The exponential rise of the electric car has coincided with the revival of classic model names, as manufacturers bid to win over new buyers – and re-engage with those who owned their petrol equivalents a few decades ago.
Case in point: the Renault 5 has been reborn as a small electric supermini and the Ford Capri has morphed into a coupé-styled electric SUV.
Nissan is hoping it can capture the attention of enthusiast followers with its revival of the Nismo badge that last appeared (in the UK, at least) on the back of the Juke compact crossover and 370Z sports car. It has been fitted to the Japanese brand’s electric SUV to create the dual-motor, 429bhp Nissan Ariya Nismo.
Don’t assume that this is a hot electric SUV designed to do battle with the likes of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N or Kia EV6 GT, though. Its 129bhp power hike over the standard Ariya e-4orce, Nismo badges, red accents and bespoke alloy wheel design might suggest so, but Nissan itself says it doesn't see the hot Korean SUVs as rivals and has instead positioned it to go up against the likes of the Volkswagen ID 5 GTX and Cupra Tavascan.
Priced at £56,630 (and there are literally no options), the warmed-up Ariya matches its Volkswagen Group alternatives, and it receives a number of upgrades to make it more special.
Its technical make-up isn't dramatically dissimilar to that of the standard, dual-motor e-4orce. It uses the same 215bhp front and rear motors, 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 429bhp.
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 have subtly been inscreased across the board, but more so at the back than the front, in a bid to encourage turn-in. Rear rebound damping in particular is up by 67%.
Rather than opt for adaptive suspension, the Nismo uses passive dampers.
In keeping with Nismo models of the past, the Ariya sports a more agressive aesthetic. It sits on bespoke 20in Enkei wheels, shod with Michelin Pilot Sport EV tyres.
Deeper bumers and side skits, a front splitter, ducktail spoiler and lots of red sporty accents complete the look.
You get the feeling that the Ariya Nismo is slightly at odds with its sporty makeover indside.
The spacious cabin is fundamentally quite a zen, lounge-like space and the addition of red accents, Nismo badges and black microsuede upholstery on the seats doesn't quite suit the Ariya's chilled, laid-back vibe.
That being said, it's still a pleasing place to sit, with a good ratio of screen to buttons - althought the capacitive secondary controls and swithgear are still a bugbear on the move.
The seats are comfortable and there's a good amount of storage throughout. You sit fairly high but not irritaingly so.
Space is the rear is generous for the class, as is the boot space. For a more detailed overview of the interior space, quality and tech, we would refer you to our review of the standard Ariya.
The result on the road is... whelming. When you open the throttle, it doesn't feel like you're deploying 429bhp and 443lb ft of torque.
If we had to guess without seeing the spec sheet, it feels closer to 300bhp, although that's more than enough grunt for UK roads.
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.
Flick the Ariya into Nismo mode - which sharpens the throttle response and regenerative braking system – and there's a sythesised engine note designed to mimic the whine of an electric motor.
It's not as impressive as the various sounds that the Ioniq 5 N can produce, nor does it help to lift engagement levels when pressing on.
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.
We can’t say the revised torque split makes much of an impact to the overall driving experience. Compared with the standard Ariya, 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 throwing it around 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 tweaks made to the Ariya's spring rates have stinted its ability to soak up imperfections, and while its reasonaby damped, there's a noticebale fuss and fidget to its ride.
There’s nothing enormously wrong with the way the Ariya Nismo drives, but at the same time the performance badging feels like a stretch.
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 Kia 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.
Compared with those alternatives, the Ariya Nismo suffers from one more big issue: it has poor energy efficiency. Even when taking it easy, it struggled to get more than 2.5mpkWh.
Despite the big 87kWh battery, that means a range of only about 215 miles - that's some way short of the 261-mile figure quoted by Nissan.
DC rapid charging tops out at a rate of 130kW, so it’s quite compromised for daily usability.
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 a penalty in ride, price and range to justify its very mild sportiness.
Sam joined the Autocar team in summer 2024 and has been a contributor since 2021. He is tasked with writing used reviews and first drives as well as updating top 10s and evergreen content on the Autocar website.
He previously led sister-title Move Electric, which covers the entire spectrum of electric vehicles, from cars to boats – and even trucks. He is an expert in new car news, used cars, electric cars, microbility, classic cars and motorsport.
Sam graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2021 with a BA in Journalism. In his final year he produced an in-depth feature on the automotive industry’s transition to electric cars and interviewed a number of leading experts to assess our readiness for the impending ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars.
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.
