Nissan Ariya Nismo review

Nissan has brought back its performance sub-brand to spice up its electric family SUV

Find Nissan Ariya Nismo deals
Other Services
Sell your car
84% get more money with

In an effort to make their cars stand out, particularly the electric ones, manufacturers have got in the habit of dusting off old names. There are storied ones like the Ford Capri and Renault 5, but the more niche ones are fair game as well.

We’ve seen the odd Nissan Motorsport-branded Nissan Juke and GT-R in Europe, but Nissan never developed Nismo into a fully fledged sub-brand like it has done in Japan. Now it’s back to add some spice to the Nissan Ariya electric SUV and turn it into the Nissan Ariya Nismo.

Advertisement

DESIGN & STYLING

Nissan Ariya Nismo review 2025 006

Those expecting an answer to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N or even the Kia EV6 GT should temper their expectations, because Nissan itself says it doesn’t see the hot Hyundai as a rival. Instead, the Ariya Nismo is pitched at the Volkswagen ID 4 GTX and ID 5 GTX and the dual-motor version of the Kia EV6.

Priced at £56,620 (and there are literally no options), it is indeed in line with those cars, but on paper at least, the Ariya has a list of upgrades to make it at least a little more special.

It uses the same 215bhp front and rear motors as the standard dual-motor e-4orce models, but where they’re held back in the standard Ariya, in the Nismo they’re allowed to deploy their full power for a total of 430bhp.

In Nismo drive mode, it can send up to 60% of the power to the rear wheels. That said, because the motors are the same, that is necessarily done by throttling the front one.

The engineers have tweaked the suspension as well. The rates for the springs, dampers and anti-roll bars are subtly up across the board, but more at the back than at the front, in order to encourage turn-in. Rear rebound damping in particular is up by 67%. Somewhat surprisingly, the dampers are passive.

The Nismo sits on bespoke 20in Enkei wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres.

Naturally, there are plenty of sporty accents, with deeper bumpers and skirts, a ducktail spoiler and lots of red accents.

INTERIOR

Nissan Ariya Nismo review 2025 012

Inside, it’s mostly standard Ariya, but with more red accents, a few Nismo badges and black microsuede upholstery for the seats. It’s a slightly odd combination, because the Ariya is fundamentally quite a zen lounge kind of car, which makes the sporty elements sit somewhat uneasily.

It’s still a pleasing place to sit, with a good ratio of screen to buttons, comfortable seats and a reasonable amount of storage. You sit fairly high, but not irritatingly so.

Space is the rear is pretty generous for the class, as is the boot space. For a more detailed overview of the Ariya’s interior space, quality and tech, we would refer you to our review of the standard Nissan Ariya.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

Nissan Ariya Nismo review 2025 016

The result on the road is whelming. When you put your foot down, it doesn’t exactly feel like 430bhp. If I had to guess without seeing the spec sheet, I’d put it closer to 300bhp. That’s still plenty quick of course, but a little disappointing if you’re expecting 430bhp. 

It’s not helped by the way the accelerator is mapped. Unless you push past the kickdown switch, it slowly ramps up with the road speed and only releases full power around 50mph.

There are a few different levels of regen depending on the drive mode, whether you've chosen D or B and whether you’ve got e-Pedal turned on. None of them amount to a freewheeling or full one-pedal driving mode, however.

RIDE & HANDLING

Nissan Ariya Nismo review 2025 018

I can’t say the revised torque split makes much of an impact either. I’ve not driven a standard Ariya extensively, but the Nismo still feels predominantly front-driven.

Even with the ESC in its off mode (which isn’t completely off), there’s never any sense of rotation on the power. It will tuck in nicely on a trailing throttle, but this isn't a small car, so that sort of thing requires a bit of circumspection.

The steering is light but intuitive, albeit with not much in the way of feedback, and there’s plenty of grip to lean on. If you want to make progress down a country road, you can.

You had better pick a smooth one, though. The ride was overly firm on our French test route and would likely become very tiring on UK roads very quickly. It’s reasonably nicely damped and not particularly harsh, just very busy.

There’s nothing enormously wrong with the way the Ariya Nismo drives, but at the same time it wears its performance badging a little uneasily. You could say that about the ID 4 GTX and Skoda Enyaq vRS, but those at least benefit from a more rear-biased balance, as does the EV6 AWD.

If you want an electric crossover with a modicum of driver appeal without stepping up to the Ioniq 5 N, the rear-driven versions are what you want.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

Nissan Ariya Nismo review 2025

Compared with those alternatives, the Ariya Nismo suffers from one more big issue: it has pretty poor energy efficiency. Even when taking it easy, it struggled to get more than 2.5mpkWh. Granted, it was chilly, but not freezing. Despite the big 87kWh battery, that means a range of only about 215 miles.

DC rapid charging tops out at a rate of 130kW, so it’s quite compromised for daily usability.

VERDICT

Nissan Ariya Nismo review 2025 020

Making fast or fun versions of EV SUVs is a tough gig. To an extent, Hyundai has come along and made everyone else look bad. Even so, it’s reasonable to expect more than a power bump, some sticky tyres and red accents.

The Ariya Nismo is pleasant enough in some ways but makes you pay too big of penalty in ride, price and range to justify its very mild sportiness.

Illya Verpraet

Illya Verpraet Road Tester Autocar
Title: Road Tester

As a road tester, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews and comparison tests, while also managing the magazine’s Drives section. Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for Autocar’s in-depth instrumented road tests.

He loves cars that are fun and usable on the road – whether piston-powered or electric – or just cars that are very fit for purpose. When not in test cars, he drives an R53-generation Mini Cooper S.