2025 Nissan Kicks Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The 2025 Nissan Kicks targets young consumers, as well as people who are shopping for a new vehicle for the first time. To that end, Nissan leans hard into the name “Kicks” and a connection to sneaker culture. Curb the eye-rolling and stick with us here. It actually works as a design concept.

Sneakers are comfortable footwear that convey agility, athleticism, and a sense of style. That’s what Kicks designers wanted for this vehicle, and it's also what Nissan says customers want. The new Kicks is a little tougher-looking than most other small crossovers, without going so far as to imply it’s actually sporty. It's based on the company’s new CMF-B platform, which is new to the Americas, though it was used previously in Europe for the Juke. It’s a bit bigger and has more ground clearance than before, helping the Kicks stand out from its contemporaries.

The Kicks is available in a total of eight colours across the range, though two of the bolder colours can be had only in the two-tone configuration available on the mid and top trims. Nissan says they expect about 30% of Kicks will be sold with a contrast roof. To the crossover's credit, two of the two-tone combinations mix it up. In addition to the five black-roof combos, there’s a gunmetal grey roof on a blue Kicks, and a red roof on a gunmetal grey Kicks.

Small, thoughtful details go back to the footwear theme, such as the Kicks logo debossed into the side-mirror supports, and rocker panel trim that gives a subtle, sneaker-tread-like effect. This may sound like overkill, but it's actually a really clever, distinctive touch. Such styling elements help the Kicks look and feel like a huge improvement compared to the previous generation, and they also help create a premium vibe despite the low price.

The Kicks features LED exterior lighting across the lineup. It comes standard on 16-inch steel wheels, and 17- or 19-inch alloy wheels are available.

Inside, there are a lot of textures at work, but they mostly play well together. There are some areas where it’s clear Nissan’s penny-pinchers had their way — the fuzzy headliner, the hard plastic pillar panels and lower console surfaces — but these are generally out of the way and not an issue. Even the gloss black trim, a scourge of vehicles at this price point, is gracefully kept to a minimum. As a highlight, the carbon-fibre-look panel that separates the upper and lower portions of the dash is actually soft to the touch instead of hard plastic.

The Kicks features Nissan’s comfortable Zero Gravity seats up front and in the second-row outboard positions. They’re well-bolstered and supportive, with pleasant standard cloth or optional synthetic leather upholstery. In Canada, heated front seats are standard. However, the seats are only manually adjustable, ostensibly another cost saving measure.

The previous-generation Kicks now known as the Kicks Play is known for being loud and harsh, a classic example of an affordable penalty box of a vehicle with lots of cabin noise, audible protests from the engine and transmission, and uncomfortable body roll through corners and curves. All of those flaws have been addressed and corrected to a significant degree in the new Kicks.

Every new Kicks features a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine paired with an all-new continuously variable transmission (CVT), rated for 141 horsepower and 140 pound-feet of torque. Those are still modest specs, but they’re managed well, and they represent a vast improvement over the outgoing generation’s powertrain. That was a 1.6-litre making 122 hp and 114 lb-ft of torque, with a notoriously uncooperative CVT that was tuned for optimal fuel economy at the expense of the driver's sanity. Not only does the new Kicks now hold pace with most traffic, but the CVT also manages to maintain good fuel economy without being miserable about it.

All-wheel drive (AWD) is available for the new Kicks. In Canada, it’s optional on the S and SV grades and standard on the top three trims. The AWD system uses torque vectoring, aided by braking, to send traction where it’s needed most. It’s combined with a multi-link suspension and retuned steering for a more direct feel.

The overall result is a steady, balanced driving feel, minimal body roll even through the mountains, and plenty of pep to zip through city traffic. The ride and handling are where the performance in the Kicks is most impressive.

Noise control in the cabin is much better, too. The body is stuffed with insulation to prevent road and wind noise intrusion, which goes a very long way toward making the ride more comfortable.

The only real drawback to performance here is that the Kicks is slow to accelerate at times, such as when passing at high elevations. Sport mode helps only somewhat. In regular driving, though, Sport mode makes the Kicks feel peppier by recalibrating the engine and transmission response. However, unlike in some vehicles, Sport mode in the Kicks doesn’t affect the suspension or steering tuning, so it doesn’t feel truly sporty, just a little bit quicker. There’s also a new Snow mode on AWD versions, which corrects torque and adds yaw control to help keep the vehicle on its intended path in slippery conditions.

With FWD, the Kicks is rated for 8.1 litres per 100 kilometres in the city, 6.6 on the highway, and 7.4 combined. With AWD, those numbers climb to 8.4 L/100 km city, 6.9 highway, and 7.7 combined.

The 2025 Kicks offers a good view of the road from the driver’s seat, though the standard seating position is very low to the floor, and it’s a bit tedious to manually raise the seat with a pump handle on the side. Once there, everything is within easy reach. The volume knob, located at the bottom centre of the touchscreen’s edge, is an especially thoughtful touch, giving the front passenger as well as the driver easy access to infotainment controls.

Another nice feature is the proximity lock and unlock feature equipped beginning at the SV trim, which allows for hands-free access.

The redesign allocates more cabin space in the Kicks to passengers, most notably in the second row. The panoramic moonroof brings plenty of light into the Kicks and gives the second row a more airy, less cramped feeling. The moonroof is equipped from the SV Premium trim.

The new Kicks makes better use of its interior volume, too. With the rear row folded down, the Kicks can accommodate a 65-inch TV in the back. Nissan’s team said they hung out at electronics stores and watched people struggle with stuffing new TVs in their vehicles to figure out the ideal way to tackle that problem. Nissan claims cargo space of 849 litres with FWD or 676 litres with AWD, and 1,699 litres with the rear seats folded with FWD versus 1,418 litres with AWD.

There is one notable drawback to the cabin. With just the driver’s side window rolled down, the crossover experiences absolutely miserable wind buffeting. This can be alleviated by rolling down another window or opening the moonroof, but if you can’t or don’t want to do that, driving with the window open creates an extremely unpleasant, headache-inducing pressure force field that we've typically only experienced in very small sports cars with low roofs and small windows.

In Canada, the Nissan Kicks comes with a standard 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The base S model receives a four-speaker stereo system and two USB-C ports, while a wireless charging pad and two extra speakers come in at the SV grade.

The SR has a slick-looking pair of 12.3-inch screens, one to serve as an instrument cluster and one for infotainment. This setup also includes wireless connectivity and charging, and here, the Kicks gets two more USB-C ports in the back row. A Bose audio system with a total of 10 speakers is also included with the SR grade, including speakers incorporated into both front-seat headrests.

There’s a lot to like about the SR’s setup. The screens are crisp and well-integrated into the dashboard, and it’s easy to scroll through the instrument cluster’s settings with steering wheel-mounted controls to find the information you want. The Bose system with the headrest speakers is awesome and gives the Kicks loads of personality. It’s hard to say that it's fully loaded economy car, therefore sacrificing actual value levels of awesome, but it elevated a pleasant drive into a really fun one.

The 2025 Nissan Kicks comes standard with a rearview camera and the brand’s Safety Shield 360 package. That includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, rear automatic emergency braking, and automatic high beams. We found that this safety package works well without being too obtrusive.

ProPilot Assist, Nissan’s driver-assistance system, comes standard beginning with the Kicks SR. It incorporates predictive forward collision warning, blind-spot intervention, lane-departure prevention, emergency lane-keep assist, intersection assist, traffic-sign recognition, and front parking sensors. In our test, the ProPilot Assist system had a bit of a learning curve in cases where several of the assist features are working together in traffic, but new users should acclimate quickly.

The Kicks is also available with a 360-degree monitor system, which is common on bigger and more expensive vehicles, but it’s a rare offering on a subcompact crossover. This system shows the vehicle’s surroundings from above and can detect moving objects or obstacles in real time, in crisp detail. It can be selected with the tap of a button and automatically activates when the vehicle is shifted into reverse. The surround-view monitor comes standard beginning at the SR trim.

The 2025 Nissan Kicks receives a Top Safety Pick rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the institute’s second-highest ranking. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has not yet crash tested the 2025 Nissan Kicks as of this writing.

In Canada, the 2025 Nissan Kicks lineup consists of five trim levels. The Kicks S starts at $30,062, including a $2,030 destination charge and other fees. This seems like a significant price bump from 2024, but remember the new Kicks is a replacement for the Nissan Qashqai, not the budget FWD vehicle formerly known as Kicks, which is now called Kicks Play.

The SV starts at $31,612. Adding AWD to the bottom two trims increases the price by $2,000. AWD is standard beginning at the SV Premium grade, which is priced from $34,412. The SR trim starts at $36,112 — note this trim is available by dealer order only — while the range-topping SR Premium trim is priced from $37,762.

Our test drive was with an SR Premium, which has some nice touches, like the Bose premium audio system with the headrest speakers, the twin 12.3-inch displays, ProPilot Assist, and the 360-degree camera system. For about $3,350 less, you can get the SV Premium. That’s a great value, and it’s what Nissan expects to be the best-selling configuration. That might not sound like a lot for a good amount of premium tech, but it’s a lot of money in this segment. The SV is still better than most, with a single 12.3-inch touchscreen, wireless smartphone integration, and wireless charging.

Key affordable competitors are the Chevrolet Trax, the Hyundai Kona, and the Kia Soul. The Trax and Soul are both cheaper out of the gate, but neither is offered with AWD. The Kona, which is available with AWD, is similarly priced. If you’re looking more upscale, consider that a loaded Kicks costs less out the door than a mid-range Mazda CX-30. The Kicks might not be quite as much fun to drive as the Mazda, but it’s much better equipped and arguably just as comfortable.

Note: Images show a US model.