Rent Nissan Kicks 2022 in Dubai

Black paint is the one thing to think about before you book a Nissan Kicks 2022 for a Dubai summer week. It holds heat harder than any lighter colour in the fleet, and the cabin you climb back into after a few hours on a sun-baked driveway will make you notice it before the engine even starts. We still rent this car in Dubai often, because a small automatic crossover with low running costs earns its place here, and we get it to your door in one to two hours. This page is about that trade: what a black Kicks costs you in comfort at 2pm, and what it gives back everywhere else, so you can work out if it fits your week.

Behind the wheel: the 1.6 CVT and where it's happiest

The Kicks runs a 1.6-litre naturally aspirated four making 118 hp and 149 Nm, sending power to the front wheels through a CVT automatic. Nissan has used this exact drivetrain across the whole first-generation Kicks range sold here, so it drives the way you would expect: relaxed off the line, happier cruising than sprinting. Zero to 100 km/h takes around 11.5 seconds, enough to keep pace with Dubai traffic and hold a lane on Sheikh Zayed Road, but overtaking past 120 wants a run-up rather than a stab of the accelerator. The CVT stays smooth through stop-start traffic and does not hunt for a gear the way an older torque-converter box sometimes does.

Fuel economy is where the car earns its keep. Nissan quotes 6.1 litres per 100 km combined, and while Dubai's stop-start roads and the AC running flat out push real-world use closer to 7, that is still light for a crossover. The tank holds 41 litres, good for roughly 500 to 600 km of city driving, so a normal week of commuting and errands means one stop at the pump, maybe two if your drive stretches out past the interchanges.

Cargo, the back seat, and what actually fits

The boot holds 432 litres with the rear seats up, enough for two full-size suitcases and a soft bag, so a DXB or DWC pickup does not turn into a puzzle over what goes where. Fold the rear bench flat and the load area opens up for flatpack furniture or a full trolley of groceries. Up front, two adults sit at a slightly raised, comfortable position. The back seat suits two adults on a normal trip, or three kids across the bench, but add a fourth adult with a full set of luggage and the space runs out, which is the honest limit of a car this size.

At 4,295 mm long and 1,760 mm wide, the Kicks slots easily into tight mall levels and stacked tower parking, and its 200 mm of ground clearance rides over speed bumps and steep ramp lips without a scrape. Do not read that clearance as desert capability. It is front-wheel drive on road tyres, so Hatta's looser tracks and open sand are not where this car should go.

A black cabin, and what the AC does about it

Black cars soak up more heat than white or silver ones sitting in the same car park, and the dashboard and seats in a black Kicks will feel it first when you open the door after a few hours in the sun. The upside is that the cabin itself is small, so once the AC is running there is less air to chill and the car settles to comfortable faster than a bigger SUV would manage from the same starting point. The front vents blow hard and cold from the moment you pull away.

What this generation does not have is rear air vents, so anyone sitting in the back relies on air reaching them from the front. With one or two people back there that is fine. With a full rear row on the hottest afternoons it takes longer to settle down. A shade cloth or a spot under cover cuts the worst of the heat soak before you even climb in, and it matters more on a black car than it would on a lighter one. Tinted windows help too, and every Kicks we hand over already has them.

The right renter for this Kicks, and who should size up

Book this Kicks if you are one or two people who want an automatic gearbox, a boot that handles real airport luggage, and running costs low enough to stop thinking about. It is the car we hand to a solo resident settling in, a couple doing groceries and the odd trip to the airport, or anyone who wants a raised driving position without paying SUV money to run it.

Size up if you are regularly four adults with bags, or if a full rear seat through the hottest months matters more than the fuel bill, since the lack of rear vents will bother a back row of adults sooner than it bothers kids. If the plan involves Hatta or open desert, look elsewhere too. The front-wheel-drive Kicks stays on the blacktop.

You get 250 km a day included, which covers city life without much thought, and AED 0.5 for every kilometre past that if a longer drive is on the cards. Salik tolls and any RTA fines are the renter's to cover, as they are on every car we hand over. We deliver to your door in one to two hours, and you will need to be 25 to take the keys. For a low-running-cost week around the city, with the heat trade-off going in with your eyes open, the Kicks is hard to beat.