Nissan knew that it was on to something when it replaced the funky Juke crossover with the Kicks. The Kicks was supposed to appeal to younger buyers with the exterior styling shedding some of the Juke’s funky lines for a more traditional look that still came loaded with dynamic lines and creases.
The Kicks has proven to be a strong seller for the company with the SUV rapidly becoming a key player in Nissan’s sales machine. That was evident when Nissan confirmed that it sold over 53,000 of them in 2023. The outgoing 2024 model appears to be on track to duplicate this with Nissan selling over 32,000 of them so far in 2024. It’s no surprise that Nissan doesn’t want the profit wagon to fall off the wheels and it recently unveiled the 2025 Kicks which gives the compact utility a much-needed overhaul. But is this reboot enough to push Kicks sales even higher? We were eager to find out.
Kicks styling trades in its Nikes for Air Jordans
The exterior styling of the Kicks is the first major change that buyers will notice when they look at the 2025 model. The 2025 model is designed to look slightly bigger than before and Nissan designers went for a monolithic look with the front end getting a more slab-sided look with reworked headlights and a larger front grille. The slab look extends to the side profile and it gives the Kicks a more purposeful profile.
The rear styling gets revamped taillights but the look as a whole can be described as being more serious than before with the old model’s party-ready personality being swapped for a more mature presentation. We especially like the horizontal bars for the LED headlights with the only creases to be found being in the corners of the lower front bumper.
Nissan also put textured detailing into the bumpers and the bigger alloy wheels help inject more presence into certain trims including range-topping SR models like the ones Nissan let us take for a drive in Farmington Hills. Nissan is also offering several multi-color paint options for the Kicks with these hues getting a black contrast roof. The lone exception is Gun Metallic which swaps the black out for a splash of red. Rivals include the Hyundai Kona and the Kia Soul and while the Kicks does have a leg up over the Kia, it’s a tougher sell against the Kona which also got revamped recently.
More tech makes the cabin in the Kicks better than ever
Slip inside the interior and you’ll find that Nissan went all out in making the interior a better place to spend time in. All three trim levels get digital instrumentation but the caveat lies in how big the screens are with the S getting a pair of 7.0-inch screens. The SV bumps the infotainment screen up to 12.3 inches while the range-topping SR makes the instrument cluster match the aforementioned infotainment system to provide a unified look.
The S and SV retain physical controls for the climate controls but the SR’s haptic buttons get small buttons that allow occupants to adjust these settings purely by feel. All Kicks models also get the company’s Zero Gravity seats standard with the rear seats joining the front seats in getting the nifty material with the front seats in our tester continuing to provide a good balance of support and comfort. The infotainment system itself gets standard wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay with the Kicks relying on these for navigation since there’s no integrated system available. As a whole, the system was a mixed bag and while it worked great with Apple phones, our time with Android Auto revealed that Nissan still has some bugs to fix with the system going rogue and attempting to bring us back to key waypoints instead of following the assigned route (once of those incidents included looping back to Nissan’s HQ building.)
The reliance on these two layouts for navigation also reflects some of the broader decisions that Nissan made to retain affordability with the front seats on all trims not having any power adjustments at all with occupants having to use awkwardly placed levers to get comfortable. Curiously though, Nissan kept the optional 10-speaker Bose audio system and its headrest-mounted speakers as well as the company’s ProPilot hands-free assist system and a large panoramic sunroof which makes us wish we were proverbial flies on the wall in the meeting that the accountants had about what would be cut.
Noisey engine needs more power
With all the changes that Nissan made to the exterior and interior of the 2025 Kicks, we wish that the company would have focused some of the time it spent making odd equipment choices towards giving the CUV more power. All models get a 2.0-liter four-cylinder that makes 141 hp and 140 lb-ft of torque. That’s slightly more than what you got in the 2024 model but it’s still woefully underpowered with the noisy engine delivering acceleration that could only be described as mind-numbingly mediocre with an improved version of the company’s CVT transmission continuing to be the only way to move through the simulated gears.
But while its jogs to 60 mph will not impress the masses, Nissan hopes that the newly available all-wheel drive system will help pick up some of the slack. Nissan claims that it added all-wheel drive to help improve the model’s sales in winter markets where all-wheel drive models make up the bulk of sales for most utility models. It remains to be seen how the system will measure up in snowy driving but the company assured us that with a front bias power split, it should allow the Kicks to handle the snow with no problem.
Handling in our tester is reflective of others in the segment with the steering having a light but crips feel with our tester proving to be somewhat sprightly on twisty roads with the chassis doing a good job in mitigating body roll to an extent. Our tester’s 19-inch wheels should have produced copious amounts of tire noise but revised sound deadening helped mitigate the noise while also cutting down on the amount of wind and ambient noise that enters the cabin.
Value Quotient
The 2025 Nissan Kicks is now available in dealerships with a base S model starting at $21,830 with an all-wheel drive version starting at $23,330. The SV is supposed to be the volume-focused model in the family and that’s evident in its $23,680 base price. Adding all-wheel drive pushes the price up to $25,330.
SR models follow the same formula as the other two with a front-wheel drive version starting at $26,180 while an all-wheel drive model like our tester starts at $27,680. All of these prices don’t include the $1,390 destination fee but shows that Nissan was serious about preserving the low pricing ladder that the Kicks has come to be known for. It will be interesting to see if Nissan will potentially expand the CUV’s engine lineup to include a hybrid or even a Nismo model down the line. However, the company has also said that it makes all of its decisions based on sales numbers and it will be watching the 2025 model very closely to see if demand and sales are strong enough to branch out into those other sub-segments.
Carl Malek has been an automotive journalist for over 10 years. First starting out as a freelance photographer before making the transition to writing during college, his work has appeared on numerous automotive forums as well as websites such as Autoshopper.com.
Carl is also a big fan of British vehicles with the bulk of his devotion going to the Morgan Motor Company as well as offerings from Lotus, MG, and Caterham. When he is not writing about automobiles, Carl enjoys spending time with his family and friends in the Metro Detroit area, as well as spending time with his adorable pets.