Nissan Juke 2013 Review - International

What we liked:
>> Punchy 1.6-litre engine
>> Responsive handling
>> Quirky good looks

When Japanese SUVs first landed in Australia in the early 1990s they were fun, simple machines built from a sensible platform to be different, enjoyable and not to take themselves too seriously.

Then, everyone caught on to the craze and started demanding more practicality, more versatility and more size. In short, the compact SUV grew larger. Large enough to meet the heavy expectations placed upon it, and large enough to lose its sense of frivolity. And that’s just fine, if that’s what you were after.

But what of those who wanted a fun-loving and affordable Japanese SUV?

Well, they either bought a Suzuki or went begging. Until now.

Nissan has (finally) decided to bring its radical-looking F15-series Juke Down Under, and, as waits go, this one has been worth it. The five-door Juke doesn’t shortcut any of the important must-haves, a la Suzuki Jimny. It has stability control, airbags, crumple zones and all the mod cons you could want. But it’s still nimble, quirky, entertaining to drive and not too shabby in the performance stakes.

A short loop of some admittedly smooth paved roads in the back canyons of Orange County showed the Juke as a nifty handler with enough punch to keep things lively. The 86kW/158Nm 1.6-litre engine arrives with the option of a turbocharger (not tested), to make things more interesting; but even in its normally-aspirated guise offers plenty of pep, delivered cleanly via Nissan’s XTRONIC continuously variable CVT transmission.

The handling is surprisingly crisp, the body is settled and the steering is direct. Juke is playful but entirely predictable and corners with equal measures of enthusiasm and confidence.

The Juke’s CVT transmission works via a series of switchable modes driven through a driver-selectable set of switches placed low and flat on the lower centre stack. While these are a complete nuisance to sight on the go, they do perform wonders for the elasticity of the transmission’s response, and in the undulations and corners of the OC’s finest back roads proved far better when set to Sport. Normal is strictly a mode for freeway cruising in our opinion while Eco is a complete killjoy.

But enjoy the Juke for its lively and agile SUV manners and we’re sure that saving a few dollars of fuel per tank really won’t be an issue. The punchy four-cylinder engine feels as youthful as Juke’s looks when allowed to do its thing, and the CVT reacts with a sharpness akin to a regular automatic transmission when Sport mode is applied, even ‘blipping’ slightly on shifts. While we’re not sure this does anything for performance, it is certainly entertaining.

Just as entertaining are the look-at-me exterior looks, that front fascia only a mother could love and an equally vibrant interior with flashes of body-coloured trim just about anywhere you care to name. All the gadgets you’d expect from Nissan are included, and like most in this arena, add more kit as you part with more of your hard-earned.

Nissan offers Juke with petrol, diesel, two and all-wheel drive, manual and CVT, and even a fire-breathing twin-turbo V6 sourced directly from the marque’s GTR performance flagship. All but the latter will be offered in Oz, with the first examples slated for showroom debut in late October.

Nissan Australia has yet to reveal pricing but says we should anticipate “just more than the average for Pulsar”. Our guesstimation is that the Juke 1.6 petrol will start from around $21K, undercutting the entry-spec (and slightly larger) Suzuki Grand Vitara three-door (from $24,990 ) and similar-sized Holden Trax five-door (from $23,490), but just north of bite-sized four-wheel drive Suzuki Jimny Sierra (from $18,990).

Juke will bolster by one Nissan’s already busy SUV local line-up with now includes Dualis (and Dualis +2), X-Trail, Murano, Pathfinder and the heavy-hitting Patrol.