Hot Cross Fun: Nissan Juke Nismo RS Review

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Hot Cross Fun: Nissan Juke Nismo RS Review

This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on December 5th, 2017 in the Cars category.

 

[bloodyboyblue]

So I guess you can’t get this in AWD form in Europe? Here you can only get the manual with FWD, AWD is CVT only. I’ve only driven the normal Juke, I don’t mind the looks but it’s horribly space inefficient and it feels painfully cheap and outdated like all modern Nissans. I sat in the Nismo at an auto show and the seats make the Recaros in the STs and Focus RS seem comfortable and forgiving.

Not sure if the conservative styling is the problem with the Kicks, it’s also how underpowered it’s going to be, it’ll make the C-HR look like a rocketship, and the fact it’s designed for developing markets, but I guess that hasn’t stopped the Ford Ecosport. Oh and the Quashqai is already pretty small and cheap. It’ll do nothing to help Nissan’s “I have bad credit and no one else will approve me for financing” reputation in the North American market. The Juke at least had a lot of unique features in its class.

 

[CodeRedR51]

the fact it’s designed for developing markets

It's had a lot of extra development time for the North American market. NVH, handling, etc.

Oh and the Quashqai is already pretty small and cheap.

Not much cheaper than the regular Rogue though.

 

[Famine]

So I guess you can’t get this in AWD form in Europe? Here you can only get the manual with FWD, AWD is CVT only.

There's an AWD, only available with Xtronic, that adds independent rear suspension, but is torque-limited and loses about 5hp as a result - as well as some boot space.

I sat in the Nismo at an auto show and the seats make the Recaros in the STs and Focus RS seem comfortable and forgiving.

I genuinely liked the seats in this - although they did hit me in the thigh every time I got in or out, come to think of it.

 

[05XR8]

Exactly what my 78yo Mother drives. Down to the color. She misses the power from her 300C Hemi though.

 

[homeforsummer]

I like the Nismo RS. We had one as a long-termer and I was one of only two who really got on with it, but I had it for a few weeks at one point while I had my Kia Proceed GT and didn't want to give the Juke back after the few weeks.

Feels characterful. In a kind of slightly weird, only-in-Japan way. Ours had the standard seats (not the Recaros) and they were mega, mega comfy, like you'd expect from a Toyota Century or something. The gearbox was excellent, and it felt pretty quick once you got past the low-revs stupor.

I quite liked the way it handled too. It does roll a bit, and it's not quite as tidy as regular hot hatches, but I found it exciting. It still had plenty of grip, and because of the roll it would unload the inside tyre more easily, which forced the diff into working a bit harder. The steering would tug around a bit as a result but if you keep it pinned it was pretty effective at dragging you out of a corner. I did find it made me drive like a bit of an arse, but then all hot hatches do that.

I didn't find it too thirsty either, though my Kia was only averaging low-30s. Quick look at the joint report I did on them suggests I was getting nearer 38mpg from the Juke in the same kind of driving.

Oh, and good stereo. Got a bit of power to it.

Once stuck the AWD version in a snowbank.

 

[Famine]

I like the Nismo RS.

I liked it in a "me" way, but I was exceptionally thankful that when the snow came to the North East last week it had already gone and was replaced with a 208 GTI PS, which has a diff that works

I didn't find it too thirsty either, though my Kia was only averaging low-30s. Quick look at the joint report I did on them suggests I was getting nearer 38mpg from the Juke in the same kind of driving.

I drove from here to Woking. The first and second bar (of 16) vanished before I got to the A1. By the M1 it was under 3/4 - and that's one hour of driving. At that point I did the maths, then wound the cruise down by 5mph and turned everything that could be off off. It still hit half at Leicester and I phoned my wife to see if she could find a decent Tesco/Shell just off the motorway where the M1/M25 meet, which ended up as the Tesco in Hemel Hempstead...

I managed to get back under the later conditions, but with only 20 miles of range left, and had to put 1/4 tank in.

All in it used roughly 20 gallons to do 600 miles at below motorway cruising speed - which is a solid 30mpg of anyone's money. Genuinely gobsmacked at how poor it was.

Meanwhile the McLaren 570S managed exactly the same trip at 34mpg, while set 7mph faster on the cruise. And perhaps quicker still occasionally...