First Drive: Nissan gives its Ariya the Nismo treatment, but has it worked?

What is it?

Nissan’s Nismo division has been responsible for creating some of the most engaging to drive and technically brilliant Japanese performance cars over the past 40 years, and this promises to be the latest. Based on the Ariya, Nissan’s electric SUV, on paper it has all the right ingredients. Let’s see if the Ariya Nismo lives up to its name.

What’s new?

Building a hot electric SUV isn’t as silly as it sounds. Hyundai has showed how engaging a pure electric performance car can be with its Ioniq 5 N, while there’s a growing trend for fast, sportily-styled but still practical SUVs like the Volkswagen ID.4 GTX, Skoda Enyaq vRS, Kia EV6 GT and Ford Mustang Mach-E GT.

Nismo has taken the stylish, but pretty conventional, Ariya and whacked up the power to 430bhp, given it a suitable bodykit, and retuned the ‘e4orce’ four-wheel drive system that, according to Nissan, offers greater turning and lateral forces than the fearsome GT-R Nismo. Plus, the system can adjust the power sent to each wheel 10,000 times per second, giving a 12 per cent improvement to grip levels.

What’s under the bonnet?

Nissan already offers dual-motor, four-wheel drive versions of its Ariya, but here the wick has been turned up. Normal four-wheel drive Ariyas get two 215bhp electric motors, one for each axle, and are restricted to give a maximum of 302bhp. But, with the Nismo, they pack the full 429bhp, allowing it to dash to 60mph in around five seconds. There are different driving modes, with the full-fat Nismo setting giving 60:40 rear-biased power delivery.

The Nismo uses the same 87kWh battery pack as found in the rest of the Ariya range. But with its more powerful set-up and larger wheels shod in stickier tyres, it has the worst range of any other Ariya fitted with the 87kWh pack at 261 miles. A maximum DC rapid-charging figure of 130kW is distinctly average, too.

What’s it like to drive?

It may have 429bhp but the Ariya Nismo never really delivers the kind of shove that those numbers suggest. It’s quick, naturally, but that’s all. The same goes for the revised torque split – it may be more rear-biased, but it doesn’t really feel it, and seems quite neutral to drive. The same goes for the steering – it’s direct but lacks feel.

Nissan has given the Nismo a stiffer suspension tune, which is what you would expect from a car wearing the Nismo badge. But if the car were more engaging to drive, the harder suspension set-up would be more welcome.

It might be possible to look past some of this if the Nismo was relatively efficient, but it isn’t. In our tests we struggled to better 2.6 miles per kWh, which equates to a range of 226 miles.

How does it look?

You can’t criticise Nissan for playing it safe as there are Nismo badges everywhere. There’s also a chunky black bodykit that runs around the bottom of the entire car, while a large rear spoiler, a secondary duck spoiler on the boot, and Formula E-like foglight are the cherries on top. The 20-inch Enkei wheels really look the part, and overall, the Nismo strikes the right balance between the subtle styling of an ID.4 GTX and the look-at-me design of the Ioniq 5 N. You better like dark grey, though, as that’s the only colour it comes in.

What’s it like inside?

Again, Nissan has liberally splashed the Nismo name around the interior, and there’s plenty of red and black trim to give a racy feel. It kind of works but it’s at odds with the regular Ariya’s zen-like lounge feel – the Japanese lantern-mimicking ambient lighting and plush carpet really do jar with the Nismo vibe. Also, there is the sense that Nissan has throttled back on giving the Nismo a properly sporty interior – the seats, for example, may be trimmed in microsuede, but there are essentially the same chairs you get in other Ariyas. It’s still a roomy and practical car, though, with plenty of space in the back and the 408-litre boot is spacious enough.

What’s the spec like?

With the Nismo sitting at the top of the range, it naturally has plenty of equipment as standard. Along with the added Nismo touches, there’s a heated windscreen, heated front seats and steering wheel, electrically-adjustable front seats, a Bose sound system, and a heat pump, along with other goodies. But, in some ways, there’s nothing too remarkable to account for the car’s near-£57,000 list price.

Verdict

There’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the Nismo, as it’s a quick and refined sporty electric SUV that certainly stands out. The trouble is, Nismo is a name that builds expectations due to its back catalogue of thrilling and highly engineered petrol-powered sports cars, and the Ariya falls short.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N has shown that electric cars can be just as engaging to drive as combustion-powered cars, thanks to trick gearboxes, realistic sound effects, and a razor-sharp focus on engagement. Admittedly, at £65,000, the 5 N is notably more expensive, but for those looking for a motorsport-badged hot SUV, the price premium is probably worth it.