Not much is known about the Nissan Juke. Except, maybe, that its name sounds suspiciously close to the word joke. From the small number of enthusiastic reviews this car has an overall trend seems to be emerging - the Juke is reviewed from more of a mature buyer point of view. As a result the reviewers mostly note the elevated, commanding driving position, the small space in the back and in the boot, the uninvolving handling and that it was too dark at the back with the tinted windows. Also that it has styling only a mother would love. I agree on that one - it does look like a frog. The overwhelming opinion and stereotype, then, for this little SUV is that it's a mutated Micra for the moms that want something different than a VW Tiguan but don't quite have the money for a Range Rover Evoque. I think they are missing the whole point of the Juke.
Let's start with the handling. Saying that the handling of the little Juke is uninvolving speaks directly how little the tester pushed it. Once you press the sport button on the main console the engine springs to life, the throttle gets sharper and the little crossover transforms into a short wheel base four-wheel-drive rally car. The Juke has torque vectoring technology operating it's rear differential so it sends power to the wheel that most needs it. A similar system is used by Mitsubishi in their Evolution. So every time that the Juke is cornering in an uninvolving manner, apply lots of power and be amazed how the rear steps out and all understeer is abolished at the exit of the corner with an Evo-style powerslide.
There is, however, a limit to this all wheel drive drifting as the Juke is a bit higher than a normal car and is more prone to rolling over. Unsurprising, then, that the Guinness world record for most distance traveled on two wheels was done in a Juke.
The Juke that I drove had the 1.6-litre direct injected turbocharged engine producing a respectable 190hp and 177 lb ft of torque across a very wide rev range. This engine is also shared by the current generation Renaultsport Clio and most interestingly it propelled the 2012 Nissan DeltaWing racecar in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As a result of this performance pedigree, the engine in the little SUV really wants to prove it's worth at every opportunity. Yet at just 15000 miles a turbo pipe popped off on mine and there wasn't a check engine light to alert me to this fairly serious problem. The good news is that I was able to fix a 2012 car in the era of microprocessors and laptop diagnostics with a screwdriver and off I went.
There are a few problems with the Juke, though. For starters, even though it's 4WD it's not a real off-roader - the ground clearance is more suited for an MPV. In all my time driving the Juke, I didn't think for a second how good it would be off the road - my brain didn't even dare to suggest such a laughable idea. An off road journey would probably look similar to Jeremy Clarkson's adventures with the BMW X3:
Another issue the Juke has is the prehistoric infotainment system. Every time the car is turned off by the push-start button all the electrics cut of, the music stops, your phone is out of synch and the worst part of it is that there is a 2 minute wait for the system to start back up. Also there's a limit of only 4 phones that can be recognised at any time, but squeezing five people in the Juke is an achievement of its own. The USB does not recognise folders and in Bulgaria you have to pay 150£ to have the map for the GPS navigation that you already have in the car.
In a way this car is ahead of its time. The Juke has an engine that has racing pedigree, a short wheel base and styling influenced by the GTR - it really was not conceived to be a 4x4 Micra. The best representation of what the Juke should have been comes from Nissan themselves with the bonkers Juke GT-R. And don't forget - 3 years ago I wished for a Juke with a V6 from a 370z and Nissan overdelivered. Well done Nissan.
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