Ariya first drive: A decade after ground-breaking Leaf, Nissan quietly plays catch up

It’s taken it more than a decade to do so, but Japanese car maker Nissan is finally about to deliver its second electric passenger model to Australia, and its first electric “crossover” SUV – the Nissan Ariya.

The Ariya was first unveiled in Japan four years ago and went on sale for the first time in Japan in 2022. We can expect it to arrive on Australia shores in 2024, although Nissan is not committing to any particular date. It could be earlier. Or not.

Australia, as usual, finds itself at the tail end of a very long queue for new cars, and particularly for EVs, thanks to the country’s lack of vehicle emissions standards. The world’s big car makers send their EVs to where they are valued, and where they help them meet ever tighter emissions standards. Australia must catch on soon.

Indeed, the seven Nissan Ariya EVs that a group of journalists, car dealers and social media influencers got to test drive near Brisbane earlier this month had not yet been “homologated” for Australian roads, which meant that these drives had to be done on a private test track.

What we got to observe was that the Nissan Ariya will be a welcome addition to the now rapidly growing menu of electric options in Australia. But unlike the Leaf, it won’t be a ground-breaker. And it won’t be cheap – expect prices ranging from $70,000 for the base model to more than $90,000 for the top of the range.

Let’s hope the prices comes in lower than that. It may need to, because the competition is fierce.

The prices for Australia have not been released because the specifications for the Australian product have not been finalised, but what we can expect are several variants based around a 63kWh battery that offers a range of up to 450kms, and a 87kWh battery that will offer range of up to 600kms.

There’s a lot to like about the Ariya, including the range and its silence. And because it’s a really nice car. But unlike the Leaf that preceded it all those years ago, this is no break-through product here. Indeed, it probably owes more to the competitors that have beaten Nissan to the punch on electric SUVs.

And that probably says more about the state of the Japanese auto industry. Nissan’s launch of the Leaf was truly ground-breaking – it was the first mass market electric vehicle, won car of the Year in 2021, and has had total sales of more than half a million units.

But apart from a significant refresh of the Leaf in 2018 – delivering what was effectively a brand new vehicle with modern styling and much longer range, Nissan has been at a relative stand-still on EVs.

And in recent years, sales of the Leaf have fallen. The Tesla Model 3 overtook it on total sales in 2020, and now other car makers – particularly the aggressive Chinese EV makers such as BYD – are also chasing it down. Nissan is probably best placed among the Japanese cohort, but it’s lost that first mover advantage.

That’s reflected in some of the details of the Nissan Leaf performance and styling. Many of its best features look borrowed from other car manufacturers. That’s no bad thing, because in most cases they’ve picked the best aspects, but just don’t expect to see something radically new.

The Nissan Ariya may have the appearance of “just another crossover”, but it doesn’t drive like one. It’s smooth and responsive and comfortable. It’s not what you would call luxury, but it seems at first glance good quality.

And Nissan justifies its price because of that attention to detail. One of those is ensuring that the cabin is quiet – one of the challenges of EVs is to try and hide the road noise that no one had noticed because the engine was so loud.

Nissan has done an excellent job on this, thanks to thick floor lining and double glazing on the windows. It really is quiet special to drive along in relative silence after a lifetime of noisy and polluting fossil fuel engines.

The Ariya is the first to be built on Nissan’s new electric platform, which means flat floors and a lot of interior space. Nissan calls it “Timeless Japanese Futurism” – I just call it room to stretch.

Minimalist interiors are becoming de riguer for new EVs to add to the sense of space and the future, and the Ariya’s instrument panel is clean and elegant, and includes some wood panelling – along the lines of the Model Y  that the Ariya is supposed to be challenging.

The Ariya offers “haptic” buttons that are ingrained into the panels – which is a nice compromise between the screen focused Teslas and the traditional buttons of other car makers. That will appeal to many people.

The Ariya, however, is not going to be setting any land speed records any time soon. The UK edition of the less powerful 2WD model that we were driving states acceleration of 0-100km/h in 7.5 seconds.

But from a standing start it felt slower than what’s written on the tin, although in sports mode it seemed sprightly enough through the corners, and while the steering was good and accurate through the bends, there was evidence of some roll.

The Ariya is yet to be tuned to Australian conditions, so any final judgement here would be a little unfair. It’s a heavy vehicle, at 2 tonnes, but for some reason the centre of gravity didn’t feel as low as it does on other EVs.

There are some other things to observe about its driving – the regeneration is very light, even at its highest setting. That means you will need the brake to stop at traffic lights and to slow through most corners.

It’s curious why so many traditional car makers choose to go this way – must be something about what they think the mass market will want. Most EV drivers I know think that solid regen, and one pedal driving, is one of the best aspects of the electric transition.

So it’s going to be interesting to see how the Nissan Ariya finds a hole in the market. There a number of competing electric crossover SUVs in the same space – some of them particularly impressive – particularly the Model Y, the Ioniq 5 and the EV6. They are taking cars in a new direction, for different reasons.

One senses that Nissan – like other car-makers, particularly the Japanese ones (the Toyota bz4X and the Subaru Solterra,  and also VW’s ID.4) that will all be hitting the Australian market in the coming 12 months or so – is more focused on transitioning existing clientele to electric rather than pushing the boundaries and attracting new buyers.

The Ariya’s range, comfort, silence and familiarity will be reassuring to many buyers. And maybe that’s enough in the next stage of the market. But how long will EVs at these prices be sustainable as the Chinese manufacturers come in with more sub-$40,000 models, and Tesla also cuts its prices. Time will tell.