It may not be class leading, but the Ariya is a big step forward for Nissan
For Nissan, the Ariya is a big deal. It’s the centerpiece of its reinvention, with the automaker seeking greater profits from more exciting models. It’s also another entry into the hottest segment of the moment—the mid-size, electric crossover. With that comes competition from just about everyone else, so Nissan has to get this one right. For the most part, it did. There’s some evidence that Nissan doesn’t have the R&D budget of other large automakers, yet Z aside, this is the most appealing new product from the Japanese company in some time.
Nissan is very proud to point out its relatively long history with EVs, the Leaf being the first successful mass-market electric car, on sale for 11 years, though one wonders what took the company so long to add to its EV offerings. It could’ve beaten everyone to the electric crossover party, but even EV-averse Toyota got there first. Still, the Ariya arrives at a great moment, and it should be much more appealing to American audiences than the gawky Leaf.
It’s a striking thing in person, virtually unchanged in appearance to the Ariya concept of 2019. Nissan nailed the classic concept-car look, smartly using a black roof and chrome trim line to make the car appeal lower. The design team also gets points for really taking advantage of the design freedom provided by a dedicated EV platform, pushing the wheels out to the corners, and moving the cabin forward to give a futuristic look and improve interior space. A low hood with creases above the wheel arches gives the driver great sightlines too.
Inside, it’s minimalist but not obtusely so, as in so many EVs trying too hard to be futuristic. Especially cool is Nissan’s use of matte-finish wood trim throughout, with haptic climate-control buttons integrated into the panel below the infotainment screen. Haptic controls are usually a disaster, but these work well, requiring a firm press and providing good feedback. Still, you have to take your eyes off the road to look at them, which is never great. Better than integrating climate controls into a screen though.
Our tester was an EMPOWER+ model. The cringey name indicates that this is the top-trim front-wheel drive Ariya, equipped with an 87-kWh battery pack, the larger of the two offered. Being a higher-trim model, the interior was well-appointed. It’s not class-leading—for that, look towards the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 siblings—but it represents a huge step forward for Nissan, whose cabins have long lagged behind the competition.
The EMPOWER+ has a Nissan-estimated range of “up to 289” miles (EPA figures are yet to be finalized), a figure that falls slightly behind the Hyundai and Kia competitors, but easily beats the Toyota BZ4x/Subaru Solterra’s 252 miles. The lower-spec Ariya Venture+ offers an estimated 304 miles of range. Maximum charge input is 130 kW with a DC fast charger, which Nissan says is good to get you from 20 to 80 percent battery in 40 minutes. Kia and Hyundai’s 800-volt architecture allows for a maximum charging rate of 350 kw, and in the case of the EV6, the brand claims it can be charged from 10 to 80 percent in 18 minutes.
Nissan wants the Ariya to appeal to first-time EV buyers, and if you were stepping out of a conventional gas-powered crossover into this it would feel familiar, for better or for worse. Acceleration is tempered off the line, so there’s no Tesla-esque force-you-back-into-the-seat action if you stomp on it from a dead stop. Power instead builds as in a gas engine, and by the time you’re rolling at around 40 mph, accelerator-pedal response is more what we’ve come to expect from EVs. Nissan says the FWD big-battery Ariya offers 238 hp and 221 lb-ft of torque, and it feels very strong in the mid-range. Switching to Sport mode increases accelerator-pedal response while also adding a nice amount of regenerative braking when you lift. There is also a B-mode that increases regenerative braking off-pedal, and an “e-Step” mode that comes closer to offering a one-pedal driving experience. You need to hit the brake pedal to stop.
All in all, it’s a very nice powertrain, however, the rest of the driving experience isn’t quite so polished. The Ariya feels underdamped, with the car unsettled by bumps and surface changes both big and small. On one particular road I’d driven before in a much older car, the Nissan seemed to create high-frequency bumps that weren’t there before. The Ariya is not uncomfortable, and I suspect most buyers won’t notice, depending on the quality of their local roads, but the rival Kia EV6 offers near-flawless ride and handling for about the same price. Unfortunately for Nissan, the Kia’s chassis punches well above its weight, rivaling the best sports sedans out there. The Ariya’s is merely good.
Worth noting is the brake pedal. In the earlier days of hybrids and EVs, the brakes often felt odd, as the pedal controls both regenerative braking from the motors and pad-meets-disc friction braking. Many automakers have ironed that out, making their blended brake pedals feel like traditional systems—Nissan hasn’t, and the Ariya’s left pedal has a strange, spongy feel. The car stops perfectly fine, of course, it just doesn’t feel like the pedal is connected to a mechanical system.
These are nitpicks, and to Nissan’s target customers, they may not matter. I imagine they’ll focus on the great looks, practicality, and cool interior. That’s just where Nissan pooled its fairly limited resources, which, fair! It’s just that Kia and Hyundai offer a lot of similar things and excellent driving dynamics.
Still, the Ariya is a fine addition to the electric-crossover segment, and a huge step forward for an automaker whose product lineup was long uncompetitive. I sincerely hope that it’s a success for Nissan, so it can invest more in enthusiast products. The lovely new Z shows that Nissan hasn’t forgotten about us, though it would be silly to think that’s the car to save the company. If anything will turn Nissan around, it’s the Ariya, and despite not being quite top-class, it’s the automaker’s most competitive car in a long time.
Chris Perkins Senior Editor Chris Perkins is the Web Editor for Road & Track magazine.
Keyword: The Ariya Is Nissan’s Most Compelling SUV in Ages