The Car Guide's Best Buys for 2022: Nissan Kicks
Every year, The Car Guide unveils a list of Best Buys covering all the different vehicle categories in the industry.
Urban crossovers are small utility vehicles that aren’t really SUVs. Many of them don’t even offer the option of all-wheel drive. And yet we see a lot of them on Canadian roads.
Winner: Nissan Kicks
The Nissan Kicks is our Best Buy for 2022, replacing the Kia Soul. It boasts generous space, a large cargo area and a very low entry price, making it a convenient choice for drivers in search of a cheap and versatile new vehicle.
Ride quality, noise insulation and overall performance are further reasons why the team at The Car Guide gave the award to the Kicks this year.
Other Finalists
The Mazda CX-3 once again lands in second place. Now overshadowed by the roomier and sexier CX-30, Mazda’s smallest crossover has been downgraded to the minor leagues, so to speak. Still, it stands out from competitors with available all-wheel drive.
Sharp steering makes the CX-3 fun to drive, but it doesn’t make up for the lack of interior space. While singles and couples will be mostly satisfied, parents with kids should consider something else.
Finally, the Kia Soul fell to third place this year because of a few reliability issues, mainly in the powertrain department (gasoline models only). Beyond that, we like it quite a bit, and value is a big reason why.
Performance is decent with the base 147-horsepower engine, but the kicker is the fully electric Soul EV delivering 291 pound-feet of torque and either 248 or 383 kilometres of range depending on the battery.