the little big car that kicks the others into touch!

This morning I received information that states, “Women have a 64% say in the purchase of a new family vehicle.” It seems obvious to us but there are still people in society that feel or want men to make the decisions of what car we should be driving. Some of this is down to stereotypes but I find that in the past, women didn’t feel they had enough experience or knowledge of cars to make a decision on such an important purchase - this is most definitely changing.

When Nissan contacted me and asked if I would like to review the new Nissan Kicks, I did some research and realised there was some definite thought for the female driver when designing this car. As a woman, our main concerns are safety, efficiency and style and the Kicks ticks all these boxes. Much like it’s big brother, the Qashqai, the sleek and attractive design has the hidden benefit of advanced aerodynamic engineering which optimises fuel efficiency and minimises wind noise. What does this mean? Less time cueing at the fuel station because you’ll now travel further between every visit and better chat with your young family or bubbly girl friends because the conversational ability in the cabin improves with the reduction in road noise.

The new Nissan Kicks offers some invaluable equipment for the modern woman including, an Around View Monitor and Moving Object Detection systems that uses four integrated cameras to show an overall view of the car on a large clear and centrally positioned screen. There are also visual and audible warnings to alert the driver in case of any unseen dangers, which lets face it, is perfect in a busy city like Dubai. 

Also available are Chassis Dynamic Control, Active Trace Control, Active Ride Control, and Active Engine Braking. Kicks is the first vehicle in its segment to offer these key innovations. Does anyone know what these are? Check out my YouTube channel for a full explanation in Feature, Function, Benefit.

Looks is one thing but what about practicality and space? Well, there’s  a surprising amount of space in the front and rear. More than enough for four adults and incredibly plentiful for your little ones too - despite the styling giving it the appearance of the reverse. The boot’s also spacious, measuring 432 litres which is big enough for a number of bags, a stroller or a set of golf clubs, not to mention designer shopping bags!

What is it like behind the wheel? To be fair, this is an easy car to drive and if you’re not into performance and motor racing, you won’t have any issues. I personally dislike all CVT’s (continuously variable transmission) because they me of a food blender on high power…. but for your entire drive. As I said, its not going to affect you if your car is for driving from A to B, it only becomes an issue if your passion develops into high performance vehicles with little space for the kids and big bills at every service. Unfortunately, I’m there!

So what’s my initial verdict? Well, don’t tell anyone at Nissan but, I like this car more than the Juke. It’s spacious with compact dimensions for easy to manoeuvre and park city driving and has a high seating position, giving you the safe feeling and all round visibility of an SUV.
​
Want to find out more? Subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch the full review or visit facebook and join our women only group.

---