2023 Nissan ARIYA EVOLVE+ – Road Test

The completely new 2023 Nissan ARIYA has been advertised for more than a year, so it’s very familiar and ever since we set our eyes on it we’ve been anticipating the opportunity to spend a week driving one. As an EV and an SUV – it’s Nissan first stab in this marketplace. The Leaf has been around for more than a decade, so Nissan know what they’re doing with regards to car EV’s – but how will their venture into the eSUV segment fair?

Note: Lots of pictures and loads of details in this review

What Is It?

100% electric crossover
Entirely new Mid-sized electric SUV
It’s big, but not too big – and that’s a good thing
FWD
238 hp & 221 lb-ft Torque (these are NOT good numbers for an EV BTW)
3-position Drive Modes – Sport, Snow and Eco
Range – the all-important range is 490 km* (for the VENTURE+ – your distance may vary)
6 Trim levels: ENGAGE; EVOLVE e-4ORCE; VENTURE+; EVOLVE+; PLATINUM+ e-4ORCE and PREMIERE e-4ORCE
The test vehicle is the mid-level EVOLVE+ with a projected range of up to 465 km
Front and rear capacitive door handles with approach unlock/lock plus Walk away lock/unlock – you never need to take the key out of your pocket – walk up and it unlocks. Walk away and it locks – we absolutely LOVE this feature!! The problem was, the following week with a different car I kept walking away from the car and forgetting to lock it!
Up to 1,500 lbs towing capacity

How Does It Look?

A great looking SUV! It’s nose is well proportioned and looks attractive – completely the opposite of many SUV’s these eyes have to endure on a daily basis
Nicely proportioned and looks great from any angle
Great looking 19” aero wheel covers
The flat pearl metallic blue/grey paint is really nice
The two-tone Blue/Black paint job is a $950 option – the only option on this vehicle

What’s It Like Inside?

Interior layout is nice, with only one knob/button – the stereo volume control
At night the interior light glows through panels in the doors and under the dash – VERY cool!
Everything is placed where it’s easy to reach at a glance. The climate control buttons are Haptic touch controls (as is the steering) – Your touch activates them, and they respond with a simulated touch back as a haptic response. We’re not a fan of anything that isn’t a button or knob, but this system works well. You can control just about everything on the large screen in addition to the buttons
Zero Gravity Seats – help minimize pressure hot spots on the body. After tweaking them to my liking in the first few minutes, I didn’t have to adjust them again – that’s pretty rare for me. The suede / Pleather seats are very comfortable and grippy
2-person memory driver seat (including mirrors) with reverse tilt-down feature – I wish all vehicles came with that!! Also, you can set the memory while driving – way too many vehicles block you from doing it while driving which is very annoying when you’ve just found the ‘sweetspot’
Heated (but not cooled) front seats, with 6-way power driver + 4-way power lumbar adjustment
The front passenger seats is 4-way with power lumbar adjustment
Dual-zone auto temperature control with 2nd row air vents & hybrid heater – not very effective because the entire floor is open and the temperatures just mixes together!
The A/C couldn’t put a dent in the 32° C heat we were having – I ended up just putting the window down to get some circulation in the car
Fully customizable digital instrument cluster
Coloured Heads-Up Display (HUD) – always a favourite for us, but there wasn’t much info on it other than the speed limit and the speed we were travelling. I checked the menu and everything was switched on, so I guess it’s only giving more info when you engage the cruise control and/or the navigation, which we didn’t use
Digital Intelligent Around View Monitor (I-AVM) – we just loved this feature, you can see all around the vehicle when you’re parking or reversing. There’s a dedicated camera button on the dash to bring it up at any time, not just while reversing
“Power-centre storage with tray-table” – The only storage appears to be for a phone, because there wasn’t any storage anywhere in the console – why it has to power move is beyond reason. As for the tray-table – no idea what that was supposed to be, there was no table. The only possible explanation for this would be the middle glovebox folds down and stays flat thereby creating a ‘table’ but that’s really stretching it when Nissan claims “power-centre storage… with tray-table”!
2 Glove boxes – side by side in the dash
Power Panorama Moonroof with power open/close/tilt and power sunshade. One-touch open/close
There’s plenty of knee and legroom for rear passengers with the completely flat floor – wouldn’t want to be the person in the middle though with that hump in the seat
The 2nd row passengers also get their own AC/heat controls and bum warmers
The cargo area offers plenty of space and flexibility with folding 60/40 seat as well as Nissan’s Divide-N-Hide cargo system with up to six configurations within a series of flexible shelving arrangements – it’s a nice system that is very useful
Power lift gate – pretty much standard these days, especially in EV’s
Cargo Space: with all seats folded, max capacity: (1,690 L). As a comparison the much smaller Nissan Rogue is considerably bigger at 74 cu.ft (2,098 L)
There is NO frunk

Infotainment System

Wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto
Siri Eyes-Free / Google Assistant voice recognition helps you keep your eyes on the road
Three choices of navigation: Nissan’s Door to Door Navigation (Optional) or use Google Maps or Waze
As with just about all manufacturers now, Nissan have a dedicated app for interacting with the vehicle called MyNISSAN app (subscription required though). More on that in the EV Features (below)
Bose Premium Audio System with 10 Speakers (+4) – is acceptable…nothing more. We couldn’t get a proper front/rear balance from the sound – it just stayed in the front or went 100% to the rear
4 illuminated USB charge ports (front & rear – type A & C)
Wireless device charging – it’s under the armrest and the only thing there – there’s no storage in the armrest!

Safety Features & EV Features – More in-depth details are below “What’s The Verdict?”

Related Articles: Charging, Recharge Times & Free Charging <<

MyNISSAN app
From Nissan: Nissan Connect Canada is a service provided by SiriusXM for Nissan LEAF CARWINGS, NissanConnect EV, and other Nissan vehicles in Canada. The MyNISSAN Canada App is available to all Canadian Nissan owners, and owners with an active NissanConnect Services Premium package subscription will experience enhanced app functionality. The MyNISSAN Canada App allows owners to remotely start/stop their vehicle, check the battery charge status, and monitor the vehicle’s acoustics and heating. The MyNISSAN Canada App is compatible with compatible connected devices.

Don’t get me started on the “MyNISSAN app”!! Ok, I have to tell you about it ‘cause it’s an integral part of this vehicle and this review. First of all, you get it free (I think) when you first purchase your new Nissan. After a certain time, it switches to a subscription meaning $$ per month. That’s fine if you want it – or don’t – and you drive a regular ICE vehicle – but it’s a necessary requirement for an EV!!

I tried to sign up for it, cause you know I kinda want to charge the battery and schedule charge times and generally know what’s going on with the ARIYA. Yeah no. Downloaded the app and scrambled around trying to find the VIN, then it wants me to agree to a bunch of terms and conditions, then I find the VIN and enter it and then it wants me to agree to Sirius Radio terms and conditions. FINE I’ll do it. Then it wants me to upload my ownership and proof of purchase. What?! Delete.

So there were are. No scheduling my charge and zero information in the actual vehicle what’s going on other than it’s plugged in and charging. (In the menu on the driver’s binnacle I found a little bit more information, but not much + it’s an odd place to put it instead of on the main screen). No indication that you can pre-cool/pre-heat the ARIYA prior to departure while plugged in – even with the app. We’ve driven plenty of PHEV and EV’s over the past 5 years or so and this is the first time we’ve ever encountered this issue. It needs to be mandatory for anyone that drives an EV to actually know what’s going on – not just the owner! It’s bad enough that you have to have a subscription (think used vehicle owner$) wherein you have to pay to get the info. As an example the Ford app. I have my wife’s car and my dad’s car in the app. I’d have my truck in it too, but it’s too old for it. It costs nothing and only requires me to enter the VIN to get full access to the app and the vehicle. I do it all the time with Ford test vehicles. Just take a picture of the VIN barcode – boom. Done. All for FREE

So How Quick Is It & How Does It Handle?

It feels very solid and very quiet at all speeds
Is it Quick? Well what do you mean by ‘quick’? If you mean swift but not exciting – the low horsepower and torque really kill the power and speed of this vehicle when you compare it to much faster and waay more fun EV’s like the IONIQ5 and Mach-e
In Sport mode it’s much quicker, but not even to the level of comparative vehicles
As a large-ish SUV, you can’t be comparing or even driving it as a “sporty” vehicle, but nimble is a word… and that would not apply here
It’s terrific around town and smooth on the highways, but don’t get any ideas about pushing to see where its limits are
Dynamic Driving Technologies that include: Intelligent Trace Control; Active Ride Control; Hill Start Assist; Automatic Brake Hold (Details below, at the end)

Horsepower: 238
Torque: 221
Top Speed: N/A
0-100 km/h (sec): 7.6

What Does It Cost? For up-to-date pricing and options visit: www.Nissan.ca
To Buy…
2023 ARIYA starting prices: $55,843 / ARIYA Evolve+: $67,843 (according to the website)
As Tested: $65,948 (according to the listing of the actual vehicle)

To Operate…

Rated at (eL/100 km): City – 2.2 / Highway – 2.6 / Combined – 2.4
21 Kwh/100 km (the lower this number, the more “fuel efficient” the vehicle is)
Annual cost to operate (Transport Canada): $642
The ARIYA DOES qualify for the Federal Rebate of up to $5,000 (page 5)
EV Incentives in Quebec are (up to $8,000) and B.C gets $3,000, on top of the $5,000 Federal Grants
For vehicles that do qualify click HERE

Warranty:

Basic: 3 years/60,000 km
Powertrain: 8 years/160,000 km
Roadside Assistance: 3 years

The Competition
Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai IONOC5, Kia EV6, Tesla Model Y

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good: Looks great, build quality, a nice overall SUV
The Bad: Sum-what sluggish off the line, leisurely even – a perfect ‘old man’s” SUV with pillowy-soft suspension
More Bad: Just not much fun to drive, but Nissan could correct that with a software update: allow the Sport mode to be the default mode… problem solved. Ford have it with the Mach-e, no reason Nissan couldn’t do it
The Extra Ugly: MyNISSAN app

What’s The Verdict?
The ARYIA can be summed up with one word: Nice. It’s nice, but… we didn’t hate it, but we didn’t love it either.

We’re big fans of the low-end torque and grunt of electric vehicles – that’s what makes them such a blast to drive… and it’s completely missing from the ARIYA. They might as well have just dropped a 1.5L 3-cylinder engine into this and called it a day. No oomph, no fun – even in Sport mode it only gets a little bit closer to the competitions’ slow mode. It’s about as exciting as watching Joe Biden getting lost on the Whitehouse lawn. Why is it like this? No idea, because Nissan vehicles are generally fun to drive – this is just MEH. Comparing the ARIYA to its main competitors is unfair. Whereas they are lots of fun to own, the ARIYA only excels at being ‘nice’. (I’m REALLY sorry Nissan, but that’s the truth, the whole truth and nothing but).

Think of the ARIYA as the next step up if you already own a Nissan Leaf EV (or stepping up from a Rogue) – you’ll notice a big difference and you’d be very happy with your new wheels. Oh and if you skipped past my experience of the MyNISSAN app – go back and read it. That alone is enough to say NO to this vehicle

EV & Safety Features – There is a TON of info here, so be pre-warned!

ARIYA’s EV Features:

178 kw AC synchronous motor with 238 hp & 221 lb-ft torque
91 Kwh (usable: 87 Kwh) lithium-ion battery with liquid cooling
Battery Heater
2 KW On-board Charger & CCS Quick-Charge Port
Vented Front & Rear Disc Brakes
Regenerative Braking System with E-Step Mode (one-pedal driving, sort of)
Portable Charge Cable (120V/240V EVSE)
eStep – one foot pedal driving, rarely use the brake… except it always required the brake. Even sitting at traffic lights it wanted to creep forward just like a traditional car. We used it though, because it was much more aggressive at regenerating the brakes/battery

Charge Times etc (from Nissan)
Battery: 87 kWh
Charge Time (est.): 40 min [*]
Its liquid-cooled thermal management system means better performance in hot and cold weather, plus better protection when using fast chargers.
120-V standard outlet – 35+ hours
240-V home and public charging – 14 Hours, Full Charge
480-V public DC Quick Charging – 40 Minutes @ 130 kW Quick Charge / 90 Minutes @ 50 kW Charge

Charge Times (our Real-world Experience)
** Before I could charge at home, I had to remove the cover of my outdoor electrical outlet. For some reason Nissan have these ginormous plugs at the end instead of a normal one and there is no way to plug it in without removing the cover

Day 1 Monday – Picked it up with 99% charge and 439 kms in the tank
Day 1 Monday – Got home at 83% and 388 kms of range
Day 2 Tuesday – After driving around a bit and finally plugging it in for juice, charge time was estimated at 34 hrs and 6 minutes! It was at 55% and 247 km range
Day 3 Wednesday – Plugging it into our 110V wall socket for 12 hours (8 pm – 8am) netted us 68% and a range of 300 kms
Day 4 Thursday (am) – Another night of charging got us to 80% and 354 kms of range
Day 4 Thursday (pm) – After driving around town, DID NOT charge it overnight. Started Friday at 68% 301 kms
Day 5 Started Friday at 68% 301 kms range. More driving around. Time to recharge as we were getting down to 51% and from previous experience with EV’s trying to get it back up to 100% with only a wall plug is sheer torture. So we went for dinner and plugged in to a Flo charge point – first time using them. Easy peazy – just plug it in and off for food. Limited to one hour at this location though. At 6.5 kW we went from 46% 215 kms to 51% 235 kms in 1 hour. Cost: Free. Getting better, but we wanted more so off to the local LCBO store parking lot and plugged in there. Went home to watch a movie, leaving it for a few hours should help now. Plugged in at 7:18pm with 50% and 229 km range. Unplugged at 11:35 with 82% and 379 kms of range. Cost: Free. Drove home and plugged it in overnight.
Day 6 Saturday – Plugged in at home last night at 11:40 pm checked in at 10:08 am Saturday with 92% and 423 km range (will be fully charged in 5 hrs 46 mins)

EV Verdict
Learning from the past – never let it drop below 50% because it is an issue getting the charge back up close to 100% to enable me to return it on a Monday morning with a 70-80% charge… That only applies to me because of my time restrains – I pick it up full, I have to return it close to full – within a week. Also, I tend to let it drop by not plugging in every night. Most people will never have the same issues I have – they’ll just plug in every night and all will be well. If I owned an EV I wouldn’t be so paranoid about keeping the charge high, because I’d make it up during the days I don’t drive anywhere – plus I’d just top it up while going shopping etc. No special trips to the high speed charge points. It would be a HUGE difference if we had a high speed plug at home, then none of this would be an issue. We just got back from a trip to Germany and everywhere we went there were charge points available and we weren’t even looking for them! Also, their home electric plugs are 240V – double our plugs. Add in a home charging system and it’s already higher than our traditional high speed plugs at the various places such as the grocery stores. In Canada we need to get that sorted out before demanding everyone switch to and EV. The bonus right now though is the charging is free!

SAFETY – Safety Shield 360
(Several cameras, radar technology and sonar work together to create a system that looks in front, behind and beside the vehicle as it drives)

Intelligent Forward Collision Warning – It watches two cars ahead, monitoring your speed and distance, and when it detects sudden deceleration, it can give you a warning to slow down.
Intelligent Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection – can provide audio and visual alerts and even apply the brakes to help avoid or mitigate a collision
Blind Spot Warning – was disappointing only because Nissan/Infiniti usually place the blind spot light – nice and high on the A-pillar where it’s very easy to get your attention. For some reason they’ve put it on the outside mirrors like all the other manufacturers. There’s probably a reason for it, but we just loved the other location
Rear Automatic Braking – will actually stop the vehicle if it detects something that may not be in your field of vision
Rear Cross Traffic Alert – can alert you to approaching cars that might be out of sight
Intelligent Around View Monitor with moving object detection – Four cameras combine to give you a composite, bird’s-eye view from above – works great, a regular single backup camera is sooo yesterday!
Lane Departure Warning – vibrates the steering wheel just enough to get your attention without being annoying
Driver Attention Alertness – analyzes driver steering behavior to provide an alert if signs of drowsiness or inattention are detected
High Beam Assist

Dynamic Driving Technologies
Intelligent Trace Control – Corner with confidence. Intelligent Trace Control can brake each wheel individually to help you steer effortlessly through a turn
Active Ride Control – Smooth out the bumps. By applying the brakes and adjusting engine torque, Active Ride Control can deliver a more comfortable drive
Hill Start Assist – Hill Start Assist holds the brake pressure, helping to prevent you from rolling backwards
Automatic Brake Hold – Once your vehicle is stopped, Auto Brake Hold helps maintain braking force, so you don’t need to keep your foot on the pedal