The odd styling may not be to everyone's taste, but it sure makes the Juke easy to find in a parking lot. That virtue aside, I like its looks, its form factor, and its performance tech. The only component I found frustrating was the stereo.
The Juke's small SUV form offers great practicality, with upright seats leading to easy access and a driving position slightly elevated over that of a typical compact car. The Juke's excessive styling narrows the roof toward the hatchback, which also features an incline, limiting useful cargo area. But the rear seats fold down to maximize that space.
Short of an electric drive system, the Juke also boasts one of the most advanced power trains around. The 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine uses a turbo and direct injection to make 188 horsepower and 177 pound-feet of torque, while getting EPA numbers of 27 mpg city and 32 mpg highway. However, the enthusiastic driving encouraged by the Juke tended to keep my fuel economy down at the lower end of this range.
Car came with Nissan's continuously variable transmission (CVT), an option over the base six-speed manual, as well as front-wheel-drive instead of the available all-wheel-drive. Nissan only offers all-wheel-drive with the CVT, an annoying limitation. All-wheel-drive in the Juke also means a more sophisticated rear suspension than on the front-wheel-drive version.
Equipped with front-wheel drive and the CVT, I at first considered Juke the worst of all worlds. But while buzzing around twisty mountain roads in Sport mode, the CVT redeemed itself, and reminded me that Nissan has the best CVT in the industry.
In everyday driving, the Juke is easy to handle and uncomplicated. The ride quality is better than from many compact cars, but the engine shows a little turbo lag under hard acceleration. The short wheelbase makes for easy maneuvering in the city. The electric power-steering is tuned well, with a little play at center and increasing resistance toward each lock.
There is an Eco mode, which has the annoying effect of detuning the accelerator. On the plus side, Eco mode can also reduce the power consumption of the air conditioning, a feature found in very few cars.
But the real fun comes in Sport mode, which sharpens accelerator response, tunes the CVT for higher engine speeds, and tightens the power steering. Much more expensive cars from the likes of BMW and Audi offer similar controls, but nothing in the Juke's price range offers such a comprehensive Sport mode.
Running the Juke over my favorite roads, I had a blast. In Sport mode, the CVT lets the engine run up above 5,000rpm, keeping the power up in the turns and the ensuing straight-aways. The suspension tuning allowed a little more lean in the corners than I would have liked, and even with the steering in Sport mode, it exhibited understeer, but the Juke was ultimately very responsive. I delighted in how I could feel the car rotate in the turns, and control it with slight braking even coming around an apex.
I imagine the all-wheel-drive version, which not only has the more sophisticated rear suspension but also applies torque vectoring, would handle even better.
The Juke comes in three trims: S, SV, and SL. Each can be had with the all-wheel drive and CVT options, but only the upper two offer navigation. It comes standard on the SL and as an option on the SV. Car was the SV, and it did not have the navigation option. The system stores its maps on flash memory, so should be responsive, and it does include traffic data.
Without navigation, our Juke SV was left with a Bluetooth phone system and the stereo as the only real cabin tech. And lacking the navigation system's LCD, the only interface is a single line monochrome radio display accompanied by an occasionally confusing set of buttons.
Once paired to my iPhone, the phone system worked very well. It downloaded my contact list automatically, and I was able to use voice command to place calls by name. The call quality sounded decent, and the system automatically muted the stereo when a call came through.
The stereo itself offered limited audio sources. It had the usual CD player along with AM/FM radio. Satellite radio was also present, along with an auxiliary input in the stereo face. And while it did have iPod support, the cable for it was buried in the glovebox, a very inconvenient spot when I wanted to hook up my iPhone before a drive. There was no USB port and no Bluetooth audio streaming, two of the more generally useful modern audio sources.
Browsing an iPod music library through the stereo interface was also difficult, first because the buttons were not arranged in a very intuitive layout, and second because the radio display can only show one artist or album at a time, making it a chore to scroll through large music libraries.
The base audio system lacked definition and punch, and felt especially impoverished in light of Nissan's Juke Box mobile DJ station. There is a Rockford Fosgate system available for the Juke, which upgrades the six speakers and adds a subwoofer. Rockford Fosgate systems tend to be particularly strong on bass, which the Juke could certainly use.
The navigation option would also bring in a backup camera, something that would come in handy with the little Juke. Its odd styling limits rear visibility.
In sum
The 2012 Juke is a bit of an aberration in Nissan's lineup, offering some really cool features not seen in other models. The engine uses excellent efficiency technologies and the all-wheel-drive system can vector torque to aid in handling. The CVT, a more standard piece of Nissan equipment performs exceedingly well, and the D-Mode control ties it all together, taking the car from mild mannered to nimble and fast at the push of a button.
As much as I like the handling and performance, the cabin electronics are a real letdown. The placement of the iPod cable makes it very inconvenient to use that source, and the lack of a USB port or Bluetooth audio streaming rules out two other major sources. A few optional features help the Juke achieve a mere rating of average for cabin electronics overall.
| Tech specs | |
| Model | 2012 Nissan Juke |
| Trim | SV |
| Power train | Turbocharged direct injection 1.6-liter four-cylinder, continuously variable transmission |
| EPA fuel economy | 27 mpg city/32 mpg highway |
| Observed fuel economy | 27.9 mpg |
| Navigation | Optional flash-memory-based system with traffic |
| Bluetooth phone support | Standard |
| Digital audio sources | iPod integration, satellite radio |
| Audio system | Base six-speaker system, optional Rockford Fosgate seven-speaker system |
| Driver aids | Optional back-up camera |
| Base price | $19,990 |
| Price as tested | $22,515 |