The Nissan Juke: We Talk About It

[Sniffs]

Note to Calos Goshen. fire the nissan design team that conceived this turd before they breed!

it's us yanks that'r supposed to have the weird looking crap. they'll probably get sued for copyright infringement on Ugly by the US auto industry.

 

[ND4SPD]

Looks like this one sat in the oven a little too long...

 

[Jim Prower]

Note to Calos Goshen. fire the nissan design team that conceived this turd before they breed!

it's us yanks that'r supposed to have the weird looking crap. they'll probably get sued for copyright infringement on Ugly by the US auto industry.

Wait a sec...Nissan is owned by Renault...which is FRENCH!

All is clear, now!

 

[Northstar]

it's us yanks that'r supposed to have the weird looking crap. they'll probably get sued for copyright infringement on Ugly by the US entire auto industry.

Have you seen half the crap that has been released lately?

 

[Jondot]

Wait a sec...Nissan is owned by Renault...which is FRENCH!

All is clear, now!

Hey hey hey! This has very little Renault in it at all. Renault (by and large) design smooth, maybe slightly controversial looking cars. This looks like Peugeot snuck into the design studio while nobody was looking.

That's actually pretty convincing. I could so work for Geely.

 

[homeforsummer]

Wait a sec...Nissan is owned by Renault...which is FRENCH!

All is clear, now!

What, pray tell, is wrong with French cars (apart from Peugeots)?...

That's actually pretty convincing. I could so work for Geely.

 

[Jim Prower]

Okay, okay, I get it. But maybe Renault's more wierd people moved over to Nissan and started adopting Anime styling cues. I dunno.

 

[LSX]

Looks like a rally raid truck or whatever those things were in GT4 adapted to the street.

Or a happy snake with the headlights, grill, and chrome surrounding the headlights. Or a pikachu. Maybe

 

[Rue]

I think this looks great! But then again I like the Panamera too...

 

[NLxAROSA]

...So I'm the only one who likes it?

Nope, I like it too, looks great! 👍

 

[Micdog49]

Holy hell! This is too futuristic. If they are actually going to sell these, then that will get hardly no where. That model won't last long probably. If Nissan is going to stay up, they have to keep fighting to it.

People bought the Micra, didn't they?

 

[Jondot]

People bought the Micra, didn't they?

How is that a fair comparison?

The Micra wasn't this controversial. It was (and is) slightly strange looking, but arguably still a cutesy little thing. Which was logical as it's a supermini, traditionally bought by grandmothers and teenage girls. Not to mention that superminis sell in droves in most of Europe.

This Juke thing has a very complex design and sits in a class that I'm fairly certain doesn't yet exist. So nobody knows whether or not that design will appeal to its market, simply because it doesn't have one yet. Or whether the general public even want a crossover this size, let alone one that looks like this.

 

[homeforsummer]

This Juke thing has a very complex design and sits in a class that I'm fairly certain doesn't yet exist. So nobody knows whether or not that design will appeal to its market, simply because it doesn't have one yet. Or whether the general public even want a crossover this size, let alone one that looks like this.

A market that the MINI Countryman and Citroen DS4 will soon also occupy. It's an increasing niche, by the looks of things.

 

[YSSMAN]

I think this looks great! But then again I like the Panamera too...

Thing is, I like the Panamera. This one though, I'm not so sure about. I'd say about 80% of the look is passable, but the front is just an absolute disaster. This, of course, may be one of those vehicles that just look better in person. Like the Panamera...

 

[Daniel]

Take out the fog lights and put them on the bottom, make the Headlights more subtle. And straighten out the grill due to the missing fog lights. I'd like that

 

[harrytuttle]

I'm sorry I'm late to this but I had to reply.

It's horrible. Front to back, top to bottom, just plain horrible. The front looks like it got kicked in the goolies so hard they're lodged up along the jowls and the poor guy will be wincing until Christmas. On top of that, the entire proportions (as seen from both the front and the side) resemble an Alfa Mito that's been overinflated by about 30% and the seams are starting to bulge. The interior (vaguely 370Z-ish main instrutments notwithstanding) is nothing more than a late-90's import scene fiberglass glossfest. And just because goofy boomerang taillights have been used before, that doesn't mean they should be used again.


I don't know what's come over designers these days. You've got older guys who've lost their mind or have totally stagnated, young guys who have 'discovered' the Xerox machine, or cars designed by no one in particular (a.k.a., the committee). Good car design is few and far between. It used to be that companies at least tried to do something inoffensive, but unfortunately we are bombarded with "bold, new ideas" that are more like a sip of sewage than a fresh cuppa.

 

[homeforsummer]

Pfft, you old moaning git

Seriously though, I disagree. But you made me laugh.

 

[Tornado]

I think the rear on this (by which I mean everything behind the front doors) looks even worse than the front. At least the front is ugly in a way that suggests strength.

 

[JB-BMW1989]

This crappy car is the history of crappy cars. I laughed so hard, the car killed me with its POS factor. That is the biggest reason to not own a Nissan.

 

[Philly]

Who said it was a bad car? Ugly, yes. Crappy? Who knows...

It's similar to the X6. It's extremely pointless but it's still a good vehicle.

 

[CTznOfTime]

sorry for replying only to the very first post without reading the posts after:

Let's NOT associate "bad" (subjective) car design with car segment.

What i mean here is that:
The critics by some of us here on this car's design seems to overshadow the market and new car segment Nissan is trying to pierce into.

More precisely, looking at the pictures, you guys should keep in mind that:
The novelty here is not so much in the "interesting" design per say, but rather in the relatively new idea and concept: the Micro-SUV (my terms)

We all know that the car industry is oversaturated at this point in time.
Therefore it is natural for all car manufacturer to invent new and interesting ways of moving our arses around on four wheels.

We had:
1) SUVs: Suburban and Expeditions and other Cadillacs
2) then XL-suv: Suburban, and Excursions, and Hummers
3) then Medium-sized SUV : X5, Cayenne, ML, Cherookee, Explorer
4) then Small Suv : CR-V, RAV-4, X3, and soon X1, GLK, A5
5) then Cross-Overs : Toyota Versa, BMW 5GT, Highlanders, BMW X6

and now, we have:
6) what i call the Micro-SUV, or the XS-suv. The Nissan Puke! and MINI Cross


In this case, Nissan seem to have taken the approach of an Small car, and make it an SUV... i can see this car go up the MINI cross-over (soon to be released)
Personnally, i think this is a Cool Idea and concept. (i am not talking about the design here)


===============================================



Having clearly straightening this out, let's talk about the Design of the Juke:

Overall, i think the car could grow on us... and if they tweek it a little bit, make it look better and more acceptable...

BUT The most disturbing thing about this car to me is:
the 4 Eyes up front... which ones are the main beams?

All cars have 2 "eyes", BUT this one seems to have Four of them...
it's too crazy for me... but i am sure we will get used to it.

So i agree with this POST >>>

The poor little guy doesn't have a face... Without any real headlights that stand out, the front end looks like the butt end just as much as the rear.

If it had a front that didn't look like it belongs on the back of a car... Well, I can't say I'd like it either. The front distracts a lot from the rest of the body and interior which seems like a pretty meh mix of good and bad.

Otherwise, this seems to be a good car with good dynamics! Bring it ON! I like it ... BUT NISSAN please change change change that front!!!!

 

[Omnis]

Who said it was a bad car? Ugly, yes. Crappy? Who knows...

It's similar to the X6. It's extremely pointless but it's still a good vehicle.

X6? Might as well get a range rover.

 

[JB-BMW1989]

Why is it similar to the X6? It should be similar to the Toyota RSC. Like so,

 

[Philly]

We had:
1) SUVs: Suburban and Expeditions and other Cadillacs
2) then XL-suv: Suburban, and Excursions, and Hummers
3) then Medium-sized SUV : X5, Cayenne, ML, Cherookee, Explorer
4) then Small Suv : CR-V, RAV-4, X3, and soon X1, GLK, A5
5) then Cross-Overs : Toyota Versa, BMW 5GT, Highlanders, BMW X6

and now, we have:
6) what i call the Micro-SUV, or the XS-suv. The Nissan Puke! and MINI Cross

Isn't anything on a unibody car chassis technically a CUV? I think that would make most things in (3) and above decnically crossovers...

Why is it similar to the X6? It should be similar to the Toyota RSC. Like so,

The Juke is similar to the X6 in the way that you can't classify whether or not it's a good vehicle based on appearance ect. You can't decide how 'good' the Juke is based on looks. You can't conclude that the X6 is terrible to drive because of the niche it fills. It's the same concept.

And for the record, yes, the X6 and Juke are very different vehicles.

 

[a6m5]

I like it. But I wish they also got adventurous on the functionality end, too. I would have built this thing like the old Bronco, Blazer, 4Runner. From the front part of the cab, make it into a pickup bed rear. Foldable rear bucket seat, removable soft/hard top. I'd have been very interested. Still, Suzuki doesn't know how to do it anymore, so I like someone else taking a crack at the micro SUV segment.

 

[JB-BMW1989]

Obviously, they are different. The Nissan Juke is meant to compete against the Toyota Rush, the Mini Countryman and probably the Kia Soul.

 

[niky]

Suzuki knows. However, a real micro-SUV is too crude a creature to make it in the US:

Ladder frame, twin live-axles, low-range transfer case... you can't get any more SUV than that.

It's still one of the most capable off-roaders you can buy with your money... as well as being one of the cheapest. I still dream of ways to actually sneak one past my wife on the yearly budget...

 

[Sniffs]

Niky: you got that backwards. it'd probably sell like hotcakes. it's a TRUCK, and that's what Americans want. something old fashioned and that doesn't take a Ph. D. in engineering to change a light-bulb in.

 

[Boffin]

I don't think the Jimny was sold in auto, and I think I remember a statistic saying only 20% of Americans can drive manual.

Could be (and probably am) wrong on both counts though. 👍

 

[niky]

I didn't say it wouldn't sell. Just that it wouldn't make it onto the market. Most likely would fall afoul of crash regulations (it's a really old car underneath) and rollover tests. It might be long enough after the Consumer Reports rollover fiasco that the public would accept it, though.

Too bad it's only available nowadays with a 1.3 liter engine (dog slow) and an even smaller diesel... neither of which will appeal too much to American buyers. But for people looking for off-roading on the cheap, it's the bomb.

To get slightly back on topic... with new players coming into the small SUV segment, it might be a good time for Suzuki to bring out a more modern Jimny... maybe something based on the Swift/SX4 platform... since they can do 4x4 better than almost everyone else and they also do a pretty mean subcompact when they put their minds to it, they could really make a good go at this segment.