You may have passed up the old Nissan Kicks, but what about this one?
We’ve seen it kicking around parts of the United States clad in camouflage, but now the wraps are officially off the 2025 Nissan Kicks. The automaker’s latest small SUV made its debut in New York for the opening rounds of this year’s NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Update: It’s also on the floor of the 2024 New York Auto Show, where Andre checked it out alongside its rivals. Check that out below!
Right off the bat, the 2025 Nissan Kicks sports distinctive new styling that sets it apart from the aging first-generation model, which replaced the Juke as Nissan’s small SUV for the North American makret in 2018. Like a pair of “boldly shaped and brightly colored sneakers,” Nissan says, this new model should stand out from a slightly smaller (but still crowded) segment that includes the Chevrolet Trax and Trailblazer, Honda HR-V and Toyota Corolla Cross, among several others. From both the front and the rear, the new Kicks sports a more upright, assertive stance, but you can definitely tell which demographic Nissan’s aiming this car toward, by way of the two-tone paint job, textured lower bumper and side skirts and the LED light signature.
Speaking of the competiton, what’s one feature the Nissan Kicks has never offered? All-wheel drive. Now, on the 2025 Nissan Kicks, that option is actually available, though you can still get this small crossover with front-wheel drive if you don’t need the extra capability or want to save some cash.
Under the hood, the 2025 Nissan Kicks packs a 2.0-liter “MR20DD” naturally aspirated engine mated to continuously variable transmission, rather than 1.6-liter unit. The extra displacement means a decent bump in power, up to 141 horsepower and 140 lb-ft of torque. It’s still no sports car, of course, but it will at least be able to get a bit more of a move-on than the outgoing model. Nissan claims the new kicks sports “best-in-class” ground clearance at 8.4 inches according to segmentation by AutoPacific, though we’d consider the Subaru Crosstrek and it’s 8.7 inches of clearance one of its competitors. At any rate, that’s still not a bad figure for a tiny SUV, and that figure is especially helpful now that you can get a Kicks with all-wheel drive.
Inside, the 2025 Nissan Kicks brings an updated and tech-heavy interior. As is the way with modern crossovers these days, even at the entry-level end, two 12.3-inch clusters dominate the experience (at least on the higher models like the SR shown here). Nissan’s Safety Shield 360 driver assistance suite still comes as standard fare with a host of safety features we’ve come to expect, though you can also spec the 2025 model with ProPilot Assist, which had previously only been available on the Rogue and Nissan’s larger SUVs.
Overall, the 2025 Nissan Kicks aims to offer a sharper looking, more compelling technological argument for itself among its rivals. While we don’t know exact pricing yet, I don’t suspect it will move too much from the lower-$20,000 range it’s currently at. All-wheel drive models will likely start around $25,000, with higher-end models touching the $30,000 mark.
Whatever MSRP Nissan asks for the new Kicks, it will actually hit dealers in the U.S. and Canada later this summer.
