I drove Nissan's stylish $50,000 Ariya SUV. These 20 features make it a special EV.

• The Nissan Ariya is a stylish compact electric SUV that debuted in 2023.
• I recently reviewed a well-equipped 2024 Ariya.
• I was impressed by its design, quiet and comfortable cabin, and competitive pricing.

Nissan has sold more than a million Leaf EVs worldwide over the past decade and a half.

Despite such success, the Japanese automaker has been slow to keep up with the EV marketplace, which has evolved beyond smaller compact cars to SUVs and trucks.

The Ariya SUV, a follow-up to the Leaf, competes against the slew of new compact crossovers, such as the Volkswagen ID.4, Hyundai IONIQ5 , Toyota BZ4X , and Tesla Model Y .

I recently reviewed a well-equipped 2024 Nissan Ariya in front-wheel-drive Empower+ trim with an as-tested price of $50,440. I was impressed by its elegant styling, quiet and comfortable cabin, and competitive pricing.

The base Ariya starts at $39,590, while the fully-loaded all-wheel-drive Ariya Platinum+ e-4orce starts at $54,190. Empower+ starts at $47,690.

Here is a closer at some of the Ariya's most interesting features.

1. Stylish looks

The Nissan design team did a good job with the Ariya's aesthetics. It strikes a balance between being edgy enough to feel modern and futuristic and subtle and restrained enough to avoid being off-putting.

The Ariya's highly raked rear roofline contributes to its sophisticated coupe look, but does eat into rear headroom and cargo capacity.

2. Solid Range

While entry-level Engage trim units get a 66 kWh battery pack, all other Ariyas are equipped with a larger, 91 kWh pack.

My Ariya Empower+ test car had a single electric motor mounted to the front axle, producing 238 horsepower and 221 lb. ft. of torque.

My test car was rated for a solid 289 miles of range. With some gingerly applied throttle and the regenerative braking turned up, I found I could easily surpass the 300-mile mark.

The Ariya's Achilles' heel is its slower charging rate.

The Ariya's 130kW DC fast charging allows it to charge from 20% to 80% in 40 minutes.

That falls behind rivals like the Volkswagen ID.4 or Hyundai's Ioniq5.

3. Relaxed performance

The driving experience was relaxed and carefree.

With 238 horsepower on tap to lug around 4,600 lbs of mass, the Ariya is no barn burner.

But it's far from underpowered. What power it does have, the Ariya uses efficiently and effectively.

There's plenty of pep off the line, and acceleration continues linearly up to highway speeds.

According to Car and Driver , the Ariya Empower+ can go from 0 to 60 mph in a more-than-respectable 7.5 seconds.

4. Quiet, Comfy cabin

Inside, the cabin is quiet, roomy, and exudes minimalist sophistication.

Not only is overall material quality solid, but there's also a good diversity of differing textures in the major touchpoints around the cabin, including faux leather, imitation open-pore wood, and copper accents.

5. Comfy front seats

The Ariya is equipped with Nissan's zero gravity seats. The seats, designed to combat driver fatigue through improved posture, provided great support and were incredibly comfortable.

6. Embedded touch controls

Nissan designers decided to embed the Ariya's primary climate controls into the imitation wood accent on the front dash. Even though physical buttons are easier to use, the embedded controls look really cool and are certainly eye-catching.

7. Retractable tray table

The Ariya has a tray table and storage drawer that retracts into the front dash. According to Nissan, the power retractable tray table offers additional utility for those wishing to turn the Ariya into a mobile office.

8. Good infotainment tech

The centerpiece of the Ariya's front dash is a 12.3-inch touchscreen that houses its infotainment and climate control functions.

The Ariya runs a version of Nissan's corporate infotainment system, which is solid and fairly easy to use but not the industry's best.

On the plus side, the system comes standard with wireless Apple CarPlay and wired Android Auto.

In addition, the shortcut touch buttons to the left of the screen for functions such as CarPlay and the climate controls were very helpful.

9. Surround-view camera and auto parking system

The Ariya's infotainment screen also houses a surround-view camera system and Nissan's ProPILOT Park auto-parking system. ProPILOT takes over the Ariya's steering, throttle, and brakes to guide it into a parking spot.

10. Digital gauge display

In front of the driver is a configurable 12.3-inch digital gauge display. I was particularly fond of the navigation map and driver's assistance feature layouts.

11. HUD

The Ariya can be had with a handy head-up display projected onto the windshield in front of the driver.

12. Panoramic moonroof

My test car was equipped with a power panoramic moonroof. Even though it robs front-seat passengers of two inches of headroom, I think the added sunlight outweighs the downside.

13. Nice rear cabin

The Ariya's rear cabin features a comfortable leather-upholstered heated bench seat. Legroom is solid but trails the Rogue by four inches and Ioniq 5 by two inches.

14. Power sliding center console

The Ariya's power sliding center console is a feature I've never seen before. Theoretically, the feature helps better tailor the shifter's position to the driver while giving rear-seat passengers easier access to the charging plugs and seat heater control.

That's kind of clutching at straws. But still a fun talking point.

15. Rear vision camera

To combat the limited rear visibility created by the roofline, the Ariya is available with a rear vision camera. The camera is located near the top of the ear windshield and projects an image onto the rearview mirror above the front dash.

16. Charging wire wrap

At the bottom of the center console are a pair of USB plugs and a slot for your mobile device.

The coolest part of this setup is a cable wrap next to the mobile device slot that keeps your charging cords from becoming a tangled mess in the footwell.

17. Stylish aero wheels

The Ariya comes with 19-inch alloy wheels with removable plastic aero covers. The top-spec all-wheel-drive Platinum+ e-4ORCE trim can be optioned with larger 20-inch alloys.

18. Safety tech

The Ariya has a comprehensive suite of advanced driver assistance and safety features.

The Ariya comes standard with a host of safety and assistance tech, including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, intelligent cruise control with distance control assist, intelligent forward collision warning, lane departure warning, intelligent lane intervention, blind spot warning, intelligent blond spot intervention, rear cross-traffic alert, rear automatic braking, intelligent driver alertness, traffic sign recognition, and Nissan's ProPILOT Assist and Park hands-on driver assist system.

19. Underhood electronics

Unlike many EVs, the Ariya does not have frunk under its hood. Instead, Nissan chose to locate the electronics and mechanicals powering the Ariya's climate control under the hood. This isolates the equipment's noise and vibration away from the occupants, facilitating a quieter cabin.

20. Divide-N-Hide cargo

The Ariya has 22.8 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seats. The Ariya's stylish sloping rear roofline eats into its cargo capacity, which is nearly 10 cubic feet short of the boxier Rogue.

One saving grace for the Ariya's cargo compartment is Nissan's Divide-N-Hide cargo system.

The system, also available on other Nissan models like the Rogue, allows for the floor panels to be removed to create a deeper cargo well or for the panels to be placed into slots as cargo dividers.

The cargo dividers were handy during my grocery runs, preventing pallets of water from sliding into and crushing the produce.

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