GET YOUR KICKS
Nissan’s all-new compact crossover has lots of curb appeal
Those who might have recently celebrated university graduations, not those contemplating retirement, are the intended audience for Nissan’s new quasi-crossover, the compact Kicks. The first clue is the name. Unlike Rogue, Renegade, Escape, Outback, etc., Kicks suggests fun and frolicking. At least it’s easier to spell than Qashqai.
The more obvious clue, at least to those who have road tested and written about cars and trucks for a few dozen years, is that marketing and press information starts with “dramatic” design before progressing to “smart” interiors and personalized technologies.
This doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate the soft-roading, supposedly adventure-ready rig. As automotive marketing departments have said for decades, “You can sell a young person’s car to an old man, but you can’t sell an old man’s car to anyone’’ and that is at work here.
Beyond being quite functional, the Kicks is cute — for a crossover — which, considering consumer preferences these days, means it’s golden. (I said quasi-crossover earlier because the Kicks is frontwheel drive only. If you think it as a slightly funkier-looking, tall-riding hatchback, then have at it. You’ll get no argument from me.)
Other than its perky persona, especially in one of its five bright, two-tone colour choices, the biggest thing the Kicks has going for it is that’s it’s cheap, not as in poorly constructed but that it’s inexpensively priced, a decent proposition for those on a budget. It starts at $17,998 for the base trim level and even the top-line SR tester was just over $23,000.
I put my car-savvy, millennial-age daughter in the driver’s seat and asked her to guess the price. After poking, prodding and generally checking things out for a couple of minutes, she guessed $28,000, a full $5K over the retail price. As important, considering she is a member of the target demographic, she actually liked the crossover — with a couple of exceptions. She hated the tester’s two-tone Gun Metallic paint job with the Monarch Orange roof, though I pointed out that it made it easier to find in a crowded parking lot. She also found a few of the Kicks’ styling cues, notably the rear liftgate, to be excessively detailed.
As the replacement for the now departed Juke and the new gateway model to Nissan’s crossover/SUV lineup — joining Qashqai, Rogue, Murano, Pathfinder and Armada — the Kicks is touted as being designed to fit the needs of people looking for unique styling, roominess, personal technology, smart functionality and advanced safety features at an affordable price.
Performance doesn’t make the cut, for very good reason. Under the hood is a small 1.6litre DOHC four-cylinder engine rated at just 125 horsepower and 115 pound-feet of torque, mated to an Xtronic continuously variable transmission. So, no, scintillating acceleration is not in the cards.
But getting around and keeping up with the flow of traffic is not an issue, thanks to Kicks’ lightweight construction; it weighs only 1,215 kilograms.
The crossover has decent, if far from exciting, ride and handling. Electric power steering provides a light touch and a tight 10.3-metre turning radius. The suspension soaks up the worst of patched-up roads with mild communication into the cabin. The braking system is a front disc/rear drum setup, with standard ABS.
As for fuel economy, the 7.5 L / 100 km I averaged during my week with the tester, in about a 60/40 mix of highway and city driving, should be considered extremely parsimonious for a conventionally powered, compact crossover.
Lacking all-wheel drive, which could be a deal breaker for many Canadians, the Kicks does come with standard traction control, vehicle dynamic control and hill-start assist. The SR trim level adds an integrated “dynamic-control module,” featuring intelligent active engine brake, active intelligent trace control (a form of automatic brake control) and active ride control.
Inside, the Kicks story is one of comfort and roominess, impressive given its overall size. The cabin delivers ample passenger space front and rear as well as plenty of cargo area: 716 L behind the 60/40-split folding rear seats. In front is a centrally mounted seven-inch colour display housing the infotainment system, with available Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.
The SR trim comes with a Bose audio system with amplifier and eight speakers, including two in the driver’s headrest.
Kudos to Nissan for not skimping on safety and security features for what is still a very inexpensive vehicle. The Kicks is kitted with standard (on the SR) Intelligent Around View Monitor equipped with Moving Object Detection, which uses four on-board cameras for a composite 360-degree bird’s-eye view, with split-screen close-ups of the front, rear and curbside views. It also provides an onscreen heads-up when it detects moving objects near the vehicle.
Other features include standard automatic emergency braking with forward-collision warning and rear-view monitor. Blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert are included at the SR trim level.
The past year has seen an influx of budget-based, softroader crossovers, with and without available AWD.
These newest models aren’t especially powerful, but they have the sort of technology younger audience seems to want.
As to whether the older demographic cares about that or not, the main thing is that there’s a lot of usable functionality to the stylish Kicks, and it doesn’t cost a lot of money to find out.