Filed under: Crossover, Hatchback, Nissan, First Drives
Scratching All The Right Itches
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Say what you will about the unconventional aesthetics that Nissan employed on the company’s Juke. I love the thing. The universe has no shortage of ambiguously styled CUVs, and while I can’t exactly say I would have turned to the amphibian world for design inspiration had it been me with the charcoal in my hand, I can certainly appreciate the fact that the Juke isn’t just another box-on-box design.
And then there’s that engine. The turbocharged 1.6-liter four-cylinder under the hood is one of the best powerplants in the company’s toy box, offering plenty of low-range torque and comical levels of thrust. Hell, it even makes the optional continuously variable transmission tolerable. Praise be to the deities of forced induction. But something has always been missing from the mix. From the first moment I got my hands on the Juke, I couldn’t help but think how much better the machine would be if Nissan ditched an inch or two of ground clearance and sharpened up its suspension. Think more “hot hatch” and less “Kermit goes to Kroger.”
I wasn’t the only one with that notion. The minds at Nismo were keen to turn their attentions to the Juke, and while the resulting 2013 Juke Nismo isn’t the hardcore machine I’d seen in my dreams, it may very well be the best trim available for the runabout.Continue reading 2013 Nissan Juke Nismo
2013 Nissan Juke Nismo originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 07 May 2013 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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