Nissan Ariya review

Driving position 

Getting comfortable in the Nissan Ariya is easy thanks to a lot of electrical adjustment in the seat and a manually adjustable steering wheel. 

But as is the case with many other electric cars, because of the batteries under the floor, you do sit quite high up, which for taller drivers can be a bit annoying. 

Headroom isn’t the best if you’re above six foot, but open the sunroof shade and this improves somewhat, but it’s still not ideal for longer journeys. 

Overall visibility is good out of the front and sides, but chunky A-pillars mean roundabouts and junctions can be a tad challenging, and the rear window is relatively narrow. 

Nissan has attempted to counter this with a digital rearview mirror, which, at the flick of a switch, turns the glass into a screen. However, it’s not the best quality and the depth perception means it’s hard to gauge how close other cars are, so we’d recommend keeping it in the standard mirror mode. 

Tech and features 

It’s worth noting that our test car is the top-spec Evolve model, so it gets all the fancy bells and whistles Nissan has to offer.  

These include options such as an electric panoramic sunroof, heated and cooled front seats, a power sliding centre console (controlled via a rocker switch), 10 BOSE speakers, a head-up display and much more. 

Sitting in the centre of the dashboard is a 12.3-inch infotainment screen, which, to be honest, looks quite outdated by today’s standards.  

Our test car is from 2023, and the car hasn’t received any significant facelifts since then (as of June 2025), and you can tell by the screen quality and software it runs – it’s far behind its Tesla, Audi and BYD rivals. 

But, let’s be honest, most people are going to connect their phone and use that, and with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, that’s a breeze – though Android Auto is wired-only, so you can’t make use of the wireless charger. 

Aside from the central touchscreen, the rest of the cabin is really spacious and unique, from the curves and wooden elements that house the climate controls – they may look pretty, but they’re a bit of a functional nightmare since they don’t always work the first time and are hard to use while driving. 

Electric motors and power 

The Ariya is not a sporty Nissan by any means – if you want that, you’ll need to look at a GT-R or something like an ID.4 GTX or Tesla Model Y Juniper. But what it is, is a solid electric family SUV with decent poke. 

There are two different variants: a single motor front-wheel drive (2WD) and a dual-motor all-wheel drive car (AWD).  

Our test car was the full-fat e-4ORCE AWD car, which means it produces 384hp and can get to 62mph from a standstill in a respectable 7.6 seconds. Not mind-blowing performance, but plenty for daily driving. 

But if you do opt for the car with a smaller battery and single-motor setup, you’ll get 212hp. 

There is also a proper NISMO version, which gets 424hp and a 0-62mph time of five seconds, which isn’t to be sniffed at. 

Like with almost all modern cars, the Ariya has a few drive modes: Eco, Normal, Sport and Snow. We’d recommend keeping it in the Normal mode most of the time unless you really need to save range with Eco or want to drive a little quicker in Sport. 

Another thing the Ariya gets, which we love with Nissan products, is the e-Pedal – the strongest regenerative braking setting on the car.  

It’s not the strongest we’ve ever experienced in an electric car, and the Hyundai IONIQ 6’s is far better, but it means you don’t need to touch the brakes for 80% of usual driving, which in turn reduces brake wear. 

Handling and ride comfort 

One of the most important things to consider when buying a family SUV is ride comfort and how it feels on our rough and ready British roads. 

The Nissan Ariya is a very easy car to drive. It’s got light steering, which makes it very easy to manoeuvre around town, yet it stiffens up a bit at higher speeds for added confidence. 

While the ride quality is generally good, it can feel a little jittery and unsettled on certain road surfaces, especially when there are lots of bumps in quick succession. 

Boot space 

There’s 466 litres of boot space in the Ariya, which is plenty for a few suitcases or a very big weekly food shop.  

The boot itself is wide, there’s no loading lip, and it’s deep, allowing for longer objects to fit fairly easily. Plus, there’s a nifty powered tailgate, like almost all cars at this price point now have. 

If you do need a bit more space, you can fold the rear seats down (in a 60:40 split) to reveal a total of 1,350 litres. 

Rear seats 

For such a big car, you’d expect there to be tonnes of rear-seat space, and while legroom is good for taller passengers, due to the sloped roofline, headroom is a bit of an issue. 

If you’re in the six foot or beyond club, you’ll need to slouch down a bit to fit comfortably, making longer journeys a bit of a pain, unless you’re the first to call shotgun. 

But if you’re the average height, you should have no issues. Plus, rear-seat passengers get USB-C charge ports as well as heated seats in higher spec trims for added comfort. 

Storage solutions 

We test a lot of cars in this segment, and very few come close to the Ariya’s innovative storage solutions. 

For example, there’s an electrically operated centre console which can slide back and forth for comfort, but also if you need more floor space to store bags or coats. 

Then, there’s another electrically controlled compartment that sits to the right of the glovebox for added storage. It’s very clever, but totally unnecessary. A manually operated one would suffice. 

Door bins are decent, and there are plenty of cupholders, though not much storage inside the centre console for wallets, phones, keys, etc. 

Safety 

The Nissan Ariya is a very safe family car, scoring a full five-star Euro NCAP safety rating in 2022.  

This is thanks to onboard tech such as adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, traffic jam assist and automatic braking. 

Range and charging times 

There are two battery options available on the Ariya: 63kWh and 87kWh. 

The smaller battery pack should get around 247 miles of range, while the bigger pack on a single-motor car can get you up to 330 miles of range. 

Nothing ground-breaking, but about average for its segment. 

In terms of efficiency, Nissan says the e-4ORCE car with the 87kWh battery should get about 3.0mi/kWh, but in our testing over 120 miles, we saw an average of 2.7mi/kWh, equating to around 250 miles on a full charge, below our car’s claimed 285 miles. 

The Nissan Ariya can charge at up to 130kW from a fast public DC charger, which is good but behind rivals such as the Škoda Enyaq's 175kW and Tesla Model Y’s 250kW. 

Even still, you should see a 10-80% charge in around 35 minutes. 

Reliability 

Electric cars are almost always more reliable than their petrol or diesel counterparts, because they have fewer moving parts than a traditional internal combustion engine. 

And being a Nissan, we expect the Ariya to be a very dependable car, with little to no niggles along the way, provided it’s regularly serviced and maintained just like any other car.