Small Kick, Giant Leap

Nissan wants to capitalise on the spurt in the number of people buying SUVs, but can they actually achieve it? The Kicks holds the answer.

By Mehul Reuben Das · Feb 2019 · 2 min read

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Nissan is no stranger to the cutthroat SUV market that India is. One of their first SUVs to hit our roads, the Terrano, in spite of being one heck of a car, could not really capture the market for them. Needless to say then, Nissan had their work cut for them. So, does the Kicks provide the proverbial kick to petrol heads and all SUV enthusiasts alike? In one word, the answer would be YES. It ticks all the right boxes on the essentials list of a person looking to buy a SUV for the city. It has a short turning radius, which translates to great maneuverability through a busy city traffic. And boy, is this car zippy. We are not saying that you will be blown away by the performance figures of this car. However, for the size and the fact that this actually is an SUV, it sure packs a punch, thanks to the 1.5 litre in line 4 cylinder and manual transmission set up. For the diesel variant you get a six speed transmission, whereas if you opt for the petrol version, you get a five speed transmission. There are many other features that come as standard. Automatic Climate Control comes as standard, and so does the 360° camera, which, if we are honest, is great fun to play with. Plus, you get tons of safety features - ABS with EBD & Braking Assistance, Cruise Control, Stability Control or as Nissan calls it, Intelligent Trace Control LED Projector Headlamp with Smart Vision (Nissan’s version of Automated Headlamps), Rain Sensing Wipers, Hill Start Assist and the lot. Nissan, it seems, is all set to storm the market with the Kicks. They surely get huge thumbs up from us. However, only time will tell if the Indian SUV market is as accepting as us.