The Juke might look futuristic, but the tech is decidedly of the here and now. Underneath lies the Nissan-Renault Alliance B platform, so it’s essentially a Micra-Note/Clio-Modus stretched and updated to fill baby crossover shoes. Sensibly, most Jukes – in fact more than 95 per cent – will remain front-wheel drive, although the top-spec 1.6 petrol turbo can be had with four-wheel drive. Together with its mandatory CVT gearbox, this transmission choice adds 139kg to the kerbweight, but there’s a Mini Cooper S clobbering 189.5PS to play with and Nissan mentions the Juke in the same breath as proper pocket rockets. Game on.
Shellshocked from our encounter with the arch wackiness outside, we clamber in and observe a refreshingly modern, far simpler cabin. There are no scary lights or gobstopper holes peppering the surfaces in here: it’s crisply designed and let down only by unrelentingly brittle plastics. You sit a plump cushion’s worth higher than you would in a supermini, but you’d hardly call this the command driving position beloved of SUV owners. A lack of telescopic wheel adjustment and short seat runners belie the Juke’s supermini roots, but even tall drivers should get comfy.
Nissan hasn’t lost all its sparkle inside. The centre console is modelled on a motorcycle tank and painted a vibrant metallic red. You can choose a quieter silver, but somehow the buzzy red suits the Juke’s cheeky persona. Another concession to the fashionista is a new system of soft keys for the heating and dynamic controls; depending on which mode you select, the shiny black buttons are backlit with different commands, reducing clutter and mixing the best bits from variable touchscreen and good old-fashioned physical buttons. Works a treat.
The view from the driver’s seat is interesting, those raised headlamps acting like the dorsal humps on a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti’s bonnet. They look like supersized slivers of bubble wrap and you want to lean out of the window and just give them a massive pop. We suppress our urges and drive off, on a mission to see if the Juke has substance to back up its risqué style.
This new direct-injection turbo 1.6 is strong, serving up oodles of torque irrespective of revs. It’s a little gruff and short of character, but Nissan claims 8.4sec 0-62mph and it feels sprightly, ruined only by the machinations of the latest CVT auto ’box. I’m rarely a fan of pulleys and belts and here too the CVT sends us yowling and screaming and the 1.6 rarely settles into a rhythm until I nudge into auto over-ride, flicking between six pre-arranged ‘ratios’. Give me a twin-clutch ’box or a full auto any day.
Mind you, in manual mode the Juke comes alive. The steering response is really fast, lending the crossover an agility that will be welcomed by drivers used to a Mini’s pointiness. We dart into corners, controlling the revs with the gearstick and in slower, tight bends you can feel the torque vectoring at the rear axle; this 4wd model shuffles power between each wheel and in extremis shunts all torque to a single rear wheel.
