‘A Nifty Nismo’ unsurprisingly took a test drive of the Nissan ARIYA NISMO.

‘ANN’ was contacted by Nissan Wessex Garages, Gloucester in under 1 hour of making his initial enquiry and took his test drive on 8th September 2025.

Please provide an OVERALL RATING for the Nissan ARIYA Nismo

Rate the car on its exterior

What did you like/dislike like about the exterior?

There is nothing to dislike about the NISMO, Nissan’s performance version of the ARIYA. It is a very sleek shape for an SUV: the special ‘stealth grey’ applied to NISMO cars, finished with red trim, makes it a genuine eye-turner, with plenty of visual accents to tell you it’s a NISMO. In my view, the ARIYA is one of the best-looking cars on the road and the NISMO takes it to another level.

The charging port is behind a door on the near side wing, and it is OK. It is a CCS-Type 2 combo. I didn’t notice whether there is a dashboard warning light or not to say whether the port door has been accidentally left open.

Rate the ARIYA NISMO on its interior

What did you like/dislike like about the interior?

Having driven an 87kW Evolve for the past three years (see our previous review on this excellent website!) we enjoy the spacious and comfortable interior. The NISMO is little different in terms of space and comfort but it’s a very welcoming cabin with a natural driving position. The steering wheel is fully adjustable using a conventional mechanical C clamp. Our previous ARIYA had an electronic adjustment that remembered the driver’s preference.

The seats are electrically adjustable. The red accents are brought to the interior which is dark throughout. It certainly has a luxurious, well-built feel which for some, might not reflect the sporty image but I really like it. There is loads of storage space and a completely flat floor which makes for a comfortable rear centre passenger position. The boot, if not huge, is pretty adequate but with the rear motors there isn’t any space under the floor panels.

Some of the controls have been improved and there is no doubt that this is an advanced car. However, gone is the gimmicky but sometimes useful electrically moveable centre console and haptic button-worked centre glove box (a simple mechanical button opens this now). The Sky Pack roof has also gone and not an option on the NISMO but thinking back, we rarely opened the roof of our previous ARIYA, it was usually only opened to amuse the grandkids!

Rate the electric car for its tech features

What did you like/dislike about the tech features?

This is an advanced car in terms of technology. There have been occasional issues with our previous car which hopefully are ironed out with the NISMO (for example, the underwhelming 12v battery which we had to replace in less than two years is a common issue). The big, wide infotainment screen (again with NISMO accents) is outstanding although the Nissan/TomTom sat nav leaves a bit to be desired and the screen resolution, while perfectly useable, is better in other cars.

However, CarPlay works fine and it’s easy to link the phone to the car. The ‘Hey Nissan’ feature means that most controls can be managed by voice command including setting a destination. The HUD is excellent and the reactive headlights, assuming they’re the same as the previous ARIYA, are exceptional. I didn’t try the Pro Pilot intelligent cruise control but again, assuming it is similar to the previous ARIYA, is pretty good. The battery cooling and warming controls are more straightforward than before, which is a good thing in my opinion.

One slight disappointment is that the charging rate with such a large battery, is only to a maximum of 130kW. Although to be honest, I’m not sure that it bothers me that much.

Rate the electric car for how it drives

What did you like/dislike like about how it drove?

Now with a car branded ‘NISMO’ you would expect startling performance. If you read reviews of the car, you will get mixed observations that compare it with say, the Tesla Model 3 or the Hyundai IONIQ 5N. But nevertheless, performance is pretty breathtaking if you want to use the juice. There are four driving modes, the top one being ‘NISMO’ which if you put your foot down, really pushes you into the seat, along with an electronic ‘engine’ sound. When I tried it on a quiet part of the M5, the car nipped past 70 without fuss so I let the car slow back down. Just as well as shortly afterwards there was a police speed check van on a bridge!!

The car is extremely surefooted with its E-4ORCE four wheel drive system and on a winding country road the car coped admirably. Power adjusts its distribution to the wheels depending on the driving style. You don’t have to use that power of course, you still have Eco, B-mode and e-Pedal, the latter pretty much giving one-pedal driving in town, although disappointingly it doesn’t bring the car to a stop.

It’s a good job that the cabin is so comfortable because the ride is a little on the firm side and you can feel rough road surfaces. Steering is very responsive and intuitive but you wouldn’t describe it as exciting.

Reviews pan the car’s economy and with E-4ORCE, I wouldn’t expect the 300-350 range range we typically get (or more) from the ARIYA Evolve during the summer months. It depends how you drive and driving an EV is certainly different to an ICE vehicle.

Rate the dealership for their knowledge

Rate the dealership for their professionalism

Did you purchase the make & model you test drove?

Yes

What specification did you go for?

After the test drive we decided to go for the ARIYA NISMO, although we’ve not taken delivery yet. Wessex offered a good PCP deal. Of interest, our previous ARIYA was the first sold by Wessex, and our NISMO will be the first they have delivered from their Gloucester showroom, very excited!! This will be our fifth EV since 2016.

Outline key details of the deal

The PCP on our previous car was coming to an end: 3 years and 40k miles. There was a decent trade-in offer for our ARIYA, generous Nissan incentives and a low 1.3% interest on the finance. We provided a decent upfront payment to keep the monthly payments similar to the previous car and the deal was as good or close to other offers on the market.

See other Test Drive Reviews HERE