First Drive: 2013 Nissan Juke Nismo

Out with the old, in with the new.  It’s as if the buttoned down multidisciplinary design team at Nissan have been replaced by a group of youngsters fascinated by anime, samurai swords and arcade games.  That being said, the Juke continues to follow the design trend of the already wacky Nissan Cube while incorporating better functionality, performance and styling.

The overall design is as funky as it gets.  As a matter of fact, we’re surprised it wasn’t featured in Daft Punk’s latest “Get Lucky” music video.  that’s not to say that it’s an eye sore.  The Gundam inspired Nissan Juke has a plethora of eye catching design cues.  Take for example, the bugs eye fog lights and mantis head lights gives off both an impression of automotive youth and creativity.

Compared to the standard Juke, the Nismo includes metallic red side view mirror housing, 18″ wheels, various body kit add-on features that includes faux carbon side skirts and front spoiler, rear diffuser and a  rear spoiler.  The performance upgrade equates to an increase of 37% downforce compared to the standard Juke, but considering the amount of power this vehicle produces, the difference would be unnoticeable.  Despite the marketing jargon, buyers will definitely appreciate the enhanced styling the body kit brings to the Nismo model.

As much prestige the Nismo logo holds, there isn’t much to expect from the Juke in terms of performance.  Its engine produces 197 horsepower and 184 ft.lbs of torque, which is only an increase of 7 hp compared to the standard model.  Unfortunately, the engine is coupled to a CVT automatic transmission, which was a huge disappointment.  Nissan does try to revive the fun factor in driving the Juke with a  manual sequential gear shift mode, but all this really does is mimic gear shifts.  There is also a lack of paddle shifters on the steering wheel where drivers will have to resort to shifting using the gear lever when in manual shift mode.  Nevertheless, the power delivery is smooth and has better than average acceleration from stand still.  If you are absolutely against the CVT transmission, Nissan offers a six speed manual transmission but will be constraint to a FWD transmission only.

Interior

There is nothing particularly eye-pleasing when it comes to the interior cabin space.  The overall scheme is an overall black homogenous interior.  The infotainment screen is downgraded version from Nissan that affects both screen size and responsiveness.  We also found navigation mode to be finicky, but the map displayed on the screen works fairly well and easy to read.  There is also  a miniature LCD screen in the center console for displaying climate controls and various car information such as the amount of G-force you’re pulling and amount of boost, but because it’s so small and located so far down the center console, we find the screen to be more or less pointless and would have much rather opted for a larger center infotainment screen.

Sitting in the Juke Nismo for the first time gives off a luxurious impression thanks to the soft suede leather material used on the driver’s seat and the steering wheel.  But the Trojan effect starts to kick in shortly after inspecting the rest of the cabin space, especially the materials used in the rear seats.

Driving Impression

A bold statement to say, but the Nismo branding on the Juke doesn’t quite live up to the hype; atleast in respect to what we know the Nismo to be in the past.  Other than cosmetic upgrades, the Nismo version also packs in revived suspension tuning and heavier power steering.

Buyers have two flavors of powertrains to choose from: six speed manual or an automatic CVT transmission.  The latter option may ruin the fun factor in terms of driver interaction, but you do get AWD with torque vectoring controlled independently on all four wheels.  This feature really boosts the fun factor in driving the Nismo Juke and you can really feel the torque vector kicking in when sling shooting the car around a corner.  In addition, even though the engine only produces 200 horsepower, the AWD torque vectoring delivers optimal power delivery on all four wheels on accelerating, which makes the car feel like it is more powerful than what it claims to be.  In addition to the compact chassis and short wheel base, driving the Juke Nismo feels like it’s another extension of your limbs where you have complete control of the vehicle.