It’s national Drive Electric Week, and there are a ton of great events showcasing EVs happening all across the country. Yesterday, I spent a few hours at my local event (Chicago Drives Electric), to get a first-hand look at some of the best new EV deals on the road.
For me, personally, the most exciting vehicle on-hand at Chicago Drives Electric was this Nissan Ariya shown, above. Not because I didn’t know about the Ariya, or because it was some new model – I just simply hadn’t driven one before, so was excited to get behind the wheel … but more on that in a minute.
First, the electric pickup trucks.
Chevy Silverado EV
While the Silverado EV may not present the best lease deal in the business, but it’s an extremely capable electric pickup that may be a great option to buy instead of lease, thanks to $1,500 in unadvertised incentive cash and 0% financing + 90 days of no monthly payments.
Commercial truck buyers may qualify for additional state and utility incentives, as well – click here to find local offers a Chevy Silverado EV near you.
Cadillac Lyriq
The all-electric Cadillac LYRIQ was an Electrek favorite when it first made its debut two years ago, but I took some heat in the comments earlier this month when I sad that LYRIQ buyers who had been waiting for a deal can score more than $10,500 in discounts on the Ultium-based Caddy. That’s because $7500 of those “discount” dollars came from GM’s Ultium Promise Bonus Cash incentive meant to offset the fact that some of its EVs don’t qualify for the full $7500 federal EV incentive. And fair play to them for being technically correct.
That said, our own Seth Weintraub said that GM had come in, “a year early and dollar long at $60K” when he first drove the Ultium-based Cadillac LYRIQ back in 2022, and it remains a visually distinct, well-mannered SUV that anyone in the market should consider.
As I wrote then: if the Cadillac was a winner at its original, $57,195 starting price (rounded up to $60K for easy math), what could we call it at $10,500 less? Click here to find Cadillac LYRIQ deals near you.
Lots more to see
There are plenty of other vehicles on display at the event, which exists to help dispel some of the more persistent myths surrounding EVs (innocent and otherwise). There are also representatives from the OEMs and utilities around to help answer questions about rebates, incentives, insurance, home charging, and just about everything else you can think of as you shop for an EV.
And now, back to that Deep Ocean Pearl blue Nissan Ariya …
Nissan Ariya fast take
Nissan fans (we do exist) like to talk about the Ariya didn’t get a fair shake. When it made its debut, it was one of the only crossover EV options out there, alongside the Mustang Mach-E and Model Y. In that context, it car have sold well, but parts shortages, a slow rollout, and a raft of new models from Chevy, Hyundai, Kia, and price cuts at Tesla are often cited as reasons why the Ariya isn’t more popular than it is.
After driving the car for the first time, without a Nissan PR rep in the passenger seat to highlight its plusses and steer me away from its minuses, I think there are other reasons it’s not performing as well as it could be.
At first glance, the interior of the Nissan Ariya looks slick and modern. The backlit “wood” dash looks the part, and the backlit “buttons” look great as well. On a similarly positive note, the dash and infotainment systems were easy to navigate, the seats were comfortable, the climate controls were intuitive, and the steering wheel leather felt like it was made from healthy cows instead of the diseased street dogs Volvo used to make the leather in my 2009 XC70. Even at the rear, there was plenty of room for a Costco run.
All that said, pressing the buttons on that slick wooden dash produced a “haptic” feedback. Great, in concept, to let the driver know a button had been pressed. In practice, however, it feels like the dash panel is loose, and I can easily imagine my seventy-something father-in-law pressing it progressively harder and harder to “prove” it’s loose to some poor service writer.
Another drawback: I drive manual-transmission vehicles quite regularly, and have occasionally gone on record as a huge fan of Tiptronic-style automatics. As such, I am one of those drivers who often finds their right hand resting on the gear selector. And, on the Ariya, the hard, cheap, and squeaky plastics the shifter is made of are in stark contrast to the relatively high quality leather-wrapped steering wheel.
That’s a shame, because those two minor features would cause the car to both fail the Father-in-law Test™ and disappoint the “I wanted a Z or a GT-R, but I have kids and dogs and stuff to haul around so this is as close as I can get” crowd.
But for those two very minor quibbles, the Ariya is a winner, with plenty of power and straight line acceleration and a relatively tossable feel that’s in stark contrast to the firmly planted “steamroller” feeling I get from my current tester (a Volvo C40 coupe). If you can wrap your head around the haptic feedback and keep your hands at 10 and 2, click here to see if the sweet deals and discounts available at your local Nissan dealer are enough to put one in your driveway.
ORIGINAL CONTENT FROM ELECTREK.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments