The Nissan Kicks did something very special in the car world. It was in 2018 as one of the cheapest crossovers you could buy in America, dismissed by half of the motoring press as a tall hatchback with SUV pretensions, but then slowly overtook vehicles costing twice as much. Eight model years later, the Kicks has evolved into a second generation, introduced all-wheel drive and has become a genuinely handsome little SUV that starts with $23,000 in the US and around AED 79,900 in the UAE.
I have driven first-generation and second-generation versions of this car back-to-back, and the gap between them is bigger than the badge suggests. This Ndrive, Kicks review covers every year from 2018 to 2026, from engine, interior, features, wheels, pricing in dollars and dirhams and what to look for if you’re shopping for a used Nissan Kicks instead of a new one.
Nissan Kicks at a Glance: Two Generations, One Mission
| Factor | First Generation (2018–2024) | Second Generation (2025–2026) |
| Engine | 1.6L 4-cylinder, 122 hp | 2.0L 4-cylinder, 141 hp |
| Torque | 114 lb-ft (155 Nm) | 140 lb-ft (190 Nm) |
| Transmission | Xtronic CVT | Xtronic CVT |
| Drivetrain | FWD only | FWD or Intelligent AWD |
| Fuel Economy | Up to 31/36 mpg (city/highway) | Up to 28/35 mpg (city/highway) |
| Infotainment | 7.0–8.0-inch touchscreen | Up to 12.3-inch dual displays |
| US Price Range (New) | Approx. $17,990–$23,000 | Approx. $22,730–$30,500+ |
| UAE Price Range (New) | Approx. AED 59,900–73,000 | Approx. AED 79,900–109,900 |
The mission never changes, and the city drivers’ SUV styling, big-car safety tech, and small-car running costs. What changed is how convincingly the Kicks delivers on it.
2018 Nissan Kicks: The Budget Crossover That Started It All
The 2018 Nissan Kicks replaced the oddball Juke in North America, and Nissan made a calculated bet. Instead of the Juke brand’s turbocharged engine and the AWD option, the Kicks launched with a mild, naturally aspirated 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine with 122 horsepower, a CVT, front-wheel drive only, and a price of $17,990. In the UAE, the first-generation car eventually settled around AED 59,900 to AED 73,000 as a trim and year.
Critics grumbled about the missing all-wheel drive. Buyers didn’t care. The 2018 Nissan Kicks offered something almost nobody else did at the price: standard automatic emergency braking, a usable 25.3 cubic feet of cargo space, seven airbags, and fuel economy of 31 mpg city and 36 mpg highway. For a college student, a delivery driver, or a small family in Dubai traffic, that math worked.
Three trims defined the lineup from day one, and they carried through the whole first generation:
- Nissan Kicks S: steel wheels, a 7-inch screen, and the essentials done properly.
- Nissan Kicks SV: 17-inch alloy wheels, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and blind-spot warning.
- Nissan Kicks SR: LED headlights, a leather-wrapped steering wheel, and available Bose Personal Plus audio with speakers built into the driver’s headrest.
It’s that Bose headrest audio system, and it was absurd, in a good way. A sub-$22,000 car with eight speakers, two of them firing from behind your ears? Nothing else in the class had it.
2019 and 2020 Nissan Kicks: Small Moves, Smart Moves
The 2019 Nissan Kicks went almost unchanged, which was fine because the recipe was fresh. Nissan also added rear door alert as standard, a small feature that reminds you to check the back seat.
The 2020 Nissan Kicks provided the year’s most significant news: Nissan Safety Shield 360 was standard in every trim. That added automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, rear automatic braking, blind spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, and high-beam assist to the base car. In 2020, many $40,000 SUVs still charged extra for half of that list. The Kicks gave it away at $18,870.
2021 Nissan Kicks: The Mid-Cycle Facelift
The 2021 Nissan Kicks was the first generation’s only major refresh, and it aged the car well. The front end was now a bigger, more upright V-motion grille with a body-color surround; new LED headlight signatures were added on the upper trims, and the rear had a full-width light bar effect. Inside, the SV and SR were upgraded to an 8-inch touchscreen, and the SR now has Nissan’s 360-degree camera.
If you are shopping the used market, the 2021 Nissan Kicks is a sweet spot. It seems close enough to the current that nobody clocks it as old, it has the full safety suite, and prices have fallen into genuinely affordable territory. Used pricing shall be discussed later.
2022, 2023, and 2024 Nissan Kicks: The Long Goodbye
The 2022 Nissan Kicks and 2023 Nissan Kicks were holding-pattern years. Nissan shuffled paint colors, made minor equipment tweaks, and kept prices steady as the second generation cooked behind the scenes. The 2024 Nissan Kicks finished off the first generation in North America with the same 122hp formula it started with.
Was the first-gen car perfect? No. The 1.6 needed patience on highway on-ramps, the CVT droned when pushed, and rear-seat headroom punished tall passengers. But it was an honest, cheap-to-run city crossover and made every sale. Interestingly, the first-generation car is also still being sold in some markets as the Nissan Kicks Play alongside the new model in Latin America as a cheaper, yet reliable option. So if you see Nissan Kicks Play in a listing, that’s the old body with a new name.
2025 Nissan Kicks: The Total Reinvention
Here’s where this story gets interesting. The 2025 Nissan Kicks is not a facelift. It’s a ground-up redesign that rectifies almost every complaint from the first generation and turned one of the most anonymous cars in the class into one of the most distinctive.
Design and Wheels
Nissan’s designers must have drawn inspiration from athletic sneakers, and you can see it in the textured bumpers and chunky cladding. The new Kicks is 5.8 cm longer, 4 cm wider, and 2.5 cm taller than before, with a bold upright grille, high-mounted slim headlights, and two-tone paint available in 15 colors. Nissan Kicks wheels range from 16-inch steel wheels on the base S to 17-inch alloys on the SV to 19-inch aluminum-alloy wheels on the SR, a size you’d normally associate with cars a segment or two above.
Ground clearance rose to 8.4 inches (about 213 mm, with some regional specs saying up to 237 mm), which is more than a Hyundai Kona or Chevrolet Trax offers. On the speed bump-riddled streets of Sharjah or a rutted gravel road in Colorado, that clearance is not a spec sheet brag. You feel it.
Engine and Performance
The Nissan Kicks engine grew in power from 1.6 to 2.0 liters. The new naturally aspirated four-cylinder generates 141 horsepower and 140 lb-ft of torque (190 Nm) and adds an Xtronic CVT once more. That’s a 19-horsepower and 26 lb-ft improvement, and in a car this size it’s all there. Zero to 60 mph takes between 9.5 and 10 seconds, depending on the drivetrain, and the Nissan Kicks’ top speed is around 112 to 118 mph (180 to 190 km/h), electronically limited well below what the car should ideally do.
I will be honest about how well the Nissan Kicks works out here because this is where expectations are met. This is not a fast car. Getting onto a fast highway still requires planning, and if you want full throttle, the CVT will run and drone. But around town, where 90 percent of Kicks buyers live, the 2.0-liter feels much more relaxed and adequate in a way the old 1.6 didn’t. The steering is smooth, the sightlines are great, and the turning circle almost makes parallel parking fun. Fuel economy remains strong at 28 mpg city and 35 mpg highway for FWD models (roughly 15.4 km/l in UAE testing) and AWD versions at 27/34 mpg.
All-Wheel Drive
The headline change: the Nissan Kicks AWD is now in the picture. Nissan’s Intelligent All-Wheel Drive is now available in every trim in the US for about $1,500 and has a snow drive mode. For buyers in snowbelt states who have already removed the Kicks from their list, this single change adds it back in the conversation in comparison to the Kona and Trax. UAE buyers will see FWD configurations, which is natural given the climate.
Interior and Features
The Nissan Kicks interior is from rental-car-like to genuinely nice. All 2026 trims are equipped with a 12.3-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the top trims go with a second 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster to create a widescreen effect that looks like it’s coming from a car costing twice as much. Nissan’s Zero Gravity seats, designed for posture research by NASA, make a dramatic appearance front and rear. Add the panoramic moonroof, 64-color ambient lighting for the touch screen, wireless phone charging, a heated steering wheel with the Cold Weather Package, and a 10-speaker Bose system that still has speakers in the front headrests, and the cabin goes above its price.
Cargo space ranges from 23.9 to 30 cubic feet behind the rear seats depending on trim, to around 60 cubic feet with the 60/40 rear bench folded. The load opening is wider than before, and the SR’s adjustable cargo floor is a small thing you use constantly.
Safety
Nissan Safety Shield 360 is standard on all Nissan Kicks and the 2025–2026 car has standard adaptive cruise control across the range, which is remarkable at this price. The SR gets ProPILOT Assist, Nissan’s hands-on semi-autonomous system that steers, brakes and accelerates in its lane on the highway, as well as the Intelligent Around View Monitor. The current Kicks has an IIHS Top Safety Pick award and a 4-star overall NHTSA rating.
2026 Nissan Kicks: Refinement Over Reinvention
The 2026 Nissan Kicks builds on the redesign rather than reinventing it. The base S trim gets better equipment for the money, infotainment responses are quicker, cabin materials are a touch better, and driver-assist tuning is more consistent in stop-and-go traffic. Nissan also added the Cold Weather Package option for SV and SR trims, which brings heated front seats, heated mirrors, and rear HVAC vents.
Trim walk for the 2026 Nissan Kicks:
- Kicks S ($22,730 / from AED 79,900 in UAE spec): 16-inch steel wheels, a 12.3-inch touchscreen, full Safety Shield 360, and adaptive cruise control.
- Kicks SV ($24,470 / approx. AED 86,900): 17-inch alloys, remote start, proximity keyless entry, wireless charging, premium cloth.
- Kicks SR ($27,565 FWD, $29,065 AWD / top UAE trims to AED 109,900): 19-inch alloys, leatherette with sport cloth inserts, ProPILOT Assist, a 360-degree camera, and the available Premium Package with a panoramic moonroof and Bose audio.
Most reviewers, and I agree with them, point to the SV as the value pick. The extra $1,700 or so over the S buys the convenience features you’ll touch every single day. The SR is beautiful, but it’s up to $30,000 with AWD and the Premium Package, and at that point, the powertrain starts to feel outgunned by turbocharged rivals.
Nissan Kicks Price Guide: USD and AED
New 2026 Nissan Kicks Pricing (US Market)
| Trim | Drivetrain | Starting MSRP (USD) |
| Kicks S | FWD | $22,730 |
| Kicks SV | FWD | $24,470 |
| Kicks SR | FWD | $27,565 |
| Kicks SR | AWD | $29,065 |
Add about $1,495 to destination charges. Real-world transaction data shows buyers paying about 1.7 percent below sticker and lease deals on the Nissan Kicks SV AWD have hovered around $319 per month with about $4,000 due when signing.
New Nissan Kicks Pricing (UAE Market)
| Trim | Starting Price (AED) | Approx. USD Equivalent |
| Kicks S | AED 79,900 | ~$21,750 |
| Kicks SV | AED 86,900 | ~$23,660 |
| Kicks SV+ | AED 94,900 | ~$25,840 |
| Kicks SL | AED 109,900 | ~$29,920 |
UAE prices include 5 percent VAT. The Gulf-spec SL is the best in terms of panoramic moonroof, Bose audio, and ProPILOT suite and is in competition with the Hyundai Creta (around AED 76,999), Kia Seltos, and Haval Jolion Pro.
Used Nissan Kicks Prices
The used Nissan Kicks market is where bargain hunters should be paying attention, because first-generation depreciation has been kind to second owners:
- 2018-2019 Nissan Kicks: around $10,000–$13,500 in the US; around AED 27,500–35,000 in the UAE.
- 2020–2021 Nissan Kicks: roughly $13,000-$16,500 in the US; AED 42,000–49,000 in the UAE.
- 2022-2023 Nissan Kicks: roughly $16,000–$19,500 in the US; AED 50,000–65,000 in the UAE.
- 2024 Nissan Kicks: roughly $19,000–$22,000 and almost overlaps new second-gen pricing.
That last line matters. If a lightly used 2024 costs almost the same price as a new 2026 Kicks S, then buy the new one. You get the bigger engine, much better screens, AWD, and adaptive cruise as standard, and a full warranty of 3 years/36,000 miles bumper-to-bumper, 5 years/60,000 miles powertrain, plus two years of free maintenance of current US models.
If you’re looking for a Nissan Kicks for sale or a Nissan Kicks near me, I’m honest as someone who has crawled around many of these: a 2021 or 2022 SV with a clean service history is the best used buy. You get all that, a facelift, the 8-inch screen, the full Safety Shield 360, and a proven drivetrain. The 1.6 and its CVT have a good reliability record when the CVT fluid is changed on schedule, around every 50,000 to 60,000 km. You’re betting on that service. Check for it in the records before you sign anything.
How the Nissan Kicks Stacks Up Against Rivals
No Nissan Kicks review is complete without context. The Chevrolet Trax slightly undercuts it and has more rear-seat space. The Hyundai Kona has a turbo-powered engine that makes highway merging easy to get on and off. The Honda HR-V rides quieter but costs more, especially in the UAE where it starts around AED 94,900.
The Kicks counters with the best standard safety and tech package in the class; class-leading ground clearance; that surprisingly premium cabin; and sneaky-good long-term value. Kelley Blue Book estimates the 5-year cost to own at $46,599 with a residual value around $11,205, and UAE market data rates its resale value 5 out of 5. It won’t beat anything with a turbo. Most months it will win the total-cost-of-ownership spreadsheet.
Verdict: Who Should Buy the Nissan Kicks?
Buy the Nissan Kicks if your driving life consists of city streets, school runs, parking garages, and the occasional highway trip. Buy it if you want a 12.3-inch screen, adaptive cruise, blind spot monitoring, and a 360 camera for under $35,000. Buy the AWD version if you live where it snows and thought you couldn’t afford all-weather capability.
Look elsewhere if you carry four adults on long highway trips, tow any sort of vehicle, or just like the feel of acceleration. The Kona turbo and even the Trax will be better suited for you.
The Kicks evolved from a clever budget play into a legitimately desirable small SUV over eight model years. The 2018 car earned respect. The 2026 car earns money. Not many nameplates can do that in less than a decade.
Disclaimer: Prices are based on the manufacturer and market data as of mid-2026 and may vary by region, dealer, and available offers. Always confirm current pricing with your local Nissan dealer.
FAQs
Q. What is the price of the Nissan Kicks in 2026?
A. The 2026 Nissan Kicks starts at $22,730 for the S trim in the US and the SR with all-wheel drive at $29,065, with a destination charge of about $1,495. In the UAE, pricing ranges from AED 79,900 for the base S to AED 109,900 for the fully loaded SL, including 5 percent VAT. Used first-generation models start at around $10,000 in the US and AED 27,500 in the UAE.
Q. What engine does the Nissan Kicks have, and how does it perform?
A. The 2025–2026 Nissan Kicks uses a 2.0-liter naturally aspirated four-cylinder with 141 horsepower and 140 lb-ft (190 Nm) of torque with a CVT. First-generation models (2018–2024) used a 1.6-liter with 122 horsepower. The current car reaches 60 mph in roughly 9.5 to 10 seconds with a top speed around 112–118 mph (180–190 km/h). It’s tuned for smooth city driving and fuel economy rather than outright speed, returning up to 28/35 mpg city/highway.
Q. Does the Nissan Kicks come with all-wheel drive?
A. Yes, but only from the 2025 model year onward. The second-generation Kicks offers Nissan’s Intelligent All-Wheel Drive with a Snow mode on every US trim level for roughly $1,500 extra. Every 2018–2024 Nissan Kicks is front-wheel drive only, and Gulf-spec models remain FWD.
Q. Is a used Nissan Kicks a good buy?
A. Generally yes. The first-generation Kicks has a strong reliability reputation and low running costs, and every 2020-or-newer example includes the full Nissan Safety Shield 360 suite as standard. The 2021–2022 SV facelift models offer the best mix of updated styling, features, and price. The only non-negotiable check is that CVT fluid has been serviced on schedule, since neglected CVT maintenance is the most common source of expensive problems on high-mileage examples.
Q. What is the difference between the Nissan Kicks S, SV, and SR trims?
A. The S covers the basics with 16-inch steel wheels, the 12.3-inch touchscreen, and the full safety suite, including adaptive cruise control. The SV adds 17-inch alloy wheels, remote start, proximity keyless entry, and wireless charging, making it the best value in the range. The SR tops the lineup with 19-inch alloys, leatherette upholstery, ProPILOT Assist, a 360-degree camera, and an available Premium Package with a panoramic moonroof and 10-speaker Bose audio.
