Pumped Up Kicks: 2025 Nissan Kicks Gains Square Styling

by Matthew Guy

Published: March 22nd, 2024

pumped up kicks 2025 nissan kicks gains square styling

Leaning into the connection between its name and slang for sneakers, Nissan unveiled the 2025 Kicks in Brooklyn at the opening rounds of this year’s NCAA tourney at Barclays Center.

The compact crossover does move in the right direction in terms of its styling, notably binning the so-called ‘V Motion’ corporate grille in favor of something a great deal more rectilinear. A wider stance and distinct boxiness are a welcome change to these jaundiced eyes, as are the integrated spoiler and hockey stick taillamps which give way to full-width LED lights. Further leaning into an association with sneakers, designers say those three-dimensional accents on the rocker panels are inspired by athletic sneaker soles. Run with it, we say.

Nissan will offer all-wheel drive for the first time on this model, complete with attendant driving modes to help traversing the white stuff. Ground clearance apparently stands at a significant 8.4 inches, which is leagues ahead of most other crossovers of this size. Under the hood we find a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder engine making 141 horsepower and roughly a like amount of torque. The sole transmission choice is a take-it-or-leave it Xtronic.

Its cabin features dual screens, as do most rigs these days, with the driver cluster measuring 7.0 inches while the center touchscreen is either an 8.0- or 12.3-inch tablet depending on trim level and option selection. Both rows deploy Nissan’s zero-gravity seats, a first at this end of the price pool. In keeping with the target market of this thing, interior storage abounds including bottle holders in the doors which are allegedly large enough to fit a 32-ounce Yeti tumbler. We idly muse if the drinks company paid for that product placement. In a fit of punctuation on just how far this segment has moved, a panoramic sunroof is also available.

Certainly, the Kicks is no slouch in Nissan showrooms. A total of 66,823 of them found homes last year, second only to the Pathfinder and Rogue in terms of crossover volume.

The new Kicks will reach Nissan dealerships later this summer in the U.S. and Canada. Full pricing will be available closer to the on-sale date.

[Images: Nissan]

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#Nissan #Kicks #AllWheelDrive #2025

Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

More by Matthew Guy

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3 of 11 comments

MKizzy on Mar 22, 2024

So now even a crossover as small as this trashy looking Nissan Kicks has a hood tall enough to hide a child or wheelchair bound person from its driver's field of vision. Wonderful.

1 Reply
FreedMike on Mar 22, 2024

I dig it. Can we get a sport version with a real engine and a non-CVT box?

Like Reply
- Varezhka on Mar 23, 2024
  
  Jatco's traditional ATs are just as terrible as their CVTs, though.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

Kmars2009 I rented one last fall while visiting Ohio. Not a bad car...but not a great car either. I think it needs a new version. But CUVs are King... unfortunately!
Ajla Remember when Cadillac introduced an entirely new V8 and proceeded to install it in only 800 cars before cancelling everything?
Bouzouki Cadillac (aka GM!!) made so many mistakes over the past 40 years, right up to today, one could make a MBA course of it. Others have alluded to them, there is not enough room for me to recite them in a flowing, cohesive manner.Cadillac today is literally a tarted-up Chevrolet. They are nice cars, and the "aura" of the Cadillac name still works on several (mostly female) consumers who are not car enthusiasts.The CT4 and CT5 offer superlative ride and handling, and even performance--but, it is wrapped in sheet metal that (at least I think) looks awful, with (still) sub-par interiors. They are niche cars. They are the last gasp of the Alpha platform--which I have been told by people close to it, was meant to be a Pontiac "BMW 3-series". The bankruptcy killed Pontiac, but the Alpha had been mostly engineered, so it was "Cadillac-ized" with the new "edgy" CTS styling.Most Cadillacs sold are crossovers. The most profitable "Cadillac" is the Escalade (note that GM never jack up the name on THAT!).The question posed here is rather irrelevant. NO ONE has "a blank check", because GM (any company or corporation) does not have bottomless resources.Better styling, and superlative "performance" (by that, I mean being among the best in noise, harshness, handling, performance, reliablity, quality) would cost a lot of money.Post-bankruptcy GM actually tried. No one here mentioned GM's effort to do just that: the "Omega" platform, aka CT6.The (horribly misnamed) CT6 was actually a credible Mercedes/Lexus competitor. I'm sure it cost GM a fortune to develop (the platform was unique, not shared with any other car. The top-of-the-line ORIGINAL Blackwing V8 was also unique, expensive, and ultimately...very few were sold. All of this is a LOT of money).I used to know the sales numbers, and my sense was the CT6 sold about HALF the units GM projected. More importantly, it sold about half to two thirds the volume of the S-Class (which cost a lot more in 201x)Many of your fixed cost are predicated on volume. One way to improve your business case (if the right people want to get the Green Light) is to inflate your projected volumes. This lowers the unit cost for seats, mufflers, control arms, etc, and makes the vehicle more profitable--on paper.Suppliers tool up to make the number of parts the carmaker projects. However, if the volume is less than expected, the automaker has to make up the difference.So, unfortunately, not only was the CT6 an expensive car to build, but Cadillac's weak "brand equity" limited how much GM could charge (and these were still pricey cars in 2016-18, a "base" car was ).Other than the name, the "Omega" could have marked the starting point for Cadillac to once again be the standard of the world. Other than the awful name (Fleetwood, Elegante, Paramount, even ParAMOUR would be better), and offering the basest car with a FOUR cylinder turbo on the base car (incredibly moronic!), it was very good car and a CREDIBLE Mercedes S-Class/Lexus LS400 alternative. While I cannot know if the novel aluminum body was worth the cost (very expensive and complex to build), the bragging rights were legit--a LARGE car that was lighter, but had good body rigidity. No surprise, the interior was not the best, but the gap with the big boys was as close as GM has done in the luxury sphere.Mary Barra decided that profits today and tomorrow were more important than gambling on profits in 2025 and later. Having sunk a TON of money, and even done a mid-cycle enhancement, complete with the new Blackwing engine (which copied BMW with the twin turbos nestled in the "V"!), in fall 2018 GM announced it was discontinuing the car, and closing the assembly plant it was built in. (And so you know, building different platforms on the same line is very challenging and considerably less efficient in terms of capital and labor costs than the same platform, or better yet, the same model).So now, GM is anticipating that, as the car market "goes electric" (if you can call it that--more like the Federal Government and EU and even China PUSHING electric cars), they can make electric Cadillacs that are "prestige". The Cadillac Celestique is the opening salvo--$340,000. We will see how it works out.
Lynn Joiner Lynn JoinerJust put 2,000 miles on a Chevy Malibu rental from Budget, touring around AZ, UT, CO for a month. Ran fine, no problems at all, little 1.7L 4-cylinder just sipped fuel, and the trunk held our large suitcases easily. Yeah, I hated looking up at all the huge FWD trucks blowing by, but the Malibu easily kept up on the 80 mph Interstate in Utah. I expect a new one would be about a third the cost of the big guys. It won't tow your horse trailer, but it'll get you to the store. Why kill it?
Lynn Joiner Just put 2,000 miles on a Chevy Malibu rental from Budget, touring around AZ, UT, CO for a month. Ran fine, no problems at all, little 1.7L 4-cylinder just sipped fuel, and the trunk held our large suitcases easily. Yeah, I hated looking up at all the huge FWD trucks blowing by, but the Malibu easily kept up on the 80 mph Interstate in Utah. I expect a new one would be about a third the cost of the big guys. It won't tow your horse trailer, but it'll get you to the store. Why kill it?