2025 Nissan Kicks Pros and Cons: At Least It Looks Good Now

The new Nissan Kicks is one of those cars you root for. It’s cheap—or, what some would argue, passes for cheap these days. It comes in fun colors and looks handsome. It’s the sort of subcompact SUV you imagine those idealized youths, who can paradoxically both afford to own a new car and rent in a big city, would drive for those times when they wanted to leave said city. If you’re going based on its exterior and $23,220 base price alone, then the new Kicks is all of these things.

But even cash-strapped buyers have choices, and the new Kicks is another Nissan that competes best on paper. There is nothing egregiously wrong with it, but there’s also little to love once you get inside. And car owners have demonstrated a remarkable ability to love any car, even the dangerously cheap ones, or the bad ones. The new Kicks is neither of those things, but it’s also unmemorable, and that’s kind of disappointing in its own way.

Pros

• Sharp Exterior Design: Lots of people didn’t like the look of the old Juke, but I did. It was like a ‘roided-up subcompact hatch, with its bulbous arches, stubby overhangs, and generous ride height. To me, the Juke struck that perfect balance between quirk and aggression, which made it an excellent candidate for the Nismo treatment. But I suppose the public’s distaste was profound because Nissan overcorrected with the magnificently mundane first-gen Kicks, a vehicle I can’t picture without resorting to Google Images. Fortunately, I don’t suspect I’ll need to do that for the new one, because it’s pretty sharp. I was complimented on the SUV once during my time with it, and I wasn’t totally surprised. There’s a cohesiveness to this design that has frankly been missing from Nissan’s products for decades. It’s simple, too; all gentle, semicircular curves and horizontal slats, evoking that timeless ’80s nostalgia. Not funky nor forgettable, Nissan’s finally put together a small SUV with general curb appeal. And it comes in some great colors.

• Very Comfortable Seats: Nissan is so proud of its seats here in the Kicks and other models that it’s given them a name: Zero Gravity. I liked them in the Versa and Sentra I drove in years past, and I still dig them now. They’re supportive but cushy and bolstered enough for a daily driver but not too much. Materials and design is another story as we’ll discuss, but I’ve got no notes in the comfort department.

• It Handles Alright: While you’d never call it—nor expect it to be—a thrilling drive, the Kicks handles well enough. It’s light, agile, and easy to maneuver, though there’s an important stipulation to make here. The car in this review happens to be an all-wheel-drive model, and that means it benefits from a multi-link rear suspension. Front-wheel-drive cars use torsion-beam rear axles. I can’t comment on the base driving experience, but I can say that if you pony up the extra $1,500 for four driven wheels, it’s dynamically on point.

• Solid Fuel Economy: Small though it may be, the Kicks is still a tall, stocky SUV. The EPA numbers peg it at 27 mpg highway, 34 mpg city, and 30 mpg combined, and it aligned with those projections in my experience. (FWD models do 1 mpg better across the board.)  On one hand, that feels a little underwhelming for a vehicle this slow and cheap, but it actually compares favorably to the competition, especially in all-wheel-drive guise. The Chevrolet Trax gets 30 mpg combined and it’s front-wheel drive only, while the AWD Hyundai Kona can muster just 27 mpg.

Cons

• Cheap—Until It Isn’t: The Nissan Kicks starts at $23,220, but what you see here is a top-trim SR example, with the aforementioned AWD for an additional $1,500. The problem is that the base S trim lacks Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and replaces the two large displays my tester had with tiny screens set in that same housing. It’s a tragic look. You have to step up to the mid-grade SV trim at $25,070 to get phone projection, and if you’re interested in optional extras like heated seats and—I’m not kidding—a front passenger seat-back pocket, the dollars add up quickly. The Kicks in this review is just about the priciest that Nissan sells, coming in at $32,065. That’s just too much for this car.

• It’s Very Slow: Sure, nobody buys a vehicle like this to get anywhere quickly, but future Kicks owners should expect a fair number of foot-to-the-floor moments when merging onto highways. The 140-horsepower, 2.0-liter four-cylinder and CVT combo is actually sprightly off the line but runs out of steam pretty quickly. And if the plateauing acceleration doesn’t tip you off to the powertrain struggling, the incessant, wheezy drone as those revs climb definitely will.

• Tacky, Noisy Interior: This may be an especially nice Kicks, but there’s still nothing about this cabin that’s delightful, aspirational, or impressive. You might think that’s asking too much of a car that costs so little, but rivals in this price range would beg to differ. The Kia Soul is cheerful; the Honda Civic and HR-V, elegant in their utilitarianism. Meanwhile, whatever carbon fiber-effect textile Nissan’s upholstered the dash of this SR model in feels like the stuff Walmart shoes are made out of, and the Cordura-effect seat inserts look a lot more stylish in press photos than they do in the real world. And it gets just so noisy on the highway. The old Kicks was derided for its datedness, and the new one can just barely dismiss that critique with available modern amenities like wireless CarPlay and ADAS tech. But it doesn’t take long riding in one for the facade to wear away.

• Poor Rear Legroom: Small SUVs have no excuse not to offer at least mediocre rear legroom, but Nissan found a way with the Kicks. I wouldn’t want to sit behind anyone as tall as I am in the front seats, and I’m five-foot-ten. The Ford Fiesta ST I used to daily offered about as much space, if not more. If you expect to haul more than one adult in anything approaching comfort, consider something else, or a Rogue if you must have a Nissan. 

• Upgrade Speakers Aren’t Worth It: The standard audio setup in the Nissan Kicks SR has six speakers (buyers of the S or SV trims get just four), but thanks to the $1,950 Premium Package, mine had Bose’s Personal Plus system. This adds another four speakers—a pair each for the driver’s and front passenger’s headrests—for a total of 10. Good for volume, perhaps, but they definitely didn’t do any favors for sound quality. There was a subtle layer of fuzz on just about everything I listened to in this car, and those headrest drivers didn’t help the presentation. They have their own slider to control intensity, but on full they’re way too mids-forward; I ended up turning them down to a few ticks below halfway and still didn’t love the result. Now, the package that adds the Bose tech also tosses in heated seats, a moonroof, and remote start, among other nice-to-haves, and I wouldn’t avoid all that just because the audio’s not great. At the same time, it’s hard to imagine how the stock six speakers could sound much worse than these.

Quick Verdict

Nissan righted the marketing ship with the second-gen Kicks. It looks good, and everyone can agree on that. Unfortunately, the second you dig deeper, the charm evaporates. This is a competent small SUV and a fair choice for anyone who is looking for something efficient with modern tech for as little cash as possible. But if you’re expecting anything beyond value, you won’t find it here. And even then, you’ve got to be careful with those optional extras. The Kicks may be a cheap car, but even cheap cars should excel at something.

Quick Take

The new Kicks may be a looker, but there’s little charm beyond its exterior, and it’s not even that cheap when spec’d attractively.

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