Needing owner’s opinions

Hmm..no one able to chime in so far?

I'd love to help, but I have the lowest model (Dynamic) and I've only had it for 3 weeks, so I can't really comment on anything related to the longevity of the vehicle.

Hey thats great too. How do you find it so far in terms of suspension/driving compliance/firmness; or aircon performance? Its really expensive where I am and here they just only launched Atto3 but neighboring country has Seal already and it looks really nice. Dynamic is single motor rwd w 201 hp? Most likely that will be the model I can afford.

It's my favourite car I've ever owned and I don't want to go back to a non-EV car. My boy-racer days are over (had a decently modified Evo 7 over a decade ago), and I really don't like driving my brother in law's manual Golf R32 when I have to borrow it sometimes. Manual driving is just too tiresome. I've become a boring old man and I love that the Seal is comfortable, fast and responsive enough in sport mode, and absolutely feature-packed. It's silent, beautiful and feels amazing to drive. I managed to fit 3 car seats in the back row (interior space is bigger than my Kia Seltos) and the long wheelbase means I can sit farther back and go over speed bumps comfortably. Only the boot space is a bit lacking, but I don't mind since it's my 2nd run-around car. It is by far the most comfortable car I've driven in recent memory. I can't give you a good judgement on handling because I've been very sensible in the 500km I've driven so far, plus as I said before, I'm pretty much over the spirited driving phase. I do give a bit of a toot on a straight with empty lanes and higher speed limit, and I am impressed with how fast it gets to speed even on the base model. Air con is fine. However, I've set it to economy mode, instead of comfort mode, so I think it's much slower to reach the target temperature. Seat heating is quick, though. It's winter in Sydney right now, so I can't comment on cold AC performance yet, and it's not cold enough that I need to blast hot air. I keep it at 23 deg C, but I do bump it to 25C if internal temperature is below 16C. In economy mode, it takes a long time to feel warmer, but I haven't felt the need to shift it to comfort yet.

Wow that is a very nice owner’s perspective and exactly what I am looking for in terms of information. I am in a similar boat in the sense that I used to have a WRX almost a decade ago and now driving a Kia Sportage. Love you mentioned its comfort.

We've also only had the dynamic for a few days, but we've already clocked 500kms or so. It's a very smooth ride! My partner drove it when we got lunch on the weekend, and I noticed her mood was low. I asked her what was wrong, she said she was exhausted because the car was that comfortable (and again, she was the one driving). I don't get fatigued driving it though, and I love that it's punchy enough when you need it in sport mode. Suspension is so good you don't feel any bumps at all. No issues have shown up, but I have heard the app cant get a little glitchy. I have noticed that the car has a fair few blindspots, so i just make sure to take extra car when i change lines or pull out of a lane in sports mode. If this is your first EV, the battery usage may take getting used to. I drive to work mostly in eco mode, \~40kms, and use about \~5-9% battery.

That’s nice to hear your review so far. Glad to hear its comfortable. I think I’m beyond the stiff suspension phase already in my stage of life. Currently my car uses 400km to a tank (1 week) so the use case/fill up interval should be similar. Are the ergonomics good? As in things like operating the aircon or indicators easy to operate? In my Kia I’ve gotten used to knobs and dials and I get a little annoyed with the touch panel on my wife’s Odyssey radio and aircon.

My main gripe with the car is that there is no fast way to access climate control. The steering wheel has the menu button on the right side to scroll through the driver's instrument screen, and you can select temp and fan speed from there, but it involves pressing menu, left left left, enter, scroll up or down, enter, and more if you want to change something else. On the main screen, I'm on Android auto, so I have to swipe bottom up to bring the lower menu. From there I touch the temperature, then click on the fan in the middle. Then it takes me to the ac settings and I can adjust the temp and speed. If I want to heat or vent my seats, I need to press another time to get into that menu, and then make my changes. The BYD voice commands are hit and miss. I would say 40 percent hit rate with changing my seat heating to level 1. I should probably look at the driver's manual for specific voice commands to get it right every time. But still... If the car can't understand the keywords like seat heating and level 1 half the time, something needs fixing. Supposedly the next update (2403) will have 3 finger gestures for the screen, which would make things a lot easier. My other nit pick is how useless screen rotation is. Android auto isn't supported, and my polarised sunglasses aren't compatible with the screen when it's tilted 90 degrees anyway. I wish screen rotation could have been a customisable button but it isn't for me. The 360 camera is a bit weird and the angles are a bit strange. Perspective-wise, it makes other objects bigger than they seem, but it's still handy to have and takes a bit of getting used to. The rear camera is lower than I'd like, since I'm used to an SUV's view. Other than those criticisms, the rest of the car is close to perfect. They are not deal breakers at all and I can live with those issues because the car is so damn good. For what I paid for it and the features I get, it is absolutely phenomenal value.

Yeah I also read this is one of the main gripes of ownership experience- control of a/c. But it is what it is, I suppose they meant for it to be a set & forget type but hopefully they can update for further ease of use. But at least it is not as bad as what I’m reading about Tesla where most everything needs screen input. Many thanks for everyone’s input. Will pop down to the dealer to discuss prices soon. Do chime in with your experiences as you guys go along, hopefully I can be part of the community soon!