Road tested by Hugh Maguire.
Price : €68,495.
Pros:
Strong Performance.
Distinctive styling.
Excellent AWD traction on wet roads.
Cons:
Real world range disappoints.
Uncompromisingly fidgety ride.
Lags behind 800Volt rivals for max charging speed at 130kW.
Nissan should be pretty good at designing EV’s after all they were one of the early pioneers when it comes to EV’s with the Nissan Leaf.
The standard Ariya is priced from around €39,995. At €68,495 the Ariya NISMO is considerably more expensive so is it worth the hefty price walk?
NISMO is the motorsport division of Nissan and is well known for producing such exciting models as the Nissan GTR. Think, NISMO is to Nissan what AMG is to Mercedes or M-Sport is to BMW. So the NISMO badge raises expectations but does it deliver?
On paper at least the performance numbers are impressive as is the power output. I want to establish if this Ariya NISMO is a true NISMO icon or just a marketing ploy to charge more for a sportier styled version of the standard Ariya crossover?
So has it got street cred?
The Ariya NISMO is quite a large car and in that alone it has presence.
It is visually much more aggressive looking too with NISMO badging, a front lip spoiler, side skirts, extended rear spoiler, a rear diffuser, and 20-inch Enkei alloy wheels shod with Michelin Pilot Sport tyres. So despite sharing the same basic body shell of the standard Ariya you certainly do realise at first glance that this is no ordinary Ariya.
My test car had the €950 extra cost option “Stealth Grey” paintwork which really suited the car and highlighted the red accents as well as the black roof and body aerokit. Overall then the Ariya NISMO is a bit of a head turner.
What’s it like inside?
The cabin is impressive with nice quality materials evident throughout and the fit and feel of everything is very good indeed.
The seats are finished in a lovely combination of cloth and alcantara with red accents throughout which enhances the sporting tone of the cabin.
The fully configurable digital dash is one of the best I have seen of late. I particularly like the fact that though digital the display can be configured to look like analogue dials again in keeping with the sporting theme.
The central touchscreen operates most functions such as climate, audio and so forth. Nissan rather wisely put a row of haptic touch buttons on the panel beneath the screen for the most used features regarding the the climate control. Unfortunately though they often require a second prod to function and as they are integrated flat into the lower dash panel (not raised like you might expect a button to be). It makes them sometimes fiddly to use on the go. There are the same style haptic touch “buttons” for drive modes and e-Pedal. Again a real button would have been preferable.
At least Nissan have tried to ensure that everything is not done via interaction with a touchscreen. There is also voice activation which I found worked quite well.
The driving position is excellent, you sit slightly higher than you expect of a sports type car but it does give a commanding view of the road ahead. I would prefer to be able to sit a bit lower where you feel more integrated with the car rather than perched in it.
Accommodation is excellent with lots of head and legroom both front and rear. The boot can hold about 408 litres with the rear seats up. That is though smaller than offered in rivals from Skoda and VW.
There is a host of standard kit too numerous to detail here but highlights include, Nissan’s Pro pilot driver assist systems, emergency braking, pedestrian and cyclist detection, a head-up display, Apple Car Play and Android Auto, Bose stereo system, wireless phone charging, and intelligent blind spot monitoring to name but a few.
What about performance?
The Ariya NISMO boasts a dual motor e-4orce all wheel drive system. Nissan quote a 0 to 100km/h time of just 5 seconds and I must say though Idid not test this it certainly feels that quick with a massive shove in the back under full acceleration. Power output is some 429 bhp (435PS) with a mighty 600Nm of torque. An 87 kWh battery supplies the energy.
Over some 600km of testing I returned an average energy consumption of 25kW per 100km resulting in a real world range of just 330km against the claimed WLTP range of 430km. That was a disappointing result frankly and I also did a run from Naas to limerick and back to establish a real world motorway test but barely bettered the overall test average of 25kW/100km. Therefore you can expect a real world range of around the 330km mark for mixed driving conditions. For a car in this class that lags behind rivals. Furthermore at a max charge rate of 130kW its behind competitors here too who with 800volt systems can charge more quickly over a given time. On a fast charger it took me 35 minutes to go from 20% to 80%.
Whats it like to drive?
It is very quiet on the road, accelerates rapidly and actually handles well too despite its almost 2.2 tonne mass. For a car with such sporting overtones it does not however deliver the agile nimble handling you might have expected from a NISMO department product. Certainly Nissan have done a pretty good job here but in the end the laws of physics win out and trying to get 2 tonnes to change direction in a precise and nimble manner is at best challenging. Ultimately I concluded that this Ariya is a reasonably engaging car to drive but its no sports car!
The ride is compromised too it is very firm and not in a good sports car like way. You really feel the road imperfections and even on a smooth motorway it bobs about constantly. In the final analysis then it is fast, it handles and grips well thanks to that all-wheel drive system, but ultimately it is not truly rewarding to drive as you might have expected of a NISMO badged product.
Hugh’s Verdict.
At the beginning I asked is the NISMO badge justified as it does raise expectations.
Is this then a true NISMO icon? Maybe not. It does not have the drama of say the GTR however it is a family EV with attitude in a world of very bland electric cars and that certainly makes it worth noticing.
In this class for ultimate driver thrills I’d go for the Hyundai IONIQ 5N.
That said the Ariya NISMO succeeds as a quick comfortable performance Crossover, but it stops short of being a thrilling drivers car and at €68,495 that is a real compromise.