1 March 2012
New car report; Cheeky New Entrant
Give a car designer an inch and he will take a mile. Nissan Europe’s Design Director, Paul Garside who was in New Zealand for a fleeting visit for the recent launch of the cheeky new Juke, says his team took design cues from 1960’s Beach Buggies for the Juke’s body styling and a motorcycle fuel tank was the inspiration for the funky centre console.
His young team works out of a trendy mid-century design facility at Little Venice, near London’s Paddington, and Garside says that while it’s more the norm for such business to be housed out in the boonies, the pricey part of central London where his team operates from is in the midst of the action so they have their finger on the pulse of what’s hot and what’s not.
This might sound like he’s trying to justify to his employer why he prefers to work in the cool part of town rather than in some back alley on an industrial estate, but given that his team has been responsible for Nissan’s biggest success story in a generation, the Qashqai, and now the funky little Juke seems poised for great things too, the parent company no doubt sees some justification for the hefty rent bill.
Appeals to the young and young at heart
Just because the Juke appears funky and trendy and might have been designed to appeal to a youthful buyer, the high SUV/Crossover stance and ease of entry and exit of the Qashqai’s little brother offers a convenience that is not lost on those buyers more advanced in years either.
In fact, of the people we’ve shown it to, it’s the baby boomers whose generation snubbed the views of traditional conservative society back in nineteen sixty-something, who can relate most to the roots of Garside’s design. The younger set just think it looks plain cool – never mind where the designer got his inspiration from.
Powered by a 1.6 litre 86kW/158Nm DOHC four cylinder engine, driving the front wheels through an XTRONIC transmission, that’s a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) to you and me, fuel consumption is a more than reasonable 6.3L/100km and the tailpipe chucks out just 147g/km of CO2.
Two models are on offer in our market, an ST priced at $31,990 and a Ti at $33,990.
Both get rain sensing wipers, intelligent key with push button start, front fog lights, Bluetooth with all the usual USB and iPod connectivities, cruise control and a leather steering wheel.
Stump up with the extra $2k for the Ti and they’ll throw in automatic headlights, climate air conditioning, rear privacy glass, 17 inch alloys to replace the 16 inch steels and an extra couple of speakers – six in place of four.
And if you like twiddling with gizmos and gadgets, there's a system called Dynamic Control System (DCS) which allows you to select Eco, Normal or Sport drive modes. Selecting between the modes changes the throttle and transmission characteristics quite noticeably, but that's not all, there's also a digital display which reads out power, torque and g-force as you accelerate and corner. For most buyers this may be a bit gimmicky and, being located low down in the dash we found it hard to see, particularly in bright sunlight; nevertheless, it'll impress the kids!
Safe and fun
No car worth its salt comes to market with less than a 5 star safety rating these days, and the Juke is no exception, gaining a 5 star Euro NCAP rating. It is equipped with ESP, ABS, EBD and BA as well as six airbags.
Fun, funky and thoroughly modern, the Juke is a laugh on the road and the interior finishes make it a joy to ride in. The ride is firm and it feels well-planted without being a tank and it’s plenty roomy enough without hogging the road. Visually, it has the appearance of a scaled down version of, but a socially responsible alternative to the growing number of SUV’s that grace our cities today.
Like all CVT transmissions, the XTRONIC displays the usual flare when pushed hard, but under most conditions it adds to the smooth driving experience.
So if working in a trendy design studio, located in the hub of one of the most expensive cities in the world is what it takes to come up with something like this, then let Paul Garside and his team take all the liberties they like because they’ve brought the fun back into motoring.