The Nissan Ariya is now starting to arrive to dealers worldwide and is available for order in the United States starting at $44,485. The Japanese electric SUV is certainly a very exciting new product in the EV market, but before you head to your local Nissan showroom and deposit it, you might want to see how good it is in terms of safety. We won’t be talking about electronic assistance systems but will instead look at how the vehicle behaves on the road.
The famous moose test is good litmus regarding the balance of vehicle weight and chassis stiffness, the two main factors that determine how good a car is on the road. New video from km77.com showing us Ariya doing the moose test and the slalom test. We’ve seen lots of videos with different models doing the same type of evaluation and now is the time for newcomers to the EV sector to take up the challenge.
Ariya managed to record a top speed of 48 miles per hour (77 kilometers per hour) around the cone. This is not a speed record but more than what many other electric vehicles can achieve. The publication says the SUV feels easy to control with neutral reactions and is safe at higher speeds. Body roll is moderate and the steering, while not very informative, is sufficient to allow the driver to steer the vehicle in the right direction.
The test version of the Ariya has optional 20-inch wheels with 255/45 Michelin Primacy tires, which probably helped the SUV perform well in the moose test. The family electric hauler, however, stems from the base model with a smaller 64-kWh battery pack and a single 218-horsepower electric motor on the front axle. This is the entry-level variant of the Ariya in the United States, which can be had for at least $44,485 without additional equipment. The most expensive Ariya in the US has a dual-motor powertrain and costs at least $61,485.
