BYD Seal vs Mazda 6e

The BYD Seal costs £6,735 more than the Mazda 6e. For that premium it adds 64 litres more boot space, 40 kW more power and a 2.0s quicker 0-62mph time. The Mazda 6e is not just cheaper - it also offers 45 kW faster peak rapid charging. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Mazda 6e comes out ahead overall.

The Mazda 6e is £6,735 cheaper to buy. The Mazda 6e is cheaper to charge, roughly £152 a year versus £184 for the BYD Seal, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Mazda 6e comes out roughly £6,895 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 244 miles for the BYD Seal and 290 miles for the Mazda 6e - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Mazda 6e goes roughly 46 miles further between charging stops. A rapid charge to 80% takes around 37 minutes in the BYD Seal and 24 in the Mazda 6e, so the Mazda 6e loses less time at each stop. That makes the Mazda 6e the stronger long-distance car.

The two are within 15 mm on width, so neither is meaningfully easier to thread into a tight space. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 525 mm of total clearance for the BYD Seal and about 510 mm of total clearance for the Mazda 6e. The BYD Seal also turns in a 0.4 m tighter circle, which helps with U-turns and multi-storey ramps.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 90% battery health for the BYD Seal and 90% for the Mazda 6e. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use LFP-type cells, which are happy charged to 100% every day.