Nissan’s American dealer network, and indeed the entire brand, has been having a rough go lately. Perhaps the 2025 Nissan Kicks will bring new life to showrooms, partly because it looks good and partly because it starts cheap. The old model in base S trim stickered for $22,730 including freight, while the new model in base S trim starts at $23,220 including freight. That a price increase of just $490, and you seem to get a decent amount of car for that sort of money, provided you’re willing to miss out on a few key features.
Under the hood, the 122-horsepower 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine on the old car is replaced by a two-liter four-cylinder engine making 19 more horsepower and a whopping 26 more lb.-ft. of torque. Add in the new availability of all-wheel-drive and 8.4 inches of standard ground clearance, and the new Kicks promises to be a better-rounded subcompact crossover than the old one.
Oh, and speaking of all-wheel-drive, adding it only costs $1,500 on the base S trim, $1,650 on the mid-range SV trim, and $1,500 on the range-topping SR trim. In the grand scheme of things, that sort of pricing is still reasonable, and should make the Kicks the go-to model for anyone who wants the cheapest new car with all-wheel-drive.
However, there’s a catch to the base model — it doesn’t come with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, two of the most important features in any new car because drivers interact with them constantly. It’s hard to believe that an automaker is still making CarPlay and Android Auto optional in 2024, but here we are. What a disappointment.
So, the cheapest 2025 Nissan Kicks that anyone would actually want to buy stickers for $25,070 including freight, but it might still be missing other stuff you want, like more than four speakers, front seatback pockets, rear heater ducts, and illuminated vanity mirrors. You know, stuff many $2,500 used cars have. An SV Premium Package adds the seatback pockets, the heater ducts, illuminated vanity mirrors, a sunglass holder, a big moonroof, and heated seats for an extra $1,500, at which point you’re spending $26,570.
If you want more toys such as more than four speakers, lane-keep assistance, rear cupholders, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and a rear seat armrest, the SR trim starts at $27,570 — that’s $2,280 more than the old Kicks SR. In fact, if you load a Kicks SR up with the SR Premium Package and all-wheel-drive, you’re looking at a $29,630 Nissan Kicks. While still inexpensive in the grand scheme of new cars, that’s a lot of money for something meant to be cheap and cheerful.
If you want Apple CarPlay and you’re not looking for all-wheel-drive, the Chevrolet Trax still presents better value on paper than the 2025 Nissan Kicks. Even the base Trax gets wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and that thing costs $21,495 including freight. In this segment, something that costs $3,575 less and still offers key features is just too good to ignore, and the fact that a top-trim Trax is only $25,395 means you must really want a front-wheel-drive Kicks in order to pay the extra money. If you’re particularly style conscious, the Buick Envista is also worth a look, because it really surprised us for a base price of $23,995 including freight.
Is the 2025 Nissan Kicks still worth consideration? Absolutely. A new small crossover that can be had in bright colors for sensible money is still worth a gander. However, it’s not quite the ultra-cheap crossover it once was. If you’re shopping for one, peruse the spec sheet carefully and decide what features you can live without, because unless you’re splashing the cash, you’ll always have to compromise on something.
(Photo credits: Nissan)
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The 2025 Nissan Kicks Looks Way Nicer Than The Old One But Can Nissan Keep It Around $22k?
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Holy Crap The 2024 Nissan Kicks Is Legitimately Cheap
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The Surprisingly Nice 2024 Chevrolet Trax Is $21,495 Of Fundamental Goodness
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I Can’t Believe A Cheap Buick Is This Good
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The 2024 Buick Envista Is Handsome, Cheap, And Slow As Hell
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“However, there’s a catch to the base model — it doesn’t come with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto,”
I disagree that tis the biggest catch. In my view, the biggest issue is that you have a CVT transmission forced on you… no manual transmission offered.
The next biggest issue is there is no hybrid option. And that’s pretty sad for an all-new vehicle being introduced in 2024.
No Carplay or Android auto? Pfft… I couldn’t care less about that.
I’m going to love seeing these ride the shoulder of the highway doing 75 during rush hour
While models like the Kicks have traditionally been considered entry level vehicles, its more accurate to say these days that they are exit level vehicles; sought by elderly drivers needing something easy and cheap to drive to maintain their mobility. That being said, the base Kicks being without Android Auto and Apple Carplay matters little to a customer base whose infotainment experience rarely goes beyond their 1-2 favorite radio stations
Why nobody mentioned Jeep Compass as an alternative? You can get a brand new one for around 22k, 4 wheel drive, wireless CarPlay and Android come standard
Nissan Kicks? No stix? Ahhh nix.
P.S. Pop up ads now? Enshittification swallows all. Gotta ball @ Goodwood with someone’s money I guess.
Ugh, gross. Just no.
Coming to a Hertz lot near you! The new Kicks!
I’m going to be PISSED when I plug in my phone and Carplay doesn’t pop up.
Like cell phones, everyone’s dash display is looking the same. Gee, another rectangle.
I mean, if you’re displaying maps and apps on a screen, rectangle is a logical choice. You’d perhaps prefer a rhombus? Triangle? Star?
I will bet $3 that the radio has CP and AA capabilities, but they are disabled in the base trim. And If I’m right, I’ll bet another $3 that somebody figures out how to re-enable it within 30 days of the Kicks hitting the lots.
The 2022 Maverick XL was not available with cruise control, even as an option. Within a month, someone found the p/n for the buttons, figured out how to enable CC in software, and posted a how-to video to YouTube.
AA and Carplay are functionally useless to me and id rather it be an option to not have them.
I guess I’m weird because despite having lifetime navigation in one vehicle (before it broke after 14 years) I have never used in car navigation.
It is an option… Even if it’s functionally available in your car, you don’t have to use it.
Close…sort of wagon style, but I’d never buy a Nissan based only on the transmission.
This article is far too much “press release” and not nearly Autopian enough.
How can you call a car desirable based on bright colors without even mentioning what kind of transmission is installed?
I was looking for the type of tranmission everywhere… You’re right, it does not feel Autopian enough…
CVT. From Nissan. Run.
insert gillette joke here
It’s neither funny nor insightful unless you actually write one. (Or find one to post here.)
I’m sorry, not that well versed in English to know some cultural references about Gillettes or shavers in general, and the ones I remember from my native language don’t translate that well
How about this?
The colorful new Nissan Kicks
Drives quite well out in the sticks.
But no one will rave
’bout how the grille can shave
Almost as well as a Schick.
Agreed, the Trax is a better value. The Kicks is pretty meh IMO. Seems like a decent effort for modern Nissan at least, not that that’s a high bar to clear.
I would love to have a cost deduct to skip carplay or android. I’ve never used either and am happy to keep it that way.
How do you do navigation?
I know where I live? If I’m going somewhere new I’ll check out Google Maps before I leave for directions. If I’m on vacation I’ll have a passenger who can help on nav. It isn’t hard. I only have navigation in one of my current cars, and it’s the only car I’ve ever owned with nav. I’ve probably used it less than 10 times since getting it.
I often go to new places and live alone, with friends and family at least 90 minutes away from me. So I rely on navigation a lot.
In-car nav sucks. It’s no wonder you never use it.
Android Auto and CarPlay give you Waze, also letting you know where anything you might need is, including the price of gas along your route, and alerting you to speed traps, traffic backups including most efficient re-routing on the fly, and road hazards, etc. It’s a whole different world on offer than your in-dash navigation system.
No Android Auto/CarPlay, no sale.
I prefer in-car navigation to Android Auto. My in-car nav works every time I turn the car on, something Android Auto won’t dependably do across multiple vehicles, wireless and wired. The only thing missing is real time traffic.
I not fond of depending on my phone while driving for nav/music or anything other than being a phone.
Even though I don’t use it much, I like that we have the options to use Android Auto and CarPlay.
A phone mount? How did you do navigation pre-2015?
I upgraded to an aftermarket Android Auto head unit specifically because my 2012 Prius v seemed to be designed with having no good phone mounting place as a high priority.
Mounting on the center vents blocked some of the dash icons.
Mounting on the corner window, windshield, or top of the dash would create a blind spot.
Mounting on a cupholder-mounted flexible arm holder was the last thing I was doing but still had the disadvantage of my eyes taking a moment to move from the road to the screen.
It’s a hell of a lot quicker, safer, and more convenient. Rather than (for example, on a freezing morning) taking my gloves off, mounting the phone, setting a destination, and heading out, I can turn on Bluetooth before exiting the house, it automatically pairs when I turn the car on, and I can speak a destination when I’m underway.
Yeah, I did live with dash-mounting the phone previously, but that was with a ’97 Econoline in a sparsely-populated area.
And on top of all that–my music collection is all in one place on my phone and it’s nice to split the screen ~70/30 nav and music.
I guess I’m pretty hands-off when it comes to nav. I prefer to look at the full route before I leave, then as things come up I already have a general idea of where I’m going. It probably comes from my dad’s habit of always printing out Google Maps and putting them in a big binder pre-2010. As for music I either put on a radio livestream or listen off a thumb drive that’s permanently plugged into my infotainment so I can scroll through it with the car controls.
That said, my 2012 XC70’s CD slot is in a pretty good position for my phone mount and it places it just below the infotainment screen (which is tiny and useless anyway so I leave it off most of the time, and aftermarket head units for
that eraany era of Volvo are stupid difficult to install).I’m also not a fan of windshield-mounted phone mounts, but I’ve had decent success with vent-mounted ones. Bonus is that the vent helps blow cool air at my iPhone and keep it from overheating. I’ve noticed that with wired CarPlay on some rentals I’ve had that my iPhone tends to heat up considerably when plugged in, to the point of being unusable if it’s exposed to sun.
I must be one of the only people on Earth that would just rather use my car’s built-in infotainment. My ’21 Pacifica has the option for Android Auto / CarPlay, but after trying to use it for a few days I found no advantages over the built-in Uconnect stuff.
That depends on the kind of built-in infotainment you have. The one in the A110 is so awful, there is no option but to use Android Auto / CarPlay
Does your car have built-in lifetime navigation?
I like AA / Carplay because no matter what car I drive, as long as it is compatible it will already display my last destinations, saved places and will update automatically. It won’t need any maps downloading if I travel aboard and real time traffic and up to date locations and business hours are usually much more reliable than built in navigation.
The UConnect in my RAM 2500 worked great until the maps got out of date and since RAM wanted $500 for one update, I stopped using UConnect and went to Waze.
Seems like Nissan relented and finally gave us the iDx.
I never thought I would say this, but I’d rather have a Buick Envista.
So horribly true!
It’s actually not bad looking, even by Nissan standards. I’m not sure I’d call it cheerful, but it’s better than the Trax.
The Pontiac-ish wheels really appeal to me.
Sometimes you kick. Sometimes you get kicked…
(Yes it’s a 30 year old INXS lyric, but it was right there!)
Too soon.
Ooof – forget the Trax, for $25k you can have a base model 2025 Mazda CX-30 with phone projection and AWD.
Admittedly rear climate vents isn’t a common feature on base trims for this class of vehicle (nor is it necessary imo). Other than that the critiques are dead on.
Yeah, my money would be on the CX-30 too. Sure, it’s a bit tight inside, but it’s also a lovely-feeling daily driver for $26,415 including freight.
I should’ve been clearer about the HVAC bits, the ducting that’s unavailable on the base model is just heater ducting under the front seats to warm the rear of the passenger compartment. I totally agree that rear air-con vents are unexpected in the segment, I just genuinely can’t recall the last two-row car to not have rear seat heater ducts.
Oh! Yeah that’s not great – I thought you meant vents
Also damnit I always forget to check if freight is included
Agreed about the CX-30.
I would also consider a base Taos FWD at $24K. AWD is an extra $2K or so
Yep. Adding AWD was a great idea, but this really needs a turbocharger to compete with the CX30, Kona, and Seltos.
“Even the base Trax gets wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and that thing costs $21,495 including freight.”
For now anyway. GM is supposedly ditching CarPlay, because they think they can deliver a better UI/UX than frigging Apple. GM also seems to forget their previous forays into the space, like the much loved CUE platform.
GM also wants to sell subscriptions to their infotainment and doesn’t like that we as consumers have been getting AA/CP for free.
It would’ve been less egregious if they made the wheels optional
Still never used CarPlay or Android Auto. My life is so empty! Not.
Same. In fact I can’t think of anyone I know that uses either system.
Do your acquaintances only own Tesla and Rivian ?
I have an ioniq 5, which I love. I have never used android auto. My buddy has a Bolt and doesn’t use carplay. I just put on SiriusXM and drive to the same 5 places it feels like. Never felt a need to even try out Android Auto.
Neat.
Same. I’d be wiling to get into it though if it really meant the touchscreen could go and I could just connect my phone for all of the things for which modern vehicles use them.
My personal cars are old enough to not have them. But most of the vehicles my work has have it now (although not the one I drive most frequently). Honestly wouldn’t buy a car without it. Just the easy of playing music and using maps makes it worthwhile.
I’m seriously considering replacing the head unit on the car where replacement is fairly easy.
Agreed. In my case where the ICE isn’t especially brilliant, maps and music from the phone is better than the alternative.
So the base Kicks isn’t pumped up?
Keep making puns like that and you’re sure to foster a great reputations with the people here on the Autopian.
“It’s hard to believe that an automaker is still making CarPlay and Android Auto optional in 2024, but here we are. What a disappointment.”
I don’t think base i20s, i30s, Rios or Ceeds (to name a few) come with Apple Car Play either. In some cases of basic transportation (Dacias) your ICE is… a mobile phone holder.
I daily a 2019 Dacia Duster. Has built-in satnav on the screen (a 300 euro option if I remember correctly) and it also has CarPlay and Android Auto. I use CarPlay every day. Even though I know where I’m going I still like the car talking to me 🙂