Is the 2021 Nissan Kicks S The Best Small Crossover Under $20 000

What's up YouTube? I'm here with the 2021 Nissan Kicks. My name is Christopher. This is Cars Unlocked. Let's get into it. So this Nissan Kicks behind me is the entry level, the Nissan Kicks S. It's going to have an MSRP of $19,898. So if you're in the market for a small hatchback that's under $20,000, you definitely need to check out the Nissan Kicks. It's going to come with quite a few safety features that puts it above its competitors here. This one is in the lovely boulder gray. So you can see it does have the black handles, which contrasts nice with this new color that everybody is talking about. With the entry level, you do get the 16 inch wheels with the steel covers here as well. If you want an actual rim, you need to go up to the next package up, which is the SV. Under the hood, they didn't really change much when they redesigned the vehicle. It's going to come with that Nissan 1.6 liter, four cylinder, 16 valve engine attached to a CBT transmission. You're going to get about 122 horsepower and 114 pounds feet of torque. You're not buying this car for the power. You're buying this car for the phenomenal fuel economy, 39 MPG combined or 7.2 liters per hundred kilometers between the city and the highway. So for 2021, they did refresh the Nissan Kicks a little bit. You can see we have this nice, large and bold front end and our V motion grill goes all the way down to the bottom. What sets this car above its competitors is the safety features. It's going to have that Nissan full 360 safety shield. So things like the forward emergency braking, your lane departure warning. It's going to have your high beam assistant. They are halogen front headlights, but you'll still get the high beam auto assist. You also are going to get things like blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert. We're going to show you all those when we jump inside. On the rear, you can see the taillights kind of flow right through the trunk and connect with the Nissan emblem. That's something new for this year's model. And then we have our backup camera, which makes it really easy to park. You also get that combined with the rear parking sensors. When you're backing up, it makes it very easy in those tight spaces. It does come with the push button start. So you do get the key fob here and you just need to put your foot on the brake and you push the start button to start it up. What I like about these seats is for an entry level, they are a little more sporty styling seats. They did put a couple of little accents here with the white stitching as well. So it adds to the sporty seat. It's an eight way manual adjustable driver's seat. And then you also get this little armrest here. I don't know if you can see that here, but it doesn't come with a center console. You get this small little armrest, which I know a lot of my customers have complained about it in the past, but at least you have an armrest before you didn't have anything to rest your arm. Let's talk about the wheel. So nice D shaped wheel here. You have our cruise control. We have our Bluetooth for our phone and our radio controls here. And then to the left of the wheel, I can use those safety features like I was mentioning. I can turn on and off the blind spot and the lane departure warning. And that's going to show up right here on the outside, inside of my mirrors. Seven inch infotainment system here with the Nissan Connects. You can connect your phone, you can play music, you can do the Apple CarPlay, the Android Auto. So that's standard on all the Nissan Kicks. And then you get this little graphite style here right throughout the front hood, which just adds to the sporty appeal of the vehicle. Definitely some big changes from last year's model as the car just seems a little more sporty than the 2020 models. Now here's my thoughts on driving this thing. First impressions, seat, very, very comfortable. Like I said, when you get in it, the seat is very comfortable, not only for looks, but when you sit in it, it does feel comfortable. Acceleration is a little lacking. That's my foot all the way to the floor. Going at about 4,000, 4,500 RPMs. So it could use a bit more acceleration, but I don't think that's what Nissan's trying to do here. They're not trying to make this a fast car. I did a comparison a few weeks ago of this between the Toyota CH-R and definitely the CH-R had more pickup, but it was also more expensive. So you're going to get better fuel economy, but you're going to sacrifice some power. That's what I've always said ever since the Nissan Kicks came out in 2017. Handling takes nice tight turns. Everything is good that way. You should have no problem handling and parking. It's very easy to park. When you're driving on the highway, it does feel like that's when this car kind of shows some of its negative aspects. When you're driving on the highway, it's very loud. There's a lot of wind noise in the cabin and it is shaky if you get up to a fast speed like 125, 130 kilometers an hour. It is very shaky. So I wish it was a little smoother ride on the highway, but that's what you're going to get for a vehicle that's $20,000. So have you guys driven the Nissan Kicks? Comment below what you thought of the drive. If there's other vehicles you think are better, make sure you guys comment and let me know. But I do like the drive. This is a very good vehicle if you're looking for like your first vehicle, if this is going to be one of your first cars, you kind of do different things on the weekend like adventurous stuff, you have a dog, maybe you need more space in the backseat. It's even good for a small couple with one to two kids. They can fit them both in the backseat and you can make those little trips to Ikea or Babies R Us and things like that. So I definitely would recommend the Nissan Kicks if you're searching for a small hatchback. So one of the big benefits of the Nissan Kicks is the cargo space. You can see there's a ton of space back here. It's a super deep trunk. The seats fold down. It's a 60-40 split for the seats. So really you can fit whatever you need. If you're doing those adventures or those weekend trips, you got lots of room. So thanks so much for watching another video guys. If you want to see more unlocks like this, make sure you hit that subscribe button. We're going to have new unlocks for you twice a week going forward. So make sure you subscribe if you're not subscribed already. Have a great day.