Photo: SB-Medien
Launched in 2010, the Nissan Juke is one of the most easily recognizable but hardest to class vehicles on the road. With a windshield like a helmet visor, a center console like a motorcycle gas tank and the face of an angry bulldog, it should never work, and yet somehow it does.
That's because even though it's technically not in the same class, the Juke is a viable and cheap alternative to the MINI Cooper.
We really did think for a while that Nissan would skip the facelift and go straight to a bigger all-new Juke, but they havent. Work has begun on a facelift which will be ready for production by the end of the year.
Changes are not radical, but the Juke does get new upper headlights, a redesigned Nissan grille ornament and LED indicators in the mirrors. There's also a set of new wheels on this test car and crucially a new engine as well.
You see, the bulk of Juke sales are for the base model, which uses a 1.6-liter engine to offer offer you 117 hp and 158 Nm of torque. It's not exactly frugal, which is why Nissan is going to swap it for the 1.2-liter turbo they just put in the Qashqai. It's going to have about the same power, but more torque available lower down. It also makes a nice sound compared to that old coffee grinder of an engine and should provide a significant increase in efficiency. Nissan only recently revealed the 200 hp Juke Nismo and range-topping 220 hp Nismo RS, so we don't think those will change.
But perhaps power is not what buyers will be most tempted by. Nissan has developed a much better low-cost satellite navigation, which would be great to have in the Juke.
We really did think for a while that Nissan would skip the facelift and go straight to a bigger all-new Juke, but they havent. Work has begun on a facelift which will be ready for production by the end of the year.
Changes are not radical, but the Juke does get new upper headlights, a redesigned Nissan grille ornament and LED indicators in the mirrors. There's also a set of new wheels on this test car and crucially a new engine as well.
You see, the bulk of Juke sales are for the base model, which uses a 1.6-liter engine to offer offer you 117 hp and 158 Nm of torque. It's not exactly frugal, which is why Nissan is going to swap it for the 1.2-liter turbo they just put in the Qashqai. It's going to have about the same power, but more torque available lower down. It also makes a nice sound compared to that old coffee grinder of an engine and should provide a significant increase in efficiency. Nissan only recently revealed the 200 hp Juke Nismo and range-topping 220 hp Nismo RS, so we don't think those will change.
But perhaps power is not what buyers will be most tempted by. Nissan has developed a much better low-cost satellite navigation, which would be great to have in the Juke.
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