The Slower, Thirstier, Costlier 2025 Nissan Kicks Is Better, Too
The new Kicks—Nissan's cheapest SUV—sells itself on style and features, not performance.
Pros
- Bangin’ stereo
- Optional all-wheel drive
- Most versions under $30,000
Cons
- Even slower than before
- Fuel economy got worse
- More expensive than before
For the last six years, the mantra of the Kicks small SUV has been simple: almost everything you want, nothing you don’t. The one missing option was all-wheel drive, and now the 2025 Nissan Kicks has corrected that oversight. After running it through our instrumented testing, we must consider what it costs to get here and whether the Kicks’ style and goodness make up for it.
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New Platform, New Compromises
This subcompact SUV’s car-based platform was both a strength and weakness for the old Kicks. Making it in essence a tall Versa hatchback kept the cost tantalizingly low, but it meant no all-wheel drive. The new Kicks has reversed that equation, trading up to a newer, bigger platform designed for all-wheel drive, but at the cost of weight, fuel economy, and MSRP.
One of the first things we do when we test a car is weigh it, and the results aren’t pretty. At 3,312 pounds, our fully loaded SR AWD test car is 657 pounds heavier than our 2018 Kicks long-term car and 544 pounds heavier than the updated 2021 model. Some of that weight is attributable to the all-wheel-drive system, some to the additional features, and a lot to the fact it’s a bigger car in every dimension. That’s not entirely a bad thing, as it means the back seat isn’t as tight as it used to be.
Heavier Means Slower
It also means the engine has a lot more mass to pull around, and thankfully, Nissan didn’t pile all that weight on the same old workhorse. No, the new Kicks has been upgraded to a 2.0-liter four-cylinder with 141 hp and 140 lb-ft of torque, a notable improvement. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. The new Kicks is even slower than the old one, needing 10.4 seconds to hit 60 mph and 17.8 seconds to clear a quarter mile, by which point you’re only just about to crack 80 mph. That’s 0.7 second slower than the old 1.6-liter, 122-hp model getting on the freeway.
The old Kicks wasn’t quick, either, but its light weight made it feel far spritelier than it was. Some of that fleet-footed feeling has survived, so the new Kicks also doesn’t feel as slow as it is. The CVT tightens up when you step on the throttle and gives you a surprising shove off the line then keeps the rate of acceleration consistent and just urgent enough to feel like the engine is really trying, not struggling. Once you’re on the interstate, it’ll maintain its speed up steep hills—so long as you don’t get stuck between its virtual “gears”—but passing even on flat ground requires planning and preparation.
Still Fun to Drive
One of the best things about the old Kicks is it didn’t punish the enthusiastic driver for saving money. Once again, low weight made it genuinely fun to drive, and the new model hasn’t lost a step. Sure, it feels more solid and settled down now, not quite as puppy-like, but it performed slightly better in our handling tests. It’s not a lot, but 0.84 g on the skidpad is mathematically better than 0.83, and 28.0 seconds flat around the figure-eight track at 0.59 average g is better than 28.4 at 0.56. It translates to a car that feels nimble darting through city traffic and doesn’t fall to pieces on a winding road.
Heavier Means More Gas
Unfortunately, there’s no getting around the fact you have to burn more gas to move more weight. Even if you skip the all-wheel drive to reduce mass and the load on the engine, the new Kicks still gets worse fuel economy today than it did in 2018. City fuel economy on a front-wheel-drive Kicks drops from 31/36/33 mpg city/highway/combined to 28/35/31 mpg. Go for the long-awaited AWD, and the numbers fall even further to 27/34/30 mpg. That certainly isn’t bad fuel economy, but it’s a step in the wrong direction.
To help make up for it, Nissan installed a bigger fuel tank on the front-drive model and bigger still on the AWD model; this increases total driving range from 356 miles to as much as 372. It also means fill-ups will cost several dollars more.
It Costs More, Too
Not just fill-ups, but up front, too. Thankfully, the two lower trims only went up by less than $500, but the top-tier SR trim we tested jumped by $2,280. All-wheel drive is available on every version for $1,500 to $1,700, and unless you really think you need it, going without is an easy way to keep the price under $30,000.
As in the past, we still recommend going with the middle SV trim. Every Kicks comes with standard automatic emergency braking, blind-spot warning, lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control, auto high-beams, and more, but the SV model is fully worth the extra coin to get wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless phone charger, a second USB charging port (upgraded to USB-C from the base car’s USB-A), and the big touchscreen. Unless you really want a moonroof and heated front seats, you can skip the optional Premium package.
That said, the top-shelf SR trim really does feel worth the money. Automatic climate control, big screens for both the instrument cluster and infotainment, faux leather seats, a 360-degree camera, ambient lighting, actual leather on the steering wheel and shift knob, two extra speakers, and rear vents, cupholders, USB-C charging ports, and center arm rest all up the value factor.
Stretching for the SR trim also unlocks the Kicks’ best feature, the optional 10-speaker Bose Personal Plus audio system bundled into the Premium package. Speakers in the front-seat headrests provide sound quality, clarity, and depth cars two and three times the price struggle to achieve. Listen intently, and you’ll hear individual instruments you never noticed in songs you’ve heard a million times. Also in the package are a heated steering wheel and front seats, the moonroof, automatic rain-sensing wipers, heated door mirrors, and an extra center airbag. Skip the all-wheel drive, and you can keep it under $30,000—or keep it, and you’re all in for $31,020. You’ll struggle to find this much content for the same money elsewhere.
Not Better, Not Worse, Just New
With the plusses and minuses tallied, we arrive where we started. The new Kicks is more spacious, looks better, finally has a modern and easy-to-use infotainment system, and is still fun enough to drive. On the other hand, it’s slower, heavier, worse on gas, and costs more. We call this one a wash, with the 2025 Kicks as good a buy for the budget-conscious shopper as before.
Were you one of those kids who taught themselves to identify cars at night by their headlights and taillights? I was. I was also one of those kids with a huge box of Hot Wheels and impressive collection of home-made Lego hot rods. I asked my parents for a Power Wheels Porsche 911 for Christmas for years, though the best I got was a pedal-powered tractor. I drove the wheels off it. I used to tell my friends I’d own a “slug bug” one day. When I was 15, my dad told me he would get me a car on the condition that I had to maintain it. He came back with a rough-around-the-edges 1967 Volkswagen Beetle he’d picked up for something like $600. I drove the wheels off that thing, too, even though it was only slightly faster than the tractor. When I got tired of chasing electrical gremlins (none of which were related to my bitchin’ self-installed stereo, thank you very much), I thought I’d move on to something more sensible. I bought a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT and got my first speeding ticket in that car during the test drive. Not my first-ever ticket, mind you. That came behind the wheel of a Geo Metro hatchback I delivered pizza in during high school. I never planned to have this job. I was actually an aerospace engineering major in college, but calculus and I had a bad breakup. Considering how much better my English grades were than my calculus grades, I decided to stick to my strengths and write instead. When I made the switch, people kept asking me what I wanted to do with my life. I told them I’d like to write for a car magazine someday, not expecting it to actually happen. I figured I’d be in newspapers, maybe a magazine if I was lucky. Then this happened, which was slightly awkward because I grew up reading Car & Driver, but convenient since I don’t live in Michigan. Now I just try to make it through the day without adding any more names to the list of people who want to kill me and take my job.
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