BYD Dolphin Surf Review 2025

All of a sudden, there are lots of city-focused electric cars vying for our attention — considering its price and specification, BYD's contender looks like a very strong option. It significantly undercuts rivals from Citroen and Hyundai but is it a case of 'you get what you pay for'? Find out in our full BYD Dolphin Surf review.

We might as well address the elephant in the room first. Or more accurately, the aquatic mammal. Yep, this car is another entry in what BYD calls its Ocean Series of cars, following the Seal, the Sealion 7 and the Dolphin.

That last one might confuse you, because the BYD Dolphin Surf is a model in its own right rather than a derivative of the larger Dolphin. Its Dolphin Min' moniker used in some South American countries might have made it clearer but there's currently a legal battle with BMW rumbling away because of it, hence the change. But hey, most would considering it an improvement on BYD Seagull as this car's known in its native China. 

We'd been expecting the Dolphin Surf to come in at just under £20,000 but were pleasantly surprised by the cheapest version being sub-£19,000. Yes, you'll need to opt for the smaller of the two available battery packs and a motor putting out all of 88PS to snag one at that price, but that's not that much more than a Dacia Spring. Plus the BYD is a completely fresh design and not something based on a 10-year-old Renault originally devised for emerging markets as is the case for that car. 

It's also more convincing than the Leapmotor T03, which is priced similarly to the Spring. You could spend more on the Citroen e-C3 and Fiat Grande Panda Electric but we're not convinced you'd be getting much more in return, other than some less busy styling.

If we're to single out the Dolphin Surf for anything it'd be those controversial looks, which won't be to everyone's tastes. You can't say the same about the Hyundai Inster — its adorable styling could surely win over the most hardened EV sceptics' hearts. But the Inster is even more expensive still. 

There are some compromises that have to be made for that rock-bottom price tag, of course, aside from the low power output of the base motor already mentioned. The smaller battery, for instance, has an official  WLTP Combined cycle range of only 137 miles. In colder months, especially if driving in the kind of manner that EVs don't like — such as on motorways — you might struggle to get much over 100 miles on a full charge. 

For an urban-focused car that should be sufficient but many people appreciate the additional flexibility that comes with a larger battery — in the Dolphin Surf that extra capacity increases the range to a more impressive-sounding 199 miles. 

Recharging the BYD Dolphin Surf isn't particularly quick as the on-board chargers have a modest flow rate, ranging from 65kW to 85kW using DC connections, depending on the version. Yet by virtue of the batteries' dinkiness you shouldn't be waiting too long to get your recommended 80% charge. 

What's perhaps most commendable is how well equipped the BYD Dolphin Surf is considering its price. If you can put up with the low power and modest range of the entry-level car you won't really need to spend more. 

At low speeds the BYD Dolphin Surf's suspension can feel choppy, meaning the car can feel  overwhelmed when negotiating particularly rubbish road surfaces. From 20mph onwards things settle down. 

The steering is slower than we'd like for a city car that will spend much of its life nipping in and out of traffic, while if you corner with any enthusiasm there's quite a bit of body lean. When accompanied with a bit of throttle it's possible to make the BYD push wide in a bend with some tyre squealing for good measure. 

The thing is, it's not like rivals from Citroen and Fiat are particularly spectacular to drive and while a Hyundai Inster is more fun, you'll also pay a lot more for one with the 'right' spec. Crucially, the BYD feels much more grown up in terms of handling compared to the Leapmotor T03 and Dacia Spring, showing it really is worth stretching your budget a bit. 

Refinement is acceptable for the price. The wind noise picks up noticeably when you hit 50mph but the Dolphin Surf's small, narrow wheels don't generate much in the way of road noise. 

The BYD Dolphin Surf is available with two different motors and battery packs. The 30kWh battery can only be paired with an 88PS motor producing 175Nm of torque. The larger 43.2kWh battery can be combined with either the 88PS motor or one putting out 156PS and 220Nm of torque. 

We've only driven the Boost, which uses the bigger battery and the lower-power motor. As you might anticipate, this makes it the slowest of the lot, with a 0-62mph time of 12.1 seconds, compared to 11.1 seconds for the entry-level Active with the same motor but the smaller, lighter battery.

We don't tend to get too caught up in modest 0-62mph times when it comes to EVs like this, as they're usually brisk off the line, thanks in large part to instantly available torque. For zipping around town, this is ideal.

However, in the Dolphin Surf, it feels like it takes an age for the motor's full output to ramp up, lacking that initial get-up-and-go of the Hyundai Inster. Beyond that speed it seems positively sluggish. There is a Sport mode but using it made precious little difference to the responsiveness of the motor.

If that's a problem for you, you'll need to opt for the Comfort with the pokier drive system. With a 0-62mph time of 9.1 seconds, it should be a bit more zippy.

The regenerative braking system has two levels although neither is particularly strong. You'll need to rely on the mechanical brakes, which aren't all that nice to use. For much of the pedal travel they seem largely inactive before biting hard, making it difficult to modulate when coming to a stop. 

The BYD Dolphin Surf has not yet been crash-tested by Euro NCAP although as it's a smaller car we'd be surprised if it matches the the Dolphin's full five-star score when it was assessed by the safety body in 2023, despite using similar underpinnings.

As standard, all versions come with various safety systems including automatic emergency braking, speed limit recognition and lane-keeping assistance. There's also a driver attention monitor but it needs improvement — several times during our test it erroneously barked "eyes on the road!" in an American accent.

The BYD Dolphin Surf is, unsurprisingly, not rated for towing trailers. We have found a third-party company offering a tow ball for bicycle carriers, though.

Despite being quite a bit shorter than a Citroen e-C3, the BYD Dolphin Surf gets to within two litres of its boot capacity, offering 308 litres. We're assuming this figure is split between the main area of the boot and the surprisingly capacious under-floor area, which should have plenty of room for other items even if you've bunged a charging cable in there. 

The rear seats fold down in a 50/50 split, with a total storage capacity of 1037 litres if the bench is fully lowered. You get an additional 20 litres of storage space elsewhere around the cabin, including a deep tray beneath the front central armrest.

The latter houses a pad for your smartphone plus two cupholders, which are too wide and don't have any adjustment in them, so all but the girthiest of drink receptacles will rattle around on the move, if not spill over.

It's a similar story with the phone pad. In the top spec model with wireless charging functionality, there are raised sections to help keep your device in place but cheaper versions do without, leaving the phone to slide around on what is a decidedly un-grippy surface. 

While not an especially long car, the Dolphin Surf is packaged well enough to give surprisingly decent rear legroom, while headroom isn't bad either. It's a narrow car, so it's not a surprise that, like the similarly slim Hyundai Inster, the Dolphin Surf is a strict four-seater. The Citroen e-C3 and Fiat Grande Panda are wider and are able to seat five, albeit at a squeeze.

This is perhaps the biggest surprise about the BYD Dolphin Surf — inside it simply doesn't feel like a car with a sub-£19,000 starting point.

Sure, the cabin lacks the sense of fun found inside the Fiat Grande Panda Electric but its materials feel a cut above that car and everything looks to be screwed together well.

How well everything will wear the miles remains to be seen, but we're confident the Dolphin Surf's cabin will stand the test of time based on what we've experienced so far. 

Although it's by far the cheapest model in its range the BYD Dolphin Surf still gets the company's signature infotainment party trick — a multimedia touchscreen which rotates 90 degrees at either the touch of a button or the uttering of a voice command. 

The question we've got with this feature in the Dolphin Surf is the same as any other BYD — why?

Here it's a 10.9-inch display — some other BYDs have larger 15.6-inch screens — meaning the portrait mode doesn't feel like the optimal way to use it, particularly since this involves some of the climate control shortcuts disappearing. You also can't rotate it while using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. 

Beyond rotating it a few times for the fun of it, or showing it to your passengers once or twice, we reckon most buyers will rarely use the function. 

The display itself it's perfectly usable, if unremarkable. It responds to touch well enough but can be a bit lagging when switching between functions. Some of the icons are quite small and difficult to use on the move, including those for climate functions. On that subject, we'll have to put in our usual grumble about not having physical controls for this. 

The £18,650 starting point for the BYD Dolphin Surf gets you into an Active with the smaller battery and lower-powered motor. The Dolphin Surf Boost with the same motor but a bigger battery is £21,950, while the range-topping Comfort with the same battery and more potent motor comes in at £23,950.

This puts the BYD somewhere between the cheapest EVs currently available, the Dacia Spring and Leapmotor T03, while significantly undercutting most versions of the premium-priced Hyundai Inster.

The Dolphin Surf's starting price is also quite a bit lower than the least expensive versions of the Citroen e-C3 and Fiat Grande Panda Electric, although there's some crossover between those two on the pricier Dolphin Surfs. 

The entry-level version looks like a complete no-brainer when compared to the Dacia and Leapmotor, each of which is smaller than the BYD, aren't as good to drive and feel cheaply made. 

Picking between Boost and Comfort and either a Grande Panda Electric or Citroen e-C3 would be a trickier choice, although in many respects, such as interior quality and electric range, the BYD compares favourably and in some cases betters its rivals. 

The Inster feels like the most desirable of the lot with its cutesy looks, fun-to-drive nature and flexible seating but you need to spend over £25,000 on the picks of the range. 

The draw for a lot of people will be BYD's PCP offer, which involves a very low deposit which matches the monthly payments. These range from £269 to £309, depending on the version, with a 49-month term at 3.9% APR.

So long as you're able to almost always charge at home and get yourself onto an electricity tariff that gives a cheaper per kWh rate overnight, the BYD Dolphin Surf has the potential to be extremely cheap to run. On test we achieved an indicated average of 5.0mi/kWh, making it one of the most efficient electric cars we've driven. 

EVs no longer escape paying Vehicle Excise Duty (VED), which is now charged at £195 a year for all vehicles from year two onwards. Insurance costs should also be reasonable with the cheaper versions sitting in group 14A — lower than the BYD's key rivals. 

BYD Dolphin Surf: Range and charging

The Active model with its 30kWh battery pack has a range of just 137 miles according to the WLTP Combined cycle. The Boost raises this to 200 miles thanks to its 43.2kWh battery pack. That same unit is used in the Comfort where it's joined by a more powerful motor. This doesn't impact the range much, with the Dolphin Surf range-topper still managing 193 miles on a full charge.

At colder times of year, it's best to expect lower figures than that. However, when we tested the car in summer, its efficiency would suggest the car could actually exceed its official range figures, depending on the conditions and how you're driving.

The charging rate is nothing to write home about at 65kW for the base model and 85kW for those with the larger battery using a DC public charger. Given the capacity of what's being topped-up you shouldn't be hanging around for long. The Active should take about 25 minutes for a 10%-80% charge and to do the same with a Boost or Comfort version, it's 22 minutes. 

There are three trim levels in the BYD Dolphin Surf range with each correlating to a different electric motor and battery size combination. As with other BYD models, the specification names are Active, Boost and Comfort.

Standard equipment for the BYD Dolphin Surf Active includes:

• 10.1-inch rotating touchscreen infotainment
• Electrically adjustable and heated mirrors
• Vegan faux leather seats
• Air conditioning
• Rear parking sensors
• Reversing camera
• Adaptive cruise control

Upgrading to the BYD Dolphin Surf Boost adds:

• Larger battery
• 16-inch alloy wheels
• Electrically adjustable front seats
• Rain-sensing wipers
• Electrically folding door mirrors

At the top of the range the BYD Dolphin Surf Comfort additionally features:

• 360-degree camera
• LED headlights
• Dark-tinted rear windows
• Downlights mounted in the door mirrors
• Heated front seats
• Wireless smartphone charging pad