Nissan Juke long-term test: report 3
The original Nissan Juke was one of the best-selling cars in the UK, but this second-generation model now faces much stiffer competition. We have four months to see if it can worry the class lead...
The car Nissan Juke N-Connecta 1.0l DIG-T 117 6-speed manual Run by Louis Shaw, social media manager
Why it’s here To prove that there's more to this second-generation Juke than just distinctive looks, and that it can perform as a practical small SUV.
Needs to be Comfortable, economical and usable around town. It also needs to be able to ferry a full house and luggage on longer trips.
Mileage 2644 List price £22,395 Target Price £19,241 Price as tested £24,835 Test economy 42.0mpg Official economy 47.9mpg (combined)
7 May 2020 – Slow and steady
My Nissan Juke came 14th out of 20 cars in our inaugural infotainment test, but what does 14th place actually mean day-to-day? Well, perhaps not as bad as the scorecard suggests. And besides, given that you're paying more for rivals like the Audi Q2 and BMW X2, you'd expect them to perform better, right? (spoiler alert: they do.)
I’ll admit, I don't push infotainment systems to the limit; I’ve typically only investigated half of the menus on previous cars I've owned. For me, the most important thing is that the fundamentals are sound: i.e. radio functionality, and simple navigation input.
Voice control can help, and the Juke's is usable – despite, as we discovered, being slow to react to commands – but personally I prefer to navigate with physical buttons either on the wheel or on the system itself.
In that regard, there’s a lot to be grateful for in the Juke. You get shortcut buttons for all of the key functions (map, radio, etc) and while the fan and temperature controls are tucked away under the air vents, I still find them easily accessible on the move.
Having now spent a fair amount of time in the car, I seldom need to look over at the air conditioning buttons to set my temperature or fan speed, whereas drivers of modern Peugeots and Volvos will likely always have to do this, because those brands place everything on touchscreens.
Unfortunately, the Juke's touchscreen also has its issues. For starters, it can be unresponsive at times, often forcing you to double-prod the screen much in the way you frantically call on a slow lift. And while you do get a scroll wheel for going up and down menus, this isn’t exactly Rolex precise; with the sat-nav, it can be prone to overshooting when you’re zooming in.
Still, despite these shortcomings, I've never felt like I want to tear my hair out. If you're happy with a relatively basic system that works well enough (at least most of the time), the Juke gets a pass.
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