[tarik.arora]

Originally Posted by knightrider_7

The base variant is equipped very well. XV variant has almost all the goodies for someone upgrading from A/B segments. It could be the VFM variant once the pricing is announced. Kudos to Nissan for such an effort.

I believe even the Captur base was sufficiently loaded, so it was kind of expected. But yes, Nissan has done a much better job with the exteriors and the interiors. Hope they do a better job with pricing as well. Kicks surely looks like a very promising product and can turn Nissan in India if they are able to do just 30-40% of what Creta is doing (to start with)!

[aviraj]

Like the terrano was a duster in disguise, is the kicks same as the captur in disguise?

[A M]

Originally Posted by aviraj

Like the terrano was a duster in disguise, is the kicks same as the captur in disguise?

Correct.

Terrano was a Duster in disguise, Kicks is a Captur in disguise.

Since Captur was a Duster in disguise, Kicks is also a Duster in disguise.

Hence proved.

[jeganatu]

Originally Posted by aviraj

Like the terrano was a duster in disguise, is the kicks same as the captur in disguise?

Originally Posted by A M

Correct.

Terrano was a Duster in disguise, Kicks is a Captur in disguise.

Since Captur was a Duster in disguise, Kicks is also a Duster in disguise.

Hence proved.

Basically all 4 Duster Terrano Captur and new kicks all share same platform and engines and different state of tune.

While Captur is more of a cross over, kicks is a complete compact suv little larger than creta is all dimensions.


I had just finished test drive of Petrol , earlier last week had already done with diesel

Soon after petrol, I again drove diesel to have a quick comparison of both the options.

Petrol is a head down. I had so much of expectation on petrol as I love the quiet and peppy fun to drive petrol heads. To my surprise the petrol was slow and sluggish. Drove extensively on 4 way, and it did not provide me confidence while over taking. We also did off roading in a open area and it handled surprisingly well, suspension. Was stiff, yet roll was never felt. Kudos to Nissan for giving nice ground clearance and suspension setup.

Coming to diesel, the engine was responding very well even before turbo kicked in. It was quick on high way, gave good confidence on over taking.

Engine noise nor vibration was never felt in diesel and was almost same in petrol also.

Petrol comes in one varient,ie the 2nd trim.

After today's test drive, I have changed my mind towards diesel.

Awaiting price launch for my final choice of varient.

[Behemoth]

Test drove the Nissan Kicks today at Vertex Nissan, Sohna Road at Gurgaon.
Some general impressions and comparison with my Jeep Compass:
1) the engine feels refined and is a little less noisy than the Compass. However there is a bit of turbo lag before 1500rpm after which there is a slight shove and the turbo spools up
2) the gear shift is short throw but a tad hard compared to the Compass
3) sound system is good and compares to the Compass in sound quality and possibly could be better
4) the floating infotainment screen is good but seems a bot low resolution. Thr 360 degree camera feature is good
5) the steering require more effort and has a sharp pull back action. Seems quite direct in steering
6) the suspension seems a bit on the harder side and my guess is that the tyres were overinflated in the test drive car. The Compass suspension is more stable in my experience
7) boot space is substantially larger than the Compass. Even though on paper the boot space is 400L while that of the Compass is IIRC 416 L the actual bootspace of the Kicks is much larger as the spare is below the car while in the Compass the spare is in the boot and that space is also taken as part of the claimed boot space of the Compass
8) the legroom and headroom are quite generous both in front as well as back (I am 5'8")
9) the interiors of the XV pre option (highest variant) look quite decent with leather and seem better than Creta. compared to the Compass the interiors are a bit simpler, but are good quality.

Overall a good package which is almost 90% of the Jeep Compass and also has a better boot space and better headlights (low beam is LED and high beam is halogen)
If the price is around 15 Lacs ex showroom I may look at replacing our Laura with this after a few months!
Price announcement is on 22nd Jan and it seems this will be a good value proposition.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by Behemoth

Test drove the Nissan Kicks today at Vertex Nissan, Sohna Road at Gurgaon.

9) the interiors of the XV pre option (highest variant) look quite decent with leather and seem better than Creta. compared to the Compass the interiors are a bit simpler, but are good quality.

Overall a good package which is almost 90% of the Jeep Compass and also has a better boot space and better headlights (low beam is LED and high beam is halogen).

Well, my friend, you are comparing vehicles of different segments. Compass is surely a segment above. You ought to be comparing with a Brezza, EcoSport or at most a Creta.

The K9K engine is a decade old, and it is probably of Euro 3 era. This is the biggest flipside, and the Captur failed big time due to this.

I hope Nissan does not over-price this. They should keep the Captur's sales figure in mind, rather that the Creta. And having better leather seats than the Creta should not make them over-ambitious when it comes to pricing!

[Behemoth]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Well, my friend, you are comparing vehicles of different segments. Compass is surely a segment above. You ought to be comparing with a Brezza, EcoSport or at most a Creta.

The K9K engine is a decade old, and it is probably of Euro 3 era. This is the biggest flipside, and the Captur failed big time due to this.

I hope Nissan does not over-price this. They should keep the Captur's sales figure in mind, rather that the Creta. And having better leather seats than the Creta should not make them over-ambitious when it comes to pricing!

The Kicks is positioned directly at the Creta and the Ecosport and Brezza are a size below this.
I am comparing it with the Compass as that is one of the cars I do have.
The Compass when it was launched was in a good price point but they subsequently raised it by 2 lacs and it became overpriced. The Kicks is going to take away some sales from the Creta as well as the Compass.
In terms of size, the Kicks is comparable to the Compass and it is a fair comparison.
The only wish item I would have further wanted in the Kicks was an Auto transmission in Diesel. Even AMT would be fine and that would have really taken the value proposition to a whole new level and made it substantially successful (at sub 15 Lac level)

[vaasscit]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

The K9K engine is a decade old, and it is probably of Euro 3 era. This is the biggest flipside, and the Captur failed big time due to this.

While K9K has been developed long back, it's always been updated regularly till date. It's Euro 6 ready and even has very good drivability even by today's standards.

IIRC it has better power and torque figures than the newly developed Suzuki 1.5 diesel !

Captur failed coz of its pricing and lack of Automatic variant to an extent IMO.

[vamsi2390]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

The K9K engine is a decade old, and it is probably of Euro 3 era. This is the biggest flipside, and the Captur failed big time due to this.

Captur failed due to a lot of things. Not sure how you got into this conclusion but it's Engine definitely isn't one of its loosing points.
K9k from Renault-Nissan is one of the best known small capacity diesel engines around which is euro 6 ready as well.

Would Mercedes be foolish enough to plonk in your so called decade old k9k into their latest facelifted A class ?

[Waspune]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

The K9K engine is a decade old, and it is probably of Euro 3 era. This is the biggest flipside, and the Captur failed big time due to this.

The Captur failed because of some over ambitious marketing and a half baked effort by Renault. The engine is one of its strongest point, in fact!
Not the case with Kicks. It looks like Nissan has put in some effort to make its case relevant in the market.

[Behemoth]

One of the reasons where Kicks has a much better chance of success than Captur is because they have corrected the interiors, which was a weak point of the Captur. The infotainment system in the Captur was very odd looking and did not look at all modern. The Kicks interiors are contemporary and match the exterior style.
The Captur also was launched at a high price and then subsequently started getting discounted after poor sales. In the case of the kicks they are going to start hopefully with an aggressive price.
The 110ps engine is one of the strengths of the Kicks with its good mileage, nvh levels and proven performance.
My gutfeel is that the Kicks will outsell the Harrier 5 seater as this a a good value for money proposition. If Tata had launched the 7 seater and/or Auto version it would be a different story altogether .

[Nalin1]

Here is my take- Don't be surprised at all if the Kicks is over priced . That is over priced according to us. Nissan will justify the pricing one way or the other!

But if a majority of buyers feel it is worth it and lap it up, who are we to complain? There are a lots of over priced cars anyway in the market and most of them sell like hot cakes!

On some of the comments on the K9K engine being outdated, well if anything you want to call the Kicks' biggest strength it is the engine! It packs a punch without a sweat, noiselessly, seamlessly, efficiently (fuel) and when floored on a highway it is a race horse .

[ACM]

1) Kicks might be overpriced and hence will definitely not sell.

2) Kicks may be priced quite well and still not sell as it is a Nissan and India does not have faith in the brand.

3) Kicks may be well priced and hence will do reasonably well. Especially as Indians value "value" and looks. Plus we all are bored of seeing the Creta everywhere.

Nissan needs to avoid 1, pray against 2 and hope for 3.

[octane_100]

IMO all's not lost for Nissan. They have seen interest from customers in couple of their models ( Sunny and RediGo). They also have a segment of customers who would prefer Nissan (being a Japanese brand) over others. My Father(and many from his generation) for one would prefer a Nissan over a Hyundai.



Though the above on its own may not guarantee sales, Nissan for the first time since Sunny, has a product which is comparable to others in its segment. It may not sell on par with Creta but a consistent sales of 2000 units p.m and above should revitalise Nissan operations in India.

[jeganatu]

All the surprise ends today. Official link of price launch is here.

"The most awaited New Nissan KICKS will be launched soon. #NissanKicks Stay tuned. Watch here: http://bit.ly/2sFPpzc. "