Over ten years ago, I got my first car. It was a gift from my parents for graduating college: a humble 2013 Honda City. Over the years, it’s been through everything like dates, work events, long road trips, breakups. And it’s still going strong. There’s not much that beats the feeling of your first car.

Ten-and-a-half years since then, I got my hands on the BYD Seagull, the smallest vehicle in BYD’s lineup, and it feels oh-so-nostalgic. It’s like I got my very first car all over again.

Big things, small packages, and all that

Since this is BYD’s smallest car, you can’t really expect the usual eye-watering performance that BYD is so known for. That said, there’s still much to love about this small package — 75 of them, to be precise.

The BYD Seagull sports 75 horsepower and 135 Nm of torque. It’s around what you’d expect from a starter car, but the drive is still pretty smooth. The car’s speed is powerful enough for city driving, including sharp inclines and twisty turns. Steering is also buttery smooth. Even if you have to go through hours of Manila traffic, the Seagull is a comfort to drive.

During my short stint with the car, I drove through Taguig and Makati. Normally, this is a nightmare scenario for me. But with the Seagull, I didn’t get the usual back pain that I get from long drives.

Maybe not the suspension, though

Now, that said… I’m not a big fan of the suspension. On smooth roads, the Seagull is perfectly fine. However, I took this guy out during the height of the typhoon season, which also means potholes wherever you go.

You don’t really expect much from a small car, but this one was bumpy. It wasn’t too uncomfortable. If you’re used to smoother rides, though, the Seagull might give you a surprise.

There were also one or two times that I accidentally went through sharper potholes. (Sorry, BYD!) Now, those were painful. If you have this car, you’ll need to be more careful about what you put the car through. One wrong move, and you’re inflicting serious damage on the car.

An interior to make other starter cars weep

If you have an aversion for how tiny hatchbacks look, check out how the Seagull looks on the inside. The first thing that will stand out is the cushy leather seats. Normally, a seat this comfy has no business being in a starter car, but BYD makes it work. It looks and feels plush.

Besides the luxurious seats, the car has a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system. It supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so I had no problem keeping my drive smooth. And yes, the screen rotates, as you’d expect from BYD.

Despite the digital console, it still has a bunch of analog controls — including climate and volume dials — laid on a cylindrical format. Not having normal buttons takes some getting used to, but I appreciate the tactile sensation, nonetheless. I didn’t have to fiddle around with screens for when I needed to have my eyes focused on the road.

Though small, there’s a lot of space for your things. When the rear seats are folded, the cabin can hold 930 liters of baggage. In a pinch, you can definitely use the Seagull for moving houses.

Finally, the car has USB ports, a panel for wireless charging, and vehicle-to-load plugs. If you get stuck in traffic, you won’t get anxiety from dying devices.

Range anxiety is real

Though your devices will likely get through the day unscathed, the actual drive might be more of a problem. The Seagull says that you can squeeze out around 300 kilometers from a single charge. I had trouble replicating this.

After only three days, the full battery fell to less than 20 percent. Critically, I wasn’t even driving somewhere far. For two of those days, I was driving only around Quezon City. It was only on the third day that I took it to Taguig and Makati. This was using a combination of the car’s Normal and Eco modes.

I didn’t have the car long enough to test it on a common work week. However, based on those numbers, it’s hard to imagine that the Seagull can last an entire week going back and forth two cities.

Much like other electric vehicles, this one has regenerative braking. According to the driver who brought the car to my house, you can charge the car by up to 10 percent with a single run on the Skyway. I wasn’t able to take this car myself to the Skyway, but I did try to replicate what he did on open stretches of road. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t replicate what he claimed. Of course, I’m not saying that he was lying, but there might be a sweet spot that I just couldn’t find.

If you’re savvier, you might be able to squeeze numbers closer to the promised 300 kilometers. But for my driving style, the efficiency was just fine.

Charging is thankfully easy

Range anxiety aside, charging the battery is easy, at least. At the time of my review, the cost of charging was around PhP 28 to PhP 35 per kilowatt. Via DC charging, PhP 500 got me 50 percent of the battery back in only around 40 minutes. Because the battery is so small, topping up after a long day isn’t too much of a chore.

Additionally, the car comes with a home charging kit. A single overnight charging session should get you up and ready for the coming day.

Is the BYD Seagull your GadgetMatch?

There are only a few things that a starter car needs to be. It doesn’t need to be flashy, luxurious, or expensive. All it needs to do is get the job done of taking you from point A to point B on a daily basis.

It’s also not expensive. It starts at PhP 898,000. It comes in three colorway options: Delan Black, Apricity White, and Sprout Green.

Now, if I got the BYD Seagull as my very first starter car, I would’ve been more over the moon that I already was with my 2013 Honda City. The hybrid offers you a decent helping of automotive technology. It makes for a comfortable daily drive.

It’s not a perfect vehicle by any means. There are still some aspects that I didn’t really love. But there are still a lot that I did. If I put myself in the shoes of a recent graduate, I would immediately think, “Wow, I want these features for my next car years down the road.”

For that, the BYD Seagull gets a Swipe Right for being an amazing starter car for new graduates and young professionals today.

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