Test drive Nissan Juke Nismo RS
An urban compact crossover with an appearance that leaves almost no one indifferent, a bestseller in its segment - this is how the Juke is known. The crossover is mainly used by the weaker sex. But now Nissan has a counter argument ...
At the time of its introduction in 2010, the Nissan Juke made a splash in the automotive market. An urban compact crossover with an appearance that leaves almost no one indifferent, a bestseller in its segment - this is how the Juke is known. The crossover is mainly used by the weaker sex - it is almost impossible to meet a man behind the wheel of an SUV. Now Nissan has a counter-argument - the sporty Juke Nismo RS. The novelty spent only a few days in our editorial office, but this was enough to deal with its target audience.
Shows off, shows off, spins in front of shop window mirrors. Not a beauty, but with a twinkle in her eyes and in excellent shape. She fills the space with herself and presses on you with her exposed muscles. Bright coloring, deliberately strong body kit, fashionable LEDs - all in order to attract, bewitch and drag you into a hug. In the arms of inappropriate sports seats with mockingly powerful lateral support. Such that from the first time you can’t get out of the chairs - you will catch on with your shoulder, then you will kiss with your fifth point.
For the role of a hot hatch, the Juke is too tall, uncomfortable and slow. But maybe you should have just opted for a manual transmission? After all, it is usually not far from love to hate, and this distance, perhaps, does not exceed one single line of the price list.
Technique
The Juke Nismo RS is powered by a 1,6 DiG-T uprated engine. Depending on the drive and transmission, the power of the power unit varies. The front-wheel drive version with a 6-speed “mechanics” is 218-horsepower (280 Nm), while the engine of the all-wheel drive crossover with a CVT produces 214 horsepower (250 Newton meters). The acceleration time to 100 kilometers per hour is also different. The less powerful Juke, which we had in the test, exchanges the first hundred in 8 seconds, and the 218-horsepower car is exactly a second faster and can accelerate to 220 km/h (all-wheel drive - only up to 200 km/h). The average fuel consumption in the combined cycle for the version with the CVT is declared at 7,4 liters per 100 kilometers.
Power? Drive? The fire? The engine hums aggressively and promises a thrust shaft, the Juke starts off abruptly, like an empty trolley bus, but then ... Where does all this ostentatious aggression disappear, once the car reaches cruising city speed? It seems that there is a full-fledged 218 hp, but either the transmission or the accelerator settings do not fully realize them.
Delays when you press the gas, the tedious howl of the variator, and the longed-for traction seems to be ground somewhere in the depths of the gearbox. I activate the dynamic mode, looking at the cartoons on the console displays, I try again - and the same story. Is that the accelerator becomes a little more nervous. Noise, hysteria, frustration. A CVT that wastes the full potential of the engine so toothlessly and insipidly is not what it should be here. And the cheerful display graphics, along with all the mode switches, now seem like stupid rhinestones, a worthless toy.
The answer is a hard blow. The car refused to relax the muscles of the inflated suspension and gave us a good shake on the bumps of the speed bump. I might be ready to forgive the rigidity for the accuracy and responsiveness of the chassis, but the ostentatious impoliteness is not. And therefore we disperse, without resentment and mutual obligations. And you won't lure me in with LED headlights, or red stitching in leather, or those hard sports seats.
For the role of a hot hatch, the Juke is too tall, uncomfortable and slow. But maybe you should have just opted for a manual transmission? After all, it is usually not far from love to hate, and this distance, perhaps, does not exceed one single line of the price list.
The power of the power unit (on a regular Juke Nismo it produces exactly 200 hp) has been increased due to a new tuning of the control program and the use of a different exhaust system. The all-wheel drive system has also been upgraded. The suspension of the fastest version of the Juke differs from the standard by the presence of stiffer shock absorbers, different spring settings and larger brake discs. The size of the front ones increased from 296 to 320 mm, while the rear ones became ventilated. The RS body, due to the reinforcement in the area of the central tunnel, roof attachment and C-pillars, became 4% more torsional stiffness.
The world of "charged" cars for me began not with the letters GTI, but with the banal inscription Turbo on the trunk lid of the neighboring Ford Sierra. I remember how the elder brother of a comrade dashingly entered the turn next to the school, demonstrating all the advantages of oversteer. Then, by the way, it turned out that the engine on the Sierra was naturally aspirated - 2,3-liter. But it was an honest, extremely simple car with a dark velor interior, burned with cigarettes.
Prices and the
In Russia, the most affordable version of the Juke Nismo RS will cost at least $ 21. For this money, the buyer will receive a 586-horsepower version with front-wheel drive. The complete set of the car includes eight airbags, a child seat mount, exchange rate stability system, lane change assistants, lane change assistants, 218-inch wheels, aerodynamic body kit, sports seats, xenon headlights, rain and light sensors, cruise control, keyless entry system and navigation.
After 13 years, I discovered a new world of "charged" cars - B-class crossovers with very powerful motors and a completely unprepared chassis. No oversteer and Nismo RS instead of Turbo lettering. Fortunately, the interior is the same - velor. The fastest Juke does not give the impression of an evil car - from a place the crossover picks up speed somehow reluctantly, howling a variator. CVT on a car with a sports claim, you say?
But with all those aerodynamic body kits, "buckets", a black ceiling and endless Nismo inscriptions, the car added a few more points in charisma. And while fans of "Minions" are considering the cartoon character in the fog lamp, I see there, rather, a wind tunnel. But for some reason, the Juke does not produce such enthusiasm for those around it: the neighbors downstream do not understand who they are dealing with, constantly cutting and overtaking even before a traffic light. “Oh, it’s not a girl driving? Well, sorry, ”I read in the eyes of the driver of the old Audi A6. Every time I try to draw attention to myself with the roar of a 1,6-liter engine, from which they removed as much as 214 horsepower. In vain.
A less powerful, but all-wheel drive version is more expensive - from $ 23. The complete set of the car is absolutely the same, and no options can be selected even for an additional fee. As for competitors, Nismo RS has only one - Mini John Coopers Works Countryman. This 749-horsepower car accelerates to 218 km / h in 100 seconds, also has an original, memorable appearance, but costs more: from $ 7. for the version with "mechanics".
For $ 23, you can buy the all-wheel drive Mini Cooper S Countryman with a manual transmission. Power - 562 hp, and acceleration to 184 km / h - 100 seconds. The car's equipment is poorer than that of the Juke: there are only six pillows, and for the sports suspension you will have to pay an additional $ 7,9., And for the bi-xenon headlights - another $ 162.
I remember friends complaining about wives demanding to sell their newly bought crossovers and stand in line for the Nissan Juke. I was sincerely surprised by women's preferences: outwardly, the crossover resembles a giant insect, and, to be honest, I'm afraid of them. Years passed, and "Dzhukov" became on the roads more and more. But here we got a Juke Nismo RS for the test, and I feel like 18 again. On the Juke, I want to be frivolous: the first to start from a traffic light, winding from row to row, it is pointless to accelerate - and all this with an open window to loud music. In Juke Nismo you feel like a driver who passed his license three months ago, but has already got used to the road.
History
In 2011, Carlos Ghosn decided to actively promote Nismo, Nissan's sports division, in Europe. The firstborn of this strategy was the "charged" Juke. Representatives of the Japanese company then explained this by the fact that the stock car has a striking design, relative versatility and great popularity around the world.
Anyone who gets into the Nismo RS for the first time should know that the beautiful black and red buckets from Recaro are extremely unfriendly. The hard sidewalls of the seats are capable of causing pain when landing. It was not easy to adjust the backrest with the inclination I needed: the mechanical lever is located in such a place that even a woman's hand can hardly get through there. Alcantara details are present in the interior decoration. For example, the steering wheel is partially sheathed with this material. But I still don't understand if I like it. The Juke Nismo RS also has a screen that displays information about fuel consumption, boost and other indicators. But the vibrant colors, large fonts and simple graphics make the screen look like a toy. All this does not allow to take the car seriously. And does she need a serious attitude?
Let colleagues scold the Juke Nismo RS for its sluggish CVT, but I liked feeling younger. In my opinion, Nismo RS is a very emotional car. Someone will say that a car is just iron and you should not attribute human qualities to it. But how to explain that "Juk" constantly made me smile?
The idea worked one hundred percent: in 2013-2014, sales of a sports crossover in Europe accounted for 3% of all Juke sales. Given the popularity of the model, the numbers are excellent. Unsurprisingly, Nissan decided to go even further and in 2014 introduced a more powerful version of the crossover - the Nismo RS. The model reached Russia only by the middle of 2015.
In fact, the history of the sporty Juke began even earlier and not with the Nismo at all. In 2011, Nissan worked with RML (which made Chevrolet cars for the WTCC and MG-Lola for Le Mans) to create a monster: a crossover with a GT-R engine.
The 22-week effort resulted in two Juke-Rs, one right-hand drive and one left-hand drive. Both lacked rear seats and other attributes unnecessary for a real combat sports car, and the air conditioning system, for example, was moved to the trunk, since there was no room for it under the hood. The forced 485-horsepower engine propelled the Juke-R to 100 km / h in just 3,7 seconds. Cars were taken to various races as show cars. After a huge amount of positive feedback, it was decided to entrust Nismo with the creation of a production sports car based on the Juke.
There is a problem. I cannot touch suede, corduroy, velvet and other tactilely similar surfaces. And when it was my turn to try out the Juke Nismo RS, I found myself in personal hell. Alcantara on the ceiling, on the seats, on the paneling, everywhere - even on the steering wheel, right under your hands, and therefore mastered the progressive "12 by 6" grip, for which any normal auto instructor would shoot me point-blank. Moreover, it is extremely inconvenient to sit down because of the hypertrophied lateral support of the "adult" Recaro racing buckets. For what?
It took a couple of corners and five minutes in hectic, unsettled evening rush hour traffic to embrace all this suede frenzy, because driving the Juke Nismo RS is an unbridled thrill. Even in our first acquaintance with the Juke - ordinary, without nismo-injection - I was impressed with how it nimbly climbs over the icy hills in the quarter of new buildings, clubfoot with swollen "crossover" wheel arches. But in the Nismo variation, this is no longer a miniature crossover. On the contrary, some people in glasses and dressing gowns have enlarged the fictional sports car from "Micromachines" on the Sega by an unimaginable number of times. It's not even so much in appearance as in absolutely toy handling. Sometimes it seems as if he does not obey the laws of physics and at any moment can jump over three rows and jump 120 km / h in that 90-degree turn. And if anything, there is always a "Restart" button. Or not, it's in the game.
The sports division of Nissan (Nismo - Nissan Motorsport) could not have gotten a less gambling car. Forget everything you know about the Juke's target audience - it is not for them and it is definitely not capable of driving smoothly. A sharp, jerky, disturbing roar when accelerating, he taunts those who tolerate in the stream or, not recognizing Nismo body kits and red side mirrors, trying to squeeze in front, as in front of a regular Juke. Probably, I must say here that this is bad - there is a place for such cars on the track. But try to drive it yourself without incident for at least a couple of kilometers and, perhaps, then your words will not be regarded as hypocrisy.
Despite the infinitely variable variator, which is not at all suitable for such a "Juke", Nismo has put together an amazingly driving thing. It is fashionable, provocative ... but very expensive. And all this damn Alcantara.
