My wife and I went to the Tacoma Ride and Drive event this past weekend with our two kids, and spent quite a while with the different models. We currently drive an ID.4, and before that had a Leaf+. We came away from the event all looking forward to trading in the ID.4 for an Ariya in a few months, despite my wife's previous insistence that the ID.4 would have to be our last new car for at least five years. She was annoyed at how frequently I traded in one EV for the next new model, but was won over with the Ariya.
Some observations from my perspective:
- They only had white and grey cars available, but I don't find the Ariya as appealing from the exterior as the ID.4. I find the appearance of the interior comparable, with a slight preference for the Ariya.
- The controls in the Ariya are so much better than the ID.4 Simple things like a well-placed volume knob and an intuitive (to me) layout for the steering wheel controls make a big difference.
- The climate controls look really nice, and are not that hard to use. Certainly much better than the ID.4
- It can be hard to change the temperature with a series of taps, but you can press and hold the up or down buttons.
- There is no dedicated button for the front heated seats or heated steering wheel, but there is an icon on the screen that brings it up quickly. It can also be set to turn on the heated seats or steering wheel automatically.
- The seat belt map (for want of a better word) is really useful if you have kids. No more having to ask if everyone is buckled up!
- You can set the charging connector to be always locked, always unlocked, or to unlock when charging is finished. We share our home charger with a friend, so it is very helpful to be able to move the plug to a different vehicle even if you don't have the key.
- ProPilot works as well as it did with the Leaf, with the addition of ProPilot 2.0 in very limited circumstances. Hands-free driving only works on stretches of freeways with no interchanges that have been pre-mapped. It will change lanes for you, but you have to hit the turn signal yourself and you must hold the steering wheel, so it seems like you could just turn the wheel yourself at that point. I'm not sure 2.0 adds much value.
- There is significantly less space in the trunk than in the ID.4. However, you can pack your stuff up to the roofline and still see out the back by using the rear camera.
- It may be because it was a pre-production car, but the keyboard for typing a destination in the Navigation system was very hard to use. The letters were small and slightly fuzzy, and about 1/3 of the time it would miss a letter, unless you paused an unnaturally long time between letters.
- The Navigation system uses Google, and is much better than all other Navigation systems I have tried (except Tesla...). It can find all sorts of locations, and it can add reasonable charging stops to your trip automatically. You can't filter by network, but you can filter based on charging speed.
- I was given two different answers about charging speed. One person told me that it will maintain 130 kW to a high state of charge, and would still be pulling over 100kW at 80% SoC, which would be amazing. A different person told me it would take 40 minutes to charge from 20-80% SoC on a 150kW charger, which suggests ~78kW average over that range. They only had access to a 50kW charger at the test site, but it seemed the first person spoke from past experience.
- The HUD was really bright and looked great.
- E-pedal (now e-step) will slow the car to ~5mph, but you have to use the brakes to come to a stop. Once stopped, it will stay stopped without you pressing the brake pedal as long as Auto Hold is on. No one there knew why it would not bring the car to a complete stop (OK, two people claimed to know why, but their reasons were contradictory and not very good).
- The Ariya is a very comfortable and quiet car. About the same as the ID.4 (which is very comfortable), though the rear seats might be more comfortable in the Ariya.
- The pedestrian warning sound is quieter than the ID.4. You don't really hear it inside the cabin.
- I was told to expect my Premiere trim (ordered 11/16) some time around September or October.
Observations from my wife's perspective:
- She loved the locking system: it locks automatically when you walk away, and locks when you approach. Or, you can manually lock/unlock by touching the sensor on any of the four doors. She was thrilled that you could unlock the car from a rear passenger door, which we haven't seen on any other car before.
- She was worried about the flat floor in front, since she often piles her purse or other bags in the passenger foot well, and is worried about those spilling and interfering with the pedals.
- She liked that the sunroof was two separate pieces of glass. She worries a lot about the big panoramic sunroof on the ID.4 getting a chip or crack and needing to replace the whole thing. She also liked that the sunshade opens for the front row with one press, and all the way with a second press.
- She thought the heated seats warmed up very quickly, and felt very nice.
- She loved the wood grain and copper accents.
- She liked the center glovebox, and plans to store her hair ties and similar accessories there. Those currently fill up the central console in our ID.4, and often spill over into the phone holder.
- She hates how the ID.4 turns off the instant the driver gets up. The Ariya turns on only when you press the power button, and will stay turned on until you turn it off with the power button. That means you can leave a passenger in the car with the AC and music on while you go in to a store, for example.
Observations from an 11-year olds perspective:
- Finally there's a car with heated rear seats!
- They like the look of the wood dashboard, and the appearance of the climate control buttons.
- The rear reading lights are very good.
- The doors are lighter than the doors of the ID.4, and easier for them to open and close.
- There are hidden flower petal and other design elements throughout the car.
- You can use the floor in the trunk to create a partition to hold groceries, and keep them from tipping as much in the trunk.
- They thought the rear air vents were easier to reach than in the ID.4 (probably based on where the console was positioned).
- The sunshade for the sunroof is much more solid than the ID.4, so it is much more effective at blocking the light.
- They loved the moving center console.
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