Renault Megane E-Tech vs Nissan Ariya

What's the difference?

The design for the Renault Megane E-Tech is top-notch and the eco-conscious footprint is even better. It’s an easy and comfortable car to be in but the price is a smidge too high in my opinion when you consider there’s currently only one choice for us Aussies and it’s a mid-spec variant at that. It also misses out on some items its rivals have but is a solid EV to consider for urban dwellers.

I can see how the Nissan Ariya would have changed the game if it launched in Australia back in 2022.

While it is a solid car that’s quiet, comfort-oriented and tech-heavy, there’s now little separating it from the competition apart from the fact it has a Nissan badge and a cracking aftersales package. This is disappointing as we’ve waited a long time for this car to arrive.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accomodation meals provided.

The E-Tech’s plump body panelling gives me some cute marshmallow vibes from certain angles but there are enough features to keep it looking slick, like the fun LED headlights, massive 20-inch alloys and optional two-tone paintwork.

I’m also a fan of the door handles on the E-Tech as they add some nice focal points, because the front has auto-flush handles that pop out on approach and the back door handles are positioned on the C-pillar.

If you're eco-conscious the E-Tech ticks the box because Renault has designed it to be 90 per cent recyclable.

The body is made of aluminium and can be reformed and shaped into new products at the end of its life. The interior materials are made from recycled fabrics and trims; even the lithium-ion battery is free from any rare earth minerals.

Head inside the cabin and the grey knit trims and upholstery on the seats, doors and dashboard creates a cabin space that feels warm and inviting. It's a similar feel to the Polestar 2 - simple but refined.

Although, with my kid around I have higher anxiety about dirtying them!

Back when the Ariya was revealed, it started a new design language for Nissan, but five years later almost every model in the Japanese carmaker’s line-up has taken some element of this car’s design.

What this means is while the Ariya was unique, it now doesn’t stand out from the crowd as much as it once did. This doesn’t help given there are now so many competitors out there.

However, in person the exterior of this car is stunning. I’m particularly a fan of the two-tone copper paint available on the Advance+ and Evolve e-4orce.

At the front there is a slim and striking LED lighting set-up that stands out, plus the gloss black faux grille is an interesting take on the brand’s ‘V-Motion’ grille. It has illuminated sections that are only noticeable in dark conditions.

Around the side the Ariya appears to be a lot more coupe-like than you’d expect. There’s a body line that runs from the A-pillar all the way to the tailgate. It gives the car a floating roof effect, which is a current design trend.

Other notable design elements on the side include the charge flap on the passenger side front quarter panel, aero covers for the alloy wheels, and an extensive use of gloss black around the wheel arches and door sills. It’ll be interesting to see how the latter hold up in the long run.

At the back there isn’t a whole heap going on beyond the large rear spoiler, which is intricately designed and there to improve aerodynamics.

There’s also a full-width LED light bar for the tail-lights, which is sandwiched by a Nissan wordmark badge. These lighting set-ups are so common now that they’re a little cliche.

Inside, the Ariya is befitting of its flagship status for the Nissan brand. In the top-spec Evolve trim with the blue Nappa leather upholstery and suede dash highlights. I don’t think it pairs well with every exterior paint colour, but it still looks great.

This also isn’t to belittle the lesser trims. While they have darker interiors, this is likely more preferable for many buyers as they’re less out there. The materials, at least in the Advance+, are still at a high quality.

The steering wheel is leather-wrapped and feels buttery soft in the hand. While I loathe the fact there are gloss-black covers over the physical buttons on the steering wheel, it’s still a step in the right direction.

Ahead of the driver are dual 12.3-inch screens across the line-up. It took me a while to notice there’s a wave between the screens as it’s covered by the steering wheel rim. The touchscreen is incrementally closer so you can reach it more easily.

Another major element of the Ariya’s interior design is the centre console. In the Advance+ and Evolve it has electric sliding adjustment, allowing you to customise the position to your desire.

The use of the faux wood trim looks premium, especially because you don’t expect there to be haptic buttons on it. This helps for a clean, button-less look.

The E-Tech’s cabin is fairly roomy up front with plenty of head- and legroom. The front seats are super comfortable with powered lumbar support and I wouldn’t mind them not being powered if the price point was a bit lower. 

The rear seat is comfortable enough once you get seated but the top of the door apertures are low, and I have to duck my head to get in and out.

Your head also brushes against the roof lining in the back which isn't terribly comfortable, especially considering there is no fold-down armrest to lean on.

The front row benefits the most with individual storage and you get a lot of options to choose from but the centre console is one of the most practical I’ve seen for the class. Lots of pockets and nooks that feature adjustable 'walls'.

You get a single permanent cupholder but with the removable walls, accommodation for a second cup or bottle, can be catered for.

Underneath the multimedia screen you get a dedicated phone shelf, which I love using.

In the rear, you get two map pockets and shallow bin storage in each door.

The charging options are good with two USB-C ports in each row as well as a 12-volt outlet and a wireless charging pad up front but you miss out on V2L (Vehicle to Load) functionality in this model.

The 9.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system looks great headlining the dash and is easy to access and use. The system rebooted once on me while driving but other than that everything is responsive.

You get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and the CarPlay is easy to get started.

The steering wheel has numerous stalks, controls, regen paddle shifters and even the gearshifter on the column, too. It takes a beat to get used to it but I like how driver orientated it is.

The boot offers great storage at 440L but it’s a deep well, which might be annoying if you’re unloading heavier gear. There is underfloor storage for the cables, too, and like I said, you miss out on a powered tailgate.

This car is built on a dedicated electric architecture which theoretically gives it many benefits as there’s no space needed for a combustion engine, nor its transmission or driveline components.

While the Ariya benefits from this by pushing the wheels to the extremities, it underwhelms in others. More on this in a bit.

As standard the driver’s seat is mounted very high. I’m 182cm tall and in the seat's lowest position I was only a few centimetres off my hair tickling the roofliner. While this is nice from a forward visibility standpoint, I instinctively want to sit lower in the cabin.

Despite this, the front seats are deliciously comfortable. They offer plenty of electric adjustability, allowing you to find your desired seating position. Depending on the trim they’re heated and ventilated, which is a treat in fickle Melbourne weather.

As noted before, the steering wheel features physical buttons, which is a major plus. They’re clearly labelled and are easy to understand.

Ahead of the driver the digital instrument cluster is classic Nissan. There are a range of informative pages to cycle through, as well as two layouts to choose from. All of them look high-res.

Moving across, the touchscreen multimedia system is also a classic Nissan unit. Almost every Nissan model has a variation of this touchscreen now, which kind of makes the Ariya feel less special.

Thankfully however, the user interface is clear and easy to understand. It’s hard to get lost and even if you do, there are shortcut buttons on the side of the screen.

As standard there’s wireless Apple CarPlay, which is great if you have an iPhone and almost expected nowadays, however Android Auto is only offered in wired form only. This is disappointing from a high-tech flagship.

I appreciate there are haptic buttons for the climate control under the touchscreen. It’s much better than having these functions built into the touchscreen. However, the seat heating/ventilation and the steering wheel heating is in the touchscreen, but you can program it to an automatic mode so it’ll turn on and off with the climate control.

The haptic buttons extend onto the centre console which electrically slides in the Advance+ and Evolve. These ones are for the drive mode and ePedal selection.

Speaking of the centre console, it’s a big bulky unit but it barely offers any storage. Under the centre console lid there’s a wireless charger and a miniscule amount of storage. There’s also a tiny phone-sized slot at the front of the centre console, plus a 12V socket and some USB ports.

It’s disappointing Nissan hasn’t taken better advantage of the flat floor accommodated by the dedicated electric architecture. There’s open space between the driver and passenger, which makes it feel like you’re in dedicated recliners.

As a result of the paltry centre console storage, there are two gloveboxes. One on the passenger side and another in the centre. Both look like they’re sizeable, but that’s just the lid as the actual storage space is a fraction of this.

Moving to the second row I have a decent amount of legroom behind my own driving position. Toe room is negligible however and headroom suffers from the panoramic glass sunroof.

Despite this the second-row bench is still comfortable. It’s laid back, though there’s not much lateral support. This means in the bends you’ll be thrown into the door or into the centre of the car.

There continues to be a flat floor in the second row, plus a minimal hump in the rear bench means you could technically go three-up if you wanted. The limitation at this point is shoulder space.

In terms of amenities there are centre console-mounted air vents, USB-C ports, heated outboard seats (depending on the trim) and a fold-down armrest with cupholders. It’s fairly standard.

From the Advance trim and up there’s a standard hands-free power tailgate. This is handy if you’ve got your hands full.

For the boot space itself, it’s fine but not standout. Two-wheel-drive variants are notably better with 466L of boot space with the rear seats upright. The Evolve e-4orce only has 408L due to the rear electric motor.

As expected there’s no spare tyre at all across the line-up. Instead there’s a tyre repair kit under the boot floor.

No Ariya trim has a front boot.

The Nissan Ariya is launching in Australia with four trim levels – Engage, Advance, Advance+ and Evolve e-4orce.

Pricing starts from $55,840 before on-roads and extends to $71,840 before on-roads. This is more than top-selling rivals like the BYD Sealion 7 and Tesla Model Y. It’s more on par with the likes of the Kia EV5 and Zeekr 7X.

With the Ariya Engage at $55,840 before on-roads, you get 19-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, dual 12.3-inch screens, wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto, a wireless phone charger, a six-speaker sound system, dual-zone climate control and charcoal fabric upholstery.

Stepping up to the Advance at $59,840 before on-roads brings a hands-free power tailgate, a 10-speaker Bose sound system, heated front seats and steering wheel, as well as black cloth and synthetic leather upholstery.

The Advance+ at $63,840 before on-roads gains a larger 87kWh battery pack as standard, plus a panoramic glass sunroof, a power sliding centre console, ventilated front seats, heated rear outboard seats, as well as black synthetic leather upholstery with suede inserts.

Lastly, the flagship Evolve e-4orce at $71,840 before on-roads gets an all-wheel drive set-up, 20-inch alloy wheels, adaptive high beams, a digital rear-view mirror, electric steering column adjustment and blue Nappa leather upholstery.

This is a generous spread of variants and while the pricing and equipment list doesn’t stand out from the crowd, none of the trims miss out on the basics.

The Techno EV60 has a single electric motor. It produces a power output of 160kW and 300Nm of torque, and Renault says it will sprint from 0-100km/h in 7.4-seconds.

That's perfectly adequate for keeping up with traffic or getting  around town. You only notice a sluggishness with power when you have a full load of gear. Flipping it to 'Sport' mode make it feel peppier, if you ever need it.

There are only two electric powertrain configurations available in Australia.

The Ariya Engage and Advance are powered by a single, front-mounted electric motor that produces 160kW of power and 300Nm of torque. The Advance+ bumps the power figure up to 178kW to compensate for the larger battery pack.

The flagship Evolve e-4orce is the only trim with all-wheel drive. It has a dual-motor set-up with total system outputs of 290kW and 600Nm. This trim is claimed to be able to do the 0-100km/h sprint in 5.6 seconds.

The official energy consumption figure is 15.6kWh/100km and I averaged 13.9kWh after a fair mix between urban and open-road driving.

That’s outstanding consumption but the official driving range for this E-Tech’s 60kWh lithium-ion battery is up to 454km, which is similar to the Hyundai Kona Electric but I still had an eye on the range during longer trips.

The E-Tech has a Type 2 CCS charging port which means you can benefit from faster DC charging speeds, however, it can only accept a top speed of 7.4kW on AC power.

On a 7.4kW AC charger, you can go from 0-100 per cent in a little over nine hours but on a standard 2.3kW house plug, that jumps up to over 30-hours. 

On a 130kW DC charger expect to go from 15-80 per cent in as little as 30 minutes, which is pretty convenient if you have access to one.

Sadly, the E-Tech doesn’t have vehicle-to-load capability, so you can’t power or charge bigger items.

There are also two battery pack options in Australia.

The Ariya Engage and Advance come with a 63kWh lithium-ion battery with a WLTP claimed range of 385km. This isn’t much for a car that’s around $60,000.

The Advance+ and Evolve e-4orce, on the other hand, get a larger 87kWh lithium-ion battery. WLTP claimed range is 504km and 487km, respectively, which is much more like it for a vehicle of this size.

All variants have a Type 2 CCS combination charge port on the passenger side front quarter panel with a maximum DC charge rate of 130kW. At this rate this will see the battery charge from 10 to 80 per cent in 35 minutes.

AC charging is offered at rates up to 7.4kW on the Engage, Advance and Advance+ trims. 22kW AC charging is optional on the Advance+ and standard on the Evolve e-4orce.

However, thanks to a launch offer for the first 400 vehicles, all Ariyas are getting standard 22kW AC charging, even the ones that typically don’t get it at all. This is a cool offer and an interesting incentive if you are on the fence on actually buying one.

There’s also a free 22kW AC home charger provided as an additional launch offer. You’ll need to install this unit at your own expense.

For energy consumption it depends on the trim level. It ranges between 18.4 and 20.8kWh/100km. During our testing of the Advance+ we saw an average of 14.2kWh and the Evolve e-4orce we saw an average of 18.0kWh/100km. This would give a theoretical range of 613km and 483km, respectively.

It’s worth noting these average energy consumption figures were according to the trip computer and the driving was on higher speed roads on the outskirts of Melbourne.

I have mostly loved driving the E-Tech. It's easy to cruise around in and the power is adequate for open-road driving but it prefers an urban environment.

The power can feel a bit lacklustre when you are carrying lots of people or gear but you mostly feel that when you're on a steep incline and trying to keep up your speed.

The steering is crisp and that makes the E-Tech very responsive to drive. The power is delivered smoothly and it feels well-balanced when you put your foot down.

There is more roll in corners than I was expecting but the car still feels firmly planted. 

The ride comfort is great. The suspension is more firm than soft which means you feel the road but it's not a major bother. There is a bit of wind noise at higher speeds, as if the door isn’t properly sealed by a millimetre but it doesn't annoy me. 

The regenerative braking is controlled by paddles on the steering wheel and you have three levels plus a one-pedal function to choose from.

The single pedal set-up is pretty smooth, even in stop/start traffic, but it’s great to be able to quickly change modes on the go.

The smaller size of the E-Tech makes it an easy car to manoeuvre in a small car park. You get front, rear and side parking sensors which is great because the reversing camera isn’t as clear as it should be for this price level. 

We only got to experience Ariya trim levels with the larger 87kWh battery pack at this launch. It’d be interesting to see how trims with the smaller battery pack fare from a comparative standpoint as they’re lighter but offer less range.

With the Ariya Advance+, it has a single electric motor that offers a decent amount of power and torque. It’s probably all that you’d ever need in everyday traffic.

However, it’s far from being a sporty offering – it’s more comfort-oriented – but when you push it, the limitations of it being front-wheel drive become apparent. Traction control cuts power as soon as the corners get too sharp, but thankfully it never feels like this car is out of line.

For more oomph, this is where the flagship Evolve e-4orce comes in with its dual-motor all-wheel-drive set-up. Although 290kW and 600Nm sounds like a lot, it doesn’t provide neck-snapping acceleration. Instead, acceleration intentionally ramps up incrementally to maintain a serene vibe in the cabin.

This isn’t to call this Ariya trim slow, though. It can do 0-100km/h in 5.6 seconds, which is far from a slouch. The way the power piles on though feels nice during rolling acceleration, making it a lovely tourer. If you do lean into the performance this trim offers however, be prepared to pay for it with a higher energy consumption.

There are multiple regenerative braking modes offered in the Ariya. ‘D’ is normal, ‘B’ exaggerates the effects, then ‘ePedal’ is the closest you get to a one-pedal driving mode. All the modes require you to press the brake pedal to come to a complete stop.

Thankfully, there’s no awkward interaction between the regen brakes and the traditional friction brakes. This helps make it feel like a regular car that just happens to be electric.

The steering changes its weight depending on the drive mode. Regardless of this, however, there is a direct feel through the wheel which is confidence-inspiring, especially out on the open road.

As standard the suspension set-up comprises MacPherson strut front and a multi-link rear across the line-up. With the smaller 18-inch wheels across the majority of the line-up there’s plenty of tyre sidewall to play around with, which makes the ride feel composed and comfortable. It balances the line between being too bouncy and too firm nicely.

The top-spec Evolve e-4orce with its larger 20-inch alloy wheels, however, has less tyre sidewall and as a result the ride is much busier. The effects are made worse when you load more people or weight into the car as it becomes very reactive to every road imperfection, especially large bumps.

Lastly in terms of noise, vibration and harshness levels, it’s extremely quiet in the cabin. This is surprising because the lack of a combustion engine typically makes other noises more apparent.

The Nissan Ariya has a five-star ANCAP safety rating based on testing conducted by Euro NCAP in 2022.

Standard safety equipment includes seven airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-keeping assist, lane centring, adaptive cruise control, driver attention alert, front and rear parking sensors, as well as a reversing camera.

Stepping up to the Advance brings surround-view cameras. This is pretty standard on the safety front.

The AEB system is active from 5km/h and lane-keep assist is active from 60km/h.

The E-Tech comes with a five-year/100,000km warranty, but it’s usual to see an unlimited km term for the class. The battery is covered by an eight-year or up to 160,000km warranty term.

Service intervals are reasonable at every 12 months or 30,000km and you also get five-years roadside assistance included.

Pricing over the first five years ranges from a low of $230.04 to a high of $519.62, averaging out at pretty competitive $317.72 per service. No capped-price deal is available.

Like other Nissans, the Ariya is covered by a 10-year/300,000km warranty, providing you service at authorised Nissan service centres when required. If you don't, there's only five years of coverage.

The battery pack on the other hand is covered by an eight-year/160,000km warranty.

There’s also up to 10 years of roadside assistance if you service at authorised Nissan service centres.

Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 20,000km, whichever comes first, and the first five services are capped at $299 each.

Overall this is a fairly compelling aftersales package, plus it helps that Nissan has a substantial dealer network around Australia.