There's nothing I like more than a quirky little crossover.
And Nissan has brought me out here to beautiful, sunny San Diego to experience its latest cute ute, the 2018 Nissan Kicks.
But it takes a little bit more than just some funky sheet metal to impress this gal, so let's hit the road and see what this baby can do.
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The Kicks was designed in conjunction with Nissan North America, and get this, Nissan Brazil.
I know.
How cool is that?
And you see a lot of the North American influence in the V-motion grille in the front, some of the color choices You can go to the color studio and get some cool, custom-colored accessories.
But in the back it is all Brazilian.
Aw yeah.
Those taillights, those are definitely Brazilian taillights.
They have a design for sure.
Inside, Nissan's given me the Zero Gravity seats, which I love.
They are super, super comfortable.
Design-wise, it's pretty good.
I don't really like this door panel here.
There's a lot of proportion issues that are going on.
I do wish there was a little bit more storage nooks and crannies.
There's no Center console, so there's not a lot of places to put stuff.
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And while you might think that this replaces the Juke, after all the Juke was killed in 2017, here we are 2018 with this new Nissan Kicks, not so much.
I mean sure this really does appeal to a younger market, but in terms of power the Juke was way up on numbers.
This guy, out of a 1.6 liter engine, a 125 horsepower, and 115 pound feet of torque.
When I first read those numbers, I thought this is gonna be so slow, like torture.
But it only weighs 2600 pounds.
It's not gonna win any drag races, but neither Neither is it a turtle.
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Power gets down to the front wheels through a continuously variable transmission and no, there's no all wheel drive available.
Now CBT's aren't really my favorite kind of transmission, but Nissan had done a really good job in making it behave a little bit more like a traditional automatic.
You actually get a vague feel of shifting.
But one thing it's really good for is gas Gas mileage.
The Kicks gets an EPA fuel rating 31 in the city, 36 on the highway, and 33 combined.
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And when you're out here on the back roads, come on, this is a $20,000 vehicle.
It's not gonna drive like a Porsche.
But It's not that bad.
The steering's got a nice weight to it.
There's not a lot of feel, but it really does return back to center quite well.
And since this is an entry level vehicle you're going to get some entry level tech, as well.
The good news it that standard across all trim lines is a seven inch color touch screen.
But Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are not available on the base model.
Still, really glad Nissan's finally getting on the Apple CarPlay bandwagon.
Yes, thank you.
Blind spot monitor is also not available on the base trim line, But across everything you do get emergency breaking.
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The 2018 Nissan Kick is avalible now and it starts at about $18,000 but you're probaby gonna end up spending close to 20.
This guy that I've been running around with all day with all the bells and whistles It's about $23,000.
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