It's a good thing the Juke Nismo RS looks like a scared owl, because this hot little crossover is a hoot.
The recipe for the Nismo is tried and true. Take Nissan's compact crossover with the distinctive styling. Snap some tighter suspension under it. Shove some more horses under the hood. Stick some sporty trim inside and out. Done.
It can look a bit overwrought and try-hard, but it's as if the car is in on the joke. It knows not to take itself too seriously.
Being both narrow and tall means you can scan the road ahead and maneuver nimbly though traffic. With 211 horsepower on tap (23 more than the standard Juke) the Nismo iteration gets to highway speed briskly and with the pinned-down suspension feels quite gleeful tackling corners.
Yes, I was smiling most of the week I was behind the wheel of the Nismo RS. The tester came with Nissan's Xtronic continuously variable transmission and AWD. Nissan makes a good CVT (as such things go) and the system makes a happy pair with the turbochaged four-cylinder, keeping it on-boost for vigorous acceleration.
You lose a few horsepower and some torque opting for the CVT over a manual transmission, but you can't get AWD with the manual.
Catch-22.
For my money, opt for the AWD. The small loss in power is offset by torque vectoring in the drive system, which you can feel nudge the car around corners. The added traction in a Canadian winter is a plus too.
Where the Juke Nismo RS falters from its sporty intentions is the sound. From the driver's seat it could be any other compact with a CVT attached.
The CVT has flappy-paddles if you want to play at up and down shifts. It has eight points programmed to simulate ratios but will still step in and adjust the gearing if it thinks you're pushing too hard. It's not breathtaking but can help to be in the right gear when coming out of a corner.
The interior of the Juke is best described as snug. It can seat four adults, or take some stuff in the back, but not both. The trunk space is small with the rear seats up and oddly shaped. That's the price you pay for funky styling.
There's sporting upgrades in the cabin too, such as very nice Recaro seats which hug you intimately. The instrument cluster has some extra displays that reflect the sporting intent of the car. They look cool but really don't tell you anything meaningful. The 'boost' display has no gauge on it to show how many PSI the turbo is pushing. The g-force display doesn't have markings on it to indicate how much the car is moving around, either.
The Juke Nismo RS is a different take on what a hot hatch can be. It's great to punt around when the roads permit, and do regular urban chores when they don't.
The kicker: it costs nearly $34,000 as-driven (base price: $20,698). That puts the hot Juke neck-and-neck with the likes of the Golf GTI or Subraru WRX – two more conventional, and in many ways practical, hot hatches. Those cars just don't look as funky as the Juke though, and style-conscious buyers in this segment can be a deciding factor.
Patrick Dell is senior video editor at The Globe and Mail.
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