2020 model S. Bought spring 2021. Overall, don't like it. Wanted a cheap manual transmission sub-compact (previous cars: Eagle Vista, Honda Civic, Geo Metro, Toyota Yaris). Could not find anything new. Dealer put nice alloys on this one and tossed the steal rims in the back. I was tired of car shopping and gave up / in. :-(
1st up: CVT. What a let down. Was hoping for that snowmobile feel where the engine RPM goes high and stays there while the transmission smoothly changes the ratio. But nope. Marketing apparently thought people need to hear/feel a "gear shift". Sigh.
2nd: Lack of amenities. My 10 year old base model Yaris had heated side mirrors, decent cup holder locations, the ability to override/turn on recirc when blowing air on the windshield (sometimes it stinks or there's dust in the country I'd like keep out of the car). Also the Kicks has a brutally located arm rest for the driver and no arm rest in the back bench center.
3rd: poor mileage. First 40l tank, sub-compact car I've owned in 20 years that I cannot confidently drive from Winnipeg to Regina on a single tank of gas. I thought we were getting better at this?
That said, it is one of the better sub-compacts I've driven on snow/ice on the highway. Might be the studded winter tires, I don't know. The Vista and Metro has summer tires and I never felt nervous on ice. The Yaris was like driving a bar of soap in the bath tub scary on snow/ice. Just drove the Kicks through a crazy ice/snow storm that should have closed the highways, but never once felt it break traction. I was about to be impressed.
But, 2nd winter now, below -25C if not plugged in, something dies inside - see my other post about no throttle below -25C. Looking for help/answers on that one.