Overview

Well, these are two pretty similar cars we have here! It's only details that could potentially make the difference. Considering they both belong to the suv segment and utilize the same 5-door suv body style and the 4 x 4 wheel drive system, it all comes up to the specific hybrid engine choice they offer. The first one has a BYD-engineered powertrain under the hood, a 4-cylinder, 16-valves 324hp unit, while the other one gets its power and torque from a 3-cylinder, 12-valves 214hp engine designed by Nissan.

Safety

Both vehicles got tested by European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), with the same number of safety stars gained in the process. That aside, let's consider some other aspects which affect safety. Both vehicles belong to the suv segment, which is generally a very good thing safety-wise, still it doesn't help us solve our dilemma, does it? Furthermore, when it comes to weight, a factor that most people underestimate, the Chinese car offers a marginal difference of 7% more metal.

Reliability

Reliability is not the best thing to consider on the make level, but it is worth mentioning that BYD does have a slight advantage, when all the models are taken into account. These are the official statistics, while our visitors describe reliability of BYD with an average rating of , and models under the Nissan badge with 4.3 out of 5. Unfortunatelly, I don't have enough insight that would allow me to comment in more details on the specific models level. Above it all, drivers of cars with the same engine as the Chinese car rank it on average as 3.0 out of 5, exactly the same as the other one.

Performance & Fuel economy

BYD is undoubtly more agile, reaching 100km/h in 1.1 seconds less than its competitor. Still, it lacks the power to win the top speed competition, topping at 180 kilometers per hour, exactly the same as the other car does. When it comes to fuel economy an obvious choice would be the Chinese car, averaging around 1.2 liters of fuel per 100 kilometers (235 mpg), in combined cycle. That's 475% difference compared to the Japanese car!

Verdict

Nissan appears just a bit more reliable, although the difference is truly marginal. The most important thing when deciding between any two vehicles should always be safety, both passive and active. In my opinion, everything taken into account, the Chinese car offers slightly better overall protection and takes the lead. It all continues in the same direction, with BYD being considerably quicker, thus putting more smile on driver's face. To make things even better, it consumps less fuel! All together, there's not much more to say, in this case I wouldn't even consider anything but BYD. In any case that's my personal view, built upon all the data available to me. What should decide here though is the way you feel about the two vehicles, and I hope you'll find my guidelines useful in the process. In case you have two minutes to spare I invite you to define your needs, desires and budget and see which car would be chosen by the virtual adviser™, among thousands of similar, yet so different vehicles.