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The BYD Dolphin might have the MG4 beat on outright price, but can the Build Your Dreams hatchback keep up with the MG’s excellent dynamics?
Twelve months ago, if you had asked me what budget electric car to buy, I happily would have told you to drop everything and buy an MG4.
In 2023, I stated that “the MG4 electric car is a huge leap forward” and that “I’ve rarely wanted to keep driving an EV on and on after hours at the wheel, but give me a winding road and an MG4 and you’ll find a very happy man”.
But now having driven every flavour of MG4, it’s time to saddle up with what is arguably its main competitor in price-busting EV land, the BYD Dolphin.
Joining the rest of the Build Your Dreams Ocean Series lineup, including the Seal sedan and Sealion 6 plug-in hybrid, the Dolphin is built on BYD’s e-Platform 3.0 and uses the brand’s high-tech Blade battery technology.
The Dolphin is available in Australia in two grades, Dynamic and Premium. The former base grade is priced at $36,890 list, or around $39K driveaway, which is around $8K more than MG4 Excite 51 ($30,990 driveaway) under offer at the time of review. Usually, though, the MG4 rival in entry-level guise is around $43K driveaway.
Put face to face with the MG4, the Dolphin is (usually) cheaper, front-driven and value stacked for the price, but the MG4 fights back with classic rear-drive dynamics, has greater electric range (at least in 64kWh battery guise) and is a cracking drive, so it’s pretty even.
But can the BYD out-drive the MG? And does the Dolphin offer a better all-round budget EV experience?
The BYD Dolphin we have on test is the Premium, finished in two-tone Ski White/Urban Grey and currently priced at $42,890 before on-road costs, or around $45,420 driveaway (for NSW delivery).
Even in base Dynamic guise, the Dolphin is very well specced, however the standard features for the Premium include:
Four colours are available for the Premium, all of which are contrasted with Urban Grey. These colours are Ski White, Coral Pink, Surf Blue and Atlantis Grey and all come as a no-cost option.
Looking at the features, BYD is really bringing as much value as it possibly can into a car priced not far over $45K driveaway. It’s impressive to see how many features are loaded into this car at such an affordable price point.
Plonking myself inside the Dolphin for the first time, the first thing I like is that there is a physical start button, unlike the MG4 that has no start button at all. The Dolphin isn’t as compact in its dimensions as the even smaller Seagull, but it feels like the Dolphin morphs around you somewhat as you get in. It almost feels a little sports-car like in that way.
When you press the starter button, you’re met with a quirky little start up sound. Flick the car into drive on the central control panel and off you go, it’s as easy and simple as that.
Underneath the skin of this Dolphin Premium lies a 60.4kWh usable Blade battery pack which feeds an electric motor mounted on the front axle. This motor produces 150kW/310Nm, which isn’t far off hot hatch’s power outputs from around ten years ago.
The Dolphin certainly doesn’t mess around with getting up to the speed limit, as is the case with a lot of ‘instant-torque-from-zero’ electric cars.
While there is just no way the peppiest Dolphin can compete with the frankly ridiculous MG4 XPower’s 320kW/600Nm rocketship performance, I think our test subject has the perfect amount of power and torque for most driving situations. Different horses for different courses.
Making my way out through the busy streets and outer ‘burbs of Sydney, the Dolphin feels surprisingly comfortable. Its ride is remarkably soft for a car of this size.
Unlike the base Dynamic, this Premium is fitted with a multi-link rear suspension setup, and I think it does wonders to how the Dolphin carries itself over a mix of surfaces. The Dolphin seems to want to float over rough surfaces, rather than be impacted or unsettled by them.
And this pleasant driving experience continues out on the highway, with the Dolphin proving to be just as comfortable at higher speeds as it is with its behaviour around town.
But I’m on the hunt for some more spirited driving roads to see if the Dolphin can unseat the MG4 as my favourite driving, budget electric car.
Unfortunately, I was met with heaps of traffic (midday on a Wednesday?) and plenty of trucks, but once I had a decent bit of open space ahead of me, it was time to find out.
I flick the drive mode switch to Sport and off we go. This seems to sharpen up the throttle response and add some weight to the steering, which is really no bad thing.
However, there is a bit of a problem: under heavy throttle input, the Dolphin induces a chunk of torque steer. Much like hot hatches of years gone by, there is a definite sensation of being pulled, rather than pushed, but you can really feel the car reacting through the steering.
It’s all a bit much. The Dolphin will therefore try and steering its way depending on the camber of the road, which felt a little off-putting for me.
Despite this, the Dolphin has crisp, sharp turn in and feels genuinely pretty fun to pilot. There is plenty of electric grunt off the mark and even for overtaking and you may just find yourself at the speed limit quicker than expected. At 1658kg, it’s quite lightweight for an EV and feels it too.
It’s a surprisingly rapid little machine and when out on a country road, it’s certainly fun enough. But I don’t think it can match the MG4’s rear-drive prowess and engagement X factor.
I feel that the MG4 has been built for the hills, while the softer BYD has been built for the city slickers.
The BYD Dolphin’s interior is a fine example of quality product and materials but still done to a sharp price. I’ll explain why.
Although I believe there is certainly a stigma towards Chinese cars in Australia, the reality is that the cabin of the BYD Dolphin does not feel like a budget interior. Despite its sticker price, it doesn’t feel low rent.
From the quirky central console ‘bridge’ to the sports seats and nicely trimmed steering wheel, you could be blindfolded and not pick this interior apart from more expensive, more mainstay rivals. And, arguably, the BYD has a nicer and better built interior over the equivalent MG4 Essence 64.
There is a mix of materials at play here and BYD has chosen to use soft fabrics and even a wetsuit-like material for many of the surfaces which is unique and sets the model apart from the rest of the segment. And while the seats aren’t leather, you’d be pretty pushed to tell the difference between cow or no cow.
For technology, the BYD Dolphin uses a 12.8-inch centre touchscreen that can rotate from landscape to portrait, if you prefer it that way. I didn’t really feel the need to change from the landscape mode, but it’s cool that BYD offers the choice, unlike a Tesla which offers a fixed screen.
This touchscreen runs wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto, however I found BYD’s in-house infotainment to be pretty good. Satellite navigation and plenty of vehicle settings to play with also feature as standard.
For the instrument cluster, the Dolphin uses a small 5.0-inch digital screen, but it’s nice and clear and of high resolution, and also has a few functions to keep you occupied if you want to know more about efficiency and trip computer settings.
There is a heap of storage in this vehicle, too, including in the centre bridge-like console that you can store things underneath.
A wireless charger also features here, but it’s a bit on and off with whether it’ll charge your phone or not, as I experienced with my iPhone 14. It didn’t seem to be able to get a solid connection despite which way I put the phone and kept coming up with a message saying it had begun charging. Annoying.
The front seats are really supportive as well as comfortable. They look really good, too, which adds to the cabin feel. These are certainly a pretty sporty seat for an electric city hatch.
In the second row, adults and kids will be able to charge their devices thanks to USB-A and -C ports. It’s not too bad in the second row, but this is a hatch after all, so it’s still on the smaller side of things.
It’s worth noting that the second row does not gain air vents, so things could get a little hot back there during those scorching Australian summer days.
In the boot, owners gain a 345-litre capacity which can expand up to a claimed 1310 litres with the rear seats folded down. Unfortunately, the Dolphin does not have a temporary or full-size spare wheel. Instead, there is a simple tyre repair kit.
All in all, I was impressed by the interior and cabin practicalities of the Dolphin. It’s unique styling may be a little quirky, but it works. Comfortable seats, fast infotainment and use of soft materials around the space made this a real win for me.
The BYD Dolphin was tested by ANCAP in 2023 where it received a five-star safety rating. The vehicle scored an impressive 89 percent in adult occupant protection, 86 percent for child occupant protection and 85 percent for vulnerable road user protection.
As standard, the Dolphin is fitted with an array of passive and active safety features, including:
In terms of on-road tuning and response from these systems, I found them to be pretty accurately tuned to the roads I was driving on. The lane keep isn’t intrusive and the front cross traffic alert and brake worked really well, as I found out creeping out on a driveway with low visibility.
There are many active safety systems in the market today that operate at a lower standard than the $45K Dolphin Premium.
All BYD vehicles come with a six-year, 150,000-kilometre warranty, while the high-voltage battery is covered by an eight-year, 160,000-kilometre warranty, which is usual for many EVs these days.
As for servicing, the Dolphin will cost $1628 over five years. Service intervals are every 20,000 kilometres or 12 months, whichever occurs first.
In terms of electric efficiency, the rated consumption for the Dolphin with the 60.4kWh usable battery pack is 15.9kWh/100km. During a combination of mostly around town and spirited driving, we saw a low of 11.1kWh/100km and an average of 14.2kWh/100km.
For reference, at 99 percent state of charge, we were seeing the Dolphin’s computer displaying 478km of range.
The BYD Dolphin has entered the Australian market with a very attractive starting price, a quirky yet well-built interior, comfortable day to day city ride quality and so much standard equipment for the outlay.
But is it as good to punt as its big rival, the rear-drive MG4? Not quite.
I found the Dolphin to fall apart a bit when pushed harder on a country road with its torque-steer a little off putting and harder to control.
And while this might not be such a big deal for an owner, the MG4 is much more competent and controllable, while also giving you that typical rear-wheel-drive push, rather than the pull of a front-wheel setup.
True, a front-wheel-drive hot hatch can also be a very fun thing, but I think the Dolphin is much better suited as a daily drive, rather than a fun whip around on the weekend.
Driving dynamics aside, the Dolphin is cracking good value for money. If you’re after a first car, or even a second car for the weekend, the Dolphin is about as good as it gets in terms of standard equipment, ride comfort and tech for $45K on the road.
We’ll just have to wait and see if BYD decides to bring out a dual-motor Dolphin in the future…
Key specs (as tested)
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