15 October

The new BYD Shark I’ve been mentioning has a 2.5-tonne towing capacity. This is a deliberate choice by BYD. It has nothing to do with ‘grunt’. The Ford Ranger and other utes for example will tow 3.5-tonnes. The BYD Shark has twice the power or grunt of those utes. The reason its towing limit is set to 2.5 tonnes, is the same reason the Ranger Raptor limit is 2.5 tonnes. They’re sprung for road use. BYD looked at the data and realised the vast majority of Australians never tow anything with their utes. So they chose coil springs for the suspension, for a much better road driving experience. The same thing the Raptor does, for the same reason. (This will also make it better as an off-roader in many situations.) You still get 2.5-tonnes, which for many is plenty anyway. Leaf springs (on the left) are useful really only for heavy loads and towing, they don’t move much so it stops the load bouncing up and down. They’re terrible for most driving. BYD will however be releasing a whole range of Sharks, including some for heavy towing, with leaf springs. But unless you carry a lot of heavy loads and do a lot of very heavy towing, go for the coils every time. Your teeth and spine will thank you. (I forgot to mention this first Shark will do 0-100 in 5.7 seconds. Bye bye, Raptor.)