2023 Nissan Arya Review: A Stylish Electric Rogue

Strong Points: Stylish and luxurious interior, comfortable ride

Cons: Expensive parking tech malfunctioned in tests

• Power train: Single motor FF
• horsepower: 238
• EV range: up to 289 miles
• Starting price: $53,690

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Arya isn’t Nissan’s first attempt at a mass-market EV.the brand sold leaf Since 2010. But the Leaf epitomizes early adopter EVs. The Aria will make Nissan’s electric vehicle even more capable, practical and versatile.

AWD Aria has an exciting sound with 0-60 mph in less than 5.0 seconds and a new e-4 force (I always pronounce it e-four-orce) system. The FWD Ariya is solid, but it won’t beat your heart out. Steering is light. Suspension forgives bumps. Acceleration time from 0 to 60 mph is 7.2 seconds for him, not quick by EV standards.But it’s not EV that breaks the limit with torque needs do. And for new her EV buyers, the Arya will feel more approachable and crossover-like.

Nissan offers “e-Pedal” for non-one-pedal driving. With it enabled, it has a non-adjusting on/off switch that gives you plenty of regenerative braking without coming to a complete stop. I thought it was reasonable for stop-and-go driving in traffic, but disabled it on the highway. Nissan’s ProPilot Assist The hands-free system worked well for the 3 miles I was able to boot, GM’s Super Cruisethe current gold standard.

I would avoid Nissan’s in-car navigation system. I used it for pre-programmed loops. It’s hard to figure out what’s going on with the old graphics, and it turned out to be hard enough to take a wrong turn on the road I’ve been driving since I was 16.

Nissan describes the Ariya’s interior as “spa-like.” I won’t go that far. But the Ariya is more upscale than the typical Nissan rental car. The brand has effectively embraced flat floors. Lots of free flowing space. The rear seating area and cargo compartment looked ample. But there was no time to sneak home and start loading up on baby gear.

I’m not a fan of tactile buttonsBut in Ariya, Nissan makes the most of what I’ve experienced. Buttons are built into the wood panel. It looks cool and futuristic. But the controls are also well-spaced, reducing the attention-sucking precision that other vehicles require. please do not worry. You get a still tactile, centrally located volume knob.

Confession time: Automated parking technology is unreliable. I don’t use it much in Michigan and the whole thing feels like magic. It may take some effort, but I’ve never had multiple press car accidents.

I tested the Nissan system in the controlled environment of a Nissan parking lot. There, two Nissan engineers metaphorically held hands. This system worked well in a standard parking lot space. I chose my space and the car backed up quietly with no issues. Parallel parking confirmed my worst fears. The software simulated a person who doesn’t know how to parallel park. We made about 6 jerky corrections back and forth to get Arya about an inch off the bumper of the car in front. Nissan officials said it was the first time they had done such a thing.

Nissan offers quite a few options. Ariya offers his eight trims in both FWD and AWD. It has several outputs and ranges. Also, at a given price point he can choose whether he wants AWD performance or range. Ariya has a base MSRP of $43,190. The Empower+ I tested starts at $53,690.

An hour’s drive is not enough to reach a full verdict. AWD Ariya is a more exciting version on paper. I’m more interested in driving it. The FWD version lives up to its mission of being a robust, basic electric compact crossover. The main question is, if you want decent range (about 200 miles at a standard 80% fast-charge level), is solid solid enough for a car that costs nearly $50,000?

The next few years will be full of new EVs. These are the ones we’ve been most obsessed with.

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