Nissan was first out of the gate with a mass-market EV, the 2011 Leaf, but it took a dozen years for the automaker to pop out a second all-electric model. By the time the Nissan Ariya was introduced in 2023 it already trailied some of the competition in range and handling performance.
That doesn’t change for 2025. The Nissan Ariya remains a fantastic improvement step up from the Leaf but, except for its interior, doesn’t stand out in the sea of compact electric crossovers and SUVs that EV shoppers now can choose from.
As a longtime Nissan EV driver – leased a 2011 Leaf when they first came out and own a 2018 Leaf – theGreenCarGuy waited anxiously for the carmaker to bring out the Aryia and was impressed with its looks and features after viewing the new EV just prior to its on-sale date in the U.S.
It took a while after that to get into one, but we finally did and our week with the top-of-the-line, dual-motor, all-wheel drive Ariya Platinum showed it to be a well-balanced EV with a quiet, comfortable ride, refined exterior design, outstanding interior and a long list of standard features and top-notch driver assist and safety tech. But it proved to be only middle-of-the-road when it comes to driving characteristics.
It doesn’t qualify for the buyer’s federal tax credit that can lop $7,500 off the price of competitive EVs from Chevrolet, Cadillac, Honda, Kia and Tesla that do qualify. But Nissan often offers buyers cash rebates to make up some or even all of the difference. And those who lease can get the credit because of an IRS ruling exempting leased EVs from the credit’s “made in North America” requirement.
While the base Aiya trim has barely adequate range of just 216 miles (205 miles with all-wheel drive), higher trims use a much larger battery and offer lots more range –up to 289 miles with front-drive and 272 with electronic all-wheel drive.
Still, there are other small electric crossovers, such as the Chevrolet Equinox EV and Kia EV6, that offer more power or more range – sometimes more of both – for less cost. At the top of the trim tree, Cadillac’s new all-wheel drive Optiq electric SUV outdoes the Aryia Platinum+ AWD in range and is its equal in interior quality and fittings.
Still, if winning slaloms and topping the 300-mile mark on range or the 3-second mark for 0-60 mph acceleration aren’t at the top of your list of musts, the 2025 Nissan Aryia is certainly worth a look.
Boding well for it is that the nearly identical 2023 Aryia has been named a top choice for used EV buyers by Recurrent – a company that tracks EV battery health, sales and pricing – because of its advanced driver assistance and safety technologies, retained value and strong performance in cold climates. Because the Ariya hasn’t changed mechanically – or much else – from 2023 (except lower starting prices for each trim), Recurrent’s the real-world report on two-year-old models is good news for shoppers considering the 2025 Ariya.
The Ariya uses an EV-exclusive platform from Nissan that enables a longer wheelbase and more interior space. By packaging the batteries under the floor, the platform gets rid of transmission tunnels and permits interiors with flat floors. Removing the internal combustion engine allows designers to shorten hoods and rethink front fascia – which no longer need open grilles to gulp air for the engine.
What’s New for ’25?
While we tested a 2024 Aryia, the 2025 models are identical. The only new features are that wireless phone charging is now standard in all trims and 2025 models built since the start of the year have the Tesla Supercharger compatible NACS charging port as standard equipment. Pre-Jan. 1 models have the CCS port that requires an adapter to make use of Tesla chargers, and it is listed as a $235 accessory.
Nissan also dropped the Venture and Empower trims for 2025, winnowing the Ariya “family” to a choice of four trims that include two battery sizes and two powertrain choices.
2025 Ariya Trims and Pricing
Nissin starts the Ariya lineup with a small battery-version, the Engage, followed by the Engage+, Evolve+ and Platinum. The first two can be had with front drive or, for a $$4,000 up-charge, dual motor electric all-wheel drive that boosts power and range; the last two are dual motor AWD only (Nissan calls it e-4ORCE because, why not?).
Engage
The base trim starts at $41,160 including the $1,390 destination charge. It comes with front-wheel drive and a 66-kilowatt-hour battery (63 kWh usable), 19-inch alloys with all-season rubber, LED headlamps, a head-up display, heated steering wheel and front seats, an eight-way power adjustable driver seat with memory, six-speaker stereo system, wireless Apple Car Play and wired Android Auto connectivity, wireless phone charger, and in-dash navigation.
The all-wheel drive Engage variant stats at $45,160 and adds a beefier dual motor, electronic all-wheel drive system and a sliding center console.
Evolve+
The Evolve+ trim starts at $45,760 for front-wheel drive. It has a 91-kWh battery (87 kWh usable) for more range and power, and adds to the base model’s standard features with items such as a panoramic moonroof, rain-sensing windshield wipers, 360-degree camera and monitor, eight-way power-adjustable front passenger seat, and a stow-away table in the sliding front console,
The all-wheel drive version of the Evolve+ starts at $49,760 and adds the dual-motor e-4ORCE AWD system and a powered rear liftgate
Engage+ e-4ORCE
Starts at $46,760 and adds the 91-kWh battery and larger front disc brakes to the base Engage AWD package.
Platinum+ e-4ORCE
The top trim in the Ariya lineup starts at a near-luxury class $55,760. It has all of the features of the Evolve+ AWD and adds a 9-speaker Bose audio system, Nappa leather upholstery, power tilt and telescoping steering column, position memory for exterior side mirrors, a hand-free power rear liftgate and LED fog lamps. A version with 20-inch wheels is priced the same.
Power, Range and Charging
The base Engage with front drive gets a single 160-kilowatt motor on the front axle and is rated at 214 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque. EPA-estimated maximum range is 216 miles.
The AWD Engage e-4ORCE gets motors on each axle with a combined output rating of 335 hp, 413 lb.-ft. of torque and an EPA maximum range estimate of 205 miles.
Power and range for the big-battery variants differ depending on trim level and drive type:
- The front-drive Evolve+ gets a single 178 kW motor rated at 238 hp and 221 lb.-ft.
- EPA estimated maximum range for the front-drive Evolve+ is 289 miles.
- The all-wheel drive Engage+ e-4ORCE is rated at 335 hp and 413 lb. ft.
- The Evolve+ and Platinum+ e-4ORCE versions get dual-motor systems rated at 389 horsepower and 442 lb.-ft.
- EPA range estimates are 272 miles for the Engage+ and Evolve+ with AWD.
- The Platinum+ has more features and is heaver, so its range estimate drops to 267 miles (257 miles with 20-inch wheels and tires).
Both of the base Engage variants (without the “+”) use liquid-cooled, 66 kWh battery packs that can recharge from 80% depleted to 80% full in 35 minutes on a DC fast-charger rated at 135 kW and 65 minutes at 50 kW. For home charging on 240-volt Level 2 equipment, the Ariya has a 7.2 kW on-board charger that needs 10.5 hours to fully replenish an empty 66 kWh battery.
All other 2025 Nissan Aryia trims and variants get a 91-kWh battery – also liquid cooled. Charging at DC fast charge systems is a bit slower versus the base Engage because the battery has almost 50% more capacity. It takes, per Nissan, 40 minutes at 135 kW and 90 minutes at 50 kW. Home charging takes 14 hours with the larger battery if starting from a fully discharged state.
We found the Ariya range estimates to be fairly accurate. On a 232 mile trip in the Platinum+ e-4ORCE with 20-inch wheels, we lost just 11% – 28 miles – of the EPA-estimated 257 miles of range. The trip included 183 miles of freeway driving and 49 miles of city and country roads. Overall energy consumption worked out to 36.4 kWh per 100 miles or 2.75 miles per kWh.
Inside the 2025 Ariya
The Ariya’s interior is one of the best at the non-luxury level, with a modern minimalist look, quality fittings and, in upper trims, interesting ambient lighting that pops from laser-cut screening in the foot wells and along the upper door panels. The center console trimmed in the has backlit touch controls for the drive and regenerative modes.
There’s a metal trim bar that runs the width of the lower dash, with matching trim on the console. The bar is lighted and, in models with the advanced ProPilot 2.0 driver assistance system, changes colors to communicate various driving modes.
There are dual glove boxes but no center console storage on lower trims while upper trims get a center console storage compartment and a roomy locking storage drawer that slides out of lower dash panel.
Seat upholstery is “leatherette” (vinyl) on all but the Platinum trim, which gets Nappa leather. Seats are supportive and nicely padded front and back, with adequate adjustments for the driver and front passenger seats. The Aria is near the top of its price class in headroom and front legroom and even in back, where it trails competitors by an inch or more, the flat floor opens up room others don’t have and gives passengers room to sprawl a bit. All trims get power-adjustable driver’s seats while the two top trims also get power-adjustable front passenger seats.
A pair of 12.3-inch, horizontally-oriented screens pop from a padded dash that otherwise is almost barren of visible knobs and switches. A volume knob for the stereo sits at bottom center of the infotainment screen and row of back-lit, touch-sensitive switches for the climate control system is hidden under a wood-grain trim strip along the dash bottom.
Most functions are controlled via the center-mounted infotainment touchscreen or by touch controls on the flat-bottomed steering wheel. The other 12.3-inch screen, mounted behind the wheel, serves as a digital instrument panel and delivers information the driver needs to know.
The center console stops short of the dash and there’s no center stack.
Nissan did a good job of sound attenuation and while some wind noise does get through, the cabin is very quiet even at high speeds.
Cargo and Towing
Behind the rear seats, the Ariya offers 27.9 cubic-feet of storage space. Flip the 60/40 split rear seats down and that grows to almost 60 cubic feet. The “crossover coupe” shape (think BMW X6) helps the Ariya’s looks, but eats into cargo space just a bit, although it remains very competitive in the segment, with slightly more cargo space that the Kia EV6, Honda Prologue, Chevrolet Equinox EV and Cadillac Optiq.
The two top Ariya trims are rated to tow up to 1,500 pounds – items such as a small utility trailer, a jet ski, or a small sailboat.
Performance
We tested the Platinum+ e-4ORCE and found it to be comfortable, quiet and pleasant to drive, with sprightly acceleration – although without the stomach-dropping kick many EVs offer when the accelerator is jammed to the floor.
Nissan claims a 5.0-second time for a zero- to 60 mph sprint in the 389 hp Ariya variants, and that’s about what we experienced. Drop down to the entry-level Engage, though, and acceleration gets a bit sluggish for an EV at 7.5-seconds for that same 0-60 run.
The 2025 Nissan Ariya boasts a low center of gravity and in AWD versions a 50:50 weight balance, but it still isn’t a sports car (the Platinum trim weighs in at 5,057 pounds). It doesn’t like to be pushed hard into corners and doesn’t offer much in the way of steering feedback. Overall, it best suited to highway cruising and leisurely sight-seeing drives in the mountains and on windy country roads.
(There’s a high-performance NISMO edition with a re-tuned chassis and 429 horsepower available in Japan and Europe, so the car’s handling and power delivery can be improved, but it costs about $5,000 more than the top-spec Platinum+e-4ORCE in Japan and and there are no plans at present to bring it to the U.S.)
Safety and Driver Assistance
The Ariya has been awarded a 5-star overall safety rating by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and has been named a Top Safety Pick by the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
Nissan’s ProPilot suite of driver assistance and advanced safety systems is standard on all Ariya trim levels. It includes full-range adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning with lane keeping assist, forward and rear automatic emergency braking, blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert. It is linked with the on-board navigation system to more accurately predict highway conditions ahead, and has speed adjust to automatically slow on curves and off-ramps.
Nissan provides its updated ProPilot 2.0 system as standard equipment on the Platinum+ trim and an option for the Evolve + AWD. It includes all the base ProPilot systems and adds automated highway driving capability and automated parking assist.
The Evolve+ and Platinum+ trims also get a 360-degree camera-based monitor system.
