Nissan Ariya long-term test: The family EV reminds us why it’s an award-winner

Nissan Ariya long-term test: The family EV reminds us why it’s an award-winner


Find your Nissan Ariya

Deals from our trusted partners on this car and its predecessors…

Find your perfect new car

Or are you looking to sell your car?

9/10 sellers got the price they expected

Advertisement

Decision

The market may have moved on, but the Nissan Ariya is already doing a good job of reminding us why we named it our Car of the Year 2022. It’s not perfect, and it looks a little expensive, but it does the family-EV thing well.

  • Distance: 8,036
  • Efficiency: 3.1 miles/kWh

Do you remember 2022? It seems a long time ago, and in the fast-paced world of the electric car market, it is true. Back in the summer of 2022, the Nissan Ariya was crowned as the Auto Express Car of the Year. It stood out due to its high-quality cabin, comfort and refinement, not to mention strong performance and an official range of 309 miles from its electric powertrain.

Flash forward to 2024 and the market for electric family SUVs is pretty saturated. So does the Nissan Ariya still justify its two-year reputation in today’s market? A long-term trial feels like the best way to find out.

The car you see here comes from the top of the Ariya range and, priced from £54,840, this twin-engined e-4ORCE Evolve looks very expensive on paper.

That Ceramic Gray paint job is another £745 over the list price, and our car also got the £1,995 Sport Pack. This gives you 20-inch wheels and the Nappa leather interior trim of the top Evolve+ models. However, it doesn’t keep up with the power boost which pushes the Ariya Evolve+ up to 388bhp from the Evolve’s 301bhp, dropping the already brisk 5.7-second 0-62mph time by 0.6 seconds. You need more than £4,000 to upgrade from Evolve to Evolve+ and having tried both, we wouldn’t bother. A normal car is fast enough.

More comments

Detailed inspection
Road tests

Still, even with just these two options, our Ariya retails at £57,580. This puts it in the same field as the mid-range Audi Q4 e-tron or the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX, but the recently acquired Renault Scenic could be a serious challenge for our Nissan.

So how are Ariya’s highlights doing, two years after her award? The cabin still looks pretty neat, especially in Evolve trim, with its bells and whistles.

Deep-pile floor mats that span the full width of the cabin are a bit of an attraction, but the winter weather means we’ll soon find out just how easy it is to clean. I also love the aforementioned blue Nappa leather trim, which is accompanied by soft blue suede-type materials on the dash and door inserts.

It’s really nice with all the original (and original-looking) materials inside, including a wood-effect panel that sweeps across the dash and houses the unusual touch controls for the heating and ventilation.

Between the seats is an Ariya sliding center console that can be moved forwards and backwards electrically – but it doesn’t seem to add much in terms of practicality.

Controls and subsystems are located inside the wide infotainment screen above the dash. Its resolution is not as good as on the best screens from rivals, but it is one of the easiest systems to use. Nissan’s menu design and, in particular, the instrument cluster can seem a little confusing, but once you start using the Ariya, you realize that prioritizing ease of access to information over beautiful graphics pays off.

One immediate bug is that the obvious place to put your phone is on the wireless charging mat under the center armrest, but Android users need a wired connection to use Android Auto (Apple CarPlay is wireless). Because there’s no USB socket near that usable phone storage area, you have to follow a long cable or move your phone so it’s out of the slot in the front of the center console next to the USB hub.

Our Ariya has over 8,000 miles on the clock, most of which have been hard work in the Nissan UK press fleet. However, as you would expect, it holds up very well in terms of hardware and performance.

Our Ariya may have 301bhp and a sub-six-second 0-62mph time but, as is often the case with electric cars, such eye-opening numbers don’t translate into a driving experience. However, although the suspension is sometimes noisy, it takes the edge off the bumps very well and, after the initial lean when turning into corners, keeps the body well controlled.

The results haven’t been very impressive so far, though. January’s cold weather has resulted in a return of more than 3.0 miles per kWh, with indicated full-charge range hovering around 210 miles.

The caveat is that my driving life tends to involve a lot of very short trips around town as well as regular trips on the highway. During those long A- and B-road trips, where the car cruises more gently between traffic lights and roundabouts, efficiency numbers tend to improve to 3.5mi/kWh. We’ll see how that develops as the experiment continues.

Example: Nissan Ariya e-4ORCE Evolve
On board since: January 2024
New price: £54,840 (£57,980)
Strength training: 2x e-motors, 87kWh battery, single-speed automatic, 4WD
CO2/tax: 0g/km/0%
Options: Sport Pack (20-inch wheels, Nappa leather upholstery, £1,995), Ceramic Gray (£745)
Insurance*: Batch: 42/Quote: £1,387
Distance: 8,036
Efficiency: 3.1 miles/kWh
Any problems? None so far

*Insurance quote from the AA (0800 107 0680) for a 42-year-old in Banbury, Oxon, with three points.

Steve checks the Auto Express website; organizing new content, promoting online traffic and managing the web team. He has been an automotive journalist, road tester and editor for more than 20 years, contributing to titles including MSN Cars, Auto Trader, The Scotsman and The Wall Street Journal.