I feel like I start many of my blogs by saying this, but it bears repeating: New cars are too damn expensive. As someone living in a major metropolitan area on a writer’s salary, I have no idea how anyone is able to afford a new car right now, but Nissan is here to help out all my fellow poor people. It announced that it will continue offering the first-generation Kicks as a “lower priced alternative” to the much-improved second-gen Kicks, saving buyers a whopping $310.
The old Kicks will be sold as the Kicks Play, earning it the title of silliest name of any car currently on sale in the U.S., and its MSRP is $22,910 including $1,390 destination, compared to the $23,220 base price of the vastly better new Kicks. I won’t mince words here — Anyone who buys a 2025 Kicks Play over a 2025 Kicks is an absolute sucker. If you love yourself even one iota, spend the extra $310 and get the new model. You deserve it.
The 2025 Kicks Play is effectively unchanged from the 2024 Kicks, and it only comes in one base trim level equivalent to the old Kicks S. It includes some active-safety features, cruise control, a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and three USB ports. The only thing that the Kicks Play has going for it over the redesigned Kicks is its fuel economy estimates, which are about two mpg higher than the more powerful new model. The Kicks Play will retain the same front-wheel-drive-only layout powered by an anemic 2.0-liter inline-4 and CVT combo that makes do with just 122 horsepower and 114 pound-feet of torque. The 2025 Kicks has 19 horsepower and 26 pound-feet of torque more than the Kicks Play, and it can be had with all-wheel drive.
This is not the first time a company has retained an older model alongside its redesigned successor. It’s happened with Volkswagen, Ram, Chevrolet, Subaru and more. Automakers often run overlaps like this for an array of reasons including a possible production surplus of unsold old models, or the desire to gradually ramp down production of the old design. It’s hilarious that Nissan is touting the Kicks Play as the value alternative when all it offers is a $310 savings for a six-year-old car versus a brand new, better looking, safer, more powerful, and more spacious model. I wouldn’t turn my nose up at $310, but I know which model I would choose if I were in the market for a subcompact Nissan crossover: The bigger, better, newer one.