2025 Nissan Kicks | First Drive

2025 Nissan Kicks First Drive remember the Nissan Juke that fun and funky little crossover thing that kind of looked like a mutated toad but still one over the hearts of quite a few people here in the US well in 2019 Europe and other markets got a second generation of the Juke but we instead got the kicks and while it lacked the juke's all-wheel drive and its power it still packed a ton of value into a practical size format and for Gen 2 it is obvious that Nissan has decided to lean back into its predecessor's roots with a quirky style forward Mission and they even brought back the all wheeel Drive the kiix has grown too adding roughly 3 in to its overall length almost 2 in to its width and about an inch to its height ground clearance Also Rises From 7 in to 8.4 for all kixs models bringing it much closer to non Wilderness Edition Subaru cross track territory that's fitting because you can now opt for Wheels as large as 19 in like these on the top Sr trim this new design has a lot going on from the squared off front end to the rounded off floating rear roof line and the teardrop effect of the body cladding connected to the tail lights Nissan offers many paint choices and up to seven Factory two-tone options including a gray metallic body with the Red Roof this diamond pattern plastic in the lower bumper reminds me of the geometric patterns hyund uses on models like the Tucson overall this design is fun eye-catching and might even be the coolest looking subcompact crossover out there what say you inside Interior impressions & features the kicks has matured quite a bit the lowest two trims do still come with cloth seating but this top Sr trim has this black leatherette with the red and blue stitching and while power adjustment for either of these seats is not available on any trim on the top Sr trim you do have the option of heated front seats and a heated steering wheel the dashboard now uses the same layout you'll find in something like the ARA with two screens side by side the Basse srim has two 7-in displays your instrument cluster here your infotainment there the SV trim bumps this screen up to 12.3 in adding Wireless carplay and Android auto and then the SR trim we have here matches both screens at 12.3 in the materials on this Sr trim are quite impressive compared to the competition this carbon fiber trim is interesting in that it's not a solid surface it's actually a squishy plush material that feels nice when you use it to Anchor your fingers while using the touchcreen unfortunately even with the larger 12.3in screen this is not the latest Nissan infotainment system with Google built-in so no you don't have integrated Google Maps or Google Play store or the Google Assistant but you do of course still get the wireless Apple carplay and Android auto as long as you have the 12.3 in screen and at the end of the day it is still very simple to use the layout is very intuitive and there's a lot of information to be absorbed from the driver's seat none of it is too distracting it's perfect for younger drivers spring forward this Sr trim and two of the optional 10 Bose speakers actually live in the front seat headrests something the outgoing car only had available on the driver's side the system is not not terribly powerful or Rich but when you turn up the headrest speakers it actually sounds like you're wearing a small Bluetooth speaker around your neck depending on the genre of music it's either really cool or really awkward luckily you can turn it off in the settings if you want to comfort-wise my 5ot 9 frame fits just Passenger space and seating fine up front leg room is actually down an inch up here but it's not tight for me Headroom is plentiful even with the optional panoramic moonroof leg room has adversely grown just over an inch in the back something customers I'm sure were wishing for in this redesign however with the front seat in my ideal spot which admittedly is probably a bit further back than most people would put it my knees were brushing up against the seat bag both seats actually have pockets back here which is a little bit surprising and welcome new for this year is the fact that both the front and rear seats use Nissan's zero gravity design and despite the front seats having no adjustable lumbar support I was pretty happy with how they felt on a long drive cargo space does vary depending on Cargo volume which trim level you get and whether or not you choose all-wheel drive the base s trim with front wheeel drive carries the most with 30 cubic feet of space behind the second row but if you bump up to an SV or Sr trim with front wheeel drive that drops to just 29.2 now if you go with all-wheel drive on any trim level that goes all the way down to 23.9 cubic feet of space once you fold down the 60/40 split second row you have a range between 50.1 cubic feet for all all-wheel drive models to 60 cubic feet if you have a base s front-wheel drive model need more more space than that click on the link up above to find a fair purchase price on Nissan's next largest crossover the Rogue or any other car for that matter at kbb.com Driving impressions & performance Nissan brought us out to stunningly beautiful Santa Barbara California to drive the kicks and I'm on a road right now where I can't go over 30 m an hour and that is probably a good thing because the kicks here it does not like to go that fast in fact when we asked Nissan what the official 0 to 60 time for this car was they simply said we don't no so I guess we should just leave it at that there is a new xtronic CVT Transmission in here as well as a new 2 L 4- cylinder engine naturally aspirated and while that is a sizable jump over the old kicks this does weigh 250 to 300 lb heavier depending on if you get farmal drive or all-wheel drive fully loaded or base model so there isn't much of a difference in how this feels acceleration wise but again these lower speeds are really actually where the kicks shines sure what I like to see the turbocharged three-cylinder engine under this Ood from the Rogue of course it could probably fit but it's probably a more expensive engine because of the turbocharger and Nissan was on a mission to make sure that this car stayed affordable and it certainly has right now because we have the all-wheel drive trim I've got a multi-link rear suspension and it does a pretty good job of having a compliant ride one that doesn't really toss you around over the rough stuff however this is not exactly the most smooth experience and it's definitely not the quietest they did take measures to quiet down the cabin with extra sound instulation and at this current 30 mph speed I'm going it is very quiet but once you get up to speed though it's uh it's a little loud in here the kicks come standard with a Safety features healthy dose of safety features anchored by their safety Shield 360 Suite every model offers conveniences like LED lighting with auto high beams Hill start assist Auto up down Windows push button start and adaptive cruise control on somewhat of a side note only front-wheel drive models have automatic engine start stop stepping up from the Basse trim gets you access to a conglomeration of the active safety features seen on your screen the 2025 kicks represents Pricing Nissan's continued push for a more approachable average purchase price in its lineup even with the added style and features pricing is still comfortably contained within the 20 to $30,000 range including the $1,390 destination fee s front-wheel drive models start at $23,280 adding all whe drive to any trim bumps the price up by 1,500 a top Sr all-wheel drive trim starts at $297 but if you want to fully load one with the premium package and other factory options like the virtual key and frameless rear viw mirror with home link you will see that number push past 30,000 clocking in at $33,500 best seller or at least one of their bestselling models in the coming years but you'll have to decide for yourself if it's worth spending 20 to $30,000 for this kind of power and this kind of space versus spending $30 to $40,000 for the size and power you'll find in something like the Rogue either way this new kicks is a stylish and affordable option that I definitely think you should take a look at [Applause] [Music] oh [Music]