New BYD Seal U vs new Jaecoo 7 vs MG HS

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New BYD Seal U vs new Jaecoo 7 vs MG HS

Chinese models are really starting to make their presence felt in the UK, selling on merit as well as price. So, let’s see which of these plug-in hybrid family SUVs is best...

Neil Winn

Published18 May 2025

The contenders

NEW BYD Seal U DM-i Boost

List price £33,205
Target Price £33,205

Most of BYD’s models are fully electric, but the Seal U family SUV can be had only as a plug-in hybrid in the UK. It’s the cheapest of our contenders to buy

NEW Jaecoo 7 1.5T SHS Luxury

List price £35,065
Target Price £35,065

The first Europe-focused model from the ‘luxury’ arm of Chinese giant Chery promises class-leading technology at an affordable price

MG HS 1.5T Plug-in Hybrid Trophy

List price £33,995
Target Price £33,995

With an impressive electric range, a practical, plush interior and a keen price, our reigning Plug-in Hybrid of the Year will
be hard to beat

Not too long ago, the idea of buying a Chinese car would have been met with scepticism. In fact, it was once the punchline of a primetime television special; remember when, back in 2012, Clarkson and co travelled to Beijing to poke fun at the country’s growing but unproven car industry? Fast forward to today, though, and the tables are turning. Chinese-built cars – notably the MG HS family SUV – are beginning to make an impact on the UK’s best-sellers chart, and they’re doing it on merit, not just price.

New BYD Seal U vs new Jaecoo 7 vs MG HS fronts driving

In plug-in hybrid (PHEV) form, the HS didn’t win a ‘Best Budget buy’ consolation prize at our 2025 Car of the Year Awards; we named it our overall Plug-in Hybrid of the Year. If you’re in the market for a practical, well-equipped and keenly priced PHEV with a long electric range, it’s a great choice.

MG isn’t the only Chinese-owned brand on the rise, though. A more recent arrival in the UK is Jaecoo, which is owned by Chery Automotive and is in the same stable as the new Omoda marque. Its first UK model, the Jaecoo 7, is gunning straight for the MG. Available in both petrol and PHEV forms, it commands a slightly higher list price than the MG but aims to justify that with a plush interior, generous standard kit and a sophisticated hybrid system promising impressive efficiency.

And if that’s not enough to keep MG on its toes, there’s another new Chinese contender: the BYD Seal U. BYD has already made waves in the UK with its electric cars, but the Seal U is its first model to be offered in PHEV form. With a respectable official electric range, an extensive equipment list and keen pricing, it’s clear that BYD isn’t here to play second fiddle. So, can the MG fend off these ambitious new arrivals?

Driving

Performance, ride, handling, refinement

For a PHEV to earn its keep, it needs to spend as much time as possible running on electricity alone. All of our contenders have relatively large batteries (with the MG’s being the biggest) and official electric ranges of between 50 (BYD) and 75 miles (MG).

On a real-world test route with a mixture of urban, rural and motorway driving, the BYD covered a respectable 45 miles before its petrol engine fired up. The Jaecoo held on for a bit longer, covering 51 miles before its engine kicked in. Neither car lets its battery deplete fully; they retain around a 25% state of charge. The MG, meanwhile, just kept going. It finally ran out of juice in its battery at 74 miles, just one mile shy of its official figure.

With that kind of electric endurance, many drivers could go about their daily lives without ever needing to visit a petrol station. And it’s not like it’s a chore driving around in EV (electric vehicle) mode, with all three offering enough performance to keep up with day-to-day traffic. It’s just a shame that a hyperactive accelerator pedal in the Jaecoo means even the gentlest flex of your right foot will have it surging forwards in a way that can be tricky for the driver to manage and uncomfortable for occupants.

Speaking of surging forwards, these are quick cars. The MG, in hybrid mode, produces a total of 295bhp, which is enough to propel it from 0-60mph in 6.1sec – on a par with a Range Rover Sport PHEV. The 201bhp Jaecoo completes the same run in 7.6sec, while the 215bhp BYD – the heaviest of our trio – trails a further second behind. In real-world terms, all three offer sufficient performance for overtaking slower cars or getting up to motorway speeds – which they can even do in EV mode.

Neither the BYD nor the Jaecoo feels particularly well suited to the dynamic challenges of a British B-road, though. Not only do they suffer from heavy body lean through corners, but grip is limited (especially in the Jaecoo), and mid-corner bumps unsettle them, throwing you off line at the worst moment. The BYD also suffers from relatively slow, vague steering that makes it feel cumbersome in tight corners and saps driver confidence.

Remarkably, the Jaecoo fares even worse. It feels more top-heavy than the BYD, pitching awkwardly under acceleration and braking, while hypersensitive steering amplifies this instability rather than calming it. Add to that a tendency to spin its front tyres on corner exits and the Jaecoo will have you yearning for the composure of the MG. Not that the latter is as good to drive as a Kia Sportage, for example, but it feels far better resolved than the BYD and Jaecoo. Its accurate steering weights up naturally, while body lean is kept in check.

At higher speeds, the MG rides with an easy-going suppleness that the other two can’t match; they bounce around more over undulations. The MG’s suspension also does a reasonable job of rounding off bumps and potholes around town, whereas the Jaecoo tends to shudder and transfer impacts through the steering wheel and the base of your seat. The BYD, meanwhile, feels unsettled all the time; the rear axle in particular skips around over potholes and even speed bumps.

While the Jaecoo can stop in a slightly shorter distance from 70mph than the MG, the latter is more settled while doing so, and it’s the easiest of the three to bring to a smooth stop in town. The Jaecoo’s brakes are grabbier than the MG’s, but its stopping performance is still better than that of the BYD, which required a worryingly long 61.9m to come to a halt from 70mph in our tests – 14.6m farther than the Jaecoo.

None of these cars is particularly hushed when they’re rolling along. The Jaecoo suffers from a fair bit of suspension noise over rough surfaces, while the BYD’s engine is raucous under hard acceleration (whereas the MG’s and Jaecoo’s are pleasingly quiet). At a steady 70mph, though, the BYD is the quiestest by a small margin. The MG suffers from significant wind buffeting around its windscreen pillars at 70mph, making it the rowdiest cruiser.

Behind the wheel

Driving position, visibility, build quality

If you like SUVs for their lofty driving positions, the BYD in particular won’t disappoint. It’s not Range Rover high, but it perches you farther from the ground than the Jaecoo and MG. Better yet, eight-way electric seat adjustment and memory settings make getting comfortable a breeze. And while there’s no adjustable lumbar support, the seatback’s sculpting is good enough that we didn’t miss it.

Each of the others has its own ergonomic quirks. Both have six-way electrically adjustable seats (with memory), but the Jaecoo’s could use more side bolstering to hold you in place through corners, plus its left footrest is placed too close to the driver, forcing you to sit with a bent knee. The MG presents a different problem: for taller drivers, the steering wheel tends to obscure parts of the instrument panel, and it could do with more reach adjustment. Overall, the Jaecoo’s set-up is likely to be an issue for more drivers, so be sure to try before you buy.

The BYD and Jaecoo offer decent visibility to the front and sides at junctions, with clearer lines of sight than in the MG. The latter not only has the chunkiest windscreen pillars, but they’re also positioned very close to the door mirrors, forming significant blindspots.

All three have large rear side windows that help to give reasonable over-the-shoulder visibility, but you can see more directly behind the MG than you can in the BYD and Jaecoo, which have tiny rear windows. To help with low-speed manoeuvres, all three come with front and rear parking sensors and surround-view cameras. The ‘540deg’ camera in the Jaecoo offers video game-style camera views from outside and below the car, but this is more of a gimmick than a useful feature.

When it comes to dashboard layouts, none of our contenders is vying for class leadership. All of them place most of the controls on their infotainment screens – including those for the air-con, which aren’t always on display. The MG lets you assign temperature control to a steering wheel joystick, or you can use voice control to make adjustments in all three, but we’d rather have physical air-con controls like you get in a Hyundai Tucson. At least the BYD offers a few physical switches on the console between the front seats for changing driving modes and EV/hybrid settings.

Interior quality, though, is impressive for the price in all three cars, with plenty of plush materials, artificial leather seat upholstery and contrasting stitching creating an upmarket feel. But it’s the MG that feels the most polished and solidly constructed, with only a few hard plastics on display lower down. The Jaecoo is nearly on the same level, while the BYD is a little more inconsistent; a crystal gear selector contrasts with slightly plasticky seat coverings and cheap-feeling metal-effect plastic trim.

Infotainment systems

BYD Seal U

Like other BYD models, the Seal U has a large (15.6in) touchscreen. Its graphics are crisp enough, it’s reasonably responsive, and the layout is relatively intuitive. The screen can also rotate between landscape mode and portrait orientation. However, it stays in landscape if you’re using smartphone mirroring. It’s also a shame that the screen looks so dark even in its brightest setting; you have to squint to find your desired button in direct sunlight.

Jaecoo 7

The Jaecoo’s 14.8in, portrait-orientated touchscreen mimics a smartphone, so interacting with it is easy when stationary but far less so on the move. The climate controls are on display across the bottom of the screen – unless you’re using Apple CarPlay or Android Auto phone mirroring, in which case you must swipe up and tap the climate icon to gain access to them. This can be distracting and a bit of a faff. At least the screen is relatively quick to respond to inputs.

MG HS

The MG’s 12.3in touchscreen is the smallest here but has the most intuitive interface, with panels on the home screen for sat-nav, climate and media functions, plus a row of shortcuts down the right-hand side. The air-con controls disappear if you have anything else (such as the sat-nav map) on the screen, though. Unlike in the BYD and Jaecoo, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto phone mirroring aren’t wireless, rendering the wireless charging pad largely redundant.

Space and practicality

Front space, rear space, seating flexibility, boot

Unless you’re approaching six and a half feet tall, you’ll easily fit in the front of any of these cars. The Jaecoo is especially generous for head room, but overall the BYD is the most accommodating for lanky occupants. Its front seats slide back the farthest, it offers the most elbow room, and head room is comparable with that of the MG – which is to say there’s plenty. That’s despite the fact that the BYD (like the Jaecoo) comes with a panoramic glass roof, which can cut into head room in some rivals.

There’s a decent glovebox and usable door bins for storage in each car, although the MG lacks the ‘floating’ centre console of its rivals, meaning no floor-mounted tray for your bits and pieces.

There will be very few grumbles from those sitting in the back, either. Each car offers plenty of leg room – the BYD is limo-like – and reasonable space for feet under the front seats. And while the BYD’s glass roof eats into head room a little, its reclining rear seatbacks allow occupants to adopt a more relaxed posture on long trips. The Jaecoo’s rear seatbacks also recline, but they have only two positions with little variation between them, while the MG’s backrests are fixed but at a comfortably reclined angle.

If you’re carrying a third passenger in the back, they’ll be best off in the BYD, because it has the widest and comfiest middle seat, but three adults can sit side by side happily enough in the MG too. The Jaecoo, though, is relatively tight for elbow room and has the most elevated middle seat. That said, the Jaecoo (like the BYD) has a flat floor in the back, whereas the MG has a small hump to straddle.

As for luggage space, the MG’s boot is tall and well shaped, allowing it to accept seven carry-on suitcases below its load cover with room left over for a couple of soft bags. The BYD’s boot is big enough to swallow six cases and is the only one to include a height-adjustable floor that, in its high position, eliminates the load lip at the entrance for easier access.

The Jaecoo’s boot, however, is a bit disappointing; it’s hobbled by a low-set tonneau cover that makes it quite shallow, so it can hold only five carry-on cases. The Jaecoo counters with the most underfloor storage, but all three have space for charging cables.

None of our contenders offers a 40/20/40 rear seat split to allow you to slot long items through from the boot between two rear passenger; they stick with an unremarkable 60/40 folding arrangement.