The Nissan Juke
So, over this weekend I got a chance to hang out with the Nissan Juke SV I covered in my last review and decided to dig into a more in-depth interview to sink our teeth into this car. Part of the review included a trip to the grocery store, and a hard thrash over the hill to into Felton to take the Things out for a few hours in the redwoods to give my lovely, long-suffering wife some time to herself before she murdered us all (including the cat) with a crowbar.
First, let’s talk about the meat and potatoes of the car. The SV I had my paws on was a front wheel drive model, with a 188 Horsepower, 177 ft-lbs of torque 1.6 Liter Turbocharged engine. It’s got a solid, well tuned and taut suspension that laughs at tight hairpin corners. At its core, it’s not much different from most other fast, hot hatches. But taken as a whole, the car’s personality really lends itself to hooliganism and cheekiness.
In my last review, I wrote that the car isn’t so much a mode of transportation as it was a co-conspirator, but that wasn’t entirely true. It’s not a co-conspirator.
It’s a bad influence.
This car encourages you to slalom through traffic with your hair on fire. It encourages you to charge full tilt towards a blind corner with your foot firmly placed on the gas pedal.
The turbo spools up quickly, giving it a solid boost of torque right in the middle of its rev-band. With practice, you can keep it happily boosted and delivering oodles and oodles of torque right to the front wheels. I’ve had this baby delivering wheelspin out of the corners at 30 miles an hour easily.
Now, admittedly, there are some flaws.
For one, the audio system is pretty basic. It’s got AM/FM/CD and Aux input, and will take MP3 Cd’s. But that’s really about it. Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be too bad, but considering Nissan has more capable systems in its other more...pedestrian offerings from the same year, it’s a bit of a head scratcher. Also, the car is rather small. Yes, it passes the “Sit Behind Yourself” test, yes, and it takes two toddlers in car seats in the back and a few day’s worth of groceries in the trunk. But beyond that, not a whole lot else. This is not the car to take the kids out for a week (or even a weekend) trip.
Also...well, in the words of my lovely wife, “It’s an UGLY little thing, isn’t it?”
While I don’t think the car is ugly in the traditional sense, the styling is rather polarizing. The car most resembles a tree frog, but the best place to view it is from indoors.
I’d intended to hold onto this Juke until next Friday when I could see if I could find something at the airport.
Imagine my delight when I drove up to my branch this morning to find the ugly...I mean...distinctive looks of a Juke SL on the lot.
What do you get with the SL?
Well….
For starters, you get a better sound system. You get leather seats (which are heated, thank you those of you with back problems). The sound system comes with a navigation system, which is nifty in the sense that it can be updated by SD card built into it. It has a USB port.
But most importantly, it has All Wheel Drive.
See, the All Wheel Drive system on the Juke is derived from the excellent, fantastic and all sorts of superlative Nissan GT-R, and it’s really, really clever.
For one thing, it can vector power not just from the front wheels to the rear wheels, but also across the axle. For instance, let’s say you’re hustling through your favorite mountain road and come to a left turn. The system turns the power up on the outside wheel and diminishes it on the inside wheel, increasing grip. I thought the regular FWD version was unflappable, but I was wrong. The AWD is utterly unshakeable. I threw everything at this car and it took it all and was ready for more.
Ultimately, the biggest failing that this car had was the driver. As much as I liked thrashing this car around the corners, I still have this thing about human mortality and not flying off down the side of a cliff or, more likely, plowing into someone in front of me going 15mph after going through a blind corner. Also, it is technically not my car, so if I suddenly found myself at the bottom of a chasm and upside down, there would be an inordinate amount of paperwork for me to fill out.
Is it the best car I’ve ever driven? No. The laurels for that still go to my late and lamented 2014 Dodge Charger R/T. But for a tight, twisty mountain road, the Juke is pretty damned good.
There are still some downsides. The styling is still...distinctive. Yes, it’s still tiny. And, despite the fact that the infotainment system is upgraded and uprated…it STILL CAN’T STREAM AUDIO THROUGH BLUETOOTH.
Pictured: Failure.
Note: for the purposes of this article, please imagine me having a rage frothing apoplectic fit.
But I can still get a USB drive to stick in the USB port. And that’s only $10 or so. And that’s not bad at all.