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Cars > Electric

Here’s what you get with the BYD Seal Advanced

Half the driven wheels doesn’t mean half the car

The rear-wheel-drive Seal Advanced has an attractive sticker price. PHOTO FROM BYD

BYD is slowly turning its portfolio into a zoo filled with creatures that live in or near the sea. It has the Dolphin and Seagull electric hatchbacks, as well as the Sealion 6 hybrid crossover. But it seems like the Chinese automaker’s favorite animal is the Seal. Initially available as an upmarket all-wheel-drive model, a new version has recently joined the family.

This Seal's lack of tailpipe emissions will supposedly keep actual seals happy. PHOTOS FROM BYD

This version is called the Seal Advanced. It is the two-wheel-drive variation of the Seal Performance. As expected, performance numbers take a substantial nosedive. Instead of 522hp and 670Nm, the Advanced gets by with 201hp and 310Nm. The sprint to 100km/h also takes almost twice as long at 7.5 seconds instead of 3.8 seconds.

Despite these figures, the Seal Advanced isn’t necessarily half the car. For one, the 61.4kWh Blade Battery fitted to it can do 510km. In contrast, the faster Seal’s bigger battery can do 580km, which isn’t too far off. Fast-charging times are identical between the two cars, but the Seal Advanced does better with the 7kW home charger. It can reach full capacity in 12 hours instead of the Seal Performance’s 16 hours.

This car's multiple warranties should give buyers peace of mind. PHOTOS FROM BYD

The Seal Advanced’s interior accoutrements are just as good as its AWD sibling. The 15.6-inch rotating center screen has wireless Apple and Android connectivity. The Seal Performance may have a fancy 12-speaker Dynaudio system, but the Seal Advanced’s 10-speaker setup should still belt out Whitney Houston’s highest notes without difficulty. Both cars have the same leather interior with suede accents.

In the safety department, the Seal Advanced comes equipped with the DiPilot suite of driver aids. Adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, blind-spot monitoring, automatic collision detection and braking, and a 360° camera are just some of the included features.

Will the rotating mechanism of the center screen last long? PHOTOS FROM BYD

BYD is pricing the Seal Advanced at P1,998,000—P550,000 less than the Seal Performance. For something that doesn’t need to be blisteringly quick, we think it’s a decent deal. As part of the package, buyers also get an eight-year warranty for the battery and the drive unit, and a six-year warranty for the vehicle.



Miggi Solidum

Professionally speaking, Miggi is a software engineering dude who happens to like cars a lot. And as an automotive enthusiast, he wants a platform from which he can share his motoring thoughts with fellow petrolheads. He pens the column ‘G-Force’.



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