Family Car Review: 2024 BYD Dolphin

How big is the boot of the 2024 BYD Dolphin?

The boot of the 2024 BYD Dolphin has a nice and flat and good for emergency nappy changes. The boot floor can be removed…

… and drops down around 10cm, giving you a much deeper boot space to fit prams, dogs, etc.

The 2024 BYD Dolphin's boot space fits eight shopping bags when empty, which is comparable to the MG ZS, Toyota Yaris Cross Hybrid, Nissan Leaf+ and Hyundai Kona EV, which all hold nine shopping bags too and the Kia Niro EV and MG4 which holds ten shopping bags.

The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with a single seat…

…will fit in the Dolphin's boot with three shopping bags.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Bub’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

The Thule Urban Glide 2 is the ultimate all-terrain stroller…

… with the back wheels on, it will fit in the 2024 BYD Dolphin boot with two shopping bags.

The Thule Spring, lightweight and one-handed folding stroller…

… fits in the boot of the BYD Dolphin with four shopping bags.

You can also fit one 90L and two 40L Thule Chasm duffle bags in the boot of the BYD Dolphin.

Or a small/medium-sized dog.

How good is storage in the 2024 BYD Dolphin?

The storage inside the BYD Dolphin cabin is generous and practical, too.

In the front of the 2024 BYD Dolphin, there are two cup holders in the central console that will hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup but not two at the same time. In front of them is a storage area hidden underneath a retractable lid, and behind them is a wireless phone charging pad.

Underneath the central console is a large storage area, great for your handbag or iPad or wallet. There is also an easily located window breaker and seatbelt cutter for emergencies.

Below the media screen is another little shelf that is good for the passenger's mobile phones.

The glove box is a good size and will hold a wallet and iPad with the manual.

The front door bins of the 2024 BYD Dolphin will hold your refillable water bottle, and an iPad and wallet fit, too. There are also storage wells in the front door handles.

Rear passengers have convenient storage in the BYD Dolphin with cup holders in a fold-down armrest in the central seat back.

The map pockets provide ample storage for books, iPads, phones etc and there are charging sockets and a cup holder in the back of the central console box.

The rear door bins are a good size and will hold a refillable water bottle.

How noisy is the 2024 BYD Dolphin, and how easy is the media screen to use?

The BYD Dolphin is not a noisy car to drive, being fully electric it is lovely and quiet and smooth. You can drive your kids to sleep and sit with the aircon running if you get caught out with a napping child without churning through fuel, polluting the local environment and no noisy engine.

You can customise a lot about the BYD Dolphin's sound through the large media screen, so those with noise-sensitive kids can turn things down or off.

You can also customise the car's driver and safety assist systems to turn off the ones you don't want, like the auto engine cutout that could wake your kids while you're driving if they're sleeping.

The dash of the Dolphin is very minimal, and you control nearly everything in the car through its large media screen.

The enormous screen can be rotated landscape or portrait to suit your preference.

The screen needs to be in landscape mode to use Apple CarPlay so you can access your phone's listening, navigation and messaging apps while driving.

The energy screen allows you to monitor your battery usage and see exactly how much range you have left. The climate controls are within the media screen too, it would be much easier to have them as physical dials on the dash.

When you put the car in reverse, the camera images are lovely and clear and fill the lovely large screen.

There are lots of angles you can choose to view from…

…And there's a 3D camera too, making it easy to see all around the car to check for kids.

The Dolphin has a voice function too. You can say, “Hey, BYD,” and ask it to do something like turn the fan speed up, etc. Which is great entertainment with the kids onboard!

The indicator sound is not too loud in the 2024 BYD Dolphin and did not disturb my kids while they were sleeping in the back.

The windows and doors in the BYD Dolphin are not too loud or noisy to open and close and are not baby-waking! The boot door is manual to open and close and is nice and quiet.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

The BYD Dolphin is a quiet and smooth drive, and there are no real baby-waking noises!

How many child/baby seats can you fit in the 2024 BYD Dolphin?

When it comes to installing child seats in the 2024 BYD Dolphin EV, there are ISOFix points in both outer rear seats. They are within plastic guides, and they are nice and easy to connect to.

All three rear seatbacks have top tether anchorages, which are easily accessible through the boot.

Three Infasecure child seats fit across the rear seats of the 2024 BYD Dolphin. I installed the Infasecure Attain More in each outer seat and the Infasecure Liberty Onyx Booster Seat in the central seat. It is a bit of a squeeze, so you do need to test any other combination of child seats to ensure they fit.

The 2024 BYD Dolphin has very good legroom for a car of this size. The rear footwell is completely flat, giving excellent access and better legroom.

With this combination of child seats, we could fit a 186cm driver in front of the forward-facing Infasecure Attain More. Or with the rear-facing Infasecure Adapt More Infant Capsule, approximately a 180cm driver can fit in front.

There is room to insert Bub into their child's seat from outside the car and from inside and there is room to feed Bub in the back if there is only one child seat installed.

Australia being a country of weather extremes- blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!

How comfy is the 2024 BYD Dolphin?

Unfortunately, the BYD Dolphin's back seats do not have air conditioning vents, so rear passengers must rely on the vents in the front to keep them comfortable while driving along.

For rear passengers not in child seats, the rear seats are comfortable. They are simply upholstered so they are easy to keep clean from kids spills and mess.

The front seats are equally as comfortable and similarly upholstered.

There are four air-conditioning vents across the front of the dashboard, one on either side of the media screen and one at each end of the dashboard.

The air-con controls are along the bottom of the media screen. I found them a little tricky to use while driving.

There are no built-in window shades in the 2024 BYD Dolphin, so you do have to add your own after-market rear window shades. There are handles above both the rear doors so you can hang a child's toy.

The BYD Dolphin's visibility is compromised with three Infasecure child seats installed in the back. When there are only two child seats in the back then you can see out of the centre of the rear windscreen.

There are excellent cameras in the BYD Dolphin, which makes up for the lack of rear visibility, making maneuvering and parking easy.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Bub has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually, I dread parking long cars as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, but the BYD Dophin is easy to reverse park!

The interior of the BYD Dolphin is modern and minimal, with excellent storage.

How safe is the 2024 BYD Dolphin?

The BYD Dolphin has been given a five-star ANCAP safety rating. Scoring 86% for child occupancy protection and 89% for adult occupancy protection.

Of the child occupancy testing, ANCAP wrote:

In the frontal offset and side impact tests, protection of the 10 year and 6 year dummies was GOOD and maximum points were scored for all body regions in these tests.

The BYD DOLPHIN is fitted with lower ISOFix anchorages on the rear outboard seats and top tether anchorages for all rear seating positions. A direct child presence detection (CPD) system, which provides an alert when a child has been left in the vehicle, is fitted to all passenger seats as standard. However, the system did not meet ANCAP’s requirements and was not rewarded with points.

Installation of typical child restraints available in Australia and New Zealand showed most child restraints could be accommodated in most rear seating positions, however the rearward-facing capsule could not be correctly installed in the rear outboard seating positions and one of the selected booster seats could not be correctly installed in the centre rear seating position.

Eight airbags are standard:

Dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting airbags are standard. A centre airbag which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes is also standard.

The BYD Dolphin comes with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) – car-to-car, vulnerable road user, pedestrian, cyclist, motorcycle, backover, junction, junction (pedestrian), junction (cyclist), junction (motorcycle) and crossing. Blind spot monitor (BSM), child presence detection/alert, cyclist dooring detection/alert, driver monitoring system – indirect, forward collision warning (FCW), lane departure warning (LDW), lane keep assist (LKA) – LKA (Car-to-Car), LKA (Car-to-Motorcycle), Secondary / multi-collision brake, Speed assistance – intelligent adaptive cruise control (iACC) and speed assistance – speed sign recognition and warning as standard.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Bub’s asleep!