Nissan Ariya 2026 review: Evolve e-4orce long-term | Part 1

Nissan was an electric car pioneer, but you probably have never heard of, or seen, its latest EV.

The Nissan Ariya had a rocky start, after being blocked from sale in Australia for several years due to it not meeting Australian Design Rules for a rear middle child seat anchor point.

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This means Australia doesn’t get a new model but one that has been on sale overseas since 2022.

Now that it's here we’ve got the chance to test the range-topping Evolve over the next three months to see how it fares in the real world.

The Ariya arrives in Australia as a four-tiered range with the choice of two battery sizes and front or all-wheel drive.

It is priced similar to rivals such as the Kia EV5 and Tesla Model Y.

Prices start at $55,840, before on-road costs, for the Engage grade and jump $4000 to the Advance variant.

Both are fitted with a 63kWh battery that powers a single motor, which sends 160kW/300Nm to the front wheels and delivers a driving range of up to 385km.

The $63,840 Advance+ and $71,840 Evolve AWD variants use a bigger 87kWh battery, with the Evolve adding a second motor for all-wheel drive.

The single motor in the Advance+ makes 178kW/300Nm and the dual-motor all-wheel drive ups the ante to 320kW/600Nm.

That extra grunt drops the claimed driving range from 504km in the Advance+ to 487km in the Evolve.

All grades have a max charge rate of 130kW when connected to a DC fast charger, which will fill the battery from 10-80 per cent in 35 minutes in small battery versions and 40 minutes for the larger battery variants.

The AC charging limit for the 63kWh battery versions is 7.4kW, which will top the car’s cells up from 10-80 per cent in nine hours. This jumps to 22kW in the 87kWh versions — which is an optional extra in the Advance+ and standard in the Evolve — and drops the 10-100 per cent charge time to four and a half hours.

The DC charging times are fairly middle of the pack and are about the same as the Kia EV5, but behind the Tesla Model Y and Volkswagen ID.4.

Our Evolve AWD is packed with kit, along with a plush and well sorted interior fitout.

Passengers are greeted by blue Nappa leather wrapped seats that are heated and ventilated up front with the heating function extending to the rear window seats.

The driver’s seat is 12-way power-adjustable and the front passenger’s is eight-way moveable.

There are high-end items such as blue suede on the dashboard, door trims and front centre arm rest.

A huge panoramic sunroof lets the light in, and crucially has a proper headliner cover to block the summer heat.

Dual 12.3-inch digital screens dominate the dashboard, with one controlling the multimedia functions and the other the driver’s instruments. The driver’s display isn’t as customisable or high-tech as some newer EVs.

A head-up display complements the screens and projects vital information onto the windscreen in front of the driver such as travelling speed and the prevailing speed limit.

It rides on 20-inch wheels — a jump up from the 19-inch units on other grades — with aerodynamic wheel covers.

There is LED lighting front and back and a two-tone paintwork, with our test vehicle finished in copper with a black roof.

The Ariya has the typical modern electric SUV look, which resembles an egg or computer mouse, a style that promotes aerodynamics over good looks.

The Ariya is a mid-size SUV, about the same size as a Toyota RAV4. It feels larger inside thanks to its flat rear floor and wheels pushed to all four corners, which helps liberate cabin space.

The boot is on the smaller side for a mid-size SUV, holding just 408 litres in our Evolve. This is about 60 litres less than the other variants due to the extra space needed for the second motor.

As with nearly every electric car there is no spare tyre, just a fiddly tyre repair kit.

Initial impressions from our first month on the road put the Ariya in the middle of the pack in terms of dynamics, but its range is sub-par.

After about 500km of driving we are probably looking at 380 to 400km on a single charge in the real world, which is not ideal and well behind rivals, especially considering the size of the battery. We are regularly seeing energy usage of more than 21kWh per 100km.

On the road it is a sweet machine with well-weighted and direct steering and there is excellent pedal feel, which combine to deliver confident motoring.

I’m a big fan of the single pedal drive mode, too, which ups the regenerative braking to boost energy fed back into the battery and reduces the need to use the brake pedal with the driver just lifting off the accelerator to start slowing down.

The suspension struggles at times to control the Evolve’s more than 2200kg kerb weight. The two-wheel drive big battery version weighs about 150kg less and that makes a big difference.

It’s not overly fast despite its ample outputs, but this is a family SUV not a red hot performance car, so I think its acceleration is just where it should be — peppy but not extreme.

One thing that needs to be mentioned is Nissan's 10-year conditional warranty. If you service your Ariya at a Nissan dealer you'll be covered by an industry-leading 10 year/300,000km guarantee. That's built-in value that is hard to beat.

There is also cost-effective servicing, with logbook maintenance required every 20,000km or 12 months costing $299 for each of the first five workshop visits.

Next month we’ll dive into more of the Ariya’s practicality and expand on the drive experience after more time behind the wheel.

2026 Nissan Ariya Evolve AWD 

Acquired: December 2025

Distance travelled this month: 471km

Odometer: 6214km

Average energy consumption this month: 21.4kWh/100km