A fully redesigned 2025 Nissan Kicks aims to win shoppers with its versatility, impressive tech (in higher trim levels), and increasingly confident ability thanks to a more powerful engine and newly available all-wheel drive.
2025 Nissan Kicks Pricing, Specs, and Release Date
- What’s New for the 2025 Nissan Kicks
- Design
- Powertrain
- Interior
- Technology
- Safety
- Pricing and Release Date
What’s New for the 2025 Nissan Kicks
Nissan is introducing a new Kicks for 2025 with some significant improvements over the outgoing 2024 model. On the powertrain front, the new Kicks gets nearly 20 more horsepower and available all-wheel drive (AWD). Inside, the tech offering gets better and cargo space dramatically increases. The Kicks has long been an affordable option, and with the 2025 redesign, it looks more compelling than ever before.
Design
The new Kicks looks bold, certainly more so than the outgoing Kicks. With a wide stance and fenders, the boxy lower half sits juxtaposed against a rounder top half and it gives the Kicks a distinctive look. At least in photos, the new subcompact crossover appears futuristic and almost concept-like, rather than a production-ready vehicle.
Shoppers can choose between three trim levels for the 2025 Nissan Kicks. The S trim will be the least expensive, with a midrange SV and top-tier SR trim rounding out the offering.
Nissan says the new Kicks design is inspired by high-end sneakers, specifically the rocker panels’ three-dimensional shape. On a more functional note, the new Kicks also offers best-in-class standard ground clearance, at 8.4 inches. 16-inch wheels come standard on the S trim, while the SV and SR come standard with 17-inch wheels; the SV comes standard with steel wheels and is available with alloys, which are standard on the SR. Additionally, the SR trim is available with 19-inch alloys.
The S and SV trims also boast a body color and chrome grille, while the SR trim gets a painted grille, and rear-door window tinting is standard on only the SV and SR.
Powertrain
A 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine makes 141 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 140 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. This is a solid upgrade over the old Kicks, which used a 1.6-liter four-cylinder that produced only 122 horsepower.
Managed by Nissan’s Xtronic continuously variable transmission (CVT), the Kicks can be configured with either front-wheel drive (FWD) or AWD.
A drive mode selector offers three choices on FWD Kicks models: Normal, Eco, and Sport. AWD adds a “Snow” driving mode that adjusts mapping for slippery road surfaces. Fuel economy figures have not been announced, but given the larger and more powerful engine (not to mention the available AWD), we expect it to fall below the 31 city, 36 highway, and 33 combined rating of the FWD-only 2024 Kicks.
Interior
The flat-bottom steering wheel adds a sporty vibe, but the inside of the Kicks is decidedly practical. Two cupholders can fit 30-ounce coffee mugs, and the door-pocket bottle holders are large enough for a 32-ounce vacuum-sealed tumbler.
The front and rear seats employ Nissan’s Zero Gravity technology, meaning they’re impressively comfortable over both long and short distances.
The rear seat is ever-so-slightly larger for 2025, but the trunk is appreciably bigger than the outgoing model's. 30 cubic feet of space with the rear seat in position bests the old Kicks by almost 5 cubic feet, and a total cargo-space measurement of 60 cubic feet dusts competitors like the Mazda CX-30 and Subaru Crosstrek (Nissan reports that this is best-in-class standard cargo capacity). There’s also a storage compartment below the trunk floor for small items.
The SV and SR trims come with a movable trunk floor that can be set to two heights, either maximizing cargo capacity or providing a flat floor for easier loading and unloading. Also of note is the cargo hatch opening’s width. At 40.3 inches, it’s the widest in its class, which matters when you’re loading strollers, bikes, or golf bags in the back of a Kicks.
Technology
The dashboard in the 2025 Kicks has a standard 7-inch instrument panel and 7-inch touchscreen display, but the SV and SR trim upgrade their touchscreens to 12.3 inches, and the SR also gets a 12.3-inch instrument panel. The larger instrument panel can be customized with two different designs, Classic and Enhanced.
Touch-capacitive switches in the SR trim manage the climate control, and they look nice, even if we typically prefer physical controls for these features. The lowest-level S trim looks a bit scant in terms of technology (it comes with only one USB port, and it’s the older Type-A style, rather than the newer and faster Type-C), but the more expensive trims are better equipped, too. Not only do they come with two USB Type-C ports in the front seats, but a wireless charging pad comes standard on the SV and SR trims as well. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Wireless Android Auto are also standard on the SV and SR (but not the S), and the SR gets an extra two USB Type-C ports for the rear seats.
Safety
All 2025 Kicks trim levels get LED running lights and LED automatic headlights with high-beam assist. Nissan Safety Shield 360, the company’s suite of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), is standard across every trim level. Nissan Safety Shield 360 includes automatic emergency braking, blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-departure warning, and other safety tech.
Buy a 2025 Kicks SR, and you’ll also enjoy ProPilot Assist. This feature adds steering assist to the standard adaptive cruise control system, making long highway drives less exhausting.
Pricing and Release Date
Update: Nissan has announced pricing for the 2025 Kicks starting at a base MSRP of $21,830 for the Kicks S. Destination fees clock in at $1,390. The Kicks SV starts at $23,680 and the top-trim Kicks SR at $26,180, and opting for AWD adds between $1,500 and $1,650, depending on your trim. The Premium Package is an additional $1,500 for the SV trim or $1,950 for the SR trim.
As of this writing, pricing has not been announced for the 2025 Nissan Kicks. We do expect the new Kicks to arrive with a higher price tag than the 2024 model, which started at a phenomenally affordable $22,730 and rose to only $25,290 (MSRP) for the SR trim. The 2025 Kicks is expected to go on sale in late summer, 2024.