2025 BYD Sealion 5 DM-i: Commodious, frill-free frugality
BYD Cars Philippines has a full calendar this year.
In its seemingly ceaseless quest to flood our country with new models until every single one of us owns one, the Chinese carmaker has set its sights, this time, on the much-beloved subcompact crossover segment – a fierce market with the likes of the Toyota Yaris Cross, Honda HR-V and Mitsubishi XForce.
And it’s hitting these stalwarts hard with the all-new and substantially larger 2025 BYD Sealion 5 DM-i, which the carmaker officially launched in the Philippines last Friday. Here’s what we think after we got a chance to test this electrified crossover ahead of its debut.
Familiar styling
One look at the Sealion 5 DM-i and it’s a case of simply taking the Seal 5 DM-i sedan and adding height.
The huge front grill, large LED headlights and faux side intakes in the lower bumper make it a dead ringer for its four-door cousin. Meanwhile, the side profile is a bit like the larger Sealion 6 DM-i, particularly the high beltline, but the flowing character line and the intricate silver trim on the D-pillar are interesting flourishes.
At the back, its full-length LED taillights are undeniably BYD, but the large tailgate spoiler and raked rear windscreen give this new crossover an Audi Q7-esque vibe. Although the Sealion 5 DM-i’s styling isn’t particularly dynamic, it seriously compensates in size.
At 4,738 millimeters long, 1,860 millimeters wide and 1,710 millimeters tall, it’s almost as big as the Sealion 6 DM-i. However, its 2,712-millimeter wheelbase is 47 millimeters less than its bigger sibling, but 92 millimeters longer than the Yaris Cross HEV.
In fact, the Sealion 5 DM-i is even larger than the Toyota Corolla Cross HEV, which is considerably more expensive. This new crossover is available in four colors – Deep Sea Blue, Cosmos Black, Aurora White and Harbour Grey.
Comfy cabin
Inside, the Sealion 5 DM-i carries over some of the premium charm of its more-renowned brother.
All models get an airy beige-and-brown leather interior with soft-touch materials on the dashboard and door cards. And because of its generous dimensions, there is good space inside for five passengers – indeed, considerably more than its Japanese competition and even Chinese rivals like the latest Geely Coolray Sport Plus.
Up front is an 8.8-inch digital gauge cluster and BYD’s famous 10.1-inch rotating touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The latter is as difficult to navigate as ever, but the view out of the standard rear camera is very clear, while the strong dual-zone climate control system made light work of the searing-hot weather we experienced.
However, I feel that BYD Cars Philippines was a bit too stingy with the standard equipment – the Sealion 5 DM-i doesn’t get an electric tailgate, electric front seats, panoramic moonroof, 360-degree camera or even a wireless charging pad. As such, the tech-savvy millennials that the carmaker is targeting may be wooed away by the likes of Coolray Sport Plus.
And while do you get cruise control and front, side and curtain airbags as standard, BYD’s excellent DiPilot advanced driver assistance system is not available. Here, even Toyota and Honda take top trumps by offering convenient and life-saving features like adaptive cruise control and autonomous emergency braking as standard.
I suspect that if they offered a Sealion 5 DM-i variant with all the goodies, it would eat into the sales of the hot-selling Sealion 6 DM-i.
Stout, efficient powerplant
Under the hood, it’s yet another family affair.
The Sealion 5 DM-i packs the familiar 1.5-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve inline-4 engine mated to a 12.96-kWh Blade Battery pack. This pumps out a combined 194 horsepower and 300 Newton-meters of torque, which can overwhelm the front tires if you’re too aggressive on the throttle.
As with the rest of the DM-i lineup, there is generous low-to-midrange heave that peters out near the redline. BYD Cars Philippines claims a 0 to 100 km/h time of 8.3 seconds and a top speed of 170 km/h.
The light and responsive steering lacks feel, but the powerful brakes are controlled by a nicely weighted pedal. In addition, the suspension characteristics are very similar to the Sealion 6 DM-i – wonderfully pliant over bumps, but quite wallowy around fast corners.
BYD Cars Philippines claims a total range of over 1,000 kilometers, including a useful electric-vehicle range of around 70 kilometers. You could also theoretically drive it without burning any gas, thanks to the Type 2 AC-charging port.
Priced at around P1.3 million, the Sealion 5 DM-i is a capacious crossover that has the stellar performance and unimpeachable fuel economy that made BYD an overnight sensation in the Philippines. But with the lack of toys, it’s more like a Sealion 6 DM-i “Lite” edition.
Then again, people like me like peaches in light syrup and Spam Lite, so the BYD Sealion 5 DM-i should find happy owners in good time.
