Toyota Prius c vs Nissan Kicks: which is more reliable?
The Toyota Prius c and the Nissan Kicks are level on the federal record — 82/100 against 85/100 across the years we score. Which one to buy is decided by the model year, not the badge.
The record, side by side
Toyota Prius c
- 5 model years scored
- 743 owner complaints on record
- about 12 complaints per year on the road
- 4 recall campaigns, 0 safety-critical
- best year 2018 (93/100) · worst 2013 (56/100)
Nissan Kicks
- 6 model years scored
- 442 owner complaints on record
- about 14 complaints per year on the road
- 5 recall campaigns, 3 safety-critical
- best year 2022 (94/100) · worst 2019 (79/100)
Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.
Year by year: Prius c against Kicks
The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.
What owners actually complain about
Toyota Prius c
- Service Brakes — 327 complaints
- Electrical System — 133 complaints
- Unknown Or Other — 101 complaints
Nissan Kicks
- Forward Collision Avoidance — 119 complaints
- Electrical System — 103 complaints
- Unknown Or Other — 96 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the Prius c's complaints concentrate in Service Brakes, the Kicks's in Forward Collision Avoidance. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.
Years to avoid on each
Toyota Prius c: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019.
Nissan Kicks: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024.
A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.
What each costs today
A recent used Toyota Prius c prices at about $14,300 and a Nissan Kicks at about $22,100 — the Toyota Prius c is roughly $7,800 less, and they return 46.0 against 33.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Toyota Prius c or the Nissan Kicks more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Nissan Kicks scores 85/100 against the Toyota Prius c's 82/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The gap is small enough that the model year matters more than the badge.
Which Toyota Prius c and Nissan Kicks years should I avoid?
Toyota Prius c: no year scores below 45. Nissan Kicks: no year scores below 45. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.
What goes wrong on the Toyota Prius c and the Nissan Kicks?
The largest complaint group on the Toyota Prius c is Service Brakes (327 complaints); on the Nissan Kicks it is Forward Collision Avoidance (119).
Is the Toyota Prius c or the Nissan Kicks cheaper to own?
A recent used Toyota Prius c prices at about $14,300 and a Nissan Kicks at about $22,100, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.