BYD Dolphin or MG4? Both excellent but which is RIGHT for you?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ธ.ค. 2023
- Very similar in specs to the rival MG4, this latest Chinese electric sedan from BYD is an absolute ripper of a car. It's the Premium version of the BYD Dolphin, sometimes known as the EA1 or ATTO 2. How does it compare to the MG4? In some ways it can't match the MG and in other ways it's much better. Which is the right car for you? Our detailed review and comparison is essential viewing if you're considering buying either of these great little EVs.
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/ incarnation_au
/ incarnationaustralia - ยานยนต์และพาหนะ
Went to buy BYD Seal for myself, my wife saw this Dolphin in pink, she loves it. now we have buy two cars.... So keep the wife away from this car!
😂
i don't think Build Your Dreams is a problematic phrase. People will get used to it and stop seeing it as an English as a second language choice of words. They'll stop seeing it as an unfashionable Chinese phrase. The meaning is absolutely fine. Just an unbeat aspirational phrase. We were ok when Toyota said "Oh, What a feeling!" We can handle this
Plus all newer BYD don't have the full words just 'BYD' which just becomes a logo that most people won't even ask what stands for
I just saw they are announcing 30 dealers, so dealer services will be available.
My local mitsu dealer is one of them with a new showroom being knocked up..
Thanks for the excellent review. I especially liked the 360 camera, voice assistant and handling sections. A good 360 camera is a must have for my next car, my current 2013 nissan leaf has it but lots of newer cheap vehicles don’t.
As for EVs for me it's about local air pollution. Over the covid lockdowns in the UK my nose forgot what petrol fumes smell like and I became very aware that even new cars smell bad. It's like every car farts constantly and we've all gotten used to it. I don't want to contribute to the smell.
fab review. got mine coming in a few days
I must commend you on the outstanding editing
Thank you Glen but I don't think it's my finest work. A rushed one-person shoot so I didn't get all the B-roll shots I would normally use. It hurts TH-cam retention if people are made to stare at my face for long! But thanks.
Best informative review I've seen on the Dolphin. Its got to be my next ev and that's after owning a Peugeot e208 for 2 years, which is a great car, but has it's issues.
First reviewer with a positive note on those tyres. They are actually purpose made for the Dolphin from what I understand. I can see that you Sir are a good driver and one with good analytics as well. I trust that you do know what you are talking about. I would buy a Dolphin if I could after watching your review. I live in Singapore where cars are extremely expensive and charging points are far and few in between. Envy you guys who can buy such fine cars for pittance.
No doubt some rain on my test drive would have changed my opinion. It's a shame I only had it for a short time.
Tyres are like drugs. You get given 2 drugs, one real and one placebo, and most can not tell the difference. I almost guarantee that if you were told the Chinese Ling Long tyres were actually a high-end brand, then most would say they handle fantastic.
relative pittance. No import duty.
@@rivergladesgardenrailroad8834 Most of SG's car cost comes from obtaining a Certificate of Entitlement (which are designed to cap the number of vehicles registered).
In reality, owning a car in SG is a liability, not an asset. Public transport there is cheap, clean and efficient. Roads are busy, tolled everywhere, parking (if you can find it) costs (even in your own accomodation parking facility!). Cars are nothing more that status symbols to say "I've made it" in the Little Red Dot.
@@inCARnationAustralia I've driven my Dolphin in some quite torrential rain and found the LingLong's to be perfectly fine.
Thanks for an enjoyable review on this new Dolphin.
Another great Video Stu, I see you and Shirl got on like a house on fire
EV's have come a long way, but the battery after a few years stil worry me, I'll wait a little longer to see how the battery technology progresses
But keep these revews coming, really like the no nonsense honest opiions
Yes Shirl and I hit it off pretty well for a first date. What I have to remember is she's listening to everything I say, her real name is Li Chen Hua, she lives in Guangdong province in China and BYD (or SAIC, GWM, etc) can use everything I say for any purpose they like. Marketing, profiling, preferences, statistics, or who knows what other nefarious or innocent purpose. This might be a concern for some people. I'm not fussed. We all know how creepy it is when we mention something in private conversation and nek minnut there's an ad for it on your social media stream. Creepy!
I've had my Dolphin Premium for 2 months now & in that time have driven over 8,000km (including a 3,00km return trip to outback Australia).
It is quite simply the best driving and most comfortable car I've ever owned. The LinLong's are surprisingly good tyres.
You must have never owned or driven a decent car on decent tyres.
Most reviewers of cars tend to be interested in performance, possibly many buyers not so much. Elderly drivers in particular will appreciate the great comfort of the Dolphin, the ease of getting in and out, and the superb all round vision for parking. The Dolphin's build quality is better.
Incidentally I have a 1971 Fiat 500 which can do 0 to 60 in about 45 seconds!
Back in the 1960s mum dropped my brother and I to primary school in a blue-green Fiat 500. We were small kids but even then, nursing our little valises on our laps, we thought it was a tiny car. Always smelt of oil too.
Our channel definitely has a performance orientation - we don't pretend to do full reviews - we really couldn't care less about the number of cupholders or the colour of the stitching, but lately we have tended to develop a broader approach and talk about practical things like legroom, comfort, ergonomics a bit more than we used to.
MG and BYD are driving me crazy, it so hard to pick one, I am between MG4, dolphin and ATTO3
Got to love those plastic seats in BYD in summer. Reminds me of the 1960’s
Are you listening to your podcast? So the Chinese havent enlisted Chris Bangle! He did such and amazing job with BMW cars 👀
Love my Renault Zoe EV, it's honestly such a good drivers' car on the twisties.
6hrs charge (offpeak period) overnight from a standard GPO would yield 12kWhrs, representing 20% of the overall battery storage capacity. It equates to ~ 80km of range.
Ling Long tires are terrible! I changed the tires and immediately transformed the Dolphin drivability. Otherwise, the EV is a fantastic EV for daily use, granted the trunk space is minimal.
A neat feature is a digital clock appears on the main screen after pushing the volume rotary dial.
Yes I was too kind to them in the review. Overall the car was still impressive, so that probably masked how they let the side down. And I didn't drive them at all in the wet. What do you regard as the worst attribute of the Ling Longs?
@@inCARnationAustralia No grip on dry road and dangerous on wet roads！
Will you be reviewing the BYD Seal in the future?
It's at the top of my EV list. But I've failed in my attempts so far to get BYD Australia's attention. Luke Todd if you're reading this, call me!!
@@inCARnationAustralia it would be their loss if they ended up not sending one your way, Good Sir!
A great review and I would say for most that want to buy an electric car it’s a no brainer .My issue is that our roads are not car worthy. Our governments want us to embrace the latest technologies in EV s which are miles ahead of the road quality and what’s more is mixing yourself with the sub human level of intelligence on the road who are able to somehow get a licence . !
What surprise me compared to the MG is the BYD has easy access entering the vehicle front and especially the rear. They sit on the same wheel base and interior space and comfort is so much more in the BYD. It is more restrictive and difficult entering the MG than my little Clio 4. And to complete, the blade battery in the BYD doesn’t matter at what point, how long and to which level you recharge the battery. The standard fit brand tyres are complete rubbish main reason for vague turn in and grip.
Is BYD dolphin good enough for daily traffic congestion in countries with hot climates?
I can't see why not. Australia is hot. EVs perform well in hot, slow traffic - conditions where ICE cars can struggle. Because the A/C compressor is electric, not driven by an idling engine, it still works well when the car is stopped.
BYD's Achilles heel is infrastructure. This changes once they build a factory in the region so in Latin America they will be sorted because they are building plants there. Retail end always follows production. In Europe BYD has just announced their first ever factory in the EU's bad boy Hungary, days after Commissioners starting talking (talk...they'll never do it) of throwing Hungary out of the club! Now Hungary has a hand of Aces getting a BYD production plant. A few days later BYD announces that they have just reached their 6,000,000th NEV at least of half of which are pure EVs so 3,000,000 pure EVs. In the UK like in many countries BYD are acting through a local agent and that can be problematic that has to change. My favourite Chinese brand is Zeekr and they are owned by Geely who also owns among 8 brands Volvo and Polestar and the Zeekr cars are also designed at the same Design Studio in Sweden, so Scandinavian styling married to Chinese engineering, the results are superb.
Being part of the Volvo/Polestar family even before Zeekr has lots of it own showrooms and service centres there is a huge peace of mind and comfort knowing that if Geely brands are already in your country, you have support when something goes wrong. BYD need to fix this along with location of their charging ports all the Geely brands put the charge port in TESLA locale Left Rear for Supercharging ease. That said BYD has the currently awesome SEAL and just released in China is the superstar of the future the BYD SONG L. My prediction is the SONG L even after very healthy sales of the SEAL will be the car that really puts BYD at the front across the globe. They are going to need showrooms and service centres of their own for that success.
Great informative post. Thanks for sharing.
Song L is similar to Seal U ? or same?
@@googleuser793 Different cars on same underlying architecture. Song L is a SUV not quite as tall as a Model Y, Seal is a sedan. Otherwise similar. Song L not yet confirmed for Australia. Presumably it'll get a different name if it comes out here.
In china,I never saw a MG4 but BYD dolphin is everywhere on the road,generally BYD make much better EVs than MG
Just want to point out something about the servicing. MG gets services every two years but sky-high price on the fourth.
Nice byd. Same motor etc as atto 3.
Better tires would help?
Undoubtedly. While they did wheelspin easily, I am putting that down a lot to the soft damping that causes noticeable weight shift. The lateral grip on the twisty stuff was good though. But yeah, for sure. A set of Pilot Sport 4 or similar. They might help turn-in responsiveness too, which was a bit lazy. Not that purchasers of this car would bother, but stiffer springs and dampers would make a big difference I think.
Byd UK swapped mine to hankook as the ling longs were borderline dangerous in the wet. It's made a huge difference to noise and handling.
I had a brand new 2005 Forester XT 5 speed with Yoki Geolanders and swapped to Bridgestone directional tread similar to the current Bridgy Adrenaline and boy did it make a difference! Same size and it simply got rid of the squealing under steering washout.
gripper tyres means reduced range my friend.
@@rivergladesgardenrailroad8834 nope it hasn't and won't...
yound lady, please don't forget 10:2 driving position.
What tyres were fitted? Would a decent set make a difference?
Standard fitment "Linglong" brand. In retrospect, I was too kind to them. Yes, a nice set of Michelin, Pirelli or Continental I think would make a difference to grip. Particularly resistance to wheelspin at intermediate speeds. Lateral grip was OK but would not doubt improve as well.
I have the ling longs replaced in the uk to hankook and it's made a huge difference.
Thanks @@peterarmstrong3853 !
NO particulars out the back...VERY IMPORTANT.
...the Ora cat Lol
That'd be nice. Sadly GWM haven't been forthcoming yet
I think the BYD actually looks great from most angles, but the front is truly hideous. It reminds me of cars from the 90s. What were they thinking?
The MG4 looks much more up to date.
byd seal, nice exterior
Lane assistance is good for us oldies, and those lazy buggers....
byd የኔ ብራንድ አትርጌዋለሁ
BYD has now overtaken Tesla in electric car sales
13 አመት ነድቸዋለሁ ።ቻዮና እጁን ታጥቦ የሠራው መኪና ነው
I've never seen Amharic language before. Are you in Ethiopia?
MG 4 actually is better, but i dont like the battery , dolphin got saver battery, BLADE battery
Better in some aspect, much poorer interior. The dolphin outsells MG4 aka MG Mulan 20:1 in the chinese market.
Is it called a Dolphin because it belongs at the bottom of the Ocean?
BYD is so ugly in comparison to the MG4
I think the opposite. The lower front of the MG4 looks sharp, cheap and fussy. The rear looks naked and very unfinished on the base model with the spoiler delete.
Ever heard of Japanese hybrids go up in smoke? No! Me neither!
This has an LFP battery why would it go up smoke?
Neither ...EV isnt the future and they will be worth 30% of what you paid for them in a years time...
Which is why I buy a used one let the poor sucker that paid big money then could not afford the finance, sell it at a loss then people like me get a great bargain with no finance and save a small fortune in running costs. I laugh at people who think buying a new EV will save them money while paying a high interest of $30k+ loan over 5 years or tacked onto their mortgage for 30 years.
I brought my first EV Jap import in 2016 it was just 2 years old and was less than half the new price of same EV that could be brought locally!
My EV is over a year old and is retailing second hand at $3k less than purchase price. So you are not well informed.
I don't have any axe to grind on this, but regardless of the resale in 5 years time, people are finding that with a novated lease the total cost of ownership is less than what they're paying for petrol alone each week - about $150/week for example - and that includes registration, insurance, finance, roadside assist, all maintenance, tyres. It's ridiculous how cheap it is to get into a new car (regardless of whether EV or ICE, although you'll still have that petrol/diesel in the latter).
It's getting to the point where you'd be crazy to buy a new ICE car.
@budawang77 I always laugh at comments like this. it's so close-minded! And that's coming from someone who has only owned an EV for the past 8 years! EV are great in certain ways, like city use. But long distances no way! With an ICE or hybrid, I can stop anywhere I like, but with an EV, I must stop at a charging location and wait for 30-60 min as most charges are still 50kw. So yeah, if you spend 99.9% of the time in the city or less than 200km per day, then EV are great, but long distances where I must plan my stops and go to locations with no charges within 300km no thanks, I will fly, or use a hybrid with a real world driving range of 800km plus.
Buy BYD, you will start to Build Your Dream and life get better.....sun shine day ahead.. ☀️