Nissan Kicks SUV long distance rental

Joined
Feb 15, 2003
Messages
15,550
Location
Jupiter, Florida
Ugh. Picture a Nissan Rogue, only smaller, with less power and...

Had to put many thousands of miles on this little underpowered, CVT equipped thing. I thank the powers that be, it goes back to Hertz tomorrow!

OK, it's 1.6L, 125HP of 13 second 0-60 fun. Sure, I understand that one cannot expect much from such a small engine. But the CVT and tiny engine combo is tough to live with on long highway trips. The highway RPM ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT remain steady at high speeds. Most of the time hovering around 2700 +/- 300, with extremes between 2500 and 4000 at steady state speeds, with the big factor being wind from trucks. This means that cruise control is absolutely mandatory on long trips, as it's difficult to maintain speed without concentrating on the speedo.

Also the "off the line" performance is so slow due to the initial gearing of the CVT, every Prius in sight is 8 car lengths ahead, despite full throttle at every stop light. Actual HP was barely adequate to climb long highway hills without losing speed. RPM varying annoyingly around 5700 +/- 300 on some long grades, sometimes dropping to 4K and jumping right back up to over 6000. With a load of people and bags, it really struggled.

However, seats were comfortable, noise level was OK, engine was smooth, steering was crisp, suspension was capable, and MPG was 33.

Bottom line, it's not "punchy" enough for city use, and it's underpowered for high speed cruising. I hated it.
 
Nissan does absolutely nothing for me (with the exception of some Z products). I don't know why some manufactures still offer such anemic drivetrains. Thank you for your review.
 
Last gen Sentra with the 1.8 pretty much mimics your experience (except hwy cruising) from my rental experiences. It took a lot of juice and a lot of 4-5k RPM revving to keep up with off the stoplight line traffic in St. Petersburg and Tampa. Any kind of passing or merging pretty much required foot to the floor.

I will say after many experiences with Nissans as rentals the CVT is much more acceptable in the 2.5 I4 and downright fun in 3.5 V6 version.
 
Supposedly part of the problem is the CVT, but when I sold vehicles for Lexus they didn't seems so bad however much larger engines.
 
Nissan:unsure: what’s a Nissan? Oh yea they. Once were the Datsun company that made simple bulletproof cars. Why the body would rot right off before the even started burning any oil and everybody loved them. They ran forever. Oh how the mighty have fallen:poop:
 
I have rented the version the OP writes about. Don’t think that one model by any means represents all of Nissan … but, I too found it below par just trying to keep up in traffic.
In general I like to rent CUV/hatch backs since I travel with heavy bags for longer stays.
 
Nissan:unsure: what’s a Nissan? Oh yea they. Once were the Datsun company that made simple bulletproof cars. Why the body would rot right off before the even started burning any oil and everybody loved them. They ran forever. Oh how the mighty have fallen:poop:

Yep -Those Datsun's rusted out in about a year. My brother lost his basket ball through the floor of his B210.
 
To OP... of course some think there's no replacement for displacement, but the 1.6L in my Nismo Juke is quite a blast. It being turbo'd, intercooled, direct injected it cranks out 200 Yapanee horsapowa in stock form. Yes it was built in Japan, which I will gladly take over it being built in any other country. It does have the 'sport tuned Xtronic' CVT and AWD and is quite fun and I really haven't found a single thing to complain about. Playing around manually shifting in 'sport' mode it hits 0-60 in just over 6 seconds (not even hitting redline), so pretty decent for what it is. Have also done quite a bit of highway/speed driving, passing, spirited driving in mountainous areas and it just rocks.
 
My wife's car has 98hp and it feels just fine around town or out on the highway. I've owned 2 Mitsu mirages with 78hp and felt the same way.

In my opinion (not fact) it comes down to what you are used to as a daily driver. If you drive a nice 300hp V6 every day anything less than that will feel sluggish.

Also the transmission tuning has a big effect when you talk about low HP engines. A wonky trans on a low HP car is totally killer for how it feels to drive.
 
IIRC you like to cruise fast... not a knock, just an observation. I wonder if the average owner, piddling around closer to the speed limit and not loaded up, would have the same opinion.

That said, 125 hp sounds pretty meager.
 
  • Like
Reactions: JTK
Another decent-looking "SUV" that is criminally underpowered. I experienced the same thing on a test drive of a Toyota C-HR. I don't know how people can stand to drive them in Dallas traffic. Too bad....they look pretty good, to bad there's nothing to back up the looks.
 
They sell (roughly) 2,000 units a month-not a big seller. Wouldn't surprise me if Nissan discontinued this vehicle in the near future, especially considering their current financial situation.
 
IIRC you like to cruise fast... not a knock, just an observation. I wonder if the average owner, piddling around closer to the speed limit and not loaded up, would have the same opinion.

That said, 125 hp sounds pretty meager.

Yes, I do like to cruise fast. I don't have time to waste. However, I generally keep it 9 mph or less above.

The thing is, just to drive in sync with FL traffic, you've got to mash the pedal and scream the engine frantically. It's actually stress-inducing to drive the Kicks in normal traffic. I find that annoying.
 
Yes, I do like to cruise fast. I don't have time to waste. However, I generally keep it 9 mph or less above.

The thing is, just to drive in sync with FL traffic, you've got to mash the pedal and scream the engine frantically. It's actually stress-inducing to drive the Kicks in normal traffic. I find that annoying.

LOL this 100% - especially trying to get on the freeway. Lots of noise with little forward momentum.

I will say on the bright side with the Sentra I averaged a little over 38 MPG with quite a bit of stoplight to stoplight beach cruising thrown in. I think I spent $7 in gas to go from Tampa airport to Redington Beach, little bit of beach cruising then back to the airport.
 
I can't stand to drive my daughters Nissan Rogue. Rubber band tranny drives me nuts AAAAAAARGH!
 
Back
Top