Once, sedans and station wagons dominated American streets, and much has been written about how SUVs have displaced them over the past few decades. The most popular vehicle segment in the U.S. after trucks is now the compact SUV, fronted by the top-selling Toyota RAV4. The number of sedans has been steadily declining, and the rise of the subcompact and compact SUVs has given motorists cheap SUV options, even at the bargain-basement end of the market.
Nissan
Nissan has always catered to the value end of the market with the Sentra sedan, and now there’s a stylish new one. The Nissan Kicks subcompact SUV makes sure the Japanese automaker is covering its bases to offer both options at bargain prices. The Sentra was the cheapest new sedan in America at the time of writing, and the Kicks the cheapest SUV, so let’s see how Nissan is trying to bag buyers from both by hedging its bets. Does the SUV have it, or can the sedan still teach it a trick or two at this price level?
Nissan Kicks Vs. Sentra: Design and Execution
The Kicks is a trendy and attractive little crossover with modern styling, a tall, truck-like grille, chunky proportions, subtly building arches, and all the styling cues that people find fashionable in SUVs nowadays. The Sentra is for a more traditional buyer, with a far lower and sportier stance and a familiar sedan profile, but with a strong jawline and stylish coupe-like roofline to add some flair. The SR looks surprisingly alert on its bigger wheels and with its blacked-out grille and four-square stance. Both do a good job of hiding their low price tags.
| Kicks | Sentra | |
| Length | 171.9 inches | 183.0 inches |
| Wheelbase | 104.6 – 104.9 inches | 106.5 inches |
| Width w/o Mirrors | 70.9 inches | 71.5 inches |
| Height | 64.0 – 64.2 inches | 57.1 inches |
| Ground Clearance | 8.4 inches | 4.7 – 4.8 inches |
| Wheels | 17 – 20 inches | 16-inch steel17- to 18-inch alloy |
| Curb Weight | 2,994 – 3,248 lbs | 3,097 – 3,177 lbs |
The Kicks has a much more compact footprint: it’s more than 12 inches shorter than the Sentra at only 171.9 inches, but nearly as wide and more than seven inches taller. It’s therefore easier to park in even the smallest spots and easy as pie to thread through city confines and crowded parking lots. The Sentra is a traditional low-slung sedan that trades height for length and less visibility in traffic. It also has way less ground clearance than the Kicks and is not made for anything more than good paved roads.
Kicks Vs. Sentra: Performance and Efficiency
The same direct-injected and naturally aspirated MR20DD 2.0-liter inline 4-cylinder engine does duty in both cars, but it develops a little more power and torque in the Sentra. It’s linked to an X-Tronic CVT automatic and FWD in both, but only the Kicks is optionally available with AWD.
| Kicks | Sentra | |
| Engine | 2.0L Naturally Aspirated I4 | 2.0L Naturally Aspirated I4 |
| Transmission | CVT | CVT |
| Horsepower | 141 hp | 149 hp |
| Torque | 140 lb-ft | 146 lb-ft |
| 0-60 mph | ~8.6 – 10.4 seconds | ~8.3 – 9.7 seconds |
| Towing Capacity | – | – |
| EPA City/Highway/Combined | FWD: 28/35/31AWD: 27/34/30 | 29-30/36-38/32-33 mpg |
With a little more power, the Sentra is a bit quicker, but performance is a strong point for neither. Fuel economy clearly goes the Sentra’s way, with less drag from its lower and more aerodynamic sedan body giving it a 1- to 3-mpg advantage on the combined cycle, though the Kicks is still good, never doing worse than 30 mpg combined, even with AWD.
Nissan
The Kicks handles neatly for a crossover and feels composed, but its ride is too firm on the optional 19-inch wheels. The Sentra is more fun to hustle, with pleasingly interactive handling, a more planted feel, and less lean. Both cars are let down by their powertrains; the CVT causes the 4-pot to buzz away as it’s trying to extract maximum performance, but performance still lags most rivals.
The Kicks offers a Rock Creek trim, which comes with standard AWD, adventure styling bits and pieces, and an off-road driving mode, though it has the same (ample) ground clearance as the rest.
Sentra Vs. Kicks: Features and Space
Considering the big difference in external size, the cabin contest is much closer, and there’s a clear winner.
| Kicks | Sentra | |
| Headroom Front | 38.9 – 39.7 inches | 37.7 – 38.9 inches |
| Headroom Rear | 38. 0 – 38.5 inches | 36.7 inches |
| Legroom Front | 42.7 inches | 44.0 inches |
| Legroom Rear | 34.5 inches | 34.8 inches |
| Cargo Space Rear Seats Up | FWD: 30.0 cu-ftAWD: 23.9 cu-ft | 14.3 cu-ft |
| Cargo Space Rear Seats Down | FWD: 60.0 cu-ftAWD: 50.1 cu-ft | NA |
The Kicks may be 12 inches shorter than the Sentra, but it uses its height advantage well and just about matches the Sentra on rear-seat legroom. It has a lot more headroom, though – up to 1.8 inches more in the second row – and a trunk that’s more than double the size. Folding down the rear seats of both expands the trunk volume, but without a hatchback, the space in the Sentra isn’t nearly as large or usable as that in the Kicks, making the Kicks the hands-down winner in the practicality stakes, despite its smaller overall size.
The Sentra S comes with 16-inch steel wheels with plastic covers, LED head- and taillights, cloth upholstery, regular air-conditioning, adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring and intervention, rear cross-traffic alert, traffic-sign recognition, lane-departure alert, a 7.0-inch digital display in the gauge cluster, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, two front and one rear USB port, and 4-speaker audio. The Kicks S matches these features exactly, so both offer a truly admirable feature set and driver aids for their bargain-basement prices.
A lot more features are added in higher trims, such as alloy wheels, leatherette upholstery, heated front seats, a power-adjustable driver’s seat, upgraded audio systems, a wireless charging pad, and more. We drove the top Sentra SL trim, so read our impressions here. The SV trims are generally the best value, as we found in our Kicks SV test drive.
2026 Price Comparison
At the time of writing, the Sentra was the cheapest sedan on the U.S. market, and the Kicks the cheapest SUV, demonstrating how serious Nissan is about capturing the value market. The 2027 Chevrolet Trax was still waiting in the wings, and its pricing may very well upset the apple cart once it’s available
| 2027 Kicks | 2027 Sentra | ||
| S FWD | $22,790 | S | $22,890 |
| S AWD | $24,290 | SV | $23,590 |
| SV FWD | $24,490 | SR | $24,990 |
| SV AWD | $26,490 | SL | $27,990 |
| SR FWD | $26,990 | ||
| SR AWD | $28,790 | ||
| Rock Creek AWD | $28,840 |
At the base S level, there’s a mere $100 separating these two, and it’s the Kicks crossover that’s cheaper.
Kicks Vs. Sentra: Which Should You Get?
These two cars are a perfect demonstration of why SUVs have become so popular in the U.S. Nowhere is there a better like-for-like demonstration than the Kicks and the Sentra. Both are cars from the same manufacturer, using the same powertrains, and selling for almost the same base price, yet one is a subcompact SUV and the other a compact sedan.
Cole Attisha
Because of the height advantage, the Kicks makes better use of its footprint, providing way more headroom and cargo volume. It has a huge 3.5-inch advantage in ground clearance too, and the only one available with AWD, so it can survive the worst winters and even some light trail work, whereas the Sentra is far more of a one-trick pony. For an overall experience and do-anything car, the Kicks takes it. Even if you don’t like SUVs in general, you’ll probably fall for the charms of the Kicks. Nissan has a winner on its hands at this price.
About the author
Cobus F. Potgieter
Reviews and Features Editor