BYD Seal 6 Touring Review & Prices

Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) SUVs may be all the rage, but the Seal 6 Touring is BYD’s new take on the family estate car. It has a highly efficient engine and loads of standard features for an affordable price, but it’s uncomfortable on the road and the infotainment is frustrating.

Yet when you consider its price against alternatives such as the Skoda Superb iV Estate, BMW 330e Touring and Volkswagen Passat e-Hybrid, you might forgive its foibles. In fact, it’s one of the cheapest PHEVs on sale in the UK.

It’s a bit like buying a flashy OLED TV from Temu, instead of a name brand from Currys. Sure you get the same technology and to all intents and purposes they’re identical, but there’s less clout to the name and it’s a bit rougher around the edges than a legacy product.

But much like the latest TVs on sale, the Seal 6 is a sleek, sharp-looking thing. The broad grille and pointy front end, slender headlights and long roofline look great, as does the fancy LED light bar across the tailgate. You won’t mistake it for a big, posh German estate from Audi or Mercedes, but it’s still handsome.

The interior is equally easy-on-the-eye, if a bit more plain compared to the BYD Atto 3, Seal and Dolphin Surf. It’s grown up compared to its counterparts, with a dashboard that appears pinched in the middle, behind the floating infotainment screen, ambient lighting and funky ambient lighting.

BYD’s infotainment system is a pain to use, however, with overcomplicated menus to delve through and climate controls that rely on a fiddly three-finger swipe to change if you’re using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Good luck on a bumpy road - you’ll need it.

It’s also uncomfortable to sit in, with seats mounted too low down providing almost no under-thigh support, and they feel as though they’re tilted forward - like an old church pew. Back seat passengers have adequate legroom, and more headroom than in the Seal 6 Saloon, but not by much. A trio of ISOFIX child seat anchors are very useful, and the 500-litre boot is almost on par with larger alternatives.

You can opt from two trim levels, Boost or Comfort, which get a 10kWh and 19kWh battery pack respectively.

Unfortunately, the Seal 6 Touring isn’t really up to snuff on the road. Around town it clatters through potholes, rattles over rough surfaces and bounces over speed bumps; you really do feel shaken about. It’s a shame, because visibility is great aside from the narrow rear window, the 360-degree parking cameras are superb and the hybrid system is both smooth and efficient.

It’s a bit more comfortable on the motorway, but there’s too much tyre roar - especially from the back wheels - and wind noise in the cabin. The driver assistance is infuriating too, especially the driver attention monitoring bong which feels as though it has a mind of its own.

Body lean is surprisingly well-controlled on a twisty road, with grippy tyres and quick steering but again the Seal 6 Touring bounces around on uneven roads.

Browse the latest BYD Seal 6 Touring deals on Carwow, or Seal 6 Touring lease deals instead. There are used Seal 6 Tourings on the market through our network of trusted dealers, while you can choose from plenty of other used BYDs for sale, too. Carwow can help you sell your car, too, when it's time to switch.

The Seal 6 Touring is priced very well, far cheaper than its direct alternatives. It’s around £10,000 less than a Skoda Superb Estate and around £20,000 less than a Mercedes C-Class Estate in hybrid form. A Peugeot 308 SW PHEV is roughly £2,000 more expensive than the BYD, but the boot is a touch bigger and it’s a bit posher, too.

Opt for the Seal 6 Touring Boost - the entry-level version - and the car comes equipped with 17-inch alloy wheels, active cruise control, 360-degree cameras, touchscreen infotainment and three ISOFIX child seat anchor points. The Boost is fitted with a 10kWh battery, offering up to 34 miles of electric-only range.

The top-rung Comfort model gets 18-inch alloys and a panoramic sunroof on top of the rest of the Boost’s kit, as well as a larger 15.6-inch infotainment screen. Most importantly, it comes with a 19kWh battery for up to 65 miles of range, and the addition of quick DC charging tech, where the Boost only gets a slow AC charger.

The smooth, efficient hybrid engine is spoiled by the jiggly, bumpy and uncomfortable experience around town

In town

The Seal 6 Touring is lacking in on-road manners around town, which is a shame because its plug-in hybrid engine makes for smooth, steady acceleration between the lights. However, the suspension is poorly judged, and you can really feel surface imperfections though the seats and steering wheel.

Potholes and ruts really thud through the cabin, while the Seal 6 Touring has a habit of wallowing and bouncing over - and after - speed bumps. Even the enormous tyres don’t help to cushion the blows, while the brakes are unnaturally sharp for a sensible family car, so it’s hard to stop smoothly.

Low-speed manoeuvres are great, that being said. The 11.0-metre turning circle is unremarkable but you get solid all-round visibility, steering that’s neither comically light nor too heavy and a suite of fantastic 360-degree parking cameras, with selectable views.

On the motorway

Things are a bit better on the motorway, because the unsettled suspension is more composed at higher speeds. You still bounce over big dips, but otherwise there are less vibrations though the steering wheel. Unfortunately that comes at the expense of audible refinement, because there’s far too much wind noise and drone from the tyres - more noticeable in the Touring than the saloon.

It’s not rapid, but getting up to speed is easy enough on both models; the Comfort feels noticeably quicker, that being said, and the engine is a bit too loud when you step on the throttle. The lane-keep assist cruise control doesn’t bounce you from edge-to-edge in your lane as in some alternatives, either.

On a twisty road

As with the saloon, the Seal 6 Touring is surprisingly adept at tackling country lanes. You’ll want to keep a steady pace, as rough, bumpy roads still unsettle the BYD - especially around a bend - but otherwise there’s little in the way of body lean and plenty of grip from its tyres.

Don’t go thinking this is a sports car though, because there’s little in the way of steering feel and the brakes are spongy once you overcome the initial sharpness. You’re best off turning the lane-keep assist off on a bendy road, because it kicks in aggressively - even when it’s not required.

Plenty of space and storage, but an awkward seating position to contend with

You're well catered for storage in the Seal 6 Touring, with plenty of storage cubbies for odds and ends. The centre console has two cupholders, a pad for two phones, a deep console under the armrest and shelf space beneath it all, while the big door bins are bottle-friendly and the glovebox is a useful shape.

It’s not easy to get comfortable though, because there’s a lack of adjustment in the seats which are far too low to the floor. You always feel as if you’re perched on the edge of a pew, with no under-thigh support, so while there’s plenty of space you’re always sitting awkwardly.

Space in the back

There’s plenty of space for passengers in the back, with more headroom than the Seal 6 saloon (though not by much) and adequate legroom. You can squeeze your feet under the front seats, too, and the door bins are large enough for water bottles.

The central seat back flips down to reveal two cupholders and an arm rest, as well as a ski-hatch for the boot. The back doors don’t open all that wide, so the Seal 6 Touring isn’t the easiest estate car to load a child seat into. At least there’s a pair of ISOFIX anchor points with easy-to-use flip-up covers, as well as storage pockets on the front seat backs.

Boot space

The 500-litre boot is plentiful for a hybrid car of this size, and unlike the saloon there’s a little bit of underfloor storage space. The Peugeot 308 SW hybrid (548 litres) and Skoda Superb iV Estate (510 litres) are a bit bigger, but they’re also more expensive than the BYD.

You can’t fit the cable bags under the boot floor, which is irritating, so you’re better off dropping the boot floor down into that space for a little extra capacity. Another small plus, the seatbelts have retaining straps which stop them getting caught behind the seats when popping them back up. The seat backs fold flat, too, so there’s no awkward lip to push heavy items over.

Flipping the back seats down is easy thanks to a pair of levers in the boot, while four tie-down points and a pair of shopping hooks help stop small items from rolling around back there. The parcel shelf feels flimsy, and it’s easy to miss the catches when pulling it back, but at least you can fit it under the boot floor should you be transporting bulky items.

The cabin is well-styled and feels solidly put together, but the infotainment system is jarring to use

The Seal 6 Touring blends some of that typical BYD interior quirkiness with a more European, sensible design. The dash-top swoops down behind the infotainment system on an otherwise plain dashboard, while the wide centre console and soft-touch plastics lend the BYD a more premium feel than you might expect at this price point.

While all of the leather is synthetic it’s soft to the touch, and the ambient lighting and use of fabric on the dash also feel suitably upmarket. Some areas are a bit of a letdown though, as the steering wheel feels strangely solid under the leatherette and the dashboard fabric is also hard-backed.

It’s the infotainment which really lets the Seal 6 Touring down, because while it’s rapid to respond to your inputs, it’s painfully annoying to navigate. Almost everything is controlled through the touchscreen, which means you need to make your way through a myriad of sub-menus to turn off the driver assistance software, or to turn on the heated seats.

You can adjust the fan speed and temperature with triple-finger swipes of the display, but if you’re on a bumpy road then you’ll need a gyroscopic shoulder to do so effectively. The driver’s display isn’t particularly smart either, with an annoying cyclical menu rather than an up-down setup.

This is where the Seal 6 Touring shines, because its hybrid tech is really very good. The electric motor is smooth in both models, and while the Boost is a bit slow compared to the Comfort, it’s easy to get up to speed in both. The engine is really only used at a minimum, too, helping with efficiency.

BYD claims that the Seal 6 Touring will achieve 58.9mpg in Boost trim and 56.5mpg in Comfort trim, which you ought to meet with ease in the real world. Our test routes between London and Oxford took us through town, on country lanes and on the M40 motorway, where we averaged 56mpg in a Comfort model. Impressive.

Company car drivers should consider the Seal 6 Touring as it sits in one of the lowest bands of Benefit-in-Kind payments - especially the Comfort which offers 62 miles of electric range, where the Boost can go 31 miles to a charge.

Both models are cheap to tax with CO2 figures of 60g/km (Boost) and 38g/km (Comfort), and both fall short of the luxury car supplement threshold, too.

Only the Comfort model gets 26kW, DC-capable charging (6.6kW AC), so bear that in mind if you take frequent road trips. Charging the Boost will take much longer at a maximum rate of 3.3kW.

The BYD Seal 6 Touring scored five stars in its 2025 Euro NCAP crash tests, with a fabulous 92% adult and 90% child occupant safety scores. Combined with three ISOFIX anchor points across the front and back seats, the Seal 6 Touring makes for a great choice of safe, secure family car.

It also has a plethora of sensors, monitors and cameras as standard, which is why it scored a strong 85% for its safety assistance systems, too.

The driver monitoring system, however, is absolutely infernal on the move. Even if you’re paying full attention to the road, it’ll bong at you and actually distract you from driving - which is counterintuitive. Turning it off is a nightmare, too. Boo.

BYD came a lowly 30th out of 31 brands in the 2025 Driver Power survey for owner satisfaction, which won’t put your mind at ease if it’s on your shopping list. The Seal 6 does, however, come with a six-year, 93,750-mile warranty as standard.

That’s about as good as you’ll get from Kia or Hyundai, though not as strong as Toyota’s 10-year coverage, dependent on regular servicing. The BYD’s electric motor and battery get a separate eight-year, 125,000-mile warranty, too.