Nissan Ariya review

The dash is a simple affair, a layered cake. Big screens stand proud. They rest on a band of cloth, and below are a line of vents, and below that the veneer that carries climate switchgear. The whole thing is slim, architectural and high quality.

These switches, and some others on the centre console, are the ones lit through the veneer. They give a little haptic click when your finger presses. It's much easier than a touchscreen. Visually, they're a little piece of magic. Only issue is you have to look down to find them because they're not three dimensional: they only click in affirmation once you've actually pressed. Not that there's much wrong with the Ariya's 12.3-inch screen. It's big and versatile.

A big head-up display augments the 12.3-inch driver display if you've ticked the right boxes.

Meanwhile the Nismo ups the wow factor with red gauges, a red start button on a new blackened wood dashboard, red ambient lighting and red stitching on the steering wheel, seats and door cards. Spotted the theme yet?

Between the front seats is a console/armrest that slides back and forth under motor power. It holds lots of stuff, but can wobble a bit if you hit a bump half-way round a bend. There's another glovebox-type drawer below the central screen. It too opens by motor propulsion. So, loads of storage all in.

In front of that is a flat floor. It makes the place seem roomy, but lets junk lying in the passenger footwell slither across to the right in a briskly taken left-hander, ending up among the pedals.

Acres of back seat room for three people comes courtesy of the long wheelbase and flat floor. The boot is big in area, and has useful underfloor space in the FWD version. Mind you the charge cable will be there, because there's no frunk.

It measures 466 litres in the FWD Ariya, or 408 litres in the AWD variant. That’s bigger than the Ford Mustang Mach-E and Volvo EC40, just shy of the Kia EV6, but quite a bit smaller compared to the Audi Q4 e-tron, Hyundai Ioniq 5, VW ID.4, and Skoda Enyaq.