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The Nissan Ariya NISMO is the sporty variant of the Ariya; it’s better to drive than the standard model, but don’t expect the same sort of high-performance rally car transformation as the Hyundai IONIQ 5 N.
The Ariya is Nissan’s all-electric family SUV. Even in front-wheel drive form it’s a step up from the last Nissan LEAF in terms of the quality of the driving experience, and the all-wheel drive model is an improvement again. Now we have the Ariya NISMO, which promises a more sporty offering – so does it live up to this promise?
The Nissan Ariya NISMO certainly looks sporty, with a new front splitter, twin diffuser and ducktail rear spoiler which help reduce the car’s lift coefficient by 40%, as well as side skirts, red trim details, and unique 20-inch cast-aluminium wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres, which deliver increased grip while reducing unsprung mass and improving brake cooling.
If you’re looking for a brighter paint option, then you’ll be disappointed, because Stealth Grey is the only colour available at launch.
There’s more power than the Ariya e-4ORCE (all-wheel drive) model: 435 PS compared to 306 PS, and a faster 0-62 mph time of 5.0 seconds compared to 5.7 seconds. However the torque is unchanged at 600 Nm, as is the top speed (124 mph). The battery size is also the same at 87 kWh; both models have all-wheel drive.
The Nissan Ariya has a fastback body style so it’s probably best described as a crossover; this also means that the boot, at 408 litres, isn’t as large as some SUV rivals, and it’s actually more shallow, and therefore smaller, than the front-wheel drive model (which is 466 litres). Under the boot floor there’s a very small space in the middle to store charging cables.
The flat floor helps to provide generous legroom for rear passengers, but up front there’s not much storage space for the driver and passenger. There’s a floating centre console, which can slide forwards and backwards to open up a big area between the front footwells, but there’s very little storage space underneath it.
The Ariya NISMO has a maximum towing capability of 1,500kg.
In terms of figures, the Nissan Ariya NISMO has more power and a slightly faster 0-62 mph acceleration time than the standard Ariya e-4ORCE. However more significantly than the statistics, the Ariya NISMO also features a number of engineering tweaks. The suspension has been reworked, with revised stabilisers, spring rates and shock absorber settings. Retuned steering results in a more direct feel, and ‘i-Booster’ increases braking performance with revised regeneration tuning. There’s also a new 60:40 rear-to-front torque bias.
So although the performance figures are good, they aren’t a massive improvement on the Ariya e-4ORCE; it’s the engineering tweaks that mean the Ariya NISMO is better to drive. It feels more agile, and therefore more rewarding. Grip is also impressive from the all-wheel drive system, ride quality is comfortable, and unlike some other performance-focused cars, it’s even refined on the motorway.
Different drive modes can be selected via a button on the wood-effect plastic floating centre console – Nismo, Standard, Eco and Snow. Except that the button is a ‘haptic’ button rather than being a proper button, and so it doesn’t give you any effective confirmation that it’s been clicked, so it’s not the most user-friendly drive mode selector. It’s the same for the e-Pedal button, which increases the brake regeneration so you don’t need to press the brake pedal to come to a stop in most instances. There are no steering wheel-mounted paddles to control brake regeneration but you can select ‘B’ for increased regen via the ‘button-style’ gear selector.
There’s a large touchscreen which allows you to swipe between four screens, with six shortcut buttons down the right-hand side; Home, Nav, Media, CarPlay, Climate, and the top shortcut is, unusually, for ‘Notifications’. There are basic climate control buttons on the plastic dashboard – which, again, aren’t actually physical buttons that give you proper feedback – for features such as cabin temperature, fan and demist. You need to go into the climate shortcut to access full climate controls.
The lane departure warning has an intrusive intervention on the steering and there’s no obvious way to switch this off via the touchscreen. Instead you have to control the safety assistance systems via fiddly buttons on the steering wheel, scrolling through menus in the driver’s display screen; a physical button or even a menu on the touchscreen would be more user-friendly.
The Nissan Ariya NISMO has an official WLTP combined electric driving range of 261 miles, which is considerably down on the 314 miles of the Ariya e-4ORCE, and less than many rivals. However the real-world range was better than many other EVs: after a week of mixed driving, the range averaged 252 miles, which is only around 10 miles less than the official figure. WLTP consumption of 2.44 miles per kWh confirms that the Ariya NISMO isn’t particularly efficient.
The Nissan Ariya NISMO has a maximum DC rapid charging rate of 130 kW, which again, is slower than many rivals; it can AC charge at 22 kW. The Ariya has moved to CCS charging rather than CHAdeMO which was used by the LEAF and the e-NV200 van.
The Nissan Ariya NISMO is priced at £56,620 which is actually less than the £58,590 for the Ariya e-4ORCE Evolve that we tested.
The Ariya is also available with front-wheel drive and a 63 kWh or 87 kWh battery, or with e-4ORCE all-wheel drive and the 87 kWh battery. Each option has trim levels of Advance and Evolve.
The Nissan Ariya NISMO is the best Ariya model to drive, yet it doesn’t have a big price premium, so this is the model to go for if you want best value. The Ariya NISMO looks more sporty, has more performance and feels more agile, as well as having excellent levels of grip. However the driving range isn’t huge, the charging rate isn’t as fast as most rivals, the boot isn’t particularly big, and the lane departure warning system is intrusive and not easy to switch off. Perhaps the main message to communicate to manage the expectations of potential buyers is that the NISMO badge doesn’t mean a dramatic transformation to an electric rally car like the Hyundai IONIQ 5 N. The Nissan Ariya NISMO gains a Green Car Guide rating of 9 out of 10.
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