BYD Dolphin G 2026 review | Efficient, well-priced plug-in hybrid supermini

What is the BYD Dolphin G?

The BYD Dolphin G claims the record of being Britain’s first plug-in hybrid supermini small car. As superminis are extremely popular type of car here – both new and used – it is significant in bringing plug-in hybrid (also known as PHEV) tech to the mainstream as an affordable, well-rounded choice.

Prices start from just £23,990, although that’s for the entry-level model with a modest 7.4kWh battery and 25-mile EV range. You really want the larger 18.3kWh battery, as it gives up to 65 miles of EV motoring. That one costs from £26,990 – or, as BYD pointed out, just £9 a month on its four-year PCP finance deal. The firm duly expects nearly every car sold here will have the bigger battery, which is the version we’ve duly tested.

Size-wise, the BYD Dolphin G is at the larger end of the supermini small car sector. It’s larger than something like a Volkswagen Polo, although still usefully smaller than the Volkswagen Golf family car. It’s a full five-door, five-seat supermini, and not to be confused with the smaller four-seat BYD Dolphin Surf electric city car, or the similarly-unrelated BYD Dolphin electric small car.

It’s quite a smart-looking car, with a modern appearance that's helped by ultra-slim LED lights at the front, and smartly-integrated full-width LED lights at the rear. It’s available in a select array of colours, and the ‘free’ colour is the punchy Orange Sunset metallic hue you see here.

As it’s the UK’s first plug-in hybrid supermini, the BYD Dolphin G doesn’t yet have any PHEV rivals. Competition instead comes from regular hybrid rivals, with smaller batteries that can’t be plugged in (and so offer minuscule pure EV ranges). These include the Toyota Yaris, Renault Clio, MG3 and Honda Jazz, and there’s also more conventional models such as the Vauxhall Corsa, Peugeot 208 and Skoda Fabia.

How practical is it?

The BYD Dolphin G is on the larger end of the small car sector. At 4160mm long, it’s bigger than a Volkswagen Polo, Skoda Fabia and Renault Clio, and only 122mm shorter than a Volkswagen Golf from the next class up. It feels suitably substantial behind the wheel, helped by a deep windscreen giving a clear view over the bonnet. Rear visibility is less impressive, due to thick B-pillars, large front headrests and a shallow rear window.

Save for a slightly perched feel behind the wheel, front seat comfort is OK. We felt the manual chairs in the Boost version were a touch more comfortable than the electric seats in Comfort, whose base was a little too flat – a bit more under-thigh support (or scope to electrically adjust the angle of the seat base) would be welcome. Full marks to the wide range of steering wheel adjustment though, both in height and reach.

The smart-looking interior feels well-built, and there are some nice soft-touch materials on the upper section of the dashboard, including a suede-effect section in which the stylish central air vents are located. Lower down, the plastics are harder, but nothing out of the ordinary for this type of car. The steering wheel is nice to hold, and the column stalks have a premium feel.

The BYD Dolphin G has a freestanding central touchscreen that’s coupled with a crisp driver display. In Comfort models, there’s also a standard head-up display, which is a near-rarity in the supermini sector. Sadly, it’s not ideal for taller people, as the height adjustment doesn’t go low enough – meaning half of the display is hidden unless you crane your neck.

There are dual cupholders in the centre console, ahead of the cooled wireless smartphone charger – this is well-located so you can store your phone upright and glance at any popup messages without having to touch it. The charging pad is covered in a grippy suede-like material, so your phone won’t slide or rattle about. Further back, there’s an additional cupholder with spring-loaded cup ‘grabbers’, and a deep cubby under the centre armrest.

Rear seat space is adequate rather than generous. While there’s a flat floor (despite the need to feed through an exhaust pipe), and knee room is decent, foot space under the front seats is tight. The floor carpet also tends to ride up as you shuffle your shoes to get comfortable. Head room is just about OK – it’s better in Comfort models with the glass panoramic roof – and the 60:40 split rear seat is fairly comfortable, but we did notice you had to duck slightly to get a clear view out the side windows.

The BYD Dolphin G excels in terms of boot space. The 425-litre capacity not only betters commodious superminis such as the Skoda Fabia, but also betters that Volkswagen Golf from the class above. The underfloor stowage area will be useful to store cables, and folding the rear seats expands the boot to 1225 litres. We liked the bag holders fitted on each side below the parcel shelf; each can hold a 3kg load. There is, however, no electric tailgate option.

What's it like to drive?

In terms of engine tech, the BYD Dolphin G uses the firm’s DM-i ‘Super Hybrid’ tech. This is EV-first, meaning the electric motor primarily drives the front wheels, rather than the 1.5-litre petrol engine. Even when the engine’s running in hybrid mode, it’s usually being used as a generator to power the battery, rather than directly driving the wheels. Only when you want full power will the petrol engine join up with the e-motor and power the wheels.

You don’t need to get too deep into the weeds of all this tech, as the BYD Dolphin G does all the hard work of deciding how to balance all the various systems. Saying that, there is a toggle on the centre console that allows you to switch between EV and HEV (hybrid modes). The former ‘holds’ the car in full electric mode for as long as possible, while hybrid picks the best balance of electric and engine power. Even in hybrid mode, you’ll usually be running as an EV – although when in EV mode, pressing past the ‘kickdown’ stop on the accelerator will fire up the engine as you’re signaling to the car that you want maximum power.

Most people won't worry about this and simply select ‘D’ with the steering column gear selector, and serenely drive away – smoothly, silently and invariably in pure electric mode.

The electric motor alone produces 160bhp, meaning the BYD Dolphin G is sprightly even in EV mode. The engine, in contrast, only produces 93bhp, which shows how BYD has biased it towards electric drive. Total system power for Boost, Comfort and Sport models is 209bhp, which is good enough for 0-62mph in 8.3 seconds (Active models have a bit less power, but as the smaller battery means they’re lighter, they’re just as fast to accelerate).

The BYD Dolphin G’s powertrain is inherently smooth and refined. Even when the engine powers up, it’s unobtrusive, and if you have the radio on, you probably won’t even notice. There’s no jolt or shudder to say it’s started up, and no change in rate of acceleration. It’s a very sophisticated system.

The engine really rumbled only once, right at the start of my trip when I pulled out of a steep junction when in hybrid mode. This is most likely because the engine was cold; I repeated the manoeuvre later in the day, with a warm engine, and it was much quieter.

Dynamically, it’s an OK car to drive, although there are a few grumbles. The brakes, for example, are very grabby at slower speeds until you get used to them. The steering is unusually heavy for a small car, and not particularly precise, with a fairly lifeless feel around the centre (Boost models, with smaller 16-inch wheels, were better here). And while handling’s fairly confident, with good amounts of grip and traction from the Hankook tyres, it’s not the sharpest or most engaging car through the bends.

Ride quality on Comfort models with 18-inch wheels could be better. There’s a firm, pattery quality over rough tarmac, and it never really settles down. Again, Boost models with 16-inch wheels are appreciably better here, with more smoothness and fluidity over broken roads. Road noise is well-isolated, but wind noise less so; it starts to become noticeable above 40mph.

In common with most Chinese vehicles, BYD offers a welter of standard ADAS safety assist tech. Pleasingly, it’s quite easy to disable; you can turn off speed limit warnings with one press, and lane keep assist in two. There’s also a custom mode, so you can save your preferred settings and avoid having to scroll through the never-ending ADAS menu on the touchscreen.

We also tried driving the BYD Dolphin G with all safety tech turned on, and found it… not bad, actually. Certainly the systems were far less hyperactive than in earlier Chinese models and, if you drive smoothly and follow the rules of the road markings, it’s possible to minimise the amount of steering wheel fight and endless warning bleeps.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

The centrepiece of the BYD Dolphin G's interior is its freestanding touchscreen. It’s a bright, crisp display, although it only measures 10.1 inches on base Active – you really want the 12.8-inch display on Boost models and above. Both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are wireless, and give an impressive-looking full-screen display – while retaining shortcut bars at the top and bottom so it’s easy to switch between the car systems and smartphone mirroring.

We set up our test route through our Apple iPhone, rather than the car’s built-in sat nav. Impressively, along with the full-screen navigation, colour mapping with turn-by-turn route instructions was also shown in the driver display – even the colour of the road changed according to traffic. The head-up display showed current speed and speed limit warnings, but we couldn’t make full use of it because we often couldn’t see it.

On BYD Dolphin G Comfort models, the infotainment system is upgraded with Google built-in tech. This brings Google maps and the Google voice assistant, plus the Google Play store for a broader range of app downloads. Saying that, the regular system still has a Google Maps search widget for the BYD mapping system – although we’d still rather go for the full Google system, simply for overall ease of use.

Pleasingly, the BYD Dolphin G retains physical controls for electric windows and electric door mirror adjustment. There are also shortcut keys on the centre console for front and rear demisters, drive modes, the electric handbrake’s auto-hold function and folding door mirrors. The climate control, however, is entirely reliant on small, fiddly on-screen icons in the bottom of the touchscreen display.

The entry-level BYD Dolphin G is the only model fitted with the smaller 7.4kWh battery. It is equipped with 16-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and rear lights, front and rear parking sensors, and a rear-view camera. The 10.1-inch infotainment system has smartphone integration, and automatic air conditioning is standard too. Then there’s the brace of safety assist tech fitted to all BYD Dolphin G, including blind spot warning (rather handy due to those thick B-pillars) and intelligent cruise control.

The BYD Dolphin Boost brings in the preferred 18.3kWh battery and 12.8-inch touchscreen. It also adds heated front seats and steering wheel, electric fold door mirrors, 15W wireless smartphone charging, an auto-dim rear-view mirror and multi-colour ambient lighting. There are rear air vents and USB charging ports, and a better eight-speaker stereo.

BYD Dolphin G Comfort grade brings in even more large-car tech and equipment. The panoramic roof with electric sunshade is a highlight, as is the head-up display, fabric and vegan leather upholstery, electric driver’s seat, exterior puddle lights and a 360-degree parking camera. The infotainment receives that Google built-in upgrade, and the alloy wheels grow to 18 inches.

The BYD Dolphin G Sport builds on Comfort spec with visual upgrades including dark-finish alloy wheels and a two-tone interior complete with “motorsport-style” suede seat finish and sewn-in ‘G’ logos.

Interestingly, the BYD Dolphin G offers vehicle-to-load (V2L) tech on Boost models and above. A feature normally reserved for fully electric cars, this allows you, via an adapter plugged into the charge port, power external devices such as a coffee machine, laptop charger or even a portable grille: ideal for camping.

BYD Dolphin G running costs

Running costs are where the BYD Dolphin G gets really interesting, as it has the potential to be very cheap to run indeed. Thanks to the larger battery’s generous 65-mile official range, most small car users will find they mainly (or entirely) drive in pure EV mode. We proved this with a 28-mile round trip that didn’t use a drop of fuel, despite the half-charged battery.

Earlier, we’d driven a fully-charged model on a 40-mile route, and intentionally left it in hybrid mode so we could fully test it, including what happens when you floor the accelerator. Despite such intensive use, the trip computer showed we’d used just 0.2 gallons of fuel at the end of the journey. Meanwhile the dash display indicated the car had averaged 62.8mpg over the past 50 miles.

On the driver’s display, the BYD Dolphin G has two ‘fuel gauges’ – a green one shows battery range in miles, and a blue one shows the petrol range. To the right of them, a larger indicator shows the combined average of the two fuel sources; at the start of our test, it was displaying a remarkable 636 miles.

Service intervals are every 12 months or 10,000 miles. Insurance groups are so-so, and reflect the extra tech of the PHEV battery; Active models are in Group 23E, with Boost, Comfort and Sport in group 24E. For comparison, a regular hybrid Renault Clio starts in group 16.

BYD Dolphin G reliability

BYD is still a relatively new brand in the UK, so longer-term impressions of its reliability in the UK are still to come. It has yet to feature, for example, in the What Car? Reliability Survey, which looks at vehicle reliability over the past 24 months.

The BYD Dolphin G has a decent six-year warranty, with a slightly odd 93,750 mileage cap (this is to put it in line with the 150,000km warranty offered in the rest of Europe). The drive system has an eight-year, 93,750-mile warranty – while the battery has an impressive eight-year, 155,350-mile warranty, guaranteeing a minimum 70% state of health.

BYD’s advanced Blade battery is designed to have a life of over 5000 charge and discharge cycles, meaning it should stand up to even the most intensive use.

BYD also offers free roadside assistance with the Dolphin G. The initial period is for two years, with an extra 12-month extension added on if owners get it serviced at an official dealer.