 What is up, you guys? I'll go back to another one. If you are new to the channel, I am Gold Pony, I do new car track SUV reviews on YouTube. And today we're in the brand new 2023 Nissan Kix, courtesy of younger Nissan in Frederick, Maryland, for more information on their inventory. Please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. So I am in this one today because this thing's got unique styling. I absolutely love that it differentiates itself from other vehicles on the road, not only with the styling itself, but also this awesome blue color that we have with us here today. You got an excellent starting price point as well. And that's going to be the first thing we touch on here in this video. It starts at right around $20,000. So that's definitely very nice. So ultimately in this video, we will be testing out going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering field, ride quality, sound system, exhaust clip, all that fun stuff. So having said all that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. So as you can imagine, there are a few different trim levels for the 2023 Kix. First one being the S, starting at $20,290. SV for $22,150. And lastly, the SR being the one we have today, starting at $22,850. All very reasonable for which you're getting here just to also note, that's only a $590 jump from the 2022 model year with inflation, everything is jumping basically. Usually I see around $700, $800 jumps for most manufacturers out there. But regardless of trim level that you go with, the power plant on the Kix is going to be the same. Powering this little beast is a 1.6 liter naturally aspirated inline four cylinder, 122 horsepower at 6,300 RPM, 114 pound feet of torque, coming in at 4,000 RPM. Power set to front wheels through a CVT, zero to 60 time, approximately 10.1 seconds with MPG numbers coming in at 31 in the city, 36 on the highway taking regular unleaded fuel. And so do want to mention one thing before we do the acceleration test here in the Kix, there is a hidden sport mode. And that is going to be simply that horizontal line located just underneath of the shifter there. If you press that, essentially it's going to adjust things like the shift points and the throttle response. So I do want to mention it because quite often it goes overlooked because it doesn't say sport. It doesn't say drive mode. It is simply just hidden and it is a horizontal line. So who would have thunk it? But that's what it's there for. So now having got all of that out of the way, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find a straightaway. Let's put this thing to the test and let's see how quickly we can get our new 2023 Nissan Kix here up to speed. All right, so I pushed our hidden little sport mode here. It's actually displaying a little S on the gauges here. And not bad. Not a bad initial kick, but this thing's not the quickest. All right, it's not the fastest thing in the world. It's to be expected. You shouldn't have any issues in merging onto the highway. But having said that, it is one of the slowest cars I've driven in quite a while. But the sport mode is there. So if you're going to be merging onto the highway, it's a quick, simple push of a button and you got a little bit of extra power there. So I do like that. But again, not the quickest thing. But anyways, to go along with that acceleration as always, braking is equally important. So four wheel disc brakes will come standard. But here's the best part. 60 is your stopping distance comes in at an insanely impressive 119 feet. So, brake you feel is wonderful. I'll just say that leans towards the firmer side of things. It's honestly just right. It's definitely not a softer squishy braking feel which I definitely appreciate. So it still brings you to a stop here in the kick. So the big fan of that, the touching on suspension and handling up front, you're going to get an independent strut type front suspension in the back, torsion beam rear axle, front stabilizer bar as well. As far as ride quality goes and my short little test drive here today at least, it's been perfectly fine. Honestly, the roads aren't too punishing at the very moment, but it's been perfectly fine. The steering feel is definitely weighted on the heavier side of things. And that's something Nissan and Honda and Mazda typically do. But definitely on the firmer side of things for the steering feel, which I personally appreciate. Again, it's not as loose as Hyundai and Toyota typically have it. So big fan of that as well. As far as cabin noise goes, you can hear a good bit of the engine when you first hit the gas, but other than that, as far as road noise and wind noise, it's pretty subdued for what this vehicle is quite honestly. So again, haven't had any issues there either in touching on visibility, I can see perfectly fine out the back. So 100% not going to have any issues there. There's headrest in the second row. They do take up a little bit of room, but with a vehicle of this size, you really should not have any issues with visibility whatsoever. So anyways, that about rounds up the performance segment of this review, you guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2023 Nissan Kicks. All right, so here she is, you guys. The new 2023 Nissan Kicks, finished in blue. I love this exterior color. Definitely looks very good on the Kicks. It makes it stand out even more so other than just the unique styling because it's got the black roof to go along with it. So definitely a nice color combination. That is not always going to be the case. You can get the Kicks in either a body colored roof or you can get it with a gloss black roof to match the gloss black A-pillar in the floating roof line towards the back. So didn't want to mention that to go ahead and get started, but also wanted to mention, as I'm always going to do from here on out, if you take a look at the van, starting character is going to be a three, meaning this thing is made in Mexico. So let's go ahead and start up front on this one here. V-Motion front grill in typical Nissan fashion is going to be finished in chrome. If you were to go with the S or SV trims and then finished in a dark chrome, if you were to go with the S or that we have with us here today to the sides, halogen headlights are going to come standard on the S and SV trim levels. Automatic feature of course coming with that, meaning when it starts to get dark in at night, the headlights are going to turn on automatically for you there. But if you were to go with the SR that we have with us here today, you will get LED headlights. So little added illumination there along with LED signature lighting and LED daytime running lights. And down below, I think you guys can see that. We do have LED fog lights as well. Again, just for the SR trim level. So I do want to specify that. I like the dark chrome accenting found on the very front lip of this thing as well. So overall, good looking front end of my personal opinion. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the side of the kicks. All right, so now since we are around to the side of this one, silver roof rails are going to come on the SV. Black roof rails, however, are going to come on the SR to go with our black roof, of course. Silver exterior door trim on the SR as well. You guys can see that kind of towards the bottom portion of the doors there. Of course, floating roof line towards the back, meaning that C pillar is going to separate the roof from the rest of the body. Body colored door handles coming with the SV and SR. Then taking a look at the side mirrors, there will be body colored for the SV and then gloss black for the SR. However, there will be heated for both the SV and SR, but you will get LED integrated turd signals if you were to go with that SR that we have with us here today. But then take a look down at the wheel setup, 16 inch steel wheels with covers coming with the S, 17 inch aluminum alloy stand coming with the SV and SR trims. And I do like the gloss black finish because it does go good with the roof that we have on this one. But anyways, that pretty much rounds out the side profile. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. All right, so now since we are around to the back of this one, gloss black shark fin antenna all the way to the top. Just below that rear spoiler, definitely looks good. Rear window wiper affixiated to the rear glass there. Trim level badging found on the bottom right hand portion of that lift gate there. So if you wander on to an Nissan lot, maybe on a Sunday, that's how you're gonna determine what trim level you're actually looking at. You also have a body colored rear diffuser towards the bottom. I'm a big fan of that. That definitely looks good down there. And there is a single exhaust outlet tucked away beneath the passenger side in the back here. So having said that, I do believe you guys know what we have to do next. As always here is that exhaust clip. So now since we are around to the back of the kicks, when it comes to opening that rear lift gate, it is a manual lift gate. This is simply just lift up. There's a rubberized button towards the bottom. You just press that and open it up. But once opened up, cargo capacity comes in at 35.4 cubic feet. If that was not enough space, there's a 60-40 split, meaning the rear seats do fold down for quite a bit of extra space then if you needed it. There are some cargo tie-down hooks back there. There is a cargo cover that's gonna be optional. That one doesn't come standard, but it's available for you. Cargo lighting does come standard back there. There are actually a couple of grocery bag hooks on both sides. I definitely like seeing those back there. And then if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor, you are going to find a spare tire then as well. So then making our way to the rear legroom, that is going to come in at 33.5 inches. So for reference, I'm in even six feet tall. This is how much space I have back there. We'll also find dual rear USB charging ports coming standard for all trims. Gotta love that. But there is no rear ventilation or rear center armrest unfortunately, but there is a passenger side seat-bat mat pocket. So that's always gonna be there for you as well. But then making our way to the front seats, manually adjustable claw seats come standard for all trim levels. But it did what I say for the SR, you do get a sport cloth with orange stitching. That's of course what you guys are looking at right now. And I like how the orange continues onto the doors. And then there's more orange stitching above the passenger side glovebox there too. But leatherette seating is gonna be optional on the SR. We don't have that, but heated seats are also gonna be optional on the SR. But honestly, overall seating was plenty comfortable. I didn't have any issues here in the SR. Then taking a look at the steering wheel is tilt and telescoping. It is leather wrapped for the SR. It is also a flat bottom though for all trim levels. So I'm a big fan of that. And there is a heated steering wheel available for the SR. It does not come standard again though. But then making our way to the startup, let me start by showing you guys the brand new key for 2023. You got your Nissan logo all the way to the top. Lock on lock. And then that circular button is actually gonna be a remote start, which is going to come on the SV and SR trim level. So you have the ability then to start this one up on cold days here in Western Maryland. Maybe when it's snowing out and it'll warm up for you before you actually get inside. So that is a pretty cool feature there. But it is all keyless entry with a push button start. Actually for all trim levels across the board. So you don't always get that this price point today. But it's all I'm going to do here is simply put my foot on the brake and press that circular engine start button located just to the left of the shifter. And so once started up, gauges are going to be kind of a half digital, half analog style. Speedometers on your right, that's gonna be the analog setup. And then the digital portion is gonna be on your left. That's gonna be customizable, giving you things like your tachometer, of course. How many miles you have left until you hit empty. There's your trip information. There's the time of the day. There's outside temperatures. So pretty much everything you could possibly want on the digital portion of the gauges there. Then make your way to overall interior quality. If you wanted automatic climate control, go with the SV or SR trims, meaning you just set a temperature. It's gonna automatically reach that for you. There isn't available frameless rear view mirror with homely controls. It goes for $110 if you wanted to go that route. Just in front of the shifter, you have a bit of rubberized storage, along with the USB charging port, phone charging port, 12 volt power outlet, electromechanical parking brake. Just behind the shift you have dual cup holders and within a center armrest, probably the least amount of storage I have ever seen in a vehicle. So not a whole lot of storage going on there. But I will say, I like the gloss black finish surrounding the shifter. You don't always get that. A lot of times at this price point, this'll be like a great plastic. So I like that. Also like that they finish the door handles in chrome. Sometimes that's plastic at this price point as well. Orange contrast stitching, like I said, just above the passenger side glove box, big fan of that. So honestly, it's a decent job for the price point. So even the top trim level, it's only $22,000 in something. So that's not that bad for what you're getting right here. I'll just put it that way. But now let's go ahead and take a look at the infotainment screen. It's a seven inch color touchscreen display for the S. But then for the SV and SR, you're going to get an eight inch color touchscreen display. Bluetooth and audio streaming coming standard, Android Auto Apple CarPlay as well. So you have a smartphone with data, just soak it up to the car. You can get free navigation up there. Radio information, you can check out up there as well, of course. And so when it comes to the sound systems, six speakers is going to come standard across the board. So every term is going to get that. But I did want to mention, there's an optional eight speaker Bose sound system for the SR. We do not have that option. So having said that, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and turn on the radio, see what we got playing today. And let's test out the six speaker sound system that we have with us here today. ["Song of the Year"] All right, ton of bass that I don't know why they'd always surprise me. It doesn't matter what Nissan sound system that you go with, even if it's not one of the Bose sound systems that they have available, you still get a ton of bass because that's just the way Nissan and Infinity for that matter does it. They give you a ton of bass no matter what. So honestly, that's not a bad six speaker sound system for the kick. So I actually don't really mind that. Again, the bass was on point, but last thing I want to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen is when you do put this thing in reverse, you will find a rear view camera coming standard across the board with a 360 degree monitor available that we are looking at right now on the right hand side of the screen, letting you know what is completely all around you, which is always is going to lead us into safety. And so front side, side career airbags you come standard driver and passenger knee airbags as well. In the back, you're going to have latch, AKA lower anchors and tethers to children for the rear car seats, rear child door locks, tire pressure monitoring system, but also coming standard, forward collision warning, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane departure warning, reverse automatic braking, a blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert, high beam assist and a rear sonar system then as well. So overall, when it comes to my final thoughts, excellent starting price point, especially for the way things are right now in the economy. So I'm a big fan of that unique styling, definitely love the styling of this thing. Like I said, it's different from other vehicles on the road. Lots of advanced safety as well. That was a lot I just read off when it comes to standard safety on all trim levels. So like the blind spot monitoring system, for example, you usually don't get that standard on bottom trim levels of other vehicles at this price point. So that's a good example or the high beam assist, automatic high beams. That's another one. As far as improvement goes, this thing is slow. We'll see that. But on the flip side of that, typically slower naturally aspirated engines are going to have better reliability long-term. So it's kind of a sacrifice made for reliability sake, I guess you could say. Basic interior quality as well, although I will say the SR that we have today really isn't horrible, but still at this price point, it's on the basic side of things. Honestly, overall for the price point, it's really not all that bad. But let me know what you guys think of the kicks in the comment section below. And that is about it for this one. Thank you guys, thank you so much for watching. If you're free to follow me on social media at the bottom of the screen if you want to see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to YouTube, be sure to hit the subscribe or the bell notification button. If you're in the new car reviews, that is what we do here on this channel after all. Do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay gold.