2026 Nissan Ariya Evolve e-4orce review

It’s been 84 years… or at least that’s what it feels like.

Four years in reality. Four years from the Nissan Ariya's launch in Japan to its arrival in Australia in September 2025.

Now, in fairness, a lot has happened in that time. Shipping problems, semiconductor shortages, lengthy compliance to meet Australian Design Rules, and this little thing called COVID-19.

But now we’ve finally got Nissan’s hotly anticipated second electric car, does it live up to all the hype? 

Frustratingly, a facelift is due to be revealed imminently at the Tokyo Motor Show, so the question is whether it is worth getting the original or waiting for the update that, fingers crossed, will come to us by 2027.

Let me walk you through what we have now and help you decide.

There are four grades in the Nissan Ariya line-up, with the range opening with a competitive starting price of $55,840 for the base Engage FWD.

There are then two mid-spec variants, the Advance and Advance+, both front-wheel drive and priced at $59,840 and $63,840, respectively, and a top-spec Evolve, which is what I had on test, and costs $71,840. All prices are before on-road costs.

As standard, the Ariya Engage comes with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, 12.3-inch infotainment screen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless charger, satellite navigation, dual-zone climate control, a reversing camera, and 19-inch alloy wheels.

This top-of-the-line Evolve, however, adds features such as 20-inch alloy wheels, nappa leather seats in blue, a powered steering column, increased towing capacity (1500kg v 750kg), adaptive headlights, memory function for the side mirrors, matte chrome window surrounds, tilt-view side mirrors, heated windscreen, and a three-phase on-board AC charger.

The main difference, though, is underneath: the Evolve gets two electric motors rather than one, giving it all-wheel drive. It also has more power and torque than the other grades, but it comes at the cost of driving range. More on that later.

If you don’t want or need all-wheel drive but want some nice-to-have features, such as heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, a 360-degree camera, a powered tailgate, and so on, you can get them lower down the range in the Advance.

It also comes with a good-quality 10-speaker Bose sound system, electronically controlled front seats, rear privacy glass, black cloth and leather-accented seats.

And you can even get a head-up display, a panoramic glass roof, ventilated front seats, and heated rear seats in the Advance+, all without going anywhere near $70K.

The only extra cost is if you want non-standard paint. Aurora Green is the free option, but there are five or six more, depending on the variant, and also a range of two-tone choices, costing either $995 or $1495.

All of its closest rivals cost similar money for their entry-level versions, with the Tesla Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive priced from $58,900, the BYD Sealion 7 Premium from $54,990, and the Kia EV5 Air Standard Range from $56,770, all before on-roads.

However, once you head to the top of the range, the price difference becomes more stark. 

At one end, you have the Sealion 7 Performance for $63,990, while at the other end, the Model Y Performance costs from $89,400. 

The EV5 GT-Line is the closest match to the Ariya’s Evolve at $71,770 (plus ORCs).

How much driving range you get in the Nissan Ariya depends on which version you buy.

The entry-level and mid-spec Engage and Advance use a 63kWh battery paired with a single, front-mounted 160kW electric motor offering 385km of driving range (WLTP).

The variant theoretically able to go the furthest is the Advance+, which uses a larger 87kWh battery and is still paired with a single front motor, but it’s more powerful at 178kW, with a claimed driving range of 504km.

The Evolve I had on test uses the larger 87kWh battery but teamed up with two 160kW electric motors, one on each axle, which makes it the most powerful but hampers the driving range that subsequently drops to 487km.

Energy consumption is rated at 20.8kWh per 100 kilometres for the Evolve, though in testing I found I used a considerably lower 17.0kWh through a mix of freeway and town driving. 

And that is fairly impressive, since, admittedly, I turned the e-Pedal off most of the time as I found it made the car jerky and uncomfortable to drive.

Unlike many EVs, the Ariya doesn’t have multiple levels of regenerative braking – such as low, medium or high, for example – and instead has the e-Pedal, which you either have on or off. 

Having it off makes for a much smoother drive, but theoretically it should come at the cost of energy efficiency, because it’s a lost opportunity to recharge the battery.

I charged the Ariya twice during the week I had it, driving about 500km. Once with a 300kW DC Tesla Supercharger, and then again with a 50kW DC Jolt charger.

EV critics like to focus on the time it takes to charge your car versus refuelling at the bowser. Yes, there is no scenario where the two can take the same amount of time, even when price parity is achieved.

However, even though I don’t yet own an EV, fitting it around my lifestyle when I do have them on test has become quite easy. 

The Tesla charger is near my gym, which is handy, but unlike some, I almost want the charge to take longer so I don’t have to come back mid-workout to unplug and move the car to avoid idle fees and blocking a space for someone else.

And the Jolt charger was in a pub car park. The first 7kWh was free, so that’s all I used.

According to Nissan, the Evolve can be charged from 0–100 per cent in 12.5 hours on a 7.4kW AC charger or 4.5 hours on a 22kW three-phase.

If using a DC charger, 50kW will get you from 10–80 per cent in 90 minutes, or a 130kW charger will do the job in 40.

In comparison, the Model Y’s range is between 435km and 466km, depending on the variant; the Sealion 7’s range is from 542km to 567km, and the EV5’s range is 400km to 555km.

No, the Nissan Ariya is a fully-electric car, just like the Nissan Leaf – the car maker’s first EV.

If you like the brand, Nissan offers hybrid power in the Qashqai small SUV and the X-Trail medium-sized SUV, both available as e-Power variants.

The Nissan Ariya is covered by the brand’s new 10-year/300,000km warranty, provided you continue to service it with Nissan.

There is also a separate warranty for the battery that's valid for eight years or 160,000km.

Servicing is every 12 months or 20,000km, and is capped at $299 for the first five years. The Ariya also comes with 10 years of roadside assistance.

Tesla’s Model Y, in comparison, has a less generous four-year/80,000km warranty, while the battery is covered on the same terms as the Ariya. Tesla also doesn’t set traditional interval-based servicing periods; instead, it uses a condition-based system.

Meanwhile, the Kia EV5 is covered by a seven-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, with a separate seven-year/150,000km warranty for the battery. Service intervals are set at 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first.

The BYD Sealion 7 comes with a six-year/150,000km warranty, with the battery covered for eight years or 160,000km, whichever comes first.

The Nissan Ariya will cost $2024 to comprehensively insure based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.

Despite only arriving on our shores in 2025, the Nissan Ariya launched in Japan all the way back in 2021, and has an ANCAP rating from 2022 based on testing by its sister organisation, Euro NCAP.

The Ariya scored highly across all four categories, with 95 per cent for its safety assist technology, 89 per cent for child occupant protection, 86 per cent for adults, and 74 per cent for vulnerable road users.

From the entry-level grade, the Nissan Ariya is well equipped with a range of safety features. As standard, it comes with a reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and adaptive cruise control, to name a few.

More information is outlined in the table below.

Overall, the safety systems are not overbearing, but if you set the lane-assistance features to their highest settings, the results can be quite different.

Whereas the lane-departure alert is a simple flashing warning in the lowest setting, in the highest you get a loud warning, urgent red lights on the cluster, and a strong vibration through the steering wheel, and the accompanying lane-keep assist’s intervention means being quite violently dragged back to the centre of the lane.

Fortunately, you can choose which setting you want it to be in, and it will stay that way – it doesn’t reset with every use of the vehicle.

The Ariya is a mid-size SUV, just like the Nissan X-Trail, but the two are quite different in proportions.

The X-Trail has a 70mm shorter wheelbase than the Ariya, offering less interior space, but it is 65mm taller and 85mm longer.

While it’s technically an SUV, like some other electric vehicles, such as the Kia EV6, its low-slung roof line gives it a smoother, more coupe-like look.

It looks best in profile, with the aluminium window trim and black roof and wheel arches complementing the aesthetic rather than standing out.

At the front, it sports a piano black grille panel, which isn't all that attractive and actually seems to be a bit of a dead-bug magnet.

What I really liked about the test car I had was the Akatsuki Copper paint. It costs extra, but it's worth considering because it’s attractive and you’ll never lose your car again.

I had several strangers approach me about it, saying how nice it was. Though, my dad called it brown and a friend orange, so clearly beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I also quite like the base Aurora Green colour, though I haven’t yet seen it out anywhere on the roads.

Across the rear, the Ariya gets a narrow LED light bar ending in tail-lights at either end, a small spoiler for improved aero, and a large black rear bumper.

But here’s the crack. The facelift is set to be revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show, featuring slimmer headlights, a cleaner grille-less front design, new wheels, an upgraded infotainment system, and suspension improvements. To wait or not to wait?

Much like the exterior, the Nissan Ariya's interior is plush and elegant, but there are some caveats.

The nappa leather is lovely and soft, making for comfortable seats, but the bluish tone isn’t particularly nice and seems at odds with the copper on the outside, as well as on highlights across the dash and doors.

The fake wood veneer on the dash and centre console is nice enough, but the decision to put haptic touch controls for the heating and ventilation, e-Pedal and drive modes on top of it is not a good one.

These 'buttons' look strange, and it’s also almost impossible to press them correctly. Too hard? Don’t work. Too soft? Still don’t work. 

There are two USB ports for connectivity – one Type-A and one Type-C – a 12V socket, and a wireless charger beneath the armrest. Annoyingly, because it’s tucked away, it’s easy to leave your phone in the car by mistake, which I did several times.

What I do like is the way the ambient light is projected. Rather than run-of-the-mill strip lighting, the Ariya’s lights come from behind patterned plastic, almost milk crate-style covers, which just look really cool. 

A very useful feature is that the centre armrest can be moved electronically, making it very easy to find the ideal position, no matter how tall you are.

In terms of space, as noted before regarding its overall size, there is plenty of room inside the Ariya.

The front row, especially, has a lot of space thanks to the floating centre console. Similar to the Hyundai Ioniq 5, there is an expanse between the two seats where you can theoretically store things. 

However, whereas some other EVs are using this space, which would be occupied by the transmission tunnel in an internal combustion-engined car, as a boxed-in storage area, the Ariya’s is just open, so you can’t put loose items there or they will roll around the car. I tried storing my handbag there, but it slid around too much.

It really needs a proper bag hook or a penned-in area, otherwise it’s just dead space. Additionally, beneath the armrest, there is only a shallow tray with no proper storage bin. There’s space in the front doors for a little bit more than a drink bottle, and two more cupholders in the middle, but not much, so there’s not much space to put things.

Second-row occupants fare reasonably well, with heated rear seats, map pockets on either side, rear air vents, and two USB-C ports. There is space for a bottle in both doors and two in the armrest if the middle seat isn’t in use.

Leg room is good, and I found the head room fine, though taller people might feel it’s more cramped and they’re pushing up against the sunroof because of the low roof line. 

The boot space is okay, though not especially generous for a medium SUV, offering 408 litres with the seats up and 1280L with them down. The floor is flat, making loading large items easy, and there are cubbies on either side for smaller bits and pieces. There is some space underneath the floor, but it’s limited to things like charging cables.

You can fit two child seats, with ISOFIX anchors on the outboard seats, though there are three top-tether points accessible via the boot.

If there’s one area where the Nissan Ariya is let down, it’s the infotainment.

The screen isn’t especially small, it’s industry standard, it just looks old and out of date on what is otherwise a modern and stylish SUV.

The menus all make sense, they just look like a Tom Tom system from the circa-late noughties, and there isn’t much you can actually do – it’s much more 'info' than 'tainment'. You can hook up your phone for wireless connectivity, use the sat nav, or find out about its energy use, and that’s pretty much it.

The cluster is more attractive and offers additional functionality for driver-assistance settings and the like.

Like many other electric and non-electric vehicles nowadays, the buttons are all haptic feedback, on the steering wheel, and, as noted, on the fake wood panels for the heating and cooling controls. The sole push button is for the volume, just beneath the main screen.

The facelift, due to launch in Japan next year, so likely in Australia the year after, is due to get an infotainment upgrade, so hopefully that improves things.

Nissan owners can also access some features through the NissanConnect Services app, including remote locking and unlocking, navigation, vehicle information such as battery charge and more. There's a free subscription for the first three years, after which there is a charge for some functionality.

For the most part, the Nissan Ariya is quite nice to drive and feels comfortably familiar to other Nissan models.

The Evolve I had on test uses the larger 87kWh battery and two 160kW electric motors, one on each axle, producing 290kW and 600Nm combined.

The ride is smooth on most surfaces, though it can be jittery and unsettled on poor ones, and it can clatter over large potholes or speed bumps.

There isn’t much body roll, though, and the steering is direct and well-balanced, making it easy to park and also turn sharply into tight corners. Grip from the Dunlop SP Sport Maxx 050 255/45 R20 tyres is also up to scratch.

It does feel a bit on the heavy side at times around town, but its off-the-line performance isn’t hampered by it if you put your foot down, with that instant burst of torque that you get with EVs with one or more powerful motors and larger batteries.

It’s quite quick, and you’ll never need to wonder if you can make that overtake or nip into that gap in traffic.

The Ariya is also well insulated from noise, with little road or wind noise in the cabin. If there’s one unpleasant noise, it’s the almost vacuum-like sound that comes when you accelerate in Sport mode. If there were ever a sound to convince the petrolheads they were right about EVs, that is it.

Like the Ariya, its rivals offer a mix of single-motor and dual-motor powertrains, though whether the former is front or rear-mounted varies.

The Model Y and Sealion 7 are both more dynamic and enjoyable to drive in their base configurations because they are rear-wheel drive, whereas the Ariya and EV5 are front-wheel drive in their entry-level variants.

The Ariya is a good car, but it could be better. Maybe if it had arrived four years ago we would have been more impressed, but the times have moved on.

In fact, in the US, it is already set to be axed due to low sales.

There are things it does well. It drives really nicely – e-Pedal excepted – the servicing and warranty offer is good, and it looks great.

But there are also some serious disappointments. The boot space isn’t competitive for a medium SUV, the haptic touch controls just need to go in the bin, and the infotainment needs to join the modern age.

The Ariya has been plagued by misfortune, but unfortunately, it might be a little too late to have the impact Nissan hopes for.

They say you should never meet your heroes. I wonder if the same is true of driving a car you’ve been excited about for a long time. 

A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.

Read more about Kathryn Fisk