I know this is probably going to get me in trouble and probably dish duty for a long time, but the new Nissan Juke is a bit like my wife.
It is small, cute, has big eyes and a little junk in the trunk.
You see there are tons of SUVs on the market coming in all shapes and sizes. Some have huge trunks, some have decent sized trunks, other's guzzle gas like the newbie class at Fat Fighters after being let loose in a doughnut factory at lunch break.
But the Juke, well the Juke is cute.
There isn't really any other way to describe it. It is a small SUV and when you look at it from the front just a little side on it looks like a bug with its big eyes looking out for the next fly to whiz by. However, it is not just one of those bugs that sits on a log and waits for things to happen to it.
The Juke comes with a six-speed manumatic transmission with the silkiest of gear changes, if there were any gears, that is and can get a move on when it needs to. You see the Juke comes with Nissan's continuously variable transmission [CVT]. Think of a cone if you will lying on its side. The drive belt moves up and down the cone as you move up and down through the fake gears. Because there is nothing but the difference in diameter of the cone, there is no lag or lurch when you shift gears.
In full automatic mode you will notice absolutely nothing. If you haven't driven a vehicle with a CVT before it may seem a little weird at first [just like my wife] but once you drive it a few times you will get to like it and figure you have to have a CVT of your own.
For a small SUV the Juke comes with more power than some bigger SUVs on the market, and the 188 horses are plenty to get it moving when needed.
Initially the Juke looks like a two door until you look a little higher and see the handles running vertically by the window. My son thought they were cool as he had never seen door handles placed in this manner before.
It can be hard to pack a lot into a small SUV, but Nissan has done a commendable job. As this is a small SUV it can be expected that you couldn't fit the kitchen table in the trunk, but there is ample space and if you only have one kid like I do, there is room to fold down the seat and pack a lot more stuff in there.
The ride in the Juke is comfortable and the power to weight ratio is much better than in a lot of SUVs, so it is a decent little mover - again like my wife - and with the 17-inch rims and all wheel drive it handles quite well.
Nissan has also thrown a bunch of options at the Juke like power moonroof, which my son enjoyed playing with, heated seats with height adjustment for the driver. There was also Bluetooth on the steering wheel, a push button start, proximity key, automatic climate control and safety features like ABS, EBD, BA, alarm etc.
Inside, there is plenty of room and the dash just above the dials looked remarkably like the cartoon character Wall-E. It was as if the dials were eyes and the top were its eyelids. I half expected them to close when I turned the engine off.
For a few minutes I thought it was going to start talking to me.
The Juke, although it is a small SUV, looks like it could have a bit of an attitude, like it won't be pushed around, and that is good because if you are an SUV you should be a bit tough. The name sport utility vehicle in itself says anything but prissy. It says tough, it says sporty, it says it's capable of doing things others can't.
The Juke is a nice surprise in a market where for a while it seemed that the bigger the SUV the better.
But the Juke is a new bred of SUVs. It might be likened to the ladies of the WWE. If you look back at the ladies of wrestling years ago they were not exactly the kind you would want to be seem with in daylight. They were capable of getting the job done but only under cover of darkness. The Juke is more like the lady wrestlers of today, pumped in all the right places, smaller rear ends, much cuter grills, and way better to look at. They still get the job done but we wouldn't really care if they didn't.
Nissan Juke
Vehicle type: 5-door SUV
Transmission 6-speed manumatic
Engine: 1.6-litre four cylinder
Horsepower: 188 @ 5,600
Torque: 177 @ 2,000
Mileage: 8 l/100 km 35 mpg City 6.6 l/100km 43 mph hwy
Price: $30,038
