The BYD Shark 6 is a known quantity these days - a very well known quantity, given its strong sales performance - and we already know it is rather good indeed on the road. But what about off it?
Click here to read our full review of the BYD Shark 6
While the local launch afforded us the opportunity to take it a little way off the beaten track, it wasn’t much more than a few slightly gnarly gravel tracks and an individual bold excursion down onto the shores of Lake Wanaka to create some art.
Here it proved itself to be rather capable, but you were very aware of its weight, ground clearance and the fact that it lacked anything in the way of low ratio gearing, relying instead on the flexibility of its electric motors.
So why would you put mud tyres on it? I have no idea, and after spending some time in one with said tyres, I still have no idea.
During our time with this particular Shark I put it through a bit of mud, but mainly got it into the sand. As expected, the tyres made relatively short work of both surfaces, regardless of the Shark’s weight, and it proved itself to be relatively effortless.
But, (you knew this was coming, right?) this did throw up an issue that Shark has off road, mainly around what happens when the battery runs low.
Now, the Shark is a range extender hybrid, so while the electric motors drive the wheels, it has a handy petrol engine to charge its battery, so you won’t get stranded (unless you forget to fill it with petrol, that is), but driving through soft surfaces for an extended time uses LOTS of fuel and, of course, electricity.
Yes, you can put mud tyres on a Shark and they will both look awesome and get you further off the beaten track. But you will have to endure a compromised ride and significantly more noise.
This means it runs down, as you would expect, but what you mightn’t expect is the lengths the petrol engine will go to to top it back up again - and it gets quite vocal as it sits at high revs pumping charge back into the battery. And, yes, people do stare…
Of course, while I did this on purpose - just to see what would happen - it is easily avoided by doing as BYD recommends and setting the Shark to maintain a 70 percent level of charge, which allows the engine to charge the battery at a more relaxed rate, while the battery in turn can supply the electric motors with its full potential.
This, of course, has nothing to do with mud tyres, other than the fact they might encourage you to venture into gnarly enough stuff to provoke the four-potter into full-throated life.
What does have something to do with the mud tyres is the tyre roar that they introduce into the Shark’s previously serene cabin. To be fair, it is mainly only at urban speeds and isn’t awful, but what is awful is the vibration they introduce at exactly 99km/h on the open road.
While this may serve as a handy haptic speed limiter, it does again badly hamper what is one of the Shark’s USPs in the ute segment; its silent and refined nature, as well as its impressively civilised ride.
So, in short - yes, you can put mud tyres on a Shark and they will both look awesome and get you further off the beaten track. But you will have to endure a compromised ride and significantly more noise.
Is it worth it? I would say no - a good set of All Terrains will give you tougher looks and more than enough off-road ability for most people. And given the Sharks propensity to start singing the song of its people whenever demand gets high in an off road situation, it’s not really suited to that anyway and you are much better off playing to its undeniable strengths as a powerful, superbly refined and comfortable ute that looks awesome and is a true delight to drive on the road. On normal tyres.
