The stylish Juke was designed for Europe, where they load up large-car features on what we would consider very small cars. The Juke rides on the global B-platform, which is shared with the Nissan Versa and Cube and the Renault Clio. But in this application, it has sophistication you would find on something like an Acura MDX, with clutch packs on the rear half shafts and a smart differential up front sending power to the wheels that need it most. A dash-mounted “I-CON vehicle information interface” allows you to select three different settings for throttle, transmission and steering response: normal, sport and eco. A separate switch allows you to select three settings for the vectoring all-wheel drive. The all-new single-scroll turbocharged 1.6-liter direct-injection gasoline four will make “180-plus” hp, according to Nissan, and “170-plus” lb-ft of torque. Final U.S. figures will come out closer to this CUV's launch in October.
The Juke is fully loaded inside as well. In addition to standards such as an iPod jack and Bluetooth, it offers navigation, keyless entry and even a g-meter on the dash screen. Styling inside and out is so strong it's almost distracting. Overly pronounced fender flares give it a WRC shape, while the center console looks as if someone put a little superbike between the seats, with the shifter popping up out of the “gas tank.” The shapes all come from the Qazana concept shown at Geneva in 2009.
How does it drive?
We took a Juke up the twisting Highway 23 to Mulholland out in the Santa Monica Mountains and got a chance to play around with that torque-vectoring AWD. In the normal setting, with all power going to the front wheels, we could easily get wheelspin from the inside front tire while accelerating out of tight corners on that damp, drizzly morning. The middle setting, which varied torque front to rear, was a little better controlled, but for harder hammering, clicking the switch to the lower setting kept all four wheels delivering torque all the time with no discernable slip.
It was hard to distinguish differences among the normal, sport and eco settings on the I-CON vehicle-information interface that altered throttle, shift and steering response. Maybe more seat time will better demonstrate the subtleties.
The sad thing is that all of that sophistication in the drivetrain is sapped by the soul-destroying choice of a CVT transmission. Why load it up with impressive torque vectoring and clutch packs on the half shafts only to cancel out many of those gains with a wailing CVT? A six-speed manual is available, but only on front-wheel-drive models. Sounds like CAFÉ has struck again.
Nissan lists the Mazda 3 and the Mini as competitors in this segment. If only those two cars came with this sophisticated powertrain. Or this sophisticated powertrain came with the transmissions of those two competitors.
Do I want it?
That is the $64 million question, though the Juke is expected to sell for considerably less than that when it arrives in early October in the United States. Preliminary pricing says it will start at less than $20,000, but that'll be for the FWD setup. The Juke is supposed to be aimed at young males, though we guess that, outside of AW readers, the number of rally-car and superbike aficionados is higher in Europe than in the States. Nissan isn't concerned, since this was, after all, a European vehicle, and any U.S. sales will be the global sales equivalent of gravy.
Our product-planning suggestion? Offer a manual, or even a regular automatic with all of those clutch packs.
We hope the Juke takes off, if for no other reason than a successful U.S. Juke could mean greater availability of European- and Japan-market cars here. More choice is always good, especially if the choices involve fun-to-drive cars.
2011 Nissan Juke
On Sale: October
Base Price: Less than $20,000
Drivetrain: 1.6-liter, gasoline direct-injection turbocharged four; 180-plus hp, 170-plus lb-ft, FWD (AWD optional), six-speed manual (CVT with AWD)
Curb Weight: 3,000 lb (mfr est)
