The first sensation you have when you look at this car is that you have in front of you pretty much any other city-focused EV, small and with the typical compromises with regards to the space or driving style. But that's not the case, because as far as I am concerned, the BYD Dolphin Surf (which I will call the Dolphin in this review for ease-of-writing purposes) offers a bit of everything and a fun-to-drive powertrain in its top configuration.

Two batteries and tow electric motor options for all pockets

So, as the base electric motor option we have an 88 horsepower unit, mounted transversally on the front axle, which drives the front wheels of the car and which is connected to a 30 kWh battery, sporting a range of around 220 kilometers. The next trim level is called Boost and packs the same electric motor, but with the larger 43.2 kWh battery, while the Comfort version that I tested has the larger battery, but also a significantly more powerful 156 HP engine.

Although I only tested one model, I am fairly confident to say that the base model should be more than enough for city driving and eventually, some extra-urban driving on short distances once in a while, while the top model is for those who want to have fun, because the car is capable.

Dolphin is a fairly heavy city car, at almost 1.4 tons, but with the 156 HP motor it doesn't feel like it and pulls very nicely during accelerations using the comfort mode. In sport, the response to the acceleration is even nippier, while in eco, it remains nimble enough for driving in the city.

Dolphin Surf will put a smile on your face with every acceleration

I drove the car on the highway, as well, where the sound insulation isn't the best and kind of fades after 120 km/h, but it's perhaps still a bit better than the Dacia Spring, while the stability is also considerably better on the BYD model, given the extra weight. I don't think you will buy this car to drive it constantly on the highway, mostly for express roads at 100-110 km/h, but when needed, it won't feel like a chore going on the highway.

For the city, I am convinced that the version with 88 horses under the hood is more than plenty and probably the energy consumption will go down, as well, but just so you know, the 156 version can be very economical in the city, too. For example, in the morning when I took the car back to the dealership, the final consumption on the last 50 kilometers was 11.8 kWh/100 kilometers, an impressive number, given that the aircon was turned on at all times and I did a couple of accelerations, as well.

I drove it that way in the comfort mode, so it is possible that the eco mode would have rendered even better results. For urban driving, the energy consumption will be very good and the Dolphin can be a fitting vehicle for those who want to do ride sharing with a small electric car and are looking for an alternative at the Dacia Spring.

The weight and the way the suspension is set on this car offer remarkable stability around corners, if I was to compare it to the Dacia Spring, while the Renault 5 fares a little better in this department. But I like that BYD didn't sacrifice comfort, while the suspension is soft enough for driving in the city and around worse-quality roads. It's not necessarily the most comfortable city-focused EV, but compared to the Renault 5, which I tested recently and which you can read more about here, BYD was able to find an almost ideal balance between comfort and stability for the Dolphin.

The car also deals very well with road imperfections and tram tracks, even though the rims are not the largest and you can pick between 15 or 16 inch versions, my car being equipped with the latter.

You won't spend much time charging the Dolphin Surf

The range estimated by BYD for a full charge is 322 kilometers, but if you'll drive it more around city areas, this can increase to around 500 kilometers. I was left with around 22 percent after more than 200 kilometers driven across all road conditions and without babying the accelerator. And since we're talking about range, let's mention the charging speeds, as well, which I think is another strong suit of this car.

BYD says that the 30 kWh battery version of the car can be charged at a maximum of 65kW, while the larger battery model can support up to 85kW of DC charging, with AC charging being limited to 11kW across the board. Regardless of the version, BYD Dolphin supports V2L capabilities, as well, meaning that the car can provide electricity through the charging port to other consumers, such as a projector or a small fridge.

I plugged the car into a 150kW charging station and the charging speed climbed to a maximum of a little over 86kW, so a little faster than what BYD says. At around 55%, the charging speed started dropping and stabilized to around 56kW when I unplugged it, at 63%. From 22 to 63 percent, the charging took exactly 15 minutes, an amazing result if you ask me, given that the range is also pretty great in the city environments.

So, if I was to estimate a normal scenario for this car, you will drive this car for commutes between home and work and back and then, you charge it once during weekends for like 20-30 minutes and you're set for the next week. Not bad at all, right? Where I think BYD can work a bit more is in the regenerative braking department.

Currently, you can pick between two recuperation options, normal or strong, and I used the strong one, like I always do. When you completely let go of the accelerator, the car will continue to coast for a brief second, after which it slowly starts to regenerate at up to 35kW, depending on how fast you were going. This is a weird sensation, because I expected the car to immediately start regenerating energy at the maximum rate, as it was the case for all other EVs that I drove in the past.

If this behavior would have been acceptable during normal regeneration, on the strong recuperation mode I don't think it's ideal and it should be further optimized. Additionally, the car can't drive as a one-pedal-driving mode, meaning that it can't brake completely on its own, as it is the case for the MINI Aceman, the only electric model that I drove and that was able to do this.

I appreciate that the BYD Dolphin comes with autohold, a function not available on the Dacia Spring, but rather on the Renault 5.

Comfort and interior space in the BYD Dolphin Surf

Regarding the interior space, the BYD Dolphin doesn't disappoint any passenger, but the boot is mediocre at best. Firstly, like pretty much all cars tested by me so far, the passengers in the front benefit from the most comfort and space. And here, it really is generous for a city-focused car. You will sit very well in the front, even if you're taller, but the space available for the knees is a bit limited, so the driving position might not be the most relaxed out there, but good enough nonetheless. I like that BYD optimized the center console in such a way as to offer the most space available for this model.

Even though the armrest doesn't slide or open up to offer extra storage space, it is comfortable and makes room for two cup holders in front of it, as well as for a wireless charger that has one of the best positions out of all the cars that I've tested. At the same time, this support is also fairly "sticky", so that my phone never fell out of position.

Under this area, there's extra space to put your stuff and it's very generous, so you can put a water bottle there, your wallet, keys and whatnot; it's similar to the one I've seen on the Mercedes EQE, another model that I've tested this year and that I liked a lot.

In the front side of the console, you have two USB ports, out of which one is USB-C and the other, USB-A, as well as a 12v socket with power output of up to 120W. The addition of a USB-A port is very useful and something that I haven't seen at other carmakers, which go for an "all USB-C ports" situation, but BYD's approach can be useful for those that haven't yet made the full transition.

The front seats have fully electric adjustment, at least on the top trim, and they're also heated, a feature that, again, is not available on the Spring. My problem with the seats is that they're made of eco leather and during summer, they get extremely hot, since they don't have ventilation, so if you get in the car after having parked it in a sunny area for over 30 minutes, you'll likely fry yourself, literally. At least, they are comfortable and offer better support than I initially expected, but I would have liked to see a textile material.

To add insult to injury, the air conditioner isn't the best, either, and you need to run it on at least the 3rd speed setting to feel some cool breeze, which isn't ideal even after 30-40 minutes of driving. And starting from the 3rd speed onwards, it gets fairly noisy, even with music turned on.

Another mention regarding the ventilation system is that it can be set to blow on a maximum of 2 zones in the upper-side, so you can pick ventilation in the leg area and directly towards you or in the windscreen area, but never all 3 at the same time. At the same time, in order to control the temperature, you need to get in the vehicle's climate settings, where you'll need to make fine adjustments to the temperature control and it's not at all ideal to do this when driving.

What I liked is that the car's thresholds are covered by the doors entirely, meaning that you won't rub your legs against the dirt accumulated from the road when getting in and out of the car, something that other carmakers could implement.

Passengers in the back and the boot of the BYD Dolphin

The rear space is very generous, in my opinion, and it's well above the Spring, comfort-wise, or similar to the R5. The backseat is also made from the same eco leather material, so it suffers from the same problem as the front seats when exposed to the sun, but the legroom is decent and because the floor is flat, you won't have a problem sliding from one side to the other quickly. The front seats have some space between the backrest and the headrest, so they don't make those in the back feel claustrophobic, like the Spring does, while the head space is good enough for me, but I am not a tall person.

Should you choose the Dolphin for some ride sharing activities, I don't think you'll make many passengers upset, even if they're larger adults, because they'll have plenty of space in this car.

Also, below the center side of the backseat is where you'll find the spot for the 12v battery, so you know where you can find it in case you need to replace it. I liked that on the B pillars you have tiny hooks, which you can use in order to securely place your jacket, for example. The windows are pretty large themselves, in the front and in the back, as well, while the visibility is good through the rear window. There are no USB ports for charging in the back.

The boot of this car is identical to the one of the Spring, at 308 liters, so you can fit a luggage bag and a couple of shopping bags. Some sacrifices had to be made in order to keep the car within some decent limits when it comes to this segment and personally, I am happy that the passengers won, because even though a bit small, the boot is still sufficient for some occasional shopping at the end of the week. The rear seat is foldable, so you can extend the luggage space, it you're in a pinch. There's no wiper for the rear window, perhaps a surprising choice, even though it's true that the aileron above covers it pretty nicely.

Software and technologies on the BYD Dolphin

Let's talk a bit about the software side of this car, which I find to be very diversified, but pretty easy to operate and understand, at the same time. Firstly, I think that the steering wheel is almost perfect and on it you find the buttons associated with all important basic functions that you want to access easily at all times. You can activate / deactivate the parking sensors easily, you can set the adaptive cruise control and you can change the speed that the car will maintain on 5 km/h increments, while also activating / deactivating the lane assist feature.

At the same time, you can change the distance that the car keeps from the vehicle ahead on three levels and you can also rotate the center tablet. On the right side of the steering wheel, you find the buttons for answering a phone call, accessing the My BYD smart assistant, a scroll wheel for changing the volume, multimedia buttons, as well as a button for back or MODE, which essentially switches between radio and Spotify, for example.

The dashboard is fairly simple itself and shows that power used by the electric motors or the regenerative power, the speed, energy consumption, as well as the road indicators. At the same time, you can easily see the battery percentage and the current charge level.

Above the center console, you will find the 10 inch rotating tablet, which offers great visibility and which can be set horizontally or vertically. The operating system is fairly simple and easy to understand. Connecting the car to Apple CarPlay, which works flawlessly, was done in less than a minute and you have all the features that you are used to from European cars.

Beyond this, you will find plenty of configurations in the settings app, such as adjusting the headlight height, activating or deactivating safety features, as well as selecting between the two regeneration options. There are plenty personalization options and comfort, such as the car turning on the headlights when you get close to it or the possibility to open / close the windows remotely.

The car is equipped with 360 degree cameras, the ones in the front and back having the option of an ultrawide angle and the quality of the cameras is exceptional, one of the best that I've seen yet on a car, especially at this price. There are parking sensors only on the back, but given how clear the cameras are and how small the car is, you shouldn't have much of an issue when parking it. The automatic headlights are full LED and offer great visibility during night time.

Below the center tablet you'll find the quick toggles for the gear selector, selecting the driving mode (comfort, sport or eco), selecting the traction mode, turning the autohold on or off, as well as the air conditioning, air recirculation and adjusting the volume.

Turning the parking brake on can be done by pressing on the left side of the gear selector. What I didn't like very much about these buttons is that they're not really buttons, but rather switches which you need to nudge up or down to activate and sometimes, you might not nudge them completely, meaning that they won't activate. Maybe next time, BYD will install proper buttons and will find a way to make the hazard button easier to find in case of an emergency. Otherwise, the positioning of the buttons is good and they are well within reach.

The audio system on the top trim is fairly poor, in my opinion. You get four speakers in the front and the sound is good, but not over 25.000 euros good. On the base versions, this sound system is fair, but this one is clearly below Renault't 9 Harman / Kardon speakers.

Conclusions BYD Dolphin Surf

So, after a weekend spent with this car, what do I think about the BYD Dolphin Surf? Is this a "threat" for the European city-focused EVs? I believe it is, if we take into account everything it has to offer for the starting price of 11.590 euros with the eco ticket in Romania. The car I tested is well over 25.000 euros without the same eco ticket and for the money, you can opt for a Renault 5, which I think is the real competitor for the Dolphin.

The Dacia Spring unfortunately offers too little and feels lower quality to be a serious competitor to the Dolphin Surf and from other manufacturers, the Hyundai Inster seems like an interesting choice, but I didn't get to drive that car, yet.

If I was to choose, the base and intermediary versions of the BYD Dolphin are the most optimal price to performance, while the top model gets a little too close to the Renault 5, which I still prefer as a higher quality and more option car.

Strong suits:

- space and comfort considering its class

- fun to drive and pretty comfortable

- decent or very good range, depending on the driving conditions and fast charging speeds

- very competitive starting price

Weak points:

- the seats get uncomfortably hot during summer

- the controls for the climate system are clunky and distracting

- high price for the top trim level when considering the whole package

- limited boot space