[sdaityari]

I had a look at a display unit of the Kicks through a dealer in Gurgaon. The salesperson said Nissan isn't going to allow display units in the showroom until launch, so I did not take pictures, even though I did not believe him!

Few points to note:

- The 360 view camera does not feel as good as I thought it would. The resolution of the display unit is rather low. The bird's eye view will suffer if objects are too close (which you would get with the traffic in the NCR!)
- There is engine noise that could be heard in the cabin at around 2500-3000 RPM (It was the diesel variant).
- A rather high initial position for the driver's seat. Felt worse than the Captur's position. I am 5'10 and it barely left any headroom. This could be a serious issue, that I will assess only when I am done with a lengthy test drive.
- No auto dimming IRVM, which is sad IMO (I guess we knew that already!) I would have preferred that over auto headlamps and auto wipers.
- Boot space is good enough (more than the Captur, less than the Duster).
- Do not get carried away by the huge number of features that the smartphone app provides. Why should I care that the Hyundai app provides 19 features, whereas the Nissan app provides 28 features (or whatever the quoted number is)? I feel this is a marketing gimmick in the standard sales pitch.
- The salesperson emphasized that many first in class features, one of which was a cover on the battery: is it really necessary?

I am hearing Kicks should start at 9.45 Lakh ex-showroom, but all sorts of numbers are doing the rounds these days - don't know how accurate this guy is!

[vdi]

Test drive cars are available at Cochin and the sales executive asked me to come in the afternoon tomorrow.

Let's see how it goes. Fingers crossed. High driving seat position could be a deal breaker for me as am 6'2.

[neil.jericho]

Originally Posted by vdi

Test drive cars are available at Cochin and the sales executive asked me to come in the afternoon tomorrow.

Let's see how it goes. Fingers crossed. High driving seat position could be a deal breaker for me as am 6'2.

I believe test drives have already started in Cochin. I spotted the vehicle in Marine Drive yesterday around noon and it looked as though someone had come for a test drive. I clicked a photo of it then. I spotted it later in the evening in a residential part of town as well.

[swiftnfurious]

Am in Kannur now & saw a TD vehicle right behind an i20 Active. Design wise, there are similarities and the i20 almost matched the size wise looks. The Kicks is slightly bigger - may be a 10% above i20. Not a striking design as I noticed it only because of the stickers on the Kicks.

[jeganatu]

Any idea when would the team bhp official review will be posted? Is the review under the way? I am almost sold for kicks, only awating team bhp's review before confirming booking.

[Mukund]

Originally Posted by jeganatu

Any idea when would the team bhp official review will be posted? Is the review under the way? I am almost sold for kicks, only awating team bhp's review before confirming booking.

Please note that the car was only provided for a very short while, which would mean that tbhp would only have time for a first drive report. This would be officially launched this month, and the full review should take around 1-1.5 months. Since this platform has been around for quite a while (duster, terrano, captur), my suggestion is to take feedback from these. If you still got questions, I'd suggest you to start a thread in the 'what car' section and I'm sure bhpians will help you out with your queries.
Meanwhile, autoportal reviews the Kicks:

https://youtu.be/ali5CPAU2MI

[GTO]

Originally Posted by jeganatu

Any idea when would the team bhp official review will be posted? Is the review under the way? I am almost sold for kicks, only awating team bhp's review before confirming booking.

Still waiting for the car in Bombay for our full review. It's going to be a while, buddy.

[tarik.arora]

Originally Posted by sdaityari

I did not think much about this, but when I was discussing the cancellation of my Captur booking with the Nissan salesperson, he mentioned (on his own) that they would provide me a 2019 car.

I am unaware of production times and capacities of Nissan, but I wonder if they have kept the December 2018 cars specifically for display and TDs.

The dealer is absolutely right in saying that you will get a 2019 car. Only the TD and display cars are 2018 make. All customer vehicles will be 2019 make. Got this info from a friend who works at Nissan HO.

This is one of the main reason that they are launching the car in 2019. They want customer vehicles to be 2019 make. A good move IMO.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by GTO

Still waiting for the car in Bombay for our full review. It's going to be a while, buddy.

Just to add, during the media drive, our car was shared with another journalist - Day 1 involved a 2 hour drive and Day 2 was spent more on photographs in an exotic space then the same 2 hour drive. Hardly sufficient for our traditional full review.

[Sebring]

That's sad because TEAMBHP has the best reviews out there. I'm hooked for so many years. Another breakthrough was the PowerDrift videos, took my breath away, but of late they're not the same. Whereas TEAMBHP still rocks! If I was selling a car out there, would give max preference to this forum.

Originally Posted by ajmat

Just to add, during the media drive, our car was shared with another journalist

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Originally Posted by Sebring

That's sad because TEAMBHP has the best reviews out there. I'm hooked for so many years. Another breakthrough was the PowerDrift videos, took my breath away, but of late they're not the same. Whereas TEAMBHP still rocks! If I was selling a car out there, would give max preference to this forum.

I am sure manufacturers would be thinking just the opposite. Keep their cars out of Team BHP's magnifying-glass-wielding hands and Sherlock Holmes style observations! Else the car's shortcomings would be out in the open before launch!

Even though we all love Team BHP's detailed official reviews, most of the general car buying public sadly relies on YouTube "reviewers" nowadays most of whom are all style and no substance. Most of them even don't have style.

[sdaityari]

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

I am sure manufacturers would be thinking just the opposite. Keep their cars out of Team BHP's magnifying-glass-wielding hands and Sherlock Holmes style observations! Else the car's shortcomings would be out in the open before launch!

Even though we all love Team BHP's detailed official reviews, most of the general car buying public sadly relies on YouTube "reviewers" nowadays most of whom are all style and no substance. Most of them even don't have style.

None of the reviews of Kicks highlighted some of the red flags that I observed (primarily, the much higher driving stance than the Captur, and the low resolution display of the 360 degree camera). I am pretty sure these shortcomings (and many more!) would come out in a Team BHP review.

No wonder automakers want only the good reviews out there before their launch. They would love to keep their cars out of Team BHP's hands for as long as they can (remember the 2018 Ecosport review of Team BHP?)

[jeganatu]

Originally Posted by sdaityari

None of the reviews of Kicks highlighted some of the red flags that I observed (primarily, the much higher driving stance than the Captur, and the low resolution display of the 360 degree camera). I am pretty sure these shortcomings (and many more!) would come out in a Team BHP review.

No wonder automakers want only the good reviews out there before their launch. They would love to keep their cars out of Team BHP's hands for as long as they can (remember the 2018 Ecosport review of Team BHP?)

Exactly, I am watching Kicks reviews for quite a while now, and almost all of the reviewers both text and visual medium had never pointed out a single negative.

I think the proven platform and engines and gizmos are not giving the reviewers hands on the negatives. Indian KICKs is just new outer skin with stylish dash and gadgets.

Almost all of them points the pricing and number of outlets of Nissan as challenges or as negatives, only these?? If so, they should have listed down all luxury brands citing same reasons .

I had test driven diesel Kicks, and the moment I sat on the car, I found difficulty in buckling the front seat belt as the elbow rest was protruding too much. Why dint nissan check this in first place, the moment a person get inside the car is buckling up, and nissan has messed up here.

Regarding the camera clarity, I cannot guess because I did the test drive in twilight. This weekend I will test drive petrol kicks , as I am planning a petrol head.

Awaiting extensive research finds from TEAM BHPs Official review for my decision on Kicks.

[jaaz]

TD Car is available in Bangalore too, but still not registered. So, you can see, but cannot drive. Registration might be done in couple of days, even before the Official launch. So, it all depends on particular city and dealer.

Only the Top end version was available, as usual. As per SA, ex showroom price of Top end Diesel will be around 15L. Kicks looks and feels solid.

[arunshaunik]

Kicks is somehow caught in the middle and situation could get tricky for Nissan.
1. Just below it are EcoSport and Nexon and both the cars can match Nissan Kicks on most counts.
2. Above it (a gap of a lakh or two) are far better cars like Creta, XUV, Hexa
3. Harrier launches at the same time and has generated a lot of interest in buyers.
4. The even more worrying bit is the extremely patchy dealer network can spoil the party for Kicks, especially when none of the Nissan cars have made their mark. The dealers are quite an unhappy lot and don't seem to be confident about Kicks.
5. The pre-booking numbers are extremely worrying for Nissan. It seems that there is very low interest from prospective buyers.
Overall the Nissan management would be worried if Kicks was touted to be their make or break in India.