BYD, and will also outlast most first ownerships, finance terms or leases.

Once again, we’re conflicted by the range of safety technology … and concerns about whether it’s help or hindrance. On the plus side there are sensors and gizmos to stop you crashing into things, drifting out of lane, falling asleep or spending too much time looking at the screen. Which is worthy. But constant bongs and alerts are useless if you don’t know what they’re warning you about, and the ongoing cacophony is infuriating. You can at least turn the worst of them off via an easy swipe-down shortcut menu. But there are still some concerns, like the fact manual control of the headlights is buried in a touch-screen menu, and taking your eyes off the road to operate them scores you yet another scolding from the alarms. And don’t you DARE yawn…

Estates aren’t as trendy as SUVs but hold the road better and are less top-heavy in the corners, though the Seal 6 is still somewhat wallowy and soft in its responses. Better to just sit back and chill, and once out of town the ride and refinement are actually pretty decent, helped by the fact it defaults to smooth and silent electric power most of the time. Practically speaking top-spec Comfort models like the ones we drove get power adjustment, heating and ventilation for the driver and passenger seats, though if there was lumbar adjustment we couldn’t find it, which might be an issue on long journeys given how far the Seal can go between fills. Legroom in the back is generous, the flat floor meaning Piggy-in-the-middle gets somewhere to put their feet as well. Headroom in the back of this Touring version is better than that in the saloon, too, this and the much improved access to the boot reason enough to make it the pick of the bunch.

With design about as snazzy as an early-2000s Kia and the pervading waft of cheap plastics the Seal 6’s cabin isn’t exactly packed with surprise and delight to the point the Skoda Octavia you might also be considering will feel like a Rolls-Royce in comparison. You don’t even get the signature rotating screen seen on other BYDs. Kit is still decent, though, even the entry-level Boost getting all the safety gizmos (including the genuinely useful stuff like blind spot alerts), power tailgate and ‘vehicle to load’ where you can plug a domestic socket into the charge port and run a hoover, hedge clippers, air frier or whatever you fancy. For the bigger battery, extra electric range and additional goodies like a pano roof, wireless device charging, ambient lighting and more the Comfort versions look like a no-brainer, the top model getting an even bigger central screen. Which makes the tiny fonts and fiddly menus even more frustrating, the squint required to use them likely scoring you another round of angry bonging from the face-scanning driver distraction warning system. On the plus side you can at least connect your phone and run your apps via CarPlay or Android Auto for a more familiar and user-friendly interface.

The hybrid system powering the Seal 6 DM-i is technically complicated but, thankfully, very easy to use and live with. Simply select ‘D’ from the steering column gear selector and go, the Seal basically driving like an electric car that just happens to have an onboard petrol generator for charging the battery. Meaning it can go a claimed 800 miles or so before you need to fill it up or plug it in, 60 of which it can do on electric power alone on the Comfort versions. Acceleration is smooth and quiet, unless you really stamp on the throttle and wake the petrol engine up. The disconnect between the noise it makes and forward progress is odd but, for the most part, it’s quiet enough for you not to notice. No version is exactly fast but the performance is plenty for a family car and delivered smoothly, quietly and with the minimum of fuss. Most of the time, at least.