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)
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Nissan needs to sell the Micra here, and also rebadge the Renault Kwid. Call it the Nissan Kwid.
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 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.
That interior looks 10 years old.
The production Kicks debuted globally in 2016, so technically it almost is…
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).
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 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
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.
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.
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!