Cabin check: What’s inside the BYD Dolphin

With electric vehicles (EVs) slowly gaining ground in the Philippine market, buyers might consider the relatively-affordable BYD Dolphin.

That said, many might be curious about its interior and what features and amenities its cabin offers. As such, let’s peek inside the Dolphin EV to discover what its would-be adopters are getting into. 

Curvacious dashboard

The BYD Dolphin’s cockpit has a curvy dashboard filled with soft-touch surfaces, textured hard plastics, and polished trim pieces, providing a striking look. For most buyers, this biomechanical style detracts a bit from the straight lines they are used to on other five-seater hatchbacks, such as the Toyota Wigo and Honda Brio. 

The wavy dash is not just for show. It's designed to complement a flat-bottom leather-wrapped steering wheel, a large central infotainment display, and a set of circular air-conditioning vents, all contributing to the visual style of the BYD Dolphin's interior. 

In contrast, the rear cabin and rear seats appear more conservative but note that the curvy theme continues on the car’s interior door handles and interior door cards. Also, the version sold locally gets light interior color schemes with white as the predominant hue. 

Plenty of creature comforts

While unusual to the eye, the Dolphin’s front cabin does have plenty of familiar amenities for driving and comfort. The driver, for instance, has physical buttons on the steering wheel for the vehicle’s cruise control and auxiliary controls for the infotainment system. In addition, the EV also gets rotating toggles on its center console for its automatic air-conditioning system, regenerative braking, drive modes, and traction control. 

The Dolphin's soft synthetic leather seats are positioned just right, providing ample knee and headroom for all five occupants.

Thanks to a push-to-start button, an electronic parking brake, and a six-way manual adjustable driver’s seat, the driver is assured of ease of use.

A fully digital gauge cluster that can display primary driving data like speed and distance traveled is also present. As the Dolphin is an EV, the screen is likewise capable of showing EV-related parameters like battery levels, range, the status of the car’s regenerative braking, etc.

 

For those who are particular about cargo space, this EV model provides 345 liters by default (with the rear seats up). Fold its rear seats down, and it can provide up to 1,310 liters. 

Rotating infotainment screen

Front and center on the BYD Dolphin’s dashboard is a massive 12.8-inch infotainment touchscreen. This screen uses an Android Auto operating system with USB and Bluetooth connectivity. Sound, meanwhile, is fed into the cabin by a six-piece speaker system. 

Charging one’s devices aboard this EV model is done thanks to USB ports on the center console.

The 12.8-inch also has an interesting trick that may wow the Dolphin’s occupants. With a simple button press, the screen can rotate to switch between an upright portrait orientation and a horizontal landscape orientation. 

The said feature can be fun to play with for folks who are children at heart. In addition, the portrait orientation might offer a clearer forward view for some drivers. 

Conclusion

BYD Cars Philippines currently offers the Dolphin’s sole variant at a standard retail price of P1.398 million. Thus, it is safe to say that the BYD Dolphin, with its rather comfy interior, is a fully electric hatch that’s punching above its weight class. 

It has a decent number of amenities, but not overwhelmingly too many. Plus, the cabin has a unique style that will make it feel different from many others in the hatchback segment. 

Photos from BYD

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