I’d rather watch Nicola than the England game

The fact that Nicola can take a pretty boring, midrange car and make an entertaining review out of it is a sign of her genius.

“Want it faster, you’ll have to find a Dolphin friendly tuner” 😂😂😂 brilliant! THE most entertaining car reviewer 👍👏

Bought one of these in Australia- GBP 23,580 for the top spec model drive away. Agree with her comments, great city car with very few issues. Latest OTA now about to be released with wireless Apple CarPlay (although my wired connection works fine). Will finally allow TSR (speed) recognition to be turned off permanently, instead of a using a short cut, plus added short cuts for temp and fan speeds. One item missed - at least in Australia, the Dolphin works with Tesla V3 and V4 Superchargers, so removes any concerns about crap third party chargers when travelling long distance. Two very minor things I also don't like - front vent reflection on the windscreen, and the luggage cover looks a bit fragile. I drive the the car in 'normal' not sport, but set the steering to sport to give a more direct feel. High regen setting works fine, I like using a brake pedal, as this makes it feelmore like driving a normal ICE car. I easily get 450+ km around town, charge it at home every week or two. With the LFP battery, you can and should charge to 100%.

For anyone that is after a more indepth long-term review this might help below. Done about 4000km in the Dolphin now so have some handy insights if you're interested. Just found this vid fairly cursory (like a normal 1 day review) be good to dig a little deeper and learn the real ins and outs about the car so.... Suspension The suspension is dialed in a little "bouncy". It's a pity they didn't dampen it more. It soaks everything up beautifully, but just in a slightly pogo-stick kind of way. Most people won't notice, but it's slightly irritating when moving from many Euro brands that seem to have a more controlled movement. Tires The LingLong tires are a bit rubbish. They are a cost saving so are made of hard compound rubber. Because of this it's difficult to get power down as they slip. Now in winter in NZ they're to be used aggressively with caution. Replacing these with something like Michellin PS5's etc will improve the pickup on acceleration and traction in general Traction Control The traction control is strange, as it allows you to wheel spin to a good amount of time before it reigns things in. Unlike say a Skoda which is overly aggressive with not allowing the wheel to spin at all, this is on the other end of the scale. Be great if they tweaked the software a bit to allow a little less slip to keep things under control a bit. Lack of some auto features The lack of an auto-tailgate and auto-windscreen wipers is a shame. The first I can live with as closing a boot isn't too bad and cheaper if it fails. But auto-wipers are a shame as these are really useful and allow you to concentrate on driving rather than fiddling with the stalk. With all the other tech I was surprised to see this missing. Fogging of interior windscreen BYD's have a weird process where the aircon "purges" all the air inside it into the interior cabin once you've locked the doors. This is great for the aircon filter as it gets all the moisture out. However, all the moisture goes into the interior and foggs up the interior windows until they're dripping with water. Very painful to clean this up on frosty mornings. On some Atto models they've now done a software update to vent to outside the car instead, but for many Dolphin owners we're still waiting on this. Temporary solution is to lock, then unlock, then lock the car which resets it so it doesn't purge. Doors slightly fill with water on slopes The bleed holes on the undersides of the doors are slightly inboard, so if you park on a hill, when you open the doors a good amount of water comes out of the bleed holes as the door becomes horizontal therefore releasing the "corner collections" of water. Slightly disturbing when it first happens, but not unusual in cars. Just wish they'd put the drain holes more in the corners so it drains better on hills. Info screen a bit clunky It's getting better, but often things are hidden in submenus a bit. Be good if they rationalised this a bit. Some of the safety features are annoyingly persistent and you have to make shortcuts to dig down into menus to get to them to turn off. However, to BYDs credit, they have improved this with every OTA update. Less intrusive, more subtle bongs and blings, and now the auto-traffic speed warning can permanently be switched off if the user wants. Steering Steering is a little vague, but like most common cars. Along the lines of a Skoda with it's feel, but not as nice as a VW or old school Mazda where you can "feel" the road. Not a precise car to drive, but again most people don't care about that or even know what I'm talking about. Depends if that's you or not. Some Earlier models have rust issues Only the very first gen of BYD cars brought into NZ had some issues with rust. To BYDs credit they've fixed those customers cars for the most part, and they now have quality control pretty well dialled. But just bear that in mind when buying secondhand for thos 1st gen models. No Frunk There's not too much space in the front as they've pulled the cabin out as much as possible to get interior space. That's great, but they could have provided a frunk/ front storage area still with the space they have. There's aftermarket ones you can buy, so many people have retrofitted, but BYD probably could have stamped out the same plastic mold and screwed that in there to provide a space for cables and the like. BYD Support BYD support seem pretty good so fair in NZ. In terms of they seem to quietly listen to their customers and make software changes accordingly. However not as open as say Tesla in letting you know what's coming up, and detailing features etc. Pretty standard car company stuff really. Unfortunately you still have to go through a dealer, unless privately buying. Hope that helps anyone out there. Overall it's a fantastic car despite above and as said gets better with every OTA update. Totally agree with the rest of Nicola's review in terms of features and incredible space on inside etc. Recommended! :)

Had mine since early January this year now in the UK, great run around car, commuting to train-station. Motorway journeys are a breeze in this car. Full charge last about two weeks if you stay off motorways. Charges fast on 50Kw chargers, about 40 mins. Great car and the APP works for those icy mornings. I preferred this over the MG due to the tech, more spacious. In the summer the battery last a lot longer to, 2hr motorway journey and lost about 30%. Also the BYD customer support are rapid response.

I went for a long drive this week - 3 hours each way. On highways and using the cruise control most of the time, it really did do the distance advertised. I think this is because the computer uses the regen every time it has to slow. During normal driving it's less - probably 75-80% of the advertised rate. I took it to a charger rated at 60kw and it charged at 33.something. An hour to charge the 50% I had used in the initial drive.

I can see the Porpoise of it , and Nichola never got in a flap once 👍👍👍🤣🤣

i've had mine since January and it's brilliant. I manage 240 miles out of a charge (city / parkway driving). I managed 86Kwh charge yesterday - it was hot and nobody else at chargers. Just had another update to fix even more bugs. and add web browser / karaoke

Some dodgy dolphin puns aside (🙄) you never fail to amuse and delight with your reviews, Nicola - thank you for being 'you'. Having said that, £31k for just an alright city car is NUTS...! And, whilst the range does indeed start at £25,495 that entry-level Active model, with only a 94hp motor, is likely to feel very underpowered, I'd imagine...!

Regarding the indicators. The sound when you have brand mode on is fantastic for indicators. Very, very soothing and musical. I am not too keen on the slow vehicle noise (which is whenever it drops under 20mph, which is very annoying given all the 20 villages around me) but I keep it because of the indicator noise. So much better than the clicks. I do wish you could mix and match it, so have the hum with the musical indicators. As it stands, we have named our car 'cornetto' since it's pink and purple and sounds like an ice cream truck! I recommend the lighter interior. It makes the car feel even more spacious and bright inside. We have also gotten quite close to 80kw when charging once when we did a long road trip with it. Most of the time though it is our short journey car. Managed 3 weeks without a charge so far as it is very economical for just dotting about locally

I'm visiting East Malaysia right now and great to see a number of BYD and Oppo Cars appearing here! Chinese EVs will revolutionise the fight against pollution and emissions in loads of countries outside Europe and US 🙏

Carplay is now wireless

yeah that seems like prettymuch exactly my impression when I test-drove one. The binggs and bongs were more pronounced than on this video. In nz, the equivalent mg4 is slightly cheaper so the biggest problem with the dolphin is that the mg4 exists and is better for just slightly less.

I need to plug my phone into my Ioniq 5, I prefer it. It is always charging. And the car I rented recently that connected 'magically' also 'magically' disconnected right when I needed the directions most. COPPER connections FTW!

I love mine! Had it since Nov and covered just over 10k. Average 4.2m/kWh. 0-60 timed at 6.2 with tc off. Very underrated performance and shocks a few cars!! Best EV I've had considering I've had the MG4, cupra born and Niro. Oh and the air vent glare is annoying 😂😂 and ensure the crappy ling longs are replaced!!!!

Brilliant review 👏 love it 😀

Hi Nicola, you can change indicator sound in these, well you can in an Atto 3. I assume it will be the same system DNA.

What a great stand up Nicola would make. Great review and I predicted that she would get 13 dolphin puns in. Fintastic !

We've had our Dolphin for a couple of months now and are really happy with it as a budget daily driver. The range is fine and the driving experience is good. On the downside, I totally agree about the bloody parcel shelf which seems to have a life of its own and drives me nuts. Also why on earth is the dashcam missing and the software disabled? In other countries the camera and software are in place, in some other countries you can buy and fit the BYD camera and everything works. Why make it so difficult for us in the UK? A simple software upgrade to allow the 360 camera to record to the SD card would be better than nothing...

I hope they will add on the next update to allow us to choose which signal sound or pedestrian sound individually. I prefer the ice cream van sound at low speed but still prefer the traditional clicky signal sound. Lets clarify the sunblind closing. It will automatically close when you lock the car, I think thats what Nicola trying to say instead of turn off.

I love how she seems to avoid saying “fully charged” in the last second 😂

Phew! I think it'll be fine for my daily commuting car.

since the big software update and with the warm weather I got 89kW charging yesterday on my dolphin

you Nicola, are so fun to watch! this car is THE new blaze among uber drivers here in Brazil, with the 44,9 kWh version being sold for not so much more than a full spec VW Polo. that ice cream truck creep noise is hilarious!

Different colour bonnet gives off Replacement but couldn't find same colour vibes. Looks better from behind but don't a lot of us!

🤣🤣🤣🤣 That has helped a lot. I've been keeping an eye on the BYD, specially a long term review like this. The puns were ace (apart from the sushi one) 🤬 Other than that, thank you very much.

I want BYD to expand to Czechia, Slovakia, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

How about the reliability of the suspension system? and outer body condition. As far as i know japan made vehicles body and.suspenstions.parts are very strong and durable.

Every manufacturer needs a 'Joe Mode' like Tesla with the ability to turn down the volume on turn signal clicks and other warning chimes. It will be interesting to see if BYD makes it to North America.

Lane assist on the mG4 is dangerous as is the front collision assist. They go off but you have to do it every time you drive! CarPlay also sucks. But the rest of the car is fabulous.

I was annoyed by the puns at first, but then when "hooks" and "sushi" came out, I was won over. Very dark. ^_^

ehhh 19 puns? Thanks for the fun Nicola 🤣 (and think again, is a Dolphin a fish or a . . . . . 😉) We had the Dolphin Design for an hour, in the Netherlands (€37.000 starting prijs). We loved the car and almost bought it. Alas, the dealer asked a bit to much for it. So, we bought the Citroën ë-C3 Max..

great review - but are rear wipers not a common and mandatory part of any car?

At 12:10 you say you've not seen it hit 3.9 miles per kwh yet at 9:37, you show the screen saying 25.4kwh per 100 miles for the total average which is about 3.93 is it not? or am I missing something?

‘That’s dolphin click for left, that’s dolphin click for right’ 😂😂😂

These sell for 16k in Hong Kong!

Thank you..

Good job, I would have liked more details on the energy consumption you got. I tried this car and discarded it because of the subpar charging and not great steering feel. Still holding my money probably for a Renault 5

A bonkers review. I won’t be buying one but I enjoyed the review. 😆

Thank you

Might be my next one after my Corsa-e

Long term review after 3 months ? how long will it last 18months??

I noticed you have Hankook tyres on the car. Did the dealer remove the original LingLong tyres?

CarPlay is now wireless following the latest update

Surprised the less than perfect steering did not feature more. As Nicole drives a lot of cars, this must have been immediately apparent, as the car otherwise drives and rides smoothly, in contrast to the steering which is upset by camber and joins in the road surface. It reminds you that underneath the nice fit and finish there lurks a fairly basic chassis that still needs development to bring it up to European standards.

So 3 months is now a long time 🤔

I think you're just like of the build your dreams name is imperial guilt. I think it's charming, and why can't we have some more positivity in the world?

Nice

It’s a good looking little car. But it’s not a car I’m after, it’s a small electric camper. The smallest of them is based on the Vauxhall Combo Life Electric and is known as a Wheelhome Vikenze III.

The dolphin laugh should count too. I think UK prices will stay the best for these Chinese cars. EU is going to increase them 38,1% on import taxes.

An entertaining review, thank you. BYD have definitely got the pricing right. Given a bit more time I bet they improve the annoying bits. If this drives up the standards older car manufacturers have to meet to compete, then I am all for it.

The Puns made this review more interesting, a missed opportunity at the end for a proper "fin" ish

Nice jacket.

hey i thought it was starting from $14k, how come this car costs over 30k? can anyone pls elaborate?

I love her 😅

Well, I'm going to be this guy... we have a Dolphin. We live in the countryside. And we are getting 272 miles. Sorry hun 😂

Why is the charging so slow? Just 60-80kW?

Damnit! I had 13 down... "fish"!?

Buy or lease this car considering what resale value it will have after 5 years?

FISH! 🧡

Is that £26,000 in June or in July after the additional EU taxes have been added?

I never buy the first version of anything. Wait for at least 3rd version for them to get all the bugs out.

I have to admit I was a bit disappointed by this video. The majority of information is available on all the other videos talking about the space in the back, rotating screen, panoramic roof, etc. From a long-term test, I would expect deeper insight than you didn't get the WLTP range. What range did you get? How has it coped with family life? The details in the software issue was the most indepth reporting.

You always make me laugh, Nicola. I want to know how a dolphin would react to those turn signal clicks! And I think they should make the horn sound like a dolphin squeal! And the low speed sound should imitate ocean waves! I understand your love of rear window wipers, but I've found that having a digital rear view mirror renders them unnecessary. Honestly! What? NO one-fin driving? Tsk. And the charging rate has needs to swim faster. Too bad we'll never see them on this side of the… POND.

I have the pink one. Squeeee

I test drove the Dolphin at everything electrical Harrogate. Got caught out when I stopped at traffic lights and applied the handbrake..when I tried to set off the car wouldn’t move..I hadn’t noticed it had automatically gone into neutral when I applied the handbrake. Why is it designed to do this? No automatic car I’ve ever owned does it! Nothing worse than sitting at traffic lights with ya foot planted on the brake blinding the driver behind with your intensely bright led brake lights specially at night!

😂 I like the name I do like buy your dreams on the back mmmm don't like front wheel drive on electric cars should have a frunk with a big bonnet looks a little bit too much like a golf ⛳ and for me after my BMW i3s I think I would be a little bit bored 😮 but the range is good and the battery's excellent 👌 mmmm 🤔 nice little front wheel drive hatchback Very nice and hopefully it sells loads 👍 sooner we end, the toxic fossil burning the batter for our Earth 🌍

7:35 That's a very dull screen

Saw so many crazy videos from the Chinese owners out of China, I would not touch it with a 10ft pole!

Disappointed as I had the number at 15 lol.

Rather concerned that you regard "hook" and "sushi" are references to dolphins. :( .

Cool to buy a car that already looks like it’s had a trip to the salvage yard.

wireless android auto is great on the dolphin

I wish we have BYD in US instead of comrade VinFast.

Never in my life would I get this over a used Peugeot E-208.

She tells a good tail.

This channel deserves a million subscribers

Much bigger, not way!

i guessed 12 puns

25

No car do you see WLTP range unless you drive around at 60km/h everywhere. Very puny btw. :)

Hate the 2 tone reminds of a boy racers civic

great review, pity it has lost a third of its new price in 3 months

How many thousands of those pounds are lining your dealers pockets? Isnt the car 'actually' much cheaper than that?

We have two of them in work and the fit and finish is brutal the battery is really bad no one uses it the Hyundai Kona wins hands down

1 minute in; I've ordered this car and I'm receiving it on Saturday (its replacing my VW Golf). I hope by the end of the video that the review is good.

long term is not 3 months.

Glass roof are a horrible default feature. They should be an option you spec on a car.

IMO, the two-tone paint just doesn't work on this car, it looks odd, and merely accentuates the weird shape. It reminds me of folk who are tall but rotund, trying to fit into a suit they've had for decades, bulging belly, stressing buttons.

Budget electric car??!

Complaining about ‘build your dreams’ is soooo British - it’s on the Oz cars and we are yeah nah it’s naff but whatevs

🐬🐬🐬

So tell us all, and not keep us in suspense….you can’t manage 265 so how many miles can you do? The question of WLTP range against real world range is, I feel, right up there on viewers 'want to knows'.

*Joke Alert* Coming up next, Nicola polishes the Dolphin... I'll get me coat. Seriously though, what range have you actually been achieving?

Sounds like the kind of car to avoid until they face lift it (or replace it). Fine, but too many problems for the money.

This DOLL kneeds knee pads!❤🤭

I dont think i can drive a car that says build your dreams on the back, those must be some boring dreams. Maybe if it could be deleted somehow. Great review though, Nicola is always brilliant.

Id never go back to wired android auto or carplay. Its backwards to have wired in a EV was considering this when my current car goes back but noway now

That's more expensive than a Tesla model 3 here in Australia. I know which I'd rather have.