BYD Sealion review

DOES TWIN MOTOR MEAN QUICK?

Broadly yes. BYD is proud of the rear motor. It's a 313bhp permanent-magnet job, nothing unusual in itself, but very densely packed so that its structure can bear big revs without centrifugal damage. Like, 23,000rpm, or 400 revs per second.

This means it can carry a low gear ratio to the wheels, for forceful low-speed acceleration, while not over-revving at big speed. So the Sealion can go to 134mph without the weight and cost of a two-speed rear transmission.

So here we are on the Autobahn in the Excellence spec, which adds a 218bhp front motor. And as promised, the strong but smooth kick into the outside lane at 70mph means it's gonna be fine for Britain. The kick, less urgent but still positive, at 100mph and still useful at 120 means it's also fine for Germany. Provided you don't mind collapsing your range.

Never mind you've got 530 horsepower, the accelerator is sensibly calibrated not to jump in too sharply, and you've also got 2.4 tonnes. Net result: 0-62mph in this spec is 4.3 seconds. Strong, not brutal.

The front motor by the way is a simpler induction motor, I assume because that type doesn't drag when it's not being energised, so the car runs in rear-drive only in gentler straight-line running to save a bit of energy.

As part of the stability control, torque is adaptively distributed front-rear, and can even be reversed in one motor or the other, to stop things getting out of shape in a slippery corner.

AH, CORNERS. HOW ARE THEY?

As promised, it's all very stable and assured. It turns solidly through the curve, and as you squeeze the accelerator outbound there is a mild sensation of the rear end squatting down and propelling you away. But mild. The steering remains wholly mute.

Occasionally on a damp autumnal surface the power would be slightly reduced until we were straight again. So for experimental purposes I tried cutting the ESP but it made little difference.

This car is set up to look after you, but it isn't going to tell you much about how it's doing it. Which is slightly troubling because you just can't tell whether you've got lots of grip left or, er, not. With all that power and all that weight, I'd rather know. More than that, I'd rather have more engagement.

Another thing. We were on winter tyres. Good ones, no doubt, Pirelli P Zeros, but there was a but of squirm into corners and even at high speed on the motorway that I'd be willing to accept was caused by their treads wandering about a bit.

Oh, and the brakes. The pedal isn't soggy or imprecise but it is disconcertingly long, and it's also hard to release smoothly. So every time I turned into a bend I felt I'd let the nose bob up and undermined the smooth progress I was looking for.

DOES IT RIDE WELL?

Surprisingly softly for a sports crossover coupé thingy. Which is fine by us. It has frequency selective dampers, designed to clench against big body movements in corners but soften for sharp edges and urban lumps. It works well on cracked rippled tarmac, and surface noise is low too. But there are times when a bit more control wouldn't go amiss if you hit a dip or crest at speed while you're also turning.

HOW ARE THE BING-BONG DRIVER 'ASSISTS'?

Yes, we've criticised BYDs before for over-intrusive 'safety' systems. This time they stay better in the background. But cutting the lane grabber is still a couple of jabs away on the touchscreen. A shortcut button wouldn't go amiss.

The adaptive cruise and lane centring works smoothly and informs you via the display (or HUD in the top spec) what it's up to.

Oh, bongers. This car has the oddest indicator sound ever. Anyone remember "ding-dong, Avon calling"? That.