Nissan Ariya Review & Prices

If you’ve got your heart set on a well-equipped, posh-feeling electric family SUV, then the Nissan Ariya is worth a look in. In many ways, it’s like a classic Full English breakfast: it gets all the basics ingredients right – think sausages, bacon, toast and eggs – but misses out on the hash browns and black pudding that you’d find in alternatives such as the Audi Q4 e-tron and Skoda Enyaq.

Still, it’s certainly easy on the eyes. With its large front grille, sloping roofline and snazzy rear light, it’s one of the best-looking electric SUVs around. The option of a contrast roof that’s a different colour to the rest of the car is a nice touch, too. You might even think the Ariya looks a bit like a NASA space shuttle.

The interior is just as stylish. Here you’ll find clean lines across the dashboard, two large digital displays and plenty of plush-feeling materials. A clever moveable centre console that slides back and forth at the press of a button also helps you to maximise on-board passenger space. This comes in handy if you’ve got a taller person in the rear middle seat.

The seats continue the Ariya’s space shuttle theme, too. Their specially designed ridges and cushioning are supposedly inspired by NASA technology, and help to keep you super comfortable over long distances. There’s plenty of passenger space in the back, too.

However, a lack of boot space brings the Ariya crashing back down to Earth. Front-wheel drive models get 466 litres of storage, which is considerably less space than what you’d find in nearly every other alternative. A Skoda Enyaq, for instance, offers 585 litres of boot space.

With the Ariya, you get the choice of front- or all-wheel-drive, as well as two battery sizes – 63kWh and 87kWh. The all-wheel-drive versions come exclusively with the 87kWh battery, and you can get an ‘e-4ORCE’ performance version too. The entry-level Ariya offers 217hp, while the range-topper dishes up 394hp – that’s fairly ferocious for a “sensible” family SUV.

What’s arguably more important is how far it can go on a charge. With front-wheel drive and the 87kWh battery, Nissan claims up to 310-mile range (though in the real-world you’ll see closer to 250 miles). Alternatives such as the Polestar 2 and VW ID4 have a higher claimed range, but not by much.

The Ariya can charge at up to 130kW, which isn’t as fast as some alternatives. But you’ll still be able to top the battery up from 10-80% in 35 minutes if you find a suitable DC rapid charger, which isn’t bad. At home, a 7kW charger will take 14 hours to go from 0-100% capacity.

Driving the Ariya is pretty relaxing, with only a little bit of wind and road noise making its way into the cabin. But there are some jitters that come through the suspension that can make it feel a little bit unsettled over smaller bumps and cracks in the road.

Around town, its light steering helps with manoeuvring, and it accelerates incredibly smoothly thanks to its electric power. However, there’s a large blind spot over your shoulder, and the back window is pretty tiny. You can get a digital rear view mirror to help out with this, though, and this camera-based system really comes in handy when you’ve loaded the boot up to the roof.

All up, the Ariya looks fantastic both inside and out, and is available with some pretty clever tech. That said, it’s not massively fun to drive (a Ford Mustang Mach-E is), and its comparatively small boot gives the likes of the Skoda Enyaq and Volkswagen ID4 the edge.

Still, if you like the look of the Ariya, then check out our Nissan Ariya deals page to see how much you could save when you buy through carwow.

With prices starting from just under £45,000 for the cheapest Advance model, with the 63kWh battery, the Ariya isn’t what you’d call especially cheap. It is quite a lot cheaper than, say, the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which in basic standard range form has only fractionally more range than the basic Ariya, although the Nissan isn’t quite as much fun to drive.

The Ariya is a bit more expensive than the comparable 60kWh version of the Skoda Enyaq, and the Skoda only gives away four miles to the Ariya in terms of claimed range. In the real world, they’re pretty closely matched in terms of range.

The price difference is even more stark when you move up the Ariya offering. The big-battery 87kWh version costs around £10,000 more than an equivalent Skoda Enyaq 80, and the Skoda has more or less the same range from a slightly smaller battery. It’s better value when you compare it to the extended-range Mustang Mach-E, but the Ford has more range on a full charge (at least on paper).

When you get up to the top of the line-up, the four-wheel drive 394hp e-Force version of the Ariya starts to look like slightly better value compared to rivals. It’s only slightly more expensive than the Skoda Enyaq 80x (and has more power) and it’s much, much cheaper than the extended-range all-wheel drive Mustang Mach-E, which doesn’t have much more useable real-world range. It should be said that the Ariya does make up for its chunky prices with lots and lots of standard equipment that rivals leave to their options lists but there are two electric elephants in this particular room — the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Kia EV6, both of which offer more space inside and better range for less money than even the basic Ariya.

The Ariya is mostly smooth and refined, and more fun to drive than you might expect, but the suspension remains firm at all times

In town

Electric vehicles are at their best in town. It’s just a fact — instant surge of power for easy pull-aways, silent running for better refinement, and low drain on the battery so your range doesn’t suddenly evaporate. However, the Ariya does have one low-speed flaw, and that’s the suspension. It’s not exactly firm, as such, but it does feel a bit busy, as if the springs never quite stop moving. The Ariya just seems to jiggle and fidget about a lot. It’s definitely smoother than the Ford Mustang Mach-E, but it’s nowhere near as soothing to drive as the Skoda Enyaq or the Audi Q4 e-tron. There’s also quite a bit of noise from the suspension, especially when you hit a bigger bump.

The Ariya’s steering is nice and light, and while the turning circle is slightly large (11.6-metres) it’s about average for the class, so it’s pretty manoeuvrable in tight parking bays. Forward visibility is excellent, thanks to a low-set dashboard although the door mirrors are a little small and the windscreen pillars do cause a blind spot. The view out of the back isn’t so good, as the rear glass is quite shallow and the rear pillars are very chunky, so there’s a big over-your-shoulder blind spot. Filtering out of angled junctions is not easy. There is help from a standard-fit 360-degree camera system though, which also comes with sensors, moving object detection, and emergency braking to stop you backing into things or (worse) people.

The Ariya also gets the ‘e-pedal’ system from the smaller Nissan Leaf, which uses the regenerative braking effect of the electric motor (or motors, if you’re in the four-wheel drive one) to slow the car down. Very handy around town, but unfortunately — unlike the Leaf — e-pedal mode in the Ariya doesn’t stop the car completely; you have to physically step on the brake to do that. (Actually, the Ariya has three levels of regenerative-braking — off, using the B-mode for the gearbox, or using the e-pedal.) You also can’t turn off the automatic gearbox-style ‘creep’ function at low speeds.

On the motorway

The Ariya’s suspension continues to transmit more of what’s happening down at the tarmac level when you’re on the motorway. Again, it’s not harsh but it is a bit fidgety, especially over coarse concrete motorway sections. That said, it is still broadly a comfortable car, with very good front seats and the suspension does start to smooth out a bit as the speeds rise. It’s quite refined, but you will hear some wind roar around the door mirrors and the edges of the windows. To be fair, that’s pretty common amongst electric cars as there’s no drone from the engine to offset or disguise other noises.

Road noise is very well suppressed, though so the Ariya is generally quite a refined thing to take on a long journey. Like most electric cars, it will burn through its battery charge pretty quickly on the motorway, with the range at a constant 70mph falling rapidly. The Ariya’s electronic driver aids are good though, with the ‘ProPilot’ radar guided cruise control and the lane-guidance steering keeping you firmly and safely in lane.

On a twisty road

Remember to turn off the e-pedal when you get to a twisty road, as the strong regenerative braking effect can make the car slow sharply when you lift off the accelerator. Do that, and in spite of the Ariya’s chunky kerb weight it actually corners pretty keenly. There’s very little body roll, and while you will start to feel the weight if you’re really attacking a twisty road, the Ariya is surprisingly good and has really very responsive steering. It’s actually quite good fun, albeit not as overtly sporty as the Ford Mustang Mach-E.

The brakes are really nice too, with a much more natural feel than you find in most electric cars. Hit a mid-corner bump, though, and the Ariya does lose the plot a bit as the suspension gets all skippy. Also, the front-wheel drive model can struggle to put down all that surge of power, so you can often come out of a junction with your front wheels scrabbling for grip. If the stability control has to step in and help you out, it also kills the power for quite a while as it does so, which is annoying. It’s like a cross teacher giving out to a class of unruly Year 8s.

The Ariya is reasonably brisk in front-wheel drive form, with its 217hp electric motor, but it feels a bit slow getting off the line. That’s definitely not a problem in the e-Force model though.

The Ariya is roomy and comfortable in the cabin, but it’s surprisingly quite short of boot space

Practicality

Under the front armrest, there’s a shallow storage area that’s also home to a wireless phone charger, and there’s a couple of adjustable cupholders in front of that. In front of, and slightly below, the centre console, there’s a little upright tray for storing a mobile phone, along with USB and USB-C sockets, and a 12-volt socket too. There’s a conventional glovebox in front of the passenger seat, which is an OK size but the Ariya’s practicality party trick is a big felt-lined drawer in the centre of the dash, which you open by pushing a little touch-sensitive button on the console. It’s a neat bit of in-car theatre, and it’ll hold a big-ish tablet like an iPad. You also get good-sized door bins, although they don’t get felt lining so smaller items will rattle around inside. Oh, and if you don’t like where that centre console is placed, you can actually move it — electrically — backwards and forwards to find the best spot.

Space in the back seats

The back seats get plenty of knee room, and there’s loads of space for feet too, thanks to a flat floor with no transmission tunnel. The rear seat bases are nice and deep, which is good for supporting the backs of your legs on long journeys. You can get three people sitting side-by-side, but the centre rear seat is a bit perched up and not as comfortable as the ones at each side.

There is a slight sense that your knees are sitting up a bit too high, as the floor has been raised up compared to what you’d find in a petrol or diesel car, to make space for the batteries. It’s not too bad though, and neither is headroom. The line of the roof is quite low on the Ariya, which does eat into headroom in the back, but it’s not too bad — you’d have to be very tall to find your head brushing the roof lining for it to be a major issue. It’s slightly worse if you go for the optional panoramic glass roof, but either way it’s not as roomy and airy in the back as a Hyundai Ioniq 5.

High-spec Evolve models get heated rear seats, and you get two more USB sockets (one standard, one USB-C) for back seat passengers. The door bins in the back are fine, as are the seat-back pockets, but the cupholders in the armrest are fixed, not fold-away which is annoying and the ISOFIX anchors are covered with annoying zip-up panels, which are fiddly to use. There is enough space for big, rear-facing child seats without having to move the front seats forward.

Boot space

All Ariyas get a hands-free powered tailgate, and the boot capacity is 466 litres — that’s OK-ish, but it’s not as roomy as the Skoda Enyaq (585 litres) nor the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (527 litres). Four-wheel drive versions lose even more space, as they lose the adjustable boot floor to make room for the rear electric motor, so those models get only 408 litres of luggage space. The standard Ariya’s boot is clever though, as the moving boot floor is actually in two parts, which can be clipped up vertically to divide the boot into different sections (maybe food shopping in one bit and smelly sports kit in the other) and if you put them on their higher setting then there’s no loading lip. There are some small storage bins at the side of the boot, and tie-down points too. You don’t get a 12-volt socket in the boot which is annoying, as is the lack of handles in the boot to fold down the back seats. You’ve either got to stretch in, or go around to the back doors. You do at least get a flat load space when you do fold them.

Annoyingly, there’s also no front-boot (froot) so there’s nowhere to stash your charging cables, meaning they eat into the available boot space. The Ariya is also a bit limited for towing — only the expensive four-wheel drive version has a decent towing capacity, of up to 1,500kg. The front-drive version can only haul 750kg, which isn’t great.

One thing that is great is that there’s space under the boot floor to store the luggage cover when you’re not using it — if only all car makers were as thoughtful.

BMW-like levels of style, but the on-screen graphics aren’t the best, and some controls are too fiddly

The Ariya’s cabin is just as lovely as the outside. Indeed, it might just be the best car cabin that Nissan has made in decades, and it’s so good that you could easily compare it to — mistake it for, even — the cabin of the BMW iX, which costs about twice as much. You get a very handsome two-spoke steering wheel with lots of buttons, and some very cool soft-touch ‘haptic’ buttons on what looks like a slap of wood trim. These control the major air conditioning functions, and they’re not only cool to look at, they also work pretty well, giving your fingertip a bit of feedback as you press them. They’re not as simple as physical switches, but it’s still a better arrangement than having the climate controls buried in the on-screen menus.

While the twinned screens — instruments and infotainment — look good in that big sweep across the dashboard, the graphics aren’t quite as sharp and the screens aren’t quite as responsive as you’d find in a Mustang Mach-E. The main digital instruments are also the same ones you’ll find in a humble Qashqai, which looks a touch cheap, although the impressive heads-up display, which projects onto the windscreen, does compensate for that. The infotainment screen menus are reasonably easy to find your way through, and we like the way that the radio volume button has been neatly integrated into that big sweeping front air vent.

You do get lovely soft-touch materials everywhere though, including a gorgeous Alcantara suede covering on the dash. The seats — which you can have in optional blue Nappa leather — are great, and have a pattern of ribs which is apparently based on a NASA design to promote blood flow and reduce fatigue when you’re sitting in one place for a long time. Electric seat adjustment is standard, and there’s plenty of reach and rake adjustment for the steering wheel. On high spec models, the steering position adjusts electrically.

Those high-spec Ariyas also get an electronic rear-view mirror, which can switch to display the view from a rear-facing camera if you’ve got tall people sat in the back, or you’ve got the boot loaded to the roof. Very handy.

One thing — while you can spec your Ariya with ‘vegan’ man-made leather for the seats, you can’t quite get a completely vegan interior as the covering for the steering wheel is always cow-based. The touch-sensitive buttons on the centre console are also a bit fiddly, and you need to take your eyes off the road too much to use them.

Quite apart from the decent range offered by both versions of the Ariya, the best news is that Nissan has got rid of the CHADEMO charger (the one with the round connection) in favour of faster, more modern CCS charging (that’s the one with the double-decker socket). This means that the Ariya can charge at up to 130kW from a suitably fast public DC charging point. As standard, for AC charging (which means charging at home or from kerb-side chargers) the Ariya gets 7.4kW charging, which means that the big 87kWh battery could take as much as 14-hours to charge from flat. The better news is that optionally you can have 22kW AC charging, which is terrific for using kerb-side chargers. By comparison, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 charges more quickly from a DC charging point, but is limited to 11kW from an AC charger.

The 63kWh battery version has an official range of up to 250 miles, which should work out to around 200-220 miles in real world conditions most of the time (unless you’re doing all motorway miles, in which case it’ll fall). The bigger 87kWh battery is obviously much longer-legged, and will do a claimed 310 miles, and about 250 miles in real-world conditions. If you go for the powerful e-Force (which Nissan slightly tiresomely insists should be spelled e-4orce) then that claimed big-battery range falls to 285 miles, but your power jumps to a very healthy 306hp compared to the standard model’s 217hp, or the 242hp for the mid-range version.

In terms of tax, the Ariya is very good — free for road tax for the first year if you’re a private buyer, and attracting just two per cent BIK tax at present if you’re a company user.

The Ariya hasn’t yet been tested by Euro NCAP for crash safety, but the Renault Megane E-Tech has and that shares its chassis with the Nissan. The Renault scored a maximum five-star rating, with an 85% score for adult occupant safety so we’d expect the Nissan to manage something similar when it gets tested.

One thing the Ariya does do is provide you with lots and lots of high-end safety equipment as standard. From the base model, you get Nissan’s ProPilot electronic driver aids, which not only do the usual keeping you in lane and keeping you a safe distance from the car in front stuff, but which is also linked to the navigation system so that it knows what corners, junctions, and speed limits are coming up. It’s not autonomous driving — nor anything like it, as you still have to be very much in control of the car at all times — but it is helpful on longer journeys, especially in places with which you’re less familiar.

Other standard safety tech includes a driver attention alert, cruise control that can trickle you along in heavy traffic, a blind spot warning that also hits the brakes if you’re about to reverse out into oncoming traffic, emergency braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection, and automatic high-beam headlights. It’s a very thorough safety setup.

The Ariya’s quality levels feel pretty good, especially in the cabin where the acreage of suedette and nice leather, plus the touch-sensitive buttons and nicely tactile trim really give it a bit of a premium look. Historically, Nissan — as with most Japanese car makers — has built solidly reliable cars (have you ever tried to kill a Micra? — impossible) but the Qashqai had its reliability issues, especially involving engine turbos and suspension. Clearly the Ariya, with its electric motors, is going to be naturally more reliable than that as there’s simply fewer moving parts about which to worry, but the car’s complex electronics and batteries would at least give you small cause for concern in that department. In the past, the Nissan Leaf has been broadly highly-rated for the reliability of its electric motor and batteries, but has been less well rated for its infotainment and in-car systems. We’ll just have to wait and see how the Ariya pans out.

In the meantime, Nissan offers a pretty good warranty. It’s a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty, which means it doesn’t last as long as Hyundai’s nor Kia’s, but it does include three years of roadside assistance, plus hire car cover, while the electric drive components (that’s the battery, motor, inverter, and high-voltage cables) get a separate five-year 60,000-mile warranty, and on top of that the battery itself gets its own eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty to repair or replace it if it drops below a certain state of charge.