The BYD Dolphin Surf is one of the best-selling cars in China, and now it’s on sale in the UK, too. It aims to bring electric motoring to the masses, with a low list price and a small, town-friendly footprint. Eye-catching styling and some bright colour choices will make it a popular choice among younger buyers, although the surprisingly spacious interior makes it a useful family runaround, too.
Pros:
- Roomy interior for such a small car
- Long range for the price
- Very generously equipped
Cons:
- Small, fiddly touchscreen
- Only four seats
- Underwhelming charging speeds
BYD Dolphin Surf Review:
- What is the BYD Dolphin Surf?
- How practical is it?
- What’s it like to drive?
- Technology, equipment & infotainment
- Three Things to Know
- Which One to Buy
- BYD Dolphin Surf running costs
- BYD Dolphin Surf reliability
- CarGurus Verdict
What is the BYD Dolphin Surf?
Are you tired of hearing about big, expensive and complicated electric cars? Heavy SUVs that are tricky to park, far more powerful than they need to be, and cumbersome to drive around town? Well, in that case, the BYD Dolphin Surf will be right up your street.
It’s the smallest new car to be based on BYD’s E-platform 3.0, and it’s a five-door hatchback that goes head-to-head with the Renault 5, Citroen e-C3, Fiat Grande Panda, Hyundai Inster and MINI Electric. Yet the cheapest model won’t cost you all that much more than smaller city car EVs like the Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03.
BYD is aiming the car at trendy urbanites who are seeking to go electric but are deterred by the size and cost of less town-centric EVs. But with a range of up to 200 miles and space for four, the Dolphin Surf may also be of interest to family buyers in need of an electric runaround, or anyone looking for a small EV that’s easy to drive and can take them further afield on the odd occasion.
How practical is it?
Practicality rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
This is a small car, but even lankier drivers will have no trouble getting comfortable in the front of the Dolphin Surf. There’s plenty of adjustment for the seats and a good amount of headroom.
In the rear seats, there’s more room than you’ll find in a Dacia Spring, albeit slightly less than in a Citroen e-C3. Adults should be able to get comfortable, and while the tallest will find their knees brushing the backs of the front seats, that’s not unusual in a car of this size.
It’s not perfect in the back of the Dolphin Surf, though: for one thing, there’s no middle seat, so transporting five people is out of the question. What’s more, the plastics at each end of the bench seat are rather intrusive, pushing your right elbow (or left, if you’re on the passenger side) forward, which means you end up sitting at a slightly awkward angle.
For all that, the back of the Dolphin Surf is well suited to children, with Isofix points in both seats, and enough space to buckle them up. The low position of the exterior door handles also means even younger kids can get in and climb aboard independently.
Storage for your odds and ends is good, too. There’s a pair of well-sized cupholders in the central armrest, plus a big trough between this central console and the dashboard where larger items can be stowed.
The doors house bins that are slim, but usable, and you get these even in the back seats, not always a given in a car of this size. In fact, the only negative in terms of in-car storage is that there’s no covered storage in the armrest itself, although there is at least a decent-sized glovebox if you want to stash valuables away out of sight.
Further back, the boot isn’t quite the biggest you’ll find in a car of this size, but it will carry up to 308 litres of luggage, which is a respectable amount. The boot aperture is a little on the narrow side, mind you, so just keep that in mind if you’re planning to load longer items such as children's pushchairs.
What’s it like to drive?
Driving rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
You’ve a choice of three different models in the Dolphin Surf range, each offering a different motor-and-battery combination. The entry-level Active has an 87bhp electric motor, and a 30kWh (usable) battery capacity; the mid-range Boost gets the same motor, with a 43.2kWh battery, and the top-spec Comfort has the same battery as the Boost, but paired with a 154bhp motor.
That means the Active has the shortest official WLTP range, at 137 miles, but it’s also slightly quicker than the Boost, with a 0-62mph time of 11.1 seconds. The Boost tops the range up to 200 miles, but takes a rather languorous 12.1 seconds to reach 62mph. The Comfort’s range drops slightly to 193 miles, but it’s more sprightly, taking 9.1 seconds to cover the 0-62mph sprint.
All three versions top out at 93mph, and all take around half an hour to charge from 10% to 80%, with the Active charging at a fairly meagre 65kW, and the other two versions offering a healthier 85kW charging rate (assuming a fast enough charger).
Out on the road, the Dolphin Surf is pretty soft, which is ideal as it means it smothers most of the lumps and bumps on city streets with ease. Mind you, most of its rivals ride pretty well, too, which means it isn’t unique in this regard, and it doesn’t do quite such a convincing job over really churned-up patches of Tarmac as a Renault 5.
The handling part of the driving experience is much as you might expect, too. There’s a little bit of lean if you really chuck it around, and the soft suspension means the Surf feels a bit floaty over faster bumps, but there’s a decent amount of grip. It’s a shame the steering is so remote, though, because you never really feel as though you’re part of the action in the same way as you do in a Renault 5.
Technology, equipment & infotainment
Technology, equipment & infotainment rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
BYD’s trademark feature is a touchscreen that can rotate from landscape to portrait orientation, and that’s what you get in the Dolphin Surf. It’s a bit gimmicky, but it does make the screen a more appropriate shape when you’re using the satellite navigation. Just keep in mind that it’s one more thing to go wrong when the warranty has run out.
It’s worth noting, too, that this touchscreen is smaller than it is in BYD’s other models. But BYD hasn’t scaled down the resolution to suit, which means all the on-screen displays and functions are much smaller than they should be, with the result that the icons for certain functions are quite tricky to press, especially while you’re on the move.
You have to use the touchscreen for quite a lot more than you might think, too. While there are a few physical buttons that allow easy access to certain functions, most of the air-conditioning controls are buried within their own dedicated menu, which means you have to keep finding your way back there to adjust the temperature. And given that you don’t get automatic climate control (just manual air-conditioning), you have to do that more often than you might expect.
The driver assistance functions are buried within a menu, too, and there’s no separate shortcut key to disable them. Which is a pain, because they can be rather intrusive; the driver distraction system is especially frustrating, given that it chides you each time you look away to use the touchscreen, something you find yourself having to do very often because – yes, you’ve guessed it – everything’s buried within it.
With the exception of that odd omission of climate control, every version of the Dolphin Surf is remarkably well equipped, with vegan leather upholstery, a reversing camera, vehicle-to-load capability (which means you can plug things in to charge them or run them from the car’s battery), adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, air-conditioning, rear parking sensors, alloy wheels and a big rear spoiler all coming as standard.
Upgrading to the Boost gives you electric front seats, automatic wipers and electric folding mirrors, while the Comfort model adds a 360-degree camera, LED headlights, heated front seats, and wireless charging for your smartphone. It’ll also allow you keyless entry, by tapping your phone or smart watch on an NFC point on the door mirror.
Three Things to Know
- The Dolphin Surf’s name is rather unusual, but it might have been even more bizarre. BYD has a habit of naming its cars after marine animals (see also the Tesla-rivalling BYD Seal and Sealion 7), and in its home market, the Dolphin Surf is called the BYD Seagull. Knowing seagulls aren’t all that beloved in these climes, BYD decided to rename it here. It’s also known as the Dolphin Mini in some markets.
- One of the Dolphin Surf’s hidden features is the karaoke option. Add a special Bluetooth microphone, and you can use a karaoke app installed on the car’s touchscreen system to display lyrics. That’s one way to pass the time while you’re charging.
- Under the skin, the Dolphin Surf uses LFP batteries, which are less likely to catch fire if they’re pierced than the more traditional NMC-type batteries. BYD also integrates its thin battery cell strips into the body structure, a design it refers to as the ‘blade battery’, which helps to enhance stiffness.
Which One to Buy
- If you’re on a budget: go for the Active model. It’s the cheapest to buy, and it’s also the cheapest to run, and it looks just as good as the rest of the range.
- If you need the most range: choose the Boost. It’ll go up to 200 miles on a charge, which should mean even travelling further afield is viable.
- If you want the fastest: go for the Comfort. Its peppier powertrain means it feels nippy around town and keeps up with traffic on the motorway.
- If you want the best all-rounder: spend more money and go for the Comfort. Its blend of performance, practicality and pace make it the best companion whether you’re in town or on the motorway, and it’s loaded with toys.
BYD Dolphin Surf running costs
Running costs rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
The Dolphin Surf looks like tremendous value. With a price tag just shy of £19,000, the entry-level Active is not much more expensive than the Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03, and yet it offers a whole heap more space for the money than either of those two models can.
Further up the price range, the bigger battery models look like tougher sells at £22,000-odd for the Boost and £24,000-odd for the Comfort, given they go head-to-head with rivals that are roomier and sometimes more chic. However, none of those competitors can offer the same level of specification for the price, and not all of them can match the Dolphin Surf for range, either.
PCP deals on every model are competitive, too, with BYD itself offering low rates and deposit contributions, which are likely to be mimicked by other credit brokers and lenders.
Efficiency figures in the real world are one of the Dolphin Surf’s strong points. Around town, we were getting well in excess of 4 miles per kWh on our test drive; that’ll help keep running costs low, as will the fact that servicing is required only every two years or 20,000 miles. One thing worth remembering is that all electric cars now face VED car tax charges, although the Dolphin Surf’s are no more onerous than any other electric car at this price point.
BYD Dolphin Surf reliability
We’d love to be able to give you some information as to the BYD Dolphin Surf’s reliability, but the fact is that we’re at a loss. BYD simply hasn’t been selling cars in the UK for long enough for us to be able to discern with any confidence how reliable they are, and as a result, we aren’t able to say for sure either way.
It’s a good sign, however, that BYD offers a six-year, 93,500-mile warranty on the Dolphin Surf, which is more than any other electric car can give you for the price.
CarGurus Verdict
Overall rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
If you’re after a fun and funky small electric car and you don’t want to spend too much, the Dolphin Surf is worth a look. True, it has its flaws. The rotating touchscreen is both gimmicky and irritating to use, Boost models - ironically - don’t offer much of a performance boost, and Active models aren’t useful for much more than town driving, especially with their slow charging speeds. And whichever model you choose, it’ll only seat four people.
But you get a great deal more for your money here than you do with rival models, whether at the bottom end of the range, where there’s more space than the smaller alternatives, or higher up, where generous equipment levels give the Dolphin Surf an edge over its competitors. The lengthy warranty is a boon if you’re planning to keep the car long-term, too. And underneath it all is a car that gets the basics right: comfortable and easy to drive, roomy enough, and great to look at.
Main rivals:
- Dacia Spring
- Leapmotor T03
- Renault 5 E-Tech