The 2023 Nissan Ariya Is a Quirky New Electric Crossover 

I think the brake light option on the left panel is to help people to see and learn (especially during one pedal driving) the point at which the car indicates it is braking

It's kind of interesting to see an EV that's just... fine. The fact that some EVs are starting to become normal shows how quickly they're starting to be adopted.

I would guess the left screen "Brake Lights" function is to help when people are one-pedal driving. EVs like the Teslas turn on the brake lights when a certain level of deceleration is occurring, even when the brakes are not applied, and a lot of people do not know this. The lights light up in the GUI in Teslas to show this, so seems like a logical conclusion in the Ariya.

I love how Nissan added zero piano gloss black plastic and made the car's climate zone really funky and cool. They did a good job integrating the buttons onto the dashboard and I commend them for not using piano plastic which gets smudged and dirty the first week of ownership

It’s so wild a Nissan crossover has more tech and features than a 5 year old BMW. The technology has been advancing so much in the last 3-4 years.

The flower petals are from a cherry blossom tree, I'm guessing are a reference to the Ariya's "little brother" so to speak, the Nissan Sakura. It's a kei-car like the Honda Beat or Suzuki Cappuccino that's sold only in Japan, and it's fully electric.

As someone who’s 6’5” I really appreciate the removal of a transmission tunnel. Hopefully they’ll bring back the front bench seat!

The auto heated seat and steering wheel are really under rated on Nissan products, I used to have a Q50 and it was the greatest thing, it would turn on until the car got warmed up and then gradually turn down as you warmed up. I don’t have much positive to say about Nissan in the recent years, but they did that right!

The charge port door just being push and open is great. As for the grill, most cars have fake grills with much smaller openings than it appears with ICE and electric do need cooling and have small grill openings as well.

Im really glad to see Nissan getting back on their feet. Every model they’ve come out with starting 2 or 3 years ago have been bangers.

The flower in the hidden tray and in the center console is a cherry blossom (sakura in Japanese) and is typically the symbol of spring in Japan and a major activity to go see the blossoms bloom across the country, to the point blossom reports are tracked like the weather.

About freaking time. I found it odd that the first company to release an EV would take so long to release their second model. It looks like they made a lot of different and interesting decisions. Looks very promising. I hope they sell well.

Here befote EDIT V2 gets removed gang

Not just ''ANY'' flower ..its a 'cherry blossom' very revered in Japan, also as a homage to the Nissan Cherry.

LOL i got a Nissan Ariya ad before watching this. great review doug!

I've had my Ariya for about a month and generally very pleased with it. The graphics are a little dated and the heating doesn't seem to want to warm my feet! Seems to pretty efficient probably helped by the fact that it has a heat pump as standard. Apple carplay is wireless but sadly android auto isn't. Only two trim levels available here in Ireland - I went with the higher one which has a Hud.

Question: Will today’s “Big Altima Energy” eventually be replaced by “Big Ariya Energy” in the future?

I like the lantern tie-in. Nissan/Infiniti did something similar with the G37 when it was introduced. The design for the interior was based on Japanese washi paper, and the center gauge color was purple in a nod to Japanese royalty.

Tennessee plates on the car as Nissan is headquartered just outside Nashville. Nissan also has the naming rights for the Tennessee Titans stadium and Doug is repping the Titans with his shirt. Nicely done!

The Nissan Ariya owners club will be called: The Ariyan Brotherhood

I've been eyeing this as my next car since its announcement. I love everything about it, and its price here in Canada isn't terrible either.

I have driven the "Performance" high-power model of the Ariya, as it's already available here in Europe, and honestly by our standards it's an amazing car. Most vehicles on the road are 3-4 cylinder engines with less than 200hp so even the base model feels impressive to us. It's also too expensive for most people, especially considering that our charging infrastructure might be insufficient depending on where you live. I think most people will still go for an Audi Q3/Q4 after seeing the price.

The Ariya is by far the nicest looking EV crossover for me, externally. Quite a beauty. But internally, I’m most excited about the Fisker Ocean with its center screen that can rotate from portrait to landscape entertainment mode. I love the idea of relaxing in the car while parked somewhere and watching streaming movies, and not worrying about the cost because charging at home would be cheap versus buying petrol in an ice.

That’s nice the brake lights let you know they’re activated because you’re using one pedal to drive and the brakes actuate without you pressing them.

The brake light screen thing is kinda nice, actually. On some cars, when you're in one-pedal drive mode, it activates the brake lights when you lift your foot off the gas. I sometimes wonder if my brake lights come on when I slow down to a light in my EV.

Having driven the AWD version I can say it's fairly sporty if you push it, but you still notice that it's not lightweight, so it feels as if it's got some heft to it. I'd say it's the fastest car I've driven so far by a decent margin.

Saw one of these up close yesterday, fresh off the truck... Really interesting proportions and more lifted than other vehicles in that class.

Thanks for covering this. I was curious about it.

Great review, Doug. I just picked up the Premiere FWD version after a year long deposit reservation. Great features, and futuristic appearance inside and out, in the $50K-$60K price range.

It took them a decade and a few car versions, for some unimaginable reason, but Nissan finally has a car with active thermal management for the battery. Welcome to the modern age, Nissan.

"A flower petal with leaves coming off" That's a flower with petals coming off

I drove that today. The dynamic is way better than the Ioniq 5.

Doug is the only person I can think of who would call parking in a spot "perpendicular parking"

That hidden storage panel is def for the blicky lmao. Nissan knows the US market likes to stay strapped haha.

the brake light thing is actually good to have. i didnt realize my brake lights weren’t functioning properly until i was pulled over twice in the same week for it. once when i found out and the second time after my fix didnt last

We just got these at my dealership a couple weeks ago. After seeing it up close, it looks really nice in a quirky way

When I was at the Philadelphia Auto Show this was the number one most interested EV besides the Ford Mach E. Everyone was test driving it and it looked super nice driving by. Nissan did a good job with this.

Finally WOW!!!! I've been waiting THIIIIS moment for months :) This will be my next Nissan SUV and I've already seen a lot of reviews. But I was waiting Doug's review the most. Thank you!!!!

I'm so excited for this video!

I anxiously await the convertible version

We all hated the Mach E at launch (understandably, bc of the nameplate used), but it literally sparked a new market segment full of pretty interesting vehicles.

I just subscribed to this dude a few days ago, and I can’t help but notice the consistent Voice Cracks. He’s a good dude though

That brake light option which shows u the brake lighting in real time is to make sure all ur brake lights are working. Other cars had that features all the way back to the 60s. My 92 lexus got it as well

I live how simple and clean everything looks

Terrific job in my favorite Nissan EV Doug.

I can see Altima bae's wrecklessly driving these things within a few years lol

I love the irony of Doug’s “Oilers” shirt while doing a review on an EV.

The brake light function on the driver's display is excellent because regen brakes can trigger them, but not 100% of the time, given it depends on the rate to decelerate. I would like to see this on all EVs. People in traffic have thought I was intentionally riding the brake to piss them off.

The auto mode for heated seats and steering wheel is great. Use that all the time on my car and it’s generally pretty spot on for my preferences.

Great and deep review. Now I'm in love with Nissan ❤

I really like the capacitive buttons. It is also durable without warning out their signs over time.

I am glad Doug had also clearly listened to other people's feedback on explaining his score bit more, even if he doesn't explain each individual category.

Seems like the main competition is the car Doug did not mention, the VW ID-4

Great review

Oh perfect, capacitive touch buttons on an armrest! What we've all been asking for!

9:19 Subarus show you your brake lights in the gauge cluster screen, and it’s honestly the *best feature ever* and single handedly most missed feature, that I absolutely still miss even after a year of not having a subaru. All cars have the same safety and tech features for the most part, (I’ve had like every mainstream vehicle as company cars for work) they all have blind spot, rear cross traffic, push2start, reverse cam, etc etc. but that little pic of my Subaru showing me when my brake lights are engaged was *so nice* and it made me feel safer when using the “auto brake hold” with my foot off the brake pedal. Cause I knew my brake lights were on for other drivers to see, even though my foot was just chillen off the pedals. It’s def a “don’t knock it till you try it” feature.

Very nice! Seems that skateboard platforms for EVs enable a large number of configurations.

Doug, we love you Doug

@Doug Demuro: Love it. Looks so clean and solid for and electric vehicle.

Very cool and futuristic, apart from those 2004 door handles

I still can’t wrap my head around buying a nissan/ford/hyundai/kia etc for 55-60k. That’s honestly jaw dropping

Got my Northern Lights Premiere Ariya yesterday Love It! Lots to learn for me, all good.

That center storage tray in the dash reminds me of big American cars from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, which all had something like that for the ash tray and cigarette lighter. Very cool to see that coming back as a storage tray instead.

Capacitive buttons are cool until you realize you can't find them without looking, taking your focus off the road

I like the fact that Doug reviewed the "normal" version regardless of the low horsepower.

Just noticed Dougs new channel logo, nice CarrerraGT!

I see you Doug, with your Remember The Oilers tee shirt. Very unique, never seen the Oilers logo crossed with the Titans comet logo, and retaining our tri-stars! Cool shirt choice for a Tennessee (US) headquartered manufacturer vehicle.

Nissan may have something here!

Surprised Doug left out the ID.4 in comparison as it seems to be the most similar in size, design, and pricing...

I would love for Doug to do classics, but I guess that’s Doug’s plan B if there’s nothing to review in a desperate time. Example, 68 69 70 charger, Shelby cobra, ford gt, Cuda, etc!

I remember Doug kinda smirking about the brake lights coming on in the little car representation of a Outback. I do know the when driving my Forester and I have the automatic cruise activated it’s nice to have a visual representation in front of me indicating when braking is activated. Especially in heavier and stop and go traffic.

This suv is absolutely awesome! I tried out the BASE model and it is so roomy! The front seat can easily have two buckets and a middle seat, making the Aliya a six passenger crossover. Also, The seats were heated/cooled and ventilated The base model also has a heads up display. So much for only 43,000

Handsome design. I'm waiting to see the longer term reviews as post-sales support, software updates, etc. are a big part of owning an EV and can't really be covered in early reviews.

Dude. I've been following you forever...this was just one of many great vehicle break-downs that you have offered. You good?

Great review Hey Doug, do you know of any electric vehicle that still comes with a spare tire? Thanks

Great job, several genuine features! Kinda rare to see little "late" review from EU point of view, as this car hit the road about half a year earlier in Europe, even more early did journalists testdrive it, some even a year ago, also the names of battery and drive versions are whole different, marketing games. Love the way Arya looks, i'd go for Awd version

I really wish automakers weren’t, umm, pushing these capacitive touch buttons on us. They are horrible for UX while driving. They may look great but you need to be looking at them to use them.

Finally a real video of this car

I like how in the ads they say "don't get one because it's clean, get one because it pins you to your seat."

That center console moves into next week! Brought to you by Stretch Armstrong Action Figures®. His arms, much like the Aryia center console, stretch into next week!

Holy moly! Why do people like monstrosities like this?! Hatchbacks are so much better looking and very often have more space inside than the stupid crossovers.

My subaru also shows when my brake lights are on. I like it because during adaptive cruise you're curious when the car starts braking.

Oddly enough, got an Ariya ad as I’m about to watch Doug review one😂😂😂

The two problems I have with capacitive buttons: you can't find them easily by touch (without also activating them), and you can't work them while wearing gloves. Also I'm extremely not a fan of rear-camera "mirrors." Not having parallax depth perception makes it a lot harder to safely judge distances, and having the view angle be decoupled from the mirror's physical angle also makes relative positioning much more difficult to judge. I suppose this is less of an issue because of the backup/wraparound camera and the parking assist, though. I'd imagine that the brake light display is helpful for folks who want to know what the brake lights are doing when in e-step/regen mode. On my Leaf it isn't always clear what's going on with them.

the button integration in the center console is actually nice and would love to see it in more cars👁️👁️

Doug, I love your quirky reviews. Lots of unbiased details. 😉👍. Huh, the paint on this one is reminiscent of wood paneling. 😳

i have a nissan leaf sl plus and it has a lot that this does, just smaller and cheaper. I love it and it is pretty quick, 215 hp and 0-60 in around 6.5 seconds. Fun little hatchback!

The capacitive touch buttons are the coolest implementation I've seen, but they are DEFINITELY worse than real buttons

I love this car for many reasons. biggest reason is because its an EV with great styling and is overall a very efficient car with great room for road trips. to me EV's are much cooler and practical than an ICE vehicle. to put it simply EV's just make sense.

Doug, is it slow compared to a Rav 4 or slow compared to other electric vehicles? Please clarify.

The hidden ''leaf'' is a cherry blossom. Or 'Sakura', which happens to be the name of the new K car EV they just launched.

I was a little bit thrown off by the name and actually surprised it didn't go with pulsar for their electric line. XD Who knows maybe they'll bring back a little quirky car like that again

I drove the Ariya yesterday. Needs a trim with 300+ miles range and AWD. Too small for my needs. Very smooth, quiet ride! Good Tesla Model Y competitor.

I'm starting to believe that automakers are now putting these Easter eggs in their cars for Doug to find...

I'm still waiting for that Galant VR4 Doug had in the preview a while back.

Another great feature is the zero gravity seats, 👏👏👏which are really comfortable! The lumbar support inflates with air for more support, and deflates for less support.

I assume that petal/leaf motif is also a reference to and in keeping with their other EV, the Nissan Leaf

I got into the first one that arrived in North America, it’s so cool

I just saw my first Ariya today (in Nashville, TN). I don't know how I missed this video from 9 months ago and how I hadn't seen this car before considering I live about 30 miles from the Nissan factory (in Smyrna, TN) and the USA HQ (in Franklin, TN)

Everyone like this comment so we can see Doug review a z32 300zx!!!