2026 BYD Sealion 7- An Electric Minx Reinventing the Mid-Size SUV

The 2026 BYD Sealion 7 is the sort of SUV that sneaks up on you. One minute you’re looking at yet another EV promising the moon; the next, you’re wondering how BYD managed to cram this much talent, tech, space, and quiet confidence into something starting at $54,990. The Performance AWD at $63,990 isn’t just good value — it’s aggressively competent in a way that suggests the old guard may want to sit down for a glass of water.

Let’s begin with the obvious: this thing moves.
The Performance’s 390kW/690Nm isn’t mucking about — and it flings 2.3 tonnes of SUV from 0–100km/h in 4.5 seconds. Meanwhile, the Premium RWD’s 230kW feels anything but “entry level”. It’s the kind of power that makes overtaking feel like replying to a text: instinctive, fast, and somehow satisfying even when unnecessary.

The pop-out door handles occasionally play hard-to-get, but not enough to be annoying. At night, the full-width LED rear bar wakes up in a sequence that wouldn’t be out of place on a sci-fi set — elegant, measured, quietly theatrical. LEDs now do more work than ever: brighter, faster, clearer, and eternal. Which is helpful, because this car looks its best illuminated.

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The overall shape? Smooth. Clean. Confident.
The Sealion 7 wears its long 4,830mm body and 2,930mm wheelbase like a well-tailored coat. The roofline arcs gently, meeting a rear quarter that feels considered rather than trendy. Where some EVs look like they were sketched in a hurry by someone late for a meeting, the Sealion has that “I took my time” refinement.

Above: This Week’s VIDEO Review – 2026 BYD Sealion 7 an EV to Rival Europe

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ABOVE: BYD Sealion 7 (OS model shown)

The headlights work brilliantly — wide, crisp beams, perfect auto-levelling — though stylistically they lean a little conservative. Not unattractive, just not as adventurous as the rest of the car.

Inside, Wolfgang Egger’s influence is unmistakable. The man responsible for the Alfa 156 and the 8C Competizione doesn’t do chaos; he does restraint, proportion, and subtle flirtation through form. The Sealion 7’s cabin is one of his calmer pieces, but by no means plain. EV architecture gives designers the freedom to focus on the occupants rather than a lump of steaming metal, and Egger uses that freedom with quiet intelligence.

With the flat 82.56kWh Blade Battery under the floor and motors tucked neatly between the wheels, the cabin feels huge — not in a cavernous airport-terminal way, but in a “this actually works” way. No transmission tunnel, no driveshaft, no nonsense. Just usable space. Even tall adults can sit behind tall adults without performing origami on their knees.

The seats — “leather wrapped” — are heated and ventilated up front, heated in the rear, supportive without being rigid, and comfortable even after hours on the road. USB ports abound. The V2L capability will power your lights, your appliances, possibly a small outback settlement if asked politely. It makes the car feel prepared for anything: coastal road trip, glamping, unexpected blackout, or just boiling water for noodles in a carpark like a uni student who’s doing “van life” incorrectly.

Favourite Things: wide doors, cooled seats, HUD, flat floor, cooled fast Qi phone charger, rotating centre screen, quiet minimialist cabin, quality look and feel inside and out, VTL

Not So Much: 150kw DC charging below par, NFC reader on driver’s door mirror, patchy CarPlay, Moody Voice Control, 6 year warranty slightly behind some opposition

Ride quality is superb.
The frequency-selective dampers do that lovely thing where big bumps seem fifty percent smaller and small bumps don’t seem to exist. The Sealion 7 doesn’t try to be sporty; it aims for comfort and achieves it gracefully. Steering feel is minimal — very EV — but precise enough that you never feel disconnected.

ADAS is subtle, not shouty. Lane keeping behaves like a grown-up. The surround cameras are crisp. And the Dynaudio 12-speaker system is so unexpectedly posh you catch yourself feeling smug about it.

On the freeway, we saw around 500km of real-world range — which is impressive, considering the official WLTP figures are already respectable. The double-glazed front windows do an excellent job keeping the world outside where it belongs. Cabin noise is impressively suppressed; even coarse-chip bitumen sounds muted.

Cornering reminds you of the mass, but in a good way — like a large, well-trained dog trotting beside you: aware, balanced, unfussed. If you expect it to dive into corners like a hot hatch, you’ll be disappointed. If you appreciate a steady, dignified SUV that refuses to be unsettled, you’ll be thrilled.

Casper was delighted with the tech but mildly irritated by the occasional wireless CarPlay dropout (which seems to be a universal EV habit). Max spread out in the back seat like he was auditioning for “most comfortable passenger alive” and declared it a weekend winner. And for once, the car swallowed luggage without needing a second vehicle as backup.

Boot space — 558L combined — isn’t class-leading, but it’s entirely workable and far more stylishly presented than your typical pragmatic mum-mobile. Compared to Japanese and German rivals, the Sealion 7 feels more thoughtfully finished, better equipped for the price, and wrapped in a warranty structure that’s edging on smug.

Should the legacy brands be concerned? Absolutely.
BYD is no longer the quiet newcomer. The Sealion 7 is polished, confident, beautifully balanced and armed to the teeth with standard equipment. It’s less sterile than a Tesla Model Y, less overpriced than anything European, and arguably more cohesive than the EVs coming out of Korea.

In short:
The BYD Sealion 7 doesn’t just enter the segment — it strolls in, sits down, and politely asks if anyone else would like to try harder.

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• Vehicle and components: 6 years or 150,000 km 
• Traction battery and drive unit: 8 years or 160,000 km 
• Note on previous warranty: Previously, some components like the infotainment touchscreen and shock absorbers were covered for a shorter period (3 years/60,000km). The new, simplified warranty eliminated these exceptions for vehicles sold in Australia since August 2022