2023 Nissan Ariya AWD First Drive: Dual Motors, Double the Appeal?

It's been a strange year in California, with benign-sounding atmospheric rivers absolutely drenching the state—causing both calamity (immense snowfall, floods, and landslides) and good fortune (a break from an epic, crushing drought)—which means Sonoma is sodden, a fact that might normally be a bummer for a vehicle launch. But the 2023 Nissan Ariya e-4orce—yes, that's the name—is the dual-motor, all-wheel-drive version of the electric SUV, and so the sopping-wet roads sure to challenge it are a happy accident.

The Ariya, which bowed in front-drive form, is a remarkably unremarkable electric crossover—and this is mostly a good thing. The single-motor version offers 228 hp and either a 66- or 91-kWh battery, and, being lighter and less thirsty for electrons than its new AWD sibling, it offers more range—up to 304 miles. Otherwise, what can be said for the regular Ariya can be said for the e-4orce: the exterior looks futuristic and upscale—perhaps stately rather than inspiring, but safely inoffensive; the interior looks fantastic and is on par with the class-leaders; and it lags in terms of EV features like true one-pedal driving or ultra-fast charging speed. Despite some real highlights, in our 2023 SUV of the Year testing the Ariya fell to its competitor, the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

With an extra motor out back and a whole new set of impressive output figures—389 hp and 442 lb-ft of torque (with the larger battery; smaller-battery e-4orces make 335 hp and 413 lb-ft, and manage 205 miles of claimed range)—will the awkwardly named e-4orce make more of an impression? The short answer is yes … and no. The bones of a great all-around EV crossover are here, and the additional thrust packs a wallop, but with great e-4orce comes great responsibility—the responsibility to get everything more or less right. And the Ariya e-4orce, unfortunately, gets a few things wrong.

To lead with the good: the Ariya e-4orce absolutely scoots. Nissan says the Ariya e-4orce will knock out the 60-mph run in just 4.8 seconds, and it feels that way behind the wheel. Goose it, and there's a slight pause, as if the e-4orce is making sure you really mean it, and then a swell of push that isn't marred by any scrambling for grip or wheel-dancing torque steer, even on very wet pavement. The Ariya handles short passing situations with authority, and it has enough processing power on board to sort things out if you get a bit out-of-sorts on a slick, windy road. Underway, the drama-free torque rush—exactly twice what the regular Ariya can dish out, as the e-4orce simply adds an identical motor to the rear axle—is, predictably, addictive.

But there's good reason to avoid getting too rambunctious in the Ariya e-4orce. TL;DR: There's no fully comfortable or natural way to bleed off the speed that the Nissan can so rapidly acquire. Its conventional two-pedal mode, without significant regen, is marred by a brake pedal that's mushy up top and then, near the end of its travel, wooden and hard to modulate. Even coasting up to a stoplight in conventional two-pedal mode, it's tough to stop the 5,507-pound Ariya e-4orce Platinum+ gracefully.

Things don't improve in the Ariya's quasi-one-pedal mode. The smaller, older Leaf's E-Pedal is a true one-pedal driving mode that will bring it to a full stop, all while providing a linear relationship between how much you lift off the accelerator and how much regen is provided. If you don't like it, don't press it, and the Leaf will drive in a very conventional two-pedal mode—with, incidentally, a pedal that is firm and needs a decent push to work. But work it does; the Leaf Plus demonstrated excellent stopping-distance in our testing.

For the newer Ariya, Nissan has reconsidered this approach, and its new E-Step feature won't bring the vehicle to a stop; Nissan says this change was based on customer input, an attempt to make the Ariya less intimidating to EV noobs. Lift off the accelerator, and E-Step—in a beat or two—gradually increases regen to pull the vehicle down almost to a stop, where the regen begins to fade out. Competitors like the Toyota bZ4X use similar high-regen braking behavior.

But a bZ4X driver doesn't have to lift off the accelerator and then hunt for a mushy brake pedal, which in the Nissan (as we noted in our SUVOTY review) moves up and down by itself in E-Step mode. It can be disconcerting—little micro-moments of semi-panic as the pedal isn't quite where your foot expected it to be. (Mercedes' EVs attempt a similar trick, though without as severely off-putting results.) The pedal is never truly that far away, but it's another layer of distraction and frustration that doesn't improve the braking/regen experience any. This is a heavy mainstream crossover with sports-car acceleration. The least it could do would be to stop with confidence regardless of which brake/regen mode it was in.

At least it rides well, even on the Platinum+'s optional 20-inch wheels. Among its competition, it's right in between the cushy Ioniq 5 and the somewhat stiff-riding bZ4X. The Ariya e-4orce feels planted and secure, and a little lighter on its feet than its curb weight would suggest. The light steering helps mask the heft, too, but it's too isolated from the road and doesn't provide enough feedback to confidently maintain lane position. Its competitors all do a better job on the steering front.

You can let the computers take over some steering duties, though. Like FWD Ariyas, the e-4orce Platinum+ versions come with Pro Pilot Assist 2.0, which allows for hands-free driving in certain situations. When it worked, it was intuitive and seamless, but rainy conditions meant the system dropped back to hands-on mode often. The frequent handoffs from one mode to another got tiresome—if it's grim outside, maybe lock it in hands-on mode.

Both standard and AWD Ariyas are graced with a Sport mode that is not particularly sporty. It unlocks a whirring, whistling, artificial noise that isn't annoying but also isn't compelling, and it also appears to fine-tune the throttle and steering—a bit. That's it. No adaptive dampers, no noticeable effect on the steering. There's no real reason to turn it on, and we suspect very few owners ever will. And we'll give Nissan a pass on this, because all a mainstream crossover needs is the vague, ego-reassuring suggestion of sportiness—and if push comes to shove, the Ariya e-4orce can back it up by thumping its occupants into their seatbacks.

And those seatbacks are very nice indeed. The Ariya's real strength, whatever the drivetrain selected, is a seriously nice interior. The leather-clad seats are all-day comfortable, and there's lots of room inside (for people, at least—stowage space for stuff is hampered by the Ariya's gimmicky motorized console and a pop-out "glovebox"). The touch-capacitive, haptic buttons embedded in the woodgrain trim are a serious "wow" feature, although they take a very deliberate press to work. A real rotary volume knob is appreciated. And we observed a very respectable 3.2 miles/kWh indicated efficiency on our windy route, during which we unapologetically romped on the e-4orce. (Note that despite being able to burn through electrons more quickly than the FWD version, the e-4orce makes do with an identical 130-kW DC fast-charge capability, going from 10 to 80 percent in a claimed 40 minutes.)

Nissan got into the EV game early, and its track record of selling hundreds of thousands of electric hatchbacks means it's figured out how to make electrics appeal to more than just the EV die-hards. The right-sized, premium-looking, comfortable Ariya is a sophomore effort that gets a lot right.

And the stuff that it gets wrong could, conceivably, be fixed. E-Step could turn into a true one-pedal driving setup with a software update, Aditya Jairaj Senior Director, EV Transformation told us—not that Nissan is necessarily considering this, but it's possible. That's the beauty of software-defined vehicles. For now, the Ariya e-4orce is literally a step away from mainstream EV greatness.