{"id":33475,"date":"2024-10-11T11:00:28","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T15:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=33475"},"modified":"2024-10-11T11:00:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T15:00:28","slug":"payne-nissan-kicks-reboots-with-delightful-subcompact-bot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/payne-nissan-kicks-reboots-with-delightful-subcompact-bot","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Nissan Kicks reboots with delightful, subcompact ‘bot"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The 2025 Nissan Kicks remakes its looks with chunky, sci-fi styling.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

Farmington Hills<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Hollywood\u2019s delightful \u201cWild Robot\u201d movie has hit theaters starring the ROZZUM unit 7134 and its endless standard features: Safe Mode, extendable arms, video scanner, remote hand.<\/p>\n

Nissan has its own clever robot \u2014 call it the 2025 Kicks SUV \u2014 hitting showrooms this fall, and it\u2019s loaded with standard stuff, too.<\/p>\n

Standard adaptive cruise control, blind-spot assist, auto high beams, rear cross-traffic alert, automatic emergency braking. All-wheel drive is available for another 1,650 bucks. The \u201825 Kicks is a major upgrade over the last-gen robot \u2014 er, SUV \u2014 and stands out on a shelf full of clever B-segment, entry-level subcompacts. Think the stylish Chevy Trax, sporty Mazda CX-30, quirky Kia Soul and sci-fi Hyundai Kona \u2014 all compelling personalities that introduce buyers to their respective brands.<\/p>\n

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The 2025 Nissan Kicks brings an all-new front end that largely does away with the V-Motion grille.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Kicks conjures its own inner robot with a bold, fun design that would fit right in on the Hasbro toy car shelf (Nissan says the design was inspired by a football helmet). My SVR tester features a floating, two-toned roof atop brawny fenders stuffed with oversized 19-inch wheels with shard-like spokes. The Kicks robot\u2019s face is less round \u201cROZZUM\u201d and more \u201cRobot-from Lost in Space\u201d with its ribbed grille and LED running lights.<\/p>\n

Danger, Will Robinson!<\/em><\/p>\n

My Kicks automatically slowed on a tight Oakland County road \u2014 sensing the vehicle train in front of us. I was momentarily distracted by my Google Maps directions, but adaptive cruise control (backed up by emergency braking) did its job and saw the slowdown before I did. Ah, the modern car \u2014 you gotta\u2019 have electronics to save you from the electronics.<\/p>\n

The Chevy Trax was one of my three finalists for 2024 Detroit News Vehicle of the Year for its fetching looks and loaded features list. At a time when GM was rolling out entry-level electric vehicles at $40K, it was nice to see the Chevy brand sticking to its value roots with a $21K subcompact.<\/p>\n

Nissan, too, is a value brand, and the Kicks cutie is proof the Japanese brand hasn\u2019t been distracted from its core task even as it rolled out its own pricey EV, the $45K Ariya. My $25K Kicks droid featured all-wheel drive (it’s the cheapest AWD vehicle in the market, by the way) for Michigan winters like Ariya. Yet Kicks will get 434 miles of range compared to the EV\u2019s, ahem, 214.<\/p>\n

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The 2025 Nissan Kicks offers wireless phone apps so that you can run Spotify, Sirius AM, Google Maps, and other apps on the center display.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Kicks\u2019 sci-fi ambitions extend to the interior.<\/p>\n

Like Ariya, Kicks gets a high-tech hoodless screen stretching across the dash. Hoodless screen? This wondrous creation first appeared on a production car at the fall 2019 reveal of the $190,000 Porsche Taycan Turbo S Niagara Falls. The clouds parted. Angels sang. Jaws dropped.<\/p>\n