BYD Dolphin Boost (2023 - )

BYD is a manufacturer you’ll be forgiven for never having heard of. It stands for 'Build Your Dreams', and such a positively named company can only come from East Asia. The city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, China, to be exact – but don’t let a fear of cheapness put you off.

BYD is relatively new to the UK’s shores, but it’s been making cars for around two decades, so has plenty of experience under its belt, even if most manufacturers have been on the scene for many more decades than that. 

It is also known for exclusively producing plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles and currently offers four models for sale here in Britain, including a saloon and two SUVs. The other is the Dolphin, a small electric hatchback which has been on forecourts here for the last year or so. It was already available in two trim levels - Comfort and Design - but now two lower models, Active and Boost, have joined the party to rival cut-price challengers. So, it’s now a case of A, B, C and D trims to choose from. Get it? 

We are trying out the Boost model, which has 17-inch alloys, a 12.8-inch infotainment touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, SatNav, voice control, a DAB radio, and a 5.0-inch digital instrument panel. You also get a choice of four metallic paint colours, automatic LED headlights, four-way electrically adjustable front seats, rear parking sensors, a 360-degree camera, keyless entry/start and a heat pump to pre-heat the vehicle before you step inside. That is notable for a small family hatchback, especially since the Boost is now only the second trim level up. Even more impressively, the lower Active trim is virtually identical apart from smaller 16-inch alloys and standard suspension, whereas the Boost version has upgraded suspension for better cornering ability. 

The top Design trim retains its luxuries, such as a panoramic roof, heated seats, wireless phone charger, upgraded sound system, and privacy glass, plus more choice of body colours. Some of these are also offered on the second-from-top trim, Comfort. In terms of poke, there are several different configurations. The entry-level Active and Boost trims have a 44.9kWh battery, with the Active producing 95PS and the Boost offering 176PS. Both Comfort and Design trims are even more potent, with 204PS, and both have a larger 60.4kWh battery. It is the new Boost trim we’re interested in, so let’s hop in.
 

Historically, when you looked at cars from the Far East, their looks were often ill-fitting with British tastes – but that’s not the case here.

Yes, the Dolphin looks different, but that has more to do with the lack of a front grille – replaced by a body-coloured panel – than anything else. It is quite smart, featuring a silver surround beneath the grille panel and headlights, while black boomerang-shaped décor sits in front of a slit on each side, providing us with air intakes. 

There’s a trapezoidal lower grille and a strip of silver along the bottom, while at the sides, several creases and indentations, plus a sweeping black line, give the car some character. A notable slope in the roofline and a roof spoiler make it look swept back and sporty. At the back, there are two more boomerangs, chiselled bodywork, and a panel that spans from side to side, connecting the two taillights. Inside, the cabin is also brilliant, with a sweeping dashboard that wraps around the air vents. 

Two more jet engine-shaped vents sit by the infotainment touchscreen, which draws your attention. The screen is perched on the dash like a tablet - and it's rotatable at the touch of a button. The infotainment system itself is cool, offering a very sharp, responsive screen with attractive contemporary graphics and a reasonably intuitive menu layout. Unfortunately, one of the things the infotainment system does is provide the settings for the climate control, meaning you have to navigate through the touchscreen to adjust it on the move. This is disappointing, especially given there are several physical buttons and switches in the cabin for other things. 

Nevertheless, it has a lovely interior. It features a flat-bottomed steering wheel and a very nice digital instrument display visible through the wheel. Certainly, in comparison with most small hatchbacks, the BYD Dolphin Boost’s cabin feels sophisticated and quite upmarket.
 

The new Boost model is the middle ground regarding the Dolphin's performance. Still, it offers a 0-62mph time of only 7.5 seconds, which is zippy for an average family hatchback - and it's almost five seconds quicker than the equally new Active model The Boost is eager to get going, too, offering a burst of acceleration off the line. 

Darting in and out of traffic on town centre ring roads all the way up to motorways seems to suit the daring Dolphin down to the ground. The 0-62mph time decreases to 7.0 seconds in the Comfort and Design models, but they’re a bit more expensive, so the Boost seems to make the most sense, although the top two trims do offer extended range. All but the entry-level Active get a multi-link rear axle, which is supposed to help with cornering. If you carefully test both, which we have, you can notice the difference, but it seems a bit unnecessary, as the Dolphin is a car built for comfort over agility. 

The suspension setup absorbs ridges in the road surface well, and even though our Boost version gets larger alloys compared with the Active, it's still comfortable and quite relaxing to drive. However, when it comes to taking corners at speed, the Dolphin Boost is (pardon the pun) like a fish out of water. 

The springy suspension generates plenty of body roll, and although the steering wheel weights up nicely and the tyres grip well, it can be easily overwhelmed as the car's weight shifts to one side, causing understeer. It is not a hatchback designed for people seeking thrills, and while we can't say it handles well, it'll cope just fine if you drive sensibly and keep within its limits. There are, without a doubt, better handling small electric hatchbacks.
 

Impressively, all versions of the Dolphin come with four-way electric seat adjustment, which is very rare for such a small car. Indeed, some rivals don't offer this at all - though the Dolphin Boost has no lumbar adjustment. Still, it makes finding a decent driving position a doddle, although visibility could be better as the pillars aren't the thinnest. 

A second small pillar on the other side of the door mirrors further hampers your view.

Seeing directly ahead isn’t a problem – just as well, as front parking sensors are only included in the Comfort and Design models. You do, though, get rear parking sensors on all models and, notably, a 360-degree camera, which helps with rearward visibility. We were very grateful for it considering the enormous back pillars, not helped by the roof slope and spoiler. 

There is a lot of headroom and legroom in the front, while shoulder space isn't lacking, either. A combination of tall front occupants and lofty rear seat passengers will fit surprisingly well, but those in the rear are likely to be perched up rather than hunkered down, which might make things uncomfortable after a while. The Dolphin offers surprisingly generous room for a couple of adults and three kids. There is a lot of interior storage, too, including reasonably sized door bins, a couple of cupholders, an area to store your phone, and a decent cubby beneath the centre console armrest. 

The boot space measures 345 litres and swells to 1,310 litres if you fold the rear seats down in a 60:40 split. The height-adjustable boot floor also means you can minimise the load lip and have some underfloor storage.
 

As we said earlier, our Dolphin Boost has a 44.9kWh battery, which gives it a range of 193 miles. That's not a huge amount and is the lowest in the Dolphin range. The Active model manages 211 miles, while the Comfort and Design trims get 265 miles from their larger 60.4kWh batteries.

The Active and Boost models charge at 65kW, while the Comfort and Design models are slightly quicker at 88kW. 

However, charging times are roughly the same, given that the upper two models have bigger batteries. A 10-80% top-up takes around 40 minutes. All versions of the Dolphin will be good choices for company cars. They attract the lowest rate of Benefit In Kind tax, while road tax is free until April next year. BYD is too new in the UK to get reliability data that’s… well… reliable, so we’ll have to wait for time to reveal just how dependable it is, although early data suggests it’s not done too badly so far. 

Even if that turns out to be a false dawn, BYD offers a very generous six-year warranty up to 93,750 miles (if that sounds like a curiously unrounded figure, that’s because it's 150,000 kilometres). The battery and drive unit are covered for eight years, or up to 93,750 miles and 125,000 miles, respectively.
 

The BYD Dolphin Boost is surprisingly impressive. It is very charitably equipped, offers great value for money compared with some competitors and has an interior that’s comfortable, plush, sophisticated and stylish. 

The two new Active and Boost models also significantly increase that value for money. The Boost is good in a straight line but not so much around corners, and charging speeds aren't as quick as the competition's.

Nevertheless, in terms of value, the new Dolphin Boost model is right up there – even more so if you can live with the lower-powered Active trim.

We suspect many will find the entry-level model too underpowered, so if you can spare the Active’s 18 miles of extra range, we’d think the Boost is the pick of the range. Whichever model you choose, though, the BYD Dolphin makes a big splash.