NISSAN Juke Review

Whenever our test car had to enter a corner, it probably felt like you do on a Monday morning before the general meeting, as it had to cope with both 190 hp and a pretty high center of gravity.

To make these two things work together and keep the driver not only on the road, but also happy, Nissan had to make the Juke a stiff car. And it did.

It's interesting to see how a suspension that combines the stiffness of a hot hatch with the travel of a soft-roader works. We said interesting, but while this works well for the "open road" chapter, it's not to good for the current one.

Both larger potholes and irregularities manage to scare the Juke, making its entire body shiver. You don't get a "rock hard" sensation, but it's not comfortable either. Moving on above the suspension, the seats and the soundproofing are on the same medium comfort level.

We do have one area that sits higher though - the interior space. This is good for the vehicle's class and could convince anyone that those who claim the vehicle is built on a modified Micra platform are lying.

The Juke is a predominantly a city car and this will bring it some extra points for this chapter, but only from the driver's point of view, as it can be driven with ease, being a great tool for tackling the urban environment.

The Juke is built on the Nissan V platform, which is shared with cars like the Micra and the Renault Clio. However, the engineers have managed to transform the chassis to such an extent that you'd never guess this family bond.

This doesn't have a negative impact on the interior space, which has been seriously increased, but there are areas where this really shows is the comfort, as the rear axle uses a humble torsion beam setup that doesn't really manage to cope with the road's imperfections.

The engine we tested was the range-topping one, a 1.6-liter four-cylinder unit that relies on direct injection and turbocharging to deliver 190 hp at 5,600 rpm 240 Nm (177 lb-ft) of torque from 2,000 rpm up to 5,200 rpm.

We're talking about an all-new unit that delivers the muscles of a hot hatch, with a wide torque band that can really be felt.

The power is being sent to the road using a part-time all-wheel drive system. When the front wheels have enough grip, the rear ones don't receive any power and they are summoned just when their presence is necessary. The system works well, both on and off the road, but rather as a helpful tool than a sharp weapon.

However, the bit that's in between the two, a continuously variable transmission, doesn't manage to raise up to the standards imposed by them.

This is one of the best CVT units we've driven, but this isn't not enough to impress. Unfortunately, this is the only gearbox the four-wheel-drive can be ordered with.

We have to start this chapter with the center console's interchangeable functions. This is Nissan's way of offering a tidy dashboard without introducing a single controller for all the functions. You can switch the buttons on the console between the driving mode and the climate control functions by pressing dedicated buttons.

In the first one, you get a G meter a nice little toy that reminds us of the Nissan Juke-R project (you can check out the image gallery and see what this led to).

Above this, we found a touch-screen multimedia interface, which was pretty easy to use, coming with a Bluetooth function and being connected to an audio system that offers decent performance.

Since we got to play with the range-topping Tekna equipment level, we also got to enjoy goodies like a leather finish for the seats, a multifunctional steering wheel, parking sensors (only for the rear bumper), a rear view camera, and others.

All in all, our test car manages to keep us connected, so it was not only the driver that enjoyed being inside this funky looking car.

Ask the people over at Euro NCAP about the Nissan Juke and you'll only hear good things, as the vehicle passed the program's tests with flying colors.

We have a vehicle that received a five-star rating, with scores of 78 percent for adult occupant protection, 81 percent for child occupant protection, 41 percent fr pedestrian protection, as well as 71 percent for safety assist.

However, we are not talking about perfection. In the frontal impact test, the only problem was the fact that the structures in the dashboard were considered to present a risk of injury. The side impact test behavior was also excellent, but in the even of a rear impact, the protection against whiplash injuries was marginal.

With its turbocharged 1.6-liter engine, the Juke can be mistaken for a hot hatch, but you shouldn't do this, as the vehicle's high center of gravity and torque steering don't allow it to offer the same confidence during certain maneuvers. Apart from these facts. it's a safe car to drive.

The Nissan Juke might not seem like a car that has a clear message to send through its design, but once you drive it, you realize that it does exactly what it visually promises to and that is mix a sports car (a hot hatch actually) with an SUV (a soft roader), all this for the price of the first  (EUR24,840/ USD32,344 at the current exchange rate).

Do not mistake this car for any of the two however - it's too imprecise for the first category and lacks the undebody protection a little bit of extra ride height for the latter. It is in fact a very well though out compromise, one that has been tweaked to work best in the urban landscape.

We are, of course, referring to the range-topping model we tested, which came with a 190 hp turbocharged 1.6-liter engine, four-wheel-drive and the Tekna trim level.

The Juke then, is bold not only in its design, but also in its nature and we love this - the theme is even followed inside the car. And it's also impressive to see how far it has come from its Micra roots.

However, the latter do show when it comes to rear suspension comfort (we have a torsion beam) and luggage space. And there's another drawback. In the case of this beefy version, the suspension had to be set up in a sporty way, all at the expense of comfort.

But the biggest problem of the car we tested was the CVT, the only gearbox you can have if you want the four-wheel-drive system. This is one of the best of its kind, but still doesn't manage to be a pleasant driving partner.

The industry needs cars like the Juke to remind us we're alive, but you have to look at it as a tool - for whatever you want, ranging from urban transportation to going fast, not a weapon.