The original Nissan Juke was a game-changer – it shaped the small SUV landscape forever, thanks to its quirky styling and characterful cabin. But while it took Nissan almost a decade to launch a new one, the second-generation car couldn’t replicate its predecessor’s winning formula.
That’s partly because the market is now awash with talented rivals, but also due to the way the new car has been set up. The engineers have prioritised sharp handling, and as a result the Juke can feel a little brittle on UK roads. It’s bigger inside than before, but it’s still not the most practical model in its class. Limited engine choice and a long-throw manual gearbox cement its place just behind some seriously accomplished competition.
The second-generation Nissan Juke is clearly recognisable as an evolution of the original compact crossover. The car’s slim daytime running lights and oversized headlamps mimic the old version’s, while the pronounced haunches and hidden rear door handles are another nod to the original. It’s grown, but the benefit is an interior that is bigger in every direction.
Based on the same platform as the Renault Clio and Captur, the new Nissan Juke shares plenty of common parts with its French friends. The Captur is more intelligently packaged, however, offering things like a sliding rear bench and up to 536 litres of boot space. Still, there’s much to like about the Nissan’s interior, including a logically laid-out dashboard and lots of adjustment in the driver’s seat.
The Juke perhaps doesn’t feel as well built or high-quality as a Skoda Kamiq, but there’s loads of kit and the dials are easy to read. The large central touchscreen isn’t the most responsive, but at least you get physical shortcut buttons along the bottom of the screen, and you can use Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (Acenta and above) to bypass Nissan’s sub-standard infotainment set-up.
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If you go for Tekna trim, you get Nissan’s Advanced Safety Shield. This offers various semi-autonomous features such as the firm’s Intelligent Around View Monitor, adaptive cruise control, autonomous emergency braking, blind spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. In Tekna guise, the Juke will take care of the steering, accelerator and brakes, monitoring its surroundings for smooth motorway driving.
Elsewhere, even entry-level Visia cars get LED lights, a DAB radio, cruise control and traffic sign recognition. Acenta builds on this with 17-inch alloy wheels, a rear-view camera and Nissan’s eight-inch touchscreen with smartphone connectivity.
N-Connecta features keyless go, a leather trimmed steering wheel and climate control, while Tekna and Tekna+ pile on the kit with 19-inch wheels, a Bose stereo and a Heat Pack with heated seats and heated windscreen.
Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment
The Nissan Juke’s infotainment system isn’t as intuitive or as responsive as the best set-ups in the supermini class, but at least it’s packed with functionality; all but the very cheapest Visia model gets a touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
We’d step up to at least the Acenta to get this kit. Doing so also gives you access to NissanConnect Services, as well as a useful (if slightly grainy) reversing camera. That rear window isn’t the biggest, so this could come in handy when parking in tight spots.
We love the Bose Personal Plus Audio System on Tekna and Tekna+ grade cars. This set-up features speakers set into the front headrests, which means you not only get a much clearer sound, but it’s less harmful to your hearing. The quality is really very good, and works well no matter what kind of music, radio or Podcast you like to listen to.
The new Nissan Juke has been tuned for UK roads, or, more specifically, on the roundabouts of Milton Keynes. The car’s engineers have worked hard to make the Juke more fun to drive, and in some ways they’ve achieved this. In others, not so much.
The Juke is based on the same small car platform as the latest Renault Clio and Captur, yet it drives quite differently. While the French siblings prioritise comfort, the Nissan feels much stiffer and more alert. Body control is excellent, but the trade off is a firm ride. The chassis is rigid, yet the Juke manages not to crash too terribly through bumps and potholes. It does fidget at higher speeds, however, with seemingly little suspension travel to soak up small imperfections in the road. Strangely, it didn’t seem any worse on the larger 19-inch wheels – so don’t avoid these purely in the pursuit of improved ride quality.
For a car of this type, the Juke does handle quite well. There’s very little roll in the bends and grip is good. The steering is light and doesn’t offer all that much feel, however, and the long-throw manual gearbox – and oddly spongy pedals – mean it’s not always that easy to drive smoothly.
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We’ve got reservations over the single engine option, too. While it feels punchy enough around town, it can feel laggy, with a tendency to bog down if you try to pull away without many revs. The DCT auto is better in this regard, but it’s jerky at slow speeds and you might find it changing down a gear more often than you’d like – especially on steeper inclines.
Engines, 0-60 acceleration and top speed
At launch there’s only one engine for the Nissan Juke, although buyers do get a choice of manual or automatic transmissions. The latter adds around £1,400 to the car’s list price.
The 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine has 115bhp and 200Nm of torque, which pulls the Juke along with reasonable efficiency – but only if you keep the revs up. Officially, 0-62mph takes 10.4 seconds for the manual, or 11.1 seconds in the DCT auto, although our official tests (on the manual car) showed these numbers were hard to replicate. The long-throw gearbox and spongy pedals don’t help.
Still, the engine is relatively quiet, although there’s quite a bit of tyre noise – especially on the biggest 19-inch wheels. And despite its sleek body, wind noise can be an issue at higher speeds; rivals are quieter.
The latest Nissan Juke is a thoroughly modern small SUV that’s offered with an array of active safety and driver assistance systems: all models get an emergency call system, cruise control with speed limiter, automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning and traffic sign recognition.
Mid-range Tekna models add traffic jam and lane-keep assist, along with active cruise control, driver alertness monitoring, blind-spot warning and intervention, plus rear cross traffic alert and an extra Isofix point on the front passenger seat.
All this tech helped the Juke achieve an emphatic five-star rating from Euro NCAP, with 94 and 85 per cent ratings for adult and child occupant safety respectively. An 81 per cent rating in the Vulnerable Road Users category is impressive, while a 73 per cent Safety Assist rating helps bump up the overall score.
The latest Juke is too new to have featured in our Driver Power owner satisfaction survey but we’ve little reason to doubt its reliability or ownership experience. The old model managed a decent 27th-place finish in the 2019 Driver Power survey despite being almost a decade old; owners loved its safety features, styling, infotainment and reliability. Just 2.9 per cent of owners reported experiencing a fault – the lowest proportion of any car in the survey.
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Warranty
All Nissan models are covered by a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty that’s a match for the identical warranties offered by Ford, Skoda and Volkswagen, amongst others. Hyundai’s five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty is still amongst the best, applied in this class to the great Kona SUV. Kia also beats most other manufacturers hands down with its seven-year, 100,000-mile offering on the Stonic.
Servicing
Service intervals are scheduled at every 12,500 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. Fixed-price servicing deals are available and very easy to understand – for petrol models (the only Juke available currently) a minor service costs £209 and a major service will cost £289.
Despite its myriad specs, there is only one body style to choose from when specifying your new Nissan Juke. Every version gets five doors and five seats, plus a decent-sized boot and roomy cabin.
The driving position is far more adjustable than before; you sit low, and the steering wheel now moves fore and aft, as well as up and down. Visibility is fine out the front, but the small side windows and rear windscreen can make parking more of a challenge that it needs to be.
In terms of cabin storage, there are some large door bins and a sizeable glovebox, but the cubby between the front seats is only just big enough for a modern smartphone and the small area ahead of the gearlever is little better. In the back, there are another pair of door bins big enough for a 500ml bottle of water.
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Size
The second-generation Nissan Juke is 35mm wider and 75mm longer than the original, and it certainly looks more imposing on the road thanks to its raised haunches and bulbous front end. However, at a little over 4.2m long, it’s slightly shorter than a Skoda Kamiq.
Leg room, head room & passenger space
Think of the Nissan Juke as an SUV equivalent of the firm’s Micra supermini, and you’ll get some idea of the space on offer. The boot is bigger, yes, but that sloping roofline means it feels quite dark and cramped in the back seats. That said, adults should be able to get comfortable, with enough headroom for those under six-feet tall.
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Boot
The Nissan Juke’s boot is much bigger than before, and sizes up well in this class. However, while it shares a platform with the Renault Captur, it doesn’t get its trick sliding bench, so there’s no option to extend the 422-litre load bay without lowering the rear seats. Do so and you’ll create a 1,088-litre load area, which should be enough for most jobs.
Worthy of note is the Juke’s wider boot opening. The old model’s tailgate was shaped to make space for the rear light clusters, whereas the new car’s design splits them in two for improved practicality. There’s a moveable boot floor; in its highest setting you’ll sacrifice some space, but the flipside is that you won’t have to contend with any kind of nasty load lip.
The fixed parcel shelf attaches to the bootlid via a pair of strings and lifts out easily, although it feels super flimsy and there’s nowhere to store it. Wiggle it in, and there’s enough space for a road bike in the back.
The Nissan Juke is available with just one engine – a 1.0-litre three-cylinder with 115bhp. Emissions and fuel economy are largely dictated by gearbox type and wheel size; Nissan quotes 45.6–47.9mpg for the manual and 44.1–46.3mpg for the seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, while CO2 ranges from 110 to 118g/km, with the automatic the marginally cleaner option.
Company car users will be best served by the automatic thanks to those slightly lower emissions. In entry-level Acenta trim and with the automatic, CO2 sits at 110g/km, which equates to a 26 per cent BiK rate in the 2019/2020 tax year and 27 per cent in 2020/2021.
All models get stop/start as standard, as well as an Eco drive mode that helps save fuel – but you’ll notice a drop in performance as a result.
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Insurance groups
The Juke is unlikely to break the bank in the insurance stakes; the car occupies groups 13 and 14 (out of 50). Insurance will be more expensive when larger engines are added to the range, however. Its Skoda Kamiq rival sits in groups 11 to 17 depending on engine choice.
Depreciation
Our experts predict that the Juke will retain around 47 to 50 per cent of its value after 36 months and 36,000 miles come trade-in time. By contrast, the closely related Renault Captur is expected to hold on to around 41 to 48 per cent over the same period.
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