Rent Nissan Kicks 2022 in Dubai

A full-size SUV needs a shuffle and a folded mirror to squeeze into some of Dubai's older multi-storey bays. The Nissan Kicks 2022 goes in on the first line, no drama, because a genuinely compact crossover is what it is. At 4,295 mm long and under 1.76 metres wide, it fits into the same tight bay a hatchback would, while still giving you the raised seat and a proper boot that a small hatch can't match. We rent the Kicks 2022 in Dubai with doorstep delivery in one to two hours. This page is about whether that small footprint is worth the space you trade away to get it.

Power and the CVT: what driving it is actually like

The Kicks runs a 1.6-litre naturally aspirated four making 118 hp and 149 Nm, sending drive to the front wheels through an Xtronic CVT automatic. It is an unhurried engine rather than a quick one, happier holding a cruise than sprinting off a light. Zero to 100 km/h takes around 11.5 seconds, enough to keep pace with city traffic and sit comfortably in a lane on Sheikh Zayed Road, but a hard overtake past a truck at 120 wants planning rather than a stab of the accelerator. The CVT stays smooth through stop-start traffic and doesn't hunt for a gear the way some older automatics do, which matters more in Dubai than a spec sheet number does, given how much of the driving here is crawl-and-go rather than open road.

That easy character is also why the small footprint works. Light, direct steering and good visibility over the bonnet make U-turns and tight ramp turns simple, and none of it feels like compromise once you're actually driving it rather than just parking it.

Cargo room and back-seat space for a normal week

The boot holds 432 litres with the rear seats up, which in practice is two full-size suitcases plus a soft bag, enough for a DXB or DWC pickup without folding anything down. Drop the rear bench and the load area opens into a long, flat bay that swallows flatpack furniture or a full trolley of groceries with room left over. It's a shape that punches above its size, because the boot sits tall rather than wide and low.

Up front, two adults get a slightly raised, comfortable seating position with a clear view out, which is most of the appeal of a crossover over a hatchback in the first place. The back seat is fine for two adults on a normal trip, or three kids across the bench for the school run. Add a fourth adult with a full case for a longer airport run and it gets tight, and there's no getting around that in a car this length. The same compactness that makes it easy to park at 4,295 mm long and 1,760 mm wide is what draws the line on how many people and how much luggage it can carry at once. Ground clearance of 200 mm rides over speed bumps and steep mall ramp lips without a scrape, but don't read that as desert capability. It's front-wheel drive on road tyres, and Hatta's looser tracks are not where this car belongs.

Running costs, the mileage line and the AC in summer

The Kicks is cheap to keep fed, and that's most of the case for renting it over something bigger. 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, it's still light for a crossover. The 41-litre tank is 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 you're coming in from further out every day.

Mileage is the other figure worth reading before you book. You get 250 km a day included, which comfortably covers city life, and it's AED 0.5 for every kilometre past that, so a longer day trip is worth a quick sum first rather than a surprise later. Salik tolls and any RTA fines are the renter's to cover, as they are on every car we hand over.

Cooling follows the same logic as the parking. There's less air inside a small cabin to chill, so it drops from a baking mid-40s car park to comfortable faster than a big SUV manages after sitting in the same sun. The front vents blow hard and cold almost as soon as you move off. What this generation doesn't have is rear vents, so anyone sitting behind relies on air reaching them from the front, which is fine with one or two passengers and slower to settle a full back row on the worst afternoons. Park in shade where you can and it stops being a concern. The cabin plastics are hard and plain, which is what this price buys, but everything's screwed together tightly enough to live with for a month.

Who this Kicks suits, and when to book something bigger

Rent the Kicks 2022 if you're one or two people who want an easy car to park, a boot that genuinely handles airport luggage, and running costs low enough to stop thinking about. Commuters, a solo resident settling in, a couple doing malls, groceries and the occasional airport run: this is squarely their car, and its footprint means it fits into bays a bigger SUV has to fight for.

Book something bigger if you're regularly four adults with luggage, or a family that wants proper rear-seat room and rear vents through the summer months. A mid-size crossover or a sedan will cost a little more to run and give back the space this car trades away for its size. And if the plan runs to Hatta or open sand, this isn't the tool for it. The front-wheel-drive Kicks stays on the blacktop where its small footprint actually pays off.

We deliver the Kicks 2022 to your door in one to two hours, and you'll need to be 21 to take the keys. For a low-cost, easy-to-park stretch of Dubai driving with one or two people aboard, it's hard to beat.