2025 Nissan ARIYA

How’s the tech? Contrary to the Ariya's modern interior design, the technology features are a big disappointment. The matching 12.3-inch screens for the instrument cluster and the infotainment are large enough by today's standards, but the software powering them feels dated. On top of that, finding what you want in the Ariya's various on-screen menus is difficult and unintuitive. Wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay is standard, but Android Auto works through a wired connection only. The Ariya's voice controls are also hard to figure out, and entering a navigation destination that way is an exercise in frustration.

The Ariya features Nissan's ProPilot 2.0 system that allows for hands-free driving on mapped highways in certain conditions, and it does a good job of slowing and accelerating smoothly while keeping the Ariya well centered in its lane. But if you find yourself in a scenario where you're not on a mapped highway or, for whatever reason, the hands-free mode deactivates, the regular adaptive cruise control is a constant annoyance. It does a poor job of detecting when your hands are on the wheel, and you end up having to shake the wheel for it to realize that your hands are indeed there. The shaking required is enough to defeat the lane keeping system and actively swerve the vehicle. Other cars' systems are much less intrusive.

And in another strange choice (that's becoming a theme with the Ariya), the blind-spot warnings are shown in the head-up display only when adaptive cruise control is activated. That means if you're driving on the street or if you're driving on the highway without adaptive cruise on, you lose out on those warnings in the head-up display.

How are the range and efficiency? The EPA estimates that an Ariya has the most range with the large battery pack and single motor with 289 miles on a single charge. Our dual-motor test vehicle had a lower 257-mile estimate. We ran it on our standardized real-world range test, and we managed a slightly better 265 miles. This is an average distance for a small dual-motor electric SUV.

We also measured its efficiency, finding that our test vehicle used 36.3 kWh of electricity for every 100 miles driven. Other dual-motor EVs we've tested, such as the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Ford Mustang Mach-E and Volkswagen ID.4, were all more efficient than the Ariya. When it's time to charge at a public DC fast-charging station, Nissan says the Ariya can charge up to a rate of 130 kW, going from 20% to 80% capacity in 40 minutes with the extended-range battery. That's decent, but other EVs are generally a little quicker to charge.