Long-term report: What is life like the with Nissan Ariya?

If there’s one topic guaranteed to provoke a debate amongst EV drivers – it’s where to charge when you’re out and about.

I’m the custodian of a Nissan Ariya we have on the fleet at the moment, described by the manufacturer as a luxury coupe crossover, and most of the charging I do is via the Podpoint device on the outside of our house.

By and large, there haven’t been any problems with that since early September when the car was delivered. There was one occasion, however, when the cable attached to the wall unit just wouldn’t seem to budge, no matter what I tried.

Repeated unlocking and locking of the car (as recommended by someone on the internet, of course) did eventually solve the problem but the experience did leave me feeling a tiny bit concerned that the situation might arise again. It hasn’t so far though!

On the road, I tend to use the BP Pulse network, whereas an EV-owning mate of mine swears by Instavolt. Each to their own, I suppose.

Incidentally, that mate and I headed off to a music gig in the Ariya recently – and it’s fair to say he was mightily impressed with the car. When you’ve been driving a particular model for a few weeks, it’s easy to take your surroundings for granted but my pal Steve loved many aspects of OX73DZM – commenting in particular on how peaceful the cabin was.

He was also interested in the three drive modes the car is equipped with: sport, normal and eco. Switching from normal to sport made an instant difference but we weren’t on the road for long enough to assess the difference the eco mode might have made.

The Nissan Ariya has been available to the members of the Great British public for three years now and bearing in mind that nothing stays the same in the world of automotive for long, the manufacturer has made a few announcements recently.

Back to the model we have on loan at the moment though – and it’s fair to say we’ve been more than happy. A tiny niggle might be that it thinks the key isn’t present (even though it is) when I’m trying to head out for the day, but that leads to a delay of perhaps a few seconds so not really a problem.

One major plus point is that although we’re clearly heading into the colder months of the year, there has been no noticeable dip in the available range. The figure of 250 or so miles on the car’s official spec sheet remains perfectly achievable even in mid-November.

Word reaches me that our time with OX73DZM is coming to an end and we’ll be sorry to see the car leave us.