Price: Nissan wouldn?t say, but probably close to $250,000
Competitors: 2008 Toyota Aygo 1.8 VVT-i Crazy, 2003 Nissan Micra-R
Powertrain: 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V-6, 485 hp, 434 lb-ft; 6-speed dual-clutch transmission, AWD
EPA Fuel Economy (city/highway): Not available
What?s New: Shoehorning a huge engine into a bog-standard sedan started way back with the California hot rodders after World War II. But in recent years, carmakers haven?t been able to resist the publicity of an outrageous transplant into something your granny takes to go shopping. Toyota did it with the Aygo Crazy, a 197-hp, 1.8-liter turbo version of the company?s smallest car. Nissan had the Micra-R, a 265-hp, 2.0-liter race-engined, rear-drive monster. Both were nosebleed fast, but neither was particularly good to drive, and they?re now gathering dust in company museums.
Nissan?s new Juke-R might have a bit more staying power. The project was handled by Ray Mallock Ltd, a successful race and preparation business that was the first UK importer of the GT-R?s progenitor, the Skyline GT-R, and also ran the race-winning Nissan Primera touring car team in the late 90s. They were aided and abetted by NTCE (Nissan?s European technical center at Cranfield) and NDE (Nissan?s design center in central London). Once they all rolled up their sleeves, the whole project took just 22 weeks in total.
Supercar fans may want to stop reading here, because making this monster minicrossover involved cutting up two 2010 GT-R super coupes and extracting their V-6 twin-turbo motors and amazing six-speed, dual-clutch 4x4 transmissions. The end result was an engineering test car and two "production? versions, one each with left- and right-hand drive.
The team started with a stripped Juke bodyshell, jigged up to retain its shape, into which they fitted the GT-R?s 3.8-liter twin-turbo V-6, transmission, axles, and shortened propshafts. They then fabricated a new floor and firewall, complete with pickups for the GT-R?s wishbone suspension and steering gear. New body panels were designed by Nissan?s design studios in London and molded in composite materials, just skirting the standard GT-R 20-inch wheel rims and tires. There?s not much room inside with a full roll cage, a trunk filled with air conditioning, and the whole of the rear-seat area given over to the driveline. In matte black, however, it looks mean and moody, and that?s before you climb inside.
Tech Tidbit: Calibrating the GT-R?s formidable 4x4 chassis electronics for the shorter Juke would have been a nightmare. But, as it turned out, the team didn?t have to do anything. "[The electronics system] did notice that something was different,? chief test driver Michael Mallock says, "but then it recalibrated itself all on its own. Don?t tell it, because I don?t think it realizes that it?s in a different car.? So, though the overall length, weight distribution, engine location, and chassis balance are all very different from the GT-R coupe, the Juke-R benefits from that car?s torque vectoring, which pushes torque to the wheel with the most grip and gives it the sort of handling that humbles every other crossover.
Driving Character: Climb in over the massive roll cage, drop into the racing seat, and fasten the race harnesses, and the Juke-R feels like just another marketing department road-race special you expect to ride like a bucket full of nails. But then you look around the cabin and realize that its builders put in a huge effort toward making this look and feel like a real Juke. The dashboard is 4 inches closer because of the relocated engine, but the instruments are all familiar GT-R items refitted into the Juke?s motorcycle-style binnacle. Even so, it feels pretty weird to be so high off the ground, sitting behind an upright screen, in what amounts to a supercar.
The engine starts with a boom and settles to a grumbling idle, just like the GT-R. Steering-wheel paddles handle the gear changes, so pull the right one and push the throttle. With a lurch, the Juke-R pulls slowly away before you realize that there?s another 3 inches of throttle travel. Jumping Jehoshaphat! this car is quick. And the gear change is fantastic?fast, but never brutal. The 0 to 62 mph acceleration is quoted at 3.7 seconds with a top speed of 160 mph, but with a curb weight of 3981 pounds?an increase of about 220 pounds from the standard GT-R?you don?t want to push the speed on the road or the track.
The steering feels slightly inert but also meaty as you turn in on the brakes. It grips well, but slithers wide at the front if you turn in too fast. Quickly get on the pedal and you?ll witness the Juke-R?s remarkable party trick?the tail slides wide before the transmission shuffles torque around the wheels to pull the car straight again. That said, this car is not as forgiving as a GT-R. Go into a corner too fast and you?ll slide off the asphalt, or spin, or both. The brakes are mighty, slamming you against the harness as you pull up and pretty much fade free. Above all, it?s fun in a showoff sort of way.
Favorite Detail: Nissan let its designers off the leash for once, and the result is that sexy sheet metal. With sculpted sills, racing wheel arches, and front air intakes that look like rocket-launch tubes, the Juke-R appears built for Armageddon and gives you an idea about forthcoming body additions from Nismo, Nissan?s tuning arm.
Driver?s Grievance: Okay, there?s no room inside, mainly because the trunk is full of air conditioning and the passenger footwell holds the battery. What is more of an irritant is the lurch the car makes as you take up the drive. Here the Juke-R is not alone, as the GT-R also suffers from this trait.
Bottom Line: No, Nissan isn?t going to build the Juke-R, though it had some big-money offers when the fire-breathing crossover debuted in Dubai last year. Nor is this a car to take too seriously. The price would be extreme?somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000?and you?d end up with a car that was inferior in all except the just "look-at-me? appeal to the GT-R. What the Juke-R does show, however, is that Nissan is prepared to indulge the whims of its staff in a not-so-secret skunk works, to go so far off-message that it?s almost unrecognizable, and to raise the expectations for Nismo in the coming years.
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