Years ago, my father sometimes used “puddle jumper” to describe certain small, low-priced cars used for getting around, back in the day when the VW Beetle reigned supreme and tiny Japanese sedans started making their way to North America. The term originally derived from a slang description of a small passenger airplane, one typically used for shorter connecting trips to smaller airports.

What we have here are two modern-day equivalents, subcompact crossovers with low (sub-$20K) initial retail prices that are marketed to a young audience, and while certainly capable of highway travel, function best as intra-urban transportation. The more senior of the two, Nissan’s Kicks, has been in production since 2016, first showing up in Canada in 2018. With Canadian sales exceeding 16,000 last year, it’s one of the more popular models in its class and part of the fastest growing segment in the country.

#nissankicks #hyundaivenue #crossovers