Kia Niro vs Nissan Ariya

What's the difference?

The Kia Niro S Electric is a solid little SUV that has decent space inside and some nice specs, but it's more expensive than its nearest rivals. The EV powertrain can take a little getting used to and I would have liked a smoother ride, but the 460km driving range is good.

For first-time EV owners, this wouldn’t be a bad option if you wanted to dip your toes in the water but it will suit urban dwellers and smaller families, like mine, best. This gets a 7.5/10 from me.

My son wasn’t in love with this one. Not enough buttons for him to press and he did comment on how bumpy the ride was in the back. He gives it a 6.0/10.

The Nissan Ariya made an excellent first impression on us in the short time we had to get to know it. The test vehicle's overseas spec meant we weren't able to experience it on public roads, so a 'real world' drive will have to wait until the car officially launches here in 2024.

At that point we'll also know the model line-up, final technical specification and pricing.

For now, we can say the Ariya appears to be easy and comfortable to drive, while offering excellent room for a car that's not at all large.

It’s a compact SUV with a footprint that's 4420mm long, 1825mm wide and 1570mm tall. But while small, I wouldn’t call it cute. It’s boxier than its sibling and without any of the swoopy design elements that make the EV6 look cool. 

I do like the way the two-tone body panelling, which is seen most prominently on the C-pillar, breaks up the ‘blocky-ness’ and creates areas of interest. As do the high-mounted rear LED lights. 

Speaking of lights, the base model makes do with halogen headlights, which unfortunately stand out against the LED daytime-running lights. You’ll notice the dimmer light at night, too.

The 17-inch alloy wheels are thick for better aerodynamics but the clever two-tone colouring stops them from looking unfashionable.

The interior has a lot style cred with the curvature of the door panelling blending in almost seamlessly with the dashboard.

The gently sloping panelling that houses the multimedia systems and switchable touchscreen interface for the controls creates a very pleasing cabin space.

There are some harder plastics mixed in here but enough soft touchpoints that you won’t be bothered by them. 

The Ariya is a mid-sized SUV, about 4.6m long, which is close to the same length as a Toyota RAV4 but its styling is very different to the SUV norm.

The Ariya looks like a hatchback that's eaten another car with that big, bloated face and puffed-out wheel arches. But somehow, this SUV looks stunning, in an intriguing way.

The cabin is also beautifully odd in places such as the climate controls which illuminate out of the wood-like dashboard. But then there are more familiar elements such as the screens for media and driver's instruments.

Yep, the Ariya’s design treads the line between avant garde and everyday that makes it interesting without scaring people off.

Tesla’s Model Y is a direct rival to the Ariya, only about 10mm longer and has its own quirky, but very-Tesla interior that’s far more futuristic than the Nissan’s relatively traditional layout. 

It’s surprisingly roomy inside and all passengers will enjoy decent leg and headroom, but taller passengers will find the backseat cosier than the front.

As such, two child seats will fit best but you do have ISOFIX child seat mounts on the outboard positions and three top-tether points, if you need them.

The synthetic leather/cloth seat trim cleans well and is nice to touch. The seats themselves, front and rear, are well-padded and super comfortable.

The backs of the front seats can double as coat hangers and have hardened kickplates, which are always practical for little feet.

The front row gets the most amenities and tech. The 8.0-inch touchscreen multimedia system has clear graphics but is different to other Kia’s I’ve sampled recently. It seems to have been simplified but you’ll get used to it quickly.

There are plenty of charging options available, too, with a USB-A and C port, plus a 12-volt socket. Not needing a cable for the wireless Apple CarPlay is a bonus, too!

The front row also has the most storage space with two retractable cupholders, dedicated phone tray, glove box, middle console and skinny drink bottle holders in each door.

Back seat passengers enjoy two USB-C ports, reading lights, drink bottle holders in each door plus an armrest with two cupholders. As well as, a standard three-pin socket in case you need to run electrical gear or charge anything up on the go.

The windows are wide and offer good visibility but I really like the 150mm ground clearance. It was super easy for my six-year old to climb in and out, plus he got a good view this week!

The boot is good for this size SUV with 475L of capacity available. It does look more like a hatchback, because while you can readjust the floor to sit lower, the back still slopes up.

However, it was fine for my weekly grocery and school run. The 'frunk' storage is small at 20L, which is just big enough for a charging cable.

You don’t get a spare wheel but you do get a puncture repair kit. And being the base model, it’s not a powered tailgate but it’s not heavy to close.

Leading up to the Australian preview of the Ariya I’d heard it was outstanding for space given its not-so-large exterior dimensions.

For the most part I found this to be true. Legroom in the second row is excellent, even for me at 188cm tall. Headroom back there isn’t as good as I expected with almost no room to place a hand between my noggin and the ceiling.

The flat floor in the second row creates more space and makes sliding from one side of the car to the other across the rear bench seat easy.

Up front there’s a large storage container Nissan calls the ‘Magic Box’ probably because it retracts neatly into the dashboard, although not due to any actual magic.

The sliding centre console is great for making more legroom for the unlucky middle seat passenger in the second row and offers superb covered storage. But it’s electric and as slow as a turtle, or a tortoise, I forget which one has legs.

Hyundai, Peugeot and other brands have these, too, but are manually operated.

The rear doors open wide making this an easy car to get in and out of, too.

The boot isn’t enormous. Nissan says it has a cargo capacity of 466 litres but those aren’t the VDA litres other brands such as Toyota uses, rather ‘liquid’ litres which is handy if you absolutely need to know exactly how much milk you’re able to pour into there. The load lip on the boot is also high, and will mean you’ll have to hoist items up and into it. 

The Ariya is still very practical, but the hype was overstated I think.

How much does the Ariya cost? Well, Nissan hasn’t announced pricing at this stage and won’t until much closer to the car's launch in 2024, but we think the list price will be close to $70,000.

How do we know this? We’ve zeroed in on the $70K mark because the Ariya’s direct rival is the Tesla Model Y which starts at $69,300 and tops out at $98,855 for the most powerful version.

Nissan would be barmy to price the Ariya higher than the Model Y and the company would also know Tesla could drop its prices in anticipation of the Ariya’s launch. 

What about the models in the line-up? Going by what’s offered in the UK, the Australian Ariya line-up could have two grades - an entry model and a fancy top-of-the-range version.

There will likely be a choice of two battery sizes as well as availability of an all-wheel drive version. 

So, with all that taken into account it’s likely the top-spec AWD could come in at about $90K.

That’s Nissan Patrol money for a mid-sized SUV, but it’s also not overly expensive given electric vehicles are still extremely costly to build and that extra spend is then passed onto the buyer in the asking price.

As for the features, well, in the UK the entry grade Ariya comes standard with dual-zone climate control, two 12.3-inch screens for media and the driver’s instruments, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, sat nav and a wireless phone charger.

There are also LED headlights and 19-inch alloys wheels on the overseas version. 

The Niro is a full EV and has a front-wheel drive drivetrain with a maximum output of 150kW/255Nm. It’s not as powerful as its stablemate and only has the single-motor which is powered by a 64.8kWh lithium-ion battery but going from 0-100km/h can still be achieved in 7.8 seconds. With specs like those, this is most suited for an urban setting.

Nissan hasn’t announced the motor specs for Australian Ariyas. But in the UK the Ariya can be had with a 63kWh battery and a motor sending 160kW/300Nm to the front wheels, or a bigger 87kWh battery version with the motor making 178kW/300Nm.  

There’s an all-wheel drive called the 'e-4orce' with the 87kWh battery and two motors (one on each axle) making a total of 225kW/600Nm. 

We might get all these versions or just some… we’ll probably know towards the end of this year.  

Such is the EV life but you can’t escape the charging.

The onboard DC charger has up to 85kW of capacity and that means on a 50kW fast charger station, you can get from 10 to 80 per cent in 65 minutes.

However, if plugged into a 350kW ultra-fast charger, you’ll only save 22 minutes because it can’t accept that faster speed.

On a 7.5kW system, you’ll go from 10 to 80 per cent in approximately nine hours, 25 minutes. On an 11kW, you’ll see that figure drop to six hours, 20 minutes.

The charging port is a Type 2 (CCS Combo2) and the car comes with an emergency charging cable that can plug into a standard three-pin domestic socket, if needed.

However, it’s slow going and you’re looking at a wait time of up to 27 hours, 30 minutes to get to a full charge. All other cables cost extra.

The official kWh/100km consumption is 16.2kWh and my average on-test figure was 14.3kWh after a mix of urban and open-road driving.

However, I did see figures getting closer to 20kWh on longer trips. Still, I would consider my average to be efficient.

The Niro S has a driving range of up to 460km (WLTP).

Nissan was still evaluating the Ariya for Australia at the time this preview was published and had not determined the ranges or energy consumption for the vehicle locally.

What I can tell you is in Europe the 63kWh battery offers a 403 km range, while the 87kWh gives you a more substantial 533km range. The all-wheel drive version offers a 500km range. 

The efficiency figures for the European cars are also indicative of those we could expect. The 63kWh battery version is claimed to consume 17.6kWh/100km and for the FWD Ariya with the 87kWh battery that figure rises to 18.1kWh/100km.

This is a pretty simple car to drive but it doesn’t feel as fun as some other EVs I’ve driven. It can even feel sluggish when you accelerate from a full stop and that makes it feel laggy in stop/start traffic.

Once you’re on your way, the acceleration is fairly responsive. You feel confident overtaking on the open road, too.

The car feels connected to the road with minimal shuddering through the steering wheel. The car responds in a timely manner when you have to make sudden moves, which I like.

Sometimes, the lane keeping aids make it feel jerky and I turned it off in some situations.

The regen braking delivers a big physical presence like the EV6 but isn’t as refined and can feel almost ‘bunny hoppy’ at times.

You can customise it up to four levels, zero being low regen and four being the iPedal. I’m not overly fond of the iPedal, so didn’t use it that much this week and kept it at level 3.

You do have to change up how you drive an EV, so this wasn’t that surprising and something I’m sure you’d get used to.

The ride comfort is pretty mixed. Around town, it’s good but there’s quite a bit of passenger movement in this. You kinda feel like you’re bobbing along sometimes, which is jolting.

You also feel the road but the seats are so comfortable, they stop it from feeling too rough. 

Surprisingly, the cabin gets very loud with wind and road noise. You can still chat but you won’t forget that it’s there, which is a shame.

I didn’t notice much difference between the drive modes, so it was kept on 'Normal', too. 

This is very easy to park! It’s a good size for even a tight car park with a 10.6m turning circle and the reversing camera is super clear, which is great. 

However, I would have liked to have seen front parking sensors, as well as the rear sensors. You can get them on the GT-line though.

This was the first time the Ariya had been driven in Australia. Okay, sure, we were only allowed to do so at a test track and not on public roads. And, yes, the car we drove was an overseas version given to us to test by Nissan.

But the opportunity meant we could get a hint of what it might be like to drive in the real world.

Plus, we could drive it at 110km/h, which is about 30km/h faster than the maximum allowed for CarsGuide colleague Stephen Corby when he first drove the Ariya for us in Sweden, thanks to the overly cautious speed limits in that country. 

We drove the FWD Ariya with the larger 87kWh battery.

First impression is the Ariya is an easy car to drive, smooth thanks to the electric powertrain with good (but no ludicrous) acceleration.

Handling and brakes are excellent, while steering has a nice weight to it but remains light and accurate.

At higher speeds there’s wind noise but that’s only noticeable because there’s no engine to drown out the sound of the air rushing past.

The test track we drove the Ariya on was a course bitumen loop that approximated Australian road surfaces and the Ariya felt comfortable and stable at all times no matter what the speed.

So, an easy car to drive that’s comfortable and handles well, with good acceleration but not outstandingly quick compared to a Tesla Model Y. 

The Ariya won't go on sale in Australia until next year and hasn’t been given an ANCAP assessment yet. But ANCAP will likely adopt the maximum five-star rating the car scored in its Euro NCAP test. We will have to wait and see.

That means the Ariya will arrive with AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection, plus rear AEB. There’s lane keeping assistance and a 360-degree camera, too.

The ongoing costs are great on the Niro. It comes with Kia’s ‘better-than-average-for-the-market’ seven-year/150,000km warranty, which also covers the battery.

You get a seven-year capped-price servicing plan and services average $250 per year, which is good.

Servicing intervals are more in line with a petrol car at every 12 months or 15,000km. It’s usual to see those intervals doubled on an EV but it’s still reasonable.

We’d expect the Ariya to be covered by the same five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty Nissan Australia applies to all its vehicles.

The battery will likely be covered by a separate eight year/160,000km warranty just like the Nissan Leaf EV.

Service pricing will be available once the car's final specification is settled.