As soon as a new car’s out, the old one becomes basically irrelevant, right? Not always. Thanks to continuous refinement in the automotive industry, most cars have become good enough to the point where the old version of something is usually just fine. This is the 2025 Nissan Kicks Play, and despite being a continuation of last year’s previous-generation Kicks S, it’s a half-step in the right direction.
It’s no secret that Nissan’s up shit creek without a paddle right now. From having only about a year to avoid bankruptcy to reports of merger talks with Honda, the situation at the Yokohama-based company is, to use a technical term, dire. It also doesn’t help that many of Nissan’s recent product launches have either been flat-out expensive or uncompetitive due to overall value. A new Armada is a great flagship, but at a time when everyone’s afraid of the economy, a full-size three-row body-on-frame SUV might not be the right call. It’s a similar deal with the new Z — a new sports car is great in theory, but near-GR Supra money for a 20-year-old platform is really pushing it.
In contrast, the 2025 Nissan Kicks Play is a much more sensible, um, play. It only comes in one trim, costs $22,910 including freight, and is essentially just the old Nissan Kicks turned into a value play. We first saw this approach when the Kicks Play showed up in Nissan’s Canadian lineup last month, and it’s not surprising to see this continuation model make it to America.
While this is a fairly basic model, it still gets a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, two rear-seat USB ports, air conditioning, automatic emergency braking, and blind spot monitoring, which means it’s pretty well-equipped for something aimed at first-time new car buyers and those on fixed incomes.
Of course, with a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine under the hood making just 122 horsepower and 114 lb.-ft. of torque, the Kicks Play won’t be as sprightly as a Chevrolet Trax, nor have the feel of a conventional torque converter automatic transmission. However, if you’re willing to gamble on an Xtronic CVT and aren’t a huge fan of turbocharging, this thing should do alright. It’s honest, basic transportation at a time when we’re losing that segment. After all, the Mitsubishi Mirage formally bows out at the end of this month, leaving the Nissan Versa as the only real mainstream subcompact car on the market.
Is the Nissan Kicks Play as good a deal in America as it is in Canada? No, but it’s in the right ballpark of a fair deal. If you want the cheapest Versa with two pedals and Apple CarPlay, you’re looking at a price tag of $21,380, so for $1,530 extra, you get a substantially more practical car with an identical powertrain. At the same time, the new Kicks starts at just $310 more than the Kicks Play, but it doesn’t feature Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, a critical miss for Nissan.
Still, with a price gap that small, it’s hard not to imagine some cash on the hood of the Nissan Kicks Play sooner rather than later. Keep in mind, the Canadian model starts at $17,184.46 at current conversion rates, so there’s definitely some headroom to bring the price down. If these things end up actually transacting below $21,000 before taxes, Nissan should have a minor hit on its hands. If 11,490 Nissan Versa sales and 10,162 Mitsubishi Mirage sales last quarter are anything to go by, the people yearn for cheap cars. Nissan, bring your price on the Kicks Play down by at least $1,000, and you’ll be right on the money.
(Photo credits: Nissan)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
The Original Nissan Kicks Lives On In Canada And It’s Unbelievably Cheap
-
The New Nissan Kicks Is Still Dirt Cheap But There’s One Huge Compromise
-
The 2025 Nissan Kicks Looks Way Nicer Than The Old One But Can Nissan Keep It Around $22k?
-
Holy Crap The 2024 Nissan Kicks Is Legitimately Cheap
-
The Dirt Cheap Mitsubishi Mirage Is Dead For 2025 But You’ll Still Be Able To Buy One
Please send tips about cool car things to tips@theautopian.com. You could even win a prize!
“Get your kicks…on Route 66!”
My daughter has a Kicks S and loves it, she drives a lot for her work and feels that this is the spiritual successor to the Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix. Essentially a hatchback version of the Versa sedan.
I’ve driven it and found it very comfortable with decent seats and easy intuitive infotainment system. This isn’t thrilling to drive but efficient and easy to use. My daughter gets close to 40mpg on her long commutes and it has a surprisingly amount of interior space for such small footprint.
(For the record she gets the CVT fluid changed religiously at every 30K.)
I know that Nissan is in a jam now. I for one being an older cheap dude would take a Versa S (manual) for a commute vehicle
For $23,000 there are so many legitimately good used cars that you could pick over this. Even without incentivized financing, something lightly used would be cheaper, less of a penalty box, and still have some remaining warranty.
Little error in your article here. “Gamble” is really not the right term to use when buying an Xtronic CVT. It’s no gamble when the choice is between a typical torque converter automatic and its clunky shifting and horrible efficiency, or the wonderful Jatco Xtronic CVT and its serene power delivery, free of shifts and gears. Gambling also implies losing money, and you’ll only be saving money at the gas pump thanks to its superior efficiency!
An XTronic CVT ran over my dog.
Xtronic CVT hasn’t commented on this article yet, so now I am worried. Did it break? It wouldn’t surprise me, but I am frustrated because I thought I could depend on it.
I would never let you down.
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run…
If this was several thousand dollars less than the all-new one, sure. However, it’s only $300 less than the new one. Why would one choose the old moldy generation if the new one is basically the same price?
I’m assuming the old one will be heavily discounted while the new one won’t be as much.
It sounds as though there’s two possibilities;
And a third; Air conditioning is not standard on the Canadian model. That would only explain part of the difference, about $1000’s worth going by what it cost last time it was optional on a US-spec car.
The equipment levels are not the same. To get equivalency you’d need to upgrade to the ’25 SV trim which is about a 1800 difference. The “Play” has Carplay/Auto (25s trim does not), 2 more USBs, 2 more speakers, 2 more combined MPG, and doesn’t make you pay $180 for a spare tire. If the Play came with a stick, I’d definitely consider it. Perfect hatchback beater car.
Nissan needs to sell the Micra here, and also rebadge the Renault Kwid. Call it the Nissan Kwid.
If Nissan sells the Kwid here, I hope they can offer it in an aggressive sports package with a unique name. Something like…Vermicious Kwid, perhaps?
SKwid
I cannot fathom how they still sell CVT anything at Nissan. It cannot be that expensive to switch to even a 4 peed auto with a single OD or something to completely bypass the massive deal breaker that is the Nissan CVT
Emissions regulations are probably the main reason.
If they switched to a 4-speed auto, they’d lose a significant amount of MPG, and would have to re-certify the powertrain with the EPA is my guess.
They could also license the 9-speed ZF that’s in everything now, but that probably also comes with large costs that they can’t factor in to their razor-thin margins on cheaper cars.
I mostly just said the 4 speed because even though old and outdated as far as number of gears, it has to be light years better in the long run over anything Nissan CVT.
JDE, I feel like your stance comes from a misunderstanding of what the future really is. A 4 speed with overdrive? Really? Do you not understand what you could have? Listen to me. You do not have to endure the tedious shifting and poor fuel economy that comes with such a terrible piece of equipment. I am sorry for your hardships in life, but know that at Jatco, there is help in the Xtronic CVT.
I guess I have to agree with Mr. Jatco Xtronic CVT here (whar a time to be alive).
Having driven rental Kicks’ I found the CVT as perfectly suitable for the vehicle and its intended use. It’s efficient and smooth, and not too much of a drag in normal use.
Fun? Nope. But nobody buys a Kicks for driving enjoyment.
I hope the NKP works well in the market.
it works fine, until it doesn’t. longevity is the deal breaker here. Other companies have CVT’s with far fewer problems, admittedly few of them are not droning excitement suckers, they do still manage to get you past 70,000 miles without failure.
You may have a valid point. The cars I’ve driven were rentals, so my experience lasted for less than a week, at most. I believe they were all newer than 70,000 miles.
I mean, the Challenger’s chassis has quite a long history*, and for some reason people thought it was a good value… particularly after the Hellcats came out.
You could trace its history to the 1988 Eagle Premier (which I’m now learning uses the BB chassis code, of which I find odd), since that’s what spawned the LH chassis.
Take it as either Chrysler got 30 years out of one chassis, or 35. That’s pushing it.
I think the chassis on paper was always decent for the 300/challenger/charger. and if you feel there were no refinements in the time they made them under FCA then you would be incorrect. LX, LC, LD. They may be fundamentally similar, and of course it most likely saves the cost of redesigning something that apparently did not need a lot of redesigning to still work.
I know there’s differences, but it’s still the same core chassis from at least 1993. Suspension changed, drivelines changed…… but there’s a reason the older chassis codes all start with L from the LH to the LX, LD, LC, and LA. LB at this point is just a formality with relation to the previous cars, like the new Wagoneer S/Cherokee using KM. Not related to KL, the original Alfa-based Cherokee, which is nothing in relation to KK, KJ, XJ, or SJ for the ol’ Liberty’s and original Cherokee’s.
If they were decent until 2023, the Nissan Z’s chassis is definitely still as decent as it needs to be.
Because the Challenger/Charger/300’s old chassis only had one job – hold a big motor and go fast in a straight line. All Dodge had to do was update the front fascias and lighting every so often and that was that. Buyers knew what they were getting and were happy.
The 370Z felt old before the new Z was even greenlit. Buyers knew it was old and were demanding something new. Or at least, new enough that it was distinguishable from the outgoing 370Z. To do this, the Z had to do some combination of drop price, drop weight, improve acceleration, or improve handling. Instead, it increased price, increased weight, did not (meaningfully) improve acceleration, and if you believe some reviews, actually handles worse in the corners.
Two very different scenarios and results of keeping an old chassis on life support.
People wanted a new chassis for the L-Cars since before the Hellcat. They wanted it before the 2018 Demon, and they wanted one before the 2023 Demon 170. Results might be different, but if you think anyone outside of the “new it thing” crowd wanted everything to be the same forever, you’re mistaken.
The results are different, but the scenarios are closer then you think.
I don’t doubt what you say, but I also don’t peruse Dodge forums. I only know what I’ve seen in articles, blog posts, and comment sections about the L_ platform. And nearly all of those are just a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ to the fact that it’s so old, and then right back to discussing how much more HP Dodge crammed into it this time. The things obviously sold fine as well (completely unlike the Z that you think is a very similar scenario).
The Challenger, for example, sold around 50-60k per year from 2013 all the way through 2023. It was a slight bell curve but consistent, despite aging 10 years in the process. The 370Z, on the other hand, cratered in a similar 10 year stretch from 2010 to 2020, going from 10k a year to less than 2k a year. And if you back that up to the 350Z, It dropped from 35k+ in 2003 to only 10k in 2008.
So maybe the complainers were out there as you say, but they sure weren’t having any effect on the sales figures.
Do internet complainers ever have any effect on sales figures? AFAIK, they never do. Gotta love the internet!
The value of good marketing I guess. I’d bet few of the Challenger/Charger’s customers paid much attention to the age of the chassis.
Big horsepower HEMIs and Hellcats were what mattered. They were fast in a straight line, so the chassis was good enough.
And again, mind boggling why Stellantis would throw all that marketing away to take a year off and then replace the HEMI Challenger with an $80k EV.
That interior looks 10 years old.
The production Kicks debuted globally in 2016, so technically it almost is…
I see buttons, I see knobs, I see switches. Isn’t that what we keep asking for?
I’m pleased to see it has Android since Motorola phones have used Play to designate a phone with a standard Android image with no Motorola software on top of the base OS
There is a reason Nissan is the top brand on sales in Mexico. They still sell the Nissan March (Micra in Europe), the Versa is the top seller, the previous Versa is still for sale, along Sentra and X-Trail/Kicks with Hybrid options. They are like Chevy in terms of pricing, footprint (Dealerships all over the place), parts availability and cheap to fix.
My parents still talk good about their Nissan Sentra and Altima, then they switched to Honda (very expensive in Mexico for some reason).
I looked up some numbers yesterday and was surprised that Rogue outsells the Civic, and sales of the Sentra are just a few hundred units less than the Accord. (US sales YTD ’24) so Nissan still moves a few cars.
They should be able to crank these things out in bulk for rental fleets, which feels like the best use case for them. Extract as much value as you can from it for a couple of years and then dump it off on the used market before the transmission explodes.
I’ve driven alot of shitboxes in my day, but I still feel that this is definitely a regretmobile. Any reason why they can’t give us a plant with just a few more ponies and a transmission not built with rubber bands? Nissan started circling the drain the moment they started putting CVT’s into everything and they haven’t learned their lesson yet.
The issue with CVTs is that they’re great for manufacturers. They’re dirt cheap to make and they increase efficiency/reduce emissions. For companies that refused to really develop any hybrids (like Subaru and Nissan) they’re a cheap and easy way to stay compliant…and all they have to do is last until the powertrain warranty is up, which conveniently and totally coincidentally seems to be the exact time that Nissan’s CVTs shit the bed!
I was on board until CVT. Nope.
Absolutely — the low-hanging fruit especially for companies like Subie who put parasitic AWD on basically everything. I appreciate them for sticking to their brand identity, and their CVTs are better than average, but it’s still a bad way to game the system, adding another major failure point to a brand with a spotty reliability reputation to begin with.
The Subaru cultists have informed me that they’re actually the most reliable cars in human history and that they’ll never consider anything else, so I have no idea what you’re saying about spotty reliability!
You speak wisdom. CVT = low cost of manufacture.
Some folks seem to think frequent lube oil changes will actually keep them going to a fairly high mileage, but that’s probably counter-intuitive for most folks buying the lowest cost new vehicles on the market.
I could also abbreviate it simply as “CVTs are a scam”
Toyota has been putting reliable CVTs in economy cars for a little while now. If other manufacturers are too lazy to copy their tech, they should just license it.
Nissan and Subaru know exactly what they’re doing.
A lot of the problem with cheap cars is the people who buy them don’t maintain them because they’re either financially stretched, or they just resent that they couldn’t get a “better” car for whatever reason. I personally would not pick a Jatco CVT in a Nissan, but if I did I’d probably cut the service interval in half and hope for the best.
Correct. The unfortunate reality is that as the financial means go down the wear and tear usually increases…and not just in cars.
Not just any old rubber bands, they’re from Staples!
Nope, Officemax:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7scdHgc4Jw
The whole concept of old cars carrying on at a discount is a great concept.
Or repurposing models with new trim as a new ‘discount’ model.
I feel that keeping these older generation cars allows automotive styling changes to feel more gradual.
It sure worked for Ram for many years. They only retired the Ram Classic this year I think?
“All the other brands with their pumped-up Kicks better run, better run, faster than our Ghosn”
–Foster the Credit-Challenged People
Cotd calling it now
I should have bet money
Hyundai Venue, $20k even.
Was going to say the exact same thing. I do not think this is a good value unless it can match the price. The Venue has the same size naturally aspirated engine, but both the engine and cvt transmission are newer versions. Does the Nissan Kicks Play even have a sport button?
Hyundai comes with a more robust warranty as well. Same with the Kia Soul.
Nissan needs to realize they aren’t competing with Honda and Toyota as much as they are competing with Hyundai and Kia these days.
I would go with the Hyundai even if the price and warranty were the same, because the engine and transmission were released this decade. The window sticker shows the Nissan gets better gas mileage, but I suspect this is because the Venue has a sport mode button that will rarely get pressed and the EPA has to test the driving mode with the worst fuel economy.
I think I’d roll the dice on a lot of things before I sign up for a Jatco CVT.
Reminds me a lot of the new Buick Envista – a squint-and-it’s-a-hatchback that’s got decent if basic features at a low price. I suspect it’ll do well, though please Nissan give it a better name.
I do like this trend of crossovers looking more and more like actual cars again.
The Envista is way nicer, and bigger. The deal breaker for the Envista is the engine, the deal breaker for the Kicks Play is the transmission.
If I had a lead foot, a 300 credit score, and a complete disregard for human life this certainly be near the top of my list!