2025 Nissan Kicks e-Power Malaysian review – too little, too late, or true-blue EV with zero range anxiety?

5 days ago 4

Ladies and gentlemen, the Nissan Kicks e-Power. Ahead of the B-SUV’s motorboat adjacent period (after what has seemed similar an eternity) astatine the Kuala Lumpur International Motor Show (KLIMS) 2024, we’ve fixed you a full gallery and specs. Now that we’ve taken the car connected a travel to Melaka and backmost courtesy of Edaran Tan Chong Motor (ETCM), it’s clip to spell deep.

Let’s commencement with size. The Kicks’ 4,290-mm magnitude and 1,760-mm width spot it betwixt the Perodua Ativa and the Proton X50 successful the horizontal sense, but its 1,605-mm tallness makes it arsenic gangly arsenic the X50 and somewhat taller than the Chery Omoda 5 and Honda HR-V. No beating the 1,635-mm gangly lad Ativa, though. The Kicks’ 2,615-mm wheelbase conscionable astir equals the HR-V; successful different words, betwixt the X50 and O5.

Honey, I expanded the Almera? Quite – crisp edges each around, V-Motion look and squinting LED headlamps. I peculiarly similar the broadside profile, with its ‘floating roof’, upswept C-pillar kink that’s sharper than the Almera’s, and the heavy swage lines on the doors. Together with the connected LED process lamps, extortion rails and 17-inch five-spoke alloys wrapped successful 205/55 Yokohama BluEarths, the Kicks is simply a show for my sore eyes astatine least.

2025 Nissan Kicks e-Power Malaysian reappraisal – excessively little, excessively late, oregon true-blue EV with zero scope anxiety?

It’s Almera-like inside, too. You’ll recognise the flat-bottomed steering instrumentality (rake- and reach-adjustable), padded dashboard with contrasting-colour opportunities (brown here), eight-inch touchscreen, half-analogue-half-digital instrumentality cluster, circular aerial vents and single-zone car air-con power panel, but of people present you get a stubby e-Power-specific cogwheel lever, an physics parking brake with car hold, Drive Mode fastener and an EV mode switch.

It’s a bully spot to beryllium – I bash similar the brownish bits, which you’ll besides find connected the doorway cards and seats courtesy of the range-topping VLT, though excavation could beryllium an unpopular sentiment fixed Malaysians’ penchant for all-black interiors. The tops of the dashboard and doorway cards are hard plastic, but the brownish padded bits spell immoderate mode towards elevating the atmosphere. Auto up/down model lone for the driver, though.

In a clip erstwhile car interiors are looking much and much similar cinemas, the half-analogue-half-digital instrumentality clump does unluckily look aged hat. The seven-inch unit’s graphics are fine, legible and reasonably modern-looking, but wholly astatine likelihood with the large accepted speedo and its travel reset knob poking retired of the glass, which reminds you of the Kicks’ age.

Fighting backmost the years are the very-intuitive touchscreen (with wired Apple CarPlay/Android Auto) and integer rear-view reflector (VLT only) – you crook the second connected simply by flicking the lever beneath, conscionable arsenic you bash to dim a accepted mirror. This is simply a B-segment-first successful Malaysia.

I find it a boon – the presumption is precise wide-angle and won’t beryllium blocked by D-pillars, rear passengers’ heads and gangly items successful the boot. Even successful dense rain, though you would inactive request to run the backmost wiper from clip to time, you volition spot amended than with a accepted reflector connected the whole.

The manually-adjustable Zero Gravity beforehand seats, portion a small constrictive connected the thighs, are precise supportive and comfortable. Also constrictive is the centre console, being conscionable wide capable to location dual cupholders (with 2 ‘floor’ settings to acceptable large and tiny cups) lengthwise. It follows that the armrest container is besides narrow, and opening it reveals a shallow cubby that could astir apt lone instrumentality a bi-fold wallet and immoderate keys astatine best.

Back spot abstraction is acceptable – nary centre armrest nor rear air-con vents, but you bash get 2 USB-A charging ports. The footwear swallows a precise respectable 423 litres; if you request more, the backmost seats fold 60:40, but the load level is not level and there’s rather a large protrusion connected the level wherever the seats split. Under the footwear level you’ll find a tyre repair kit alternatively of a spare tyre.

This is the facelifted first-gen Kicks that launched successful Thailand implicit 4 years ago (you work that close and it’s not the new second-gen, nary RHD nor e-Power for that yet), though Malaysia present gets the second-gen e-Power powertrain (updated for Japan, Thailand and Singapore successful 2022), which increases the battery’s capableness from 1.57 to 2.06 kWh and the fig of cells from 80 to 96.

Nissan says the second-gen e-Power powertrain is much compact, lighter and offers amended performance. In the Kicks, which is the archetypal e-Power exemplary successful Malaysia, a 1.2 litre three-cylinder motor acts purely arsenic a generator to complaint a 2.06 kWh artillery that feeds a front-mounted 129 PS/280 Nm electrical motor.

It’s a bid hybrid successful the aforesaid vein arsenic the Perodua Ativa Hybrid, the Mazda MX-30 R-EV and the BMW i3 REx. Since the petrol motor ne'er drives the wheels, it’s an EV wherever propulsion is concerned. It’s an EV with zero scope anxiety, but not zero emissions. And no, you can’t plug it successful to charge.

Unsurprisingly, the Kicks e-Power is precise EV-like to thrust – instant torque and soundless progress. Around town, you truly wouldn’t realise that the petrol motor has kicked successful unless you’re keeping an oculus connected the instrumentality clump – determination are adjacent to nary vibrations contempt it being a three-cylinder. You’d truly person to perk up your ears to perceive conscionable a muted hum. Of course, the motor wake-up is much discernible erstwhile you’re waiting astatine the lights, but overall, refinement levels are precise high.

I said it feels similar an EV to drive, didn’t I? But it tin besides consciousness similar an ICE conveyance astatine times – carnivore with me. You cognize erstwhile you springiness a CVT conveyance the beans, you perceive the motor archetypal earlier conveyance velocity catches up? Well, it’s uncannily the other here. Floor it and the EV-like instant torque shoves you forward, but a divided 2nd aboriginal you perceive the engine, and the revs correspond precise intimately to throttle presumption (like an ICE car) arsenic it toils to complaint the artillery based connected your close foot’s demand.

I indispensable reiterate present that astatine nary constituent is motor cognition intrusive oregon unsmooth successful the slightest. This is without uncertainty the Kicks e-Power’s apical spot – its quietness. Even astatine speed, I tin lone halt abbreviated of saying there’s zero roadworthy and upwind noise, lest idiosyncratic brings retired a NASA-grade decibel metre to beryllium maine wrong.

A 0-100 km/h clip of 9.5 seconds is each good and good; what’s possibly much awesome is its mid-range acceleration of 100-120 km/h successful 4 seconds flat. Indeed, erstwhile you inquire for much powerfulness astatine road speeds, the Kicks e-Power simply complies, the speedo needle climbing relentlessly successful a mode you wouldn’t expect from a 129 PS/280 Nm car.

Let’s speech modes. Besides Normal, determination are Eco and Sport which power throttle effect and summation regen braking (Normal has the slightest magnitude of regen). Funnily enough, EV mode, which tells the motor not to aftermath up, tin lone beryllium engaged erstwhile you’re successful Eco oregon Sport, but due to the fact that the artillery is small, you’ll lone negociate astatine champion 2.5 km of zero-emissions driving (and that’s if you bash a changeless 40 km/h and your artillery is full) earlier the motor has to intervene.

Since the strategy ever tries to support the battery’s authorities of complaint betwixt 20% and 80%, however bash you maximise EV-only driving? Well, there’s a hidden Charge mode, accessible by holding the EV mode power for 2 seconds. The motor volition past travel live and enactment live until it has afloat charged the battery.

The thrust is connected the comfy broadside of stiff, portion handling, though the Kicks is airy connected its feet, is possibly par for the course. The e-Pedal Step is dissimilar the Leaf’s successful that the car volition dilatory to a creep alternatively of coming to a implicit halt erstwhile you get disconnected the throttle.

Standard information instrumentality includes 7 airbags, AEB and Intelligent Driver Alertness – the apical VLT spec adds adaptive cruise power (VL gets mean cruise control), a 360 camera, unsighted spot informing and rear transverse postulation alert. Warranties? Five years/100,000 km for the conveyance and 8 years/160,000 km for the battery, ECU, inverter and electrical motor.

Nissan touts an NEDC fig of 21.7 km/l and a max scope of 900 km connected a 41-litre vessel of petrol. From PJ to Melaka, 16 cars covered 231 km solely connected trunk roads and were rebrimmed astatine the destination. The thrust was rather spirited with a just spot of overtaking, and the median car utilized 13.99 litres of petrol, yielding 16.5 km/l. It was half-B-road, half-highway connected the mode back, and though we did not rebrim the cars this time, my readout hovered astir 15 km/l successful spite of a bully crook of velocity connected the highway.

All successful all, it’s not going to beryllium a breeze for ETCM’s archetypal all-new exemplary successful 4 years. Even earlier we azygous retired the hybrid rivals (upcoming Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid RM140k estimated, Honda HR-V e:HEV RM142k, Haval H6 HEV RM140k), the B-SUV marketplace is simply a precise reddish ocean, with immoderate C-SUVs eating into the pastry arsenic good (Proton X70 RM99k-127k, Chery Tiggo 7 RM124k, Jaecoo J7 2WD RM139k).

And these are each CKD. Our Nissan Kicks e-Power is going to travel CBU from Thailand. But who knows – if ETCM tin someway get the all-important pricing right, this car could conscionable beryllium the viable quiet, comfy and good-looking alternate the marketplace needs.

Nissan Kicks e-Power VLT Malaysia thrust gallery