2026 BYD Dolphin G DM-i

Hatchback · 1.5L I4 PHEV (DM-i Super Hybrid) · FWD

77/100

AutoVault's overall score, weighted for what a hatchback is actually for — performance, technology, comfort, reliability, safety and value.

Specifications

Engine	1.5L I4 PHEV (DM-i Super Hybrid)
Horsepower	209 hp
Torque	224 lb-ft
0–60 mph	8 sec
Top speed	111 mph
Drivetrain	FWD
Seats	5
Range	646 miles
MSRP	$34,500
Body style	Hatchback

The verdict

What's good

Sixty-five electric miles covers most weeks without ever burning petrol
Over six hundred miles of combined range makes charging anxiety irrelevant
Undercuts every European plug-in hybrid its size

What's not

The bargain entry trim carries a battery too small to matter
Badge skepticism still taxes Chinese brands at resale time
Cabin plastics remind you where the money was saved

The engine

DM-i Super Hybrid

1.5L I4 Plug-in Hybrid (E-CVT)

An electric-first hybrid where the 1.5-litre petrol engine spends most of its life as a generator, so around town it drives like the EV Dolphin and only hums awake on the motorway.

BYD began in 1995 as a Shenzhen battery maker, and DM-i is that heritage inverted: a powertrain designed around the cell, now in its fifth generation.

The 1.5-litre engine posts one of the highest thermal-efficiency figures of any production petrol unit — BYD claims over 46 percent.
The 18.3 kWh pack uses BYD’s cobalt-free LFP Blade chemistry, the cells that famously survive nail-penetration tests.
Petrol and plug together stretch WLTP combined range past 1,000 km — Shenzhen’s answer to range anxiety.

See the rest in AutoVault

The six sub-scores behind the 77 — performance, tech, comfort, reliability, safety and value
Market value today and year-by-year value history
Studio photography — exterior, rear and interior
Side-by-side comparison with up to four cars

Open in AutoVault