Nissan Juke: Changes required

The Nissan Juke has been in production since 2010. It is a subcompact crossover SUV that has gained its fan following mainly because of the way it looks. Nissan wanted its designers to come up with something extraordinary and so they did. The Philippines market has witnessed the arrival of the Juke years ago, and ever since this car has made a spot for itself in this gigantic automobile industry.

Pros and cons are just like the two sides of a coin. Irrespective of the popularity there are people who dislike the Juke. So, here are a few changes that we think are necessary to make the Nissan Juke more appealing to a wider audience.

Design and looks

Nissan really wanted to make the Juke stand out from the usual lot of cars. But, perhaps, it pushed the envelope a bit too far because the design of the Juke is something that many wouldn’t like or appreciate. It features a separated headlight design with the boomerang-kind turn signals mounted on the bonnet or hood and the headlights being situated below them in the front bumper. The rear end of the Juke has got the same boomerang-kind of a tail light cluster that pops out of the body of the car. So, yes, the Nissan Juke has got a very unconventional look which might turn off many potential buyers.

Steering wheel adjustment

It is quite difficult to attain a perfect driving position as per your liking in the Nissan Juke because the steering wheel is allowed to be adjusted only in up and down directions. There’s no way of adjusting the range of the steering wheel which hinders in the path of getting the right driving position.

Rear passenger space

The Nissan Juke has got a sloping roofline thanks to the design of the car. This sloping roofline restricts the amount of headroom rear passengers have. Also, the large C-pillar and small rear door window darkens out things at the back, giving a claustrophobic feeling to the people in the back seat. The legroom is also not that great when compared to that of the Nissan Juke competitors.

Uncomfortable seats

The seats in the Juke do provide a good amount of support but what they lack in is the comfort. Somehow they fail to provide the kind of comfort that you seek in a car, especially during long road trips.

Outdated Nissan Integrated Control System (I-CON)

The Juke has been given a series of switches at the centre console to adjust the climate control functions and driving modes which Nissan calls the Integrated Control System (I-CON). However, this entire assembly seems to be outdated. The knobs and switches feel flimsy to use. Also, the display at the centre isn’t clear and reading the digits on it is quite a task in itself. There is also a switch that displays information related to the driving modes like G-force or engine torque. We think that this is not a useful feature because someone driving a Juke wouldn’t really care about all that data, and even if he/she does the display is located way below the eye level of the driver and has got poor visibility.

Android Auto and Apple CarPlay

This is a feature that all the modern-day cars should have. The Android Auto and Apple CarPlay make life so much easier when it comes to connecting your smartphone with the touchscreen display of the car. Once done, you can easily browse through your music, contacts, navigation, etc. It is a really cool and handy feature.

More airbags

Another feature that we think should be available on all cars is a higher number of airbags. Airbags are among the basic safety features that a car can have and they are very effective in preventing serious injuries in case of unfortunate events. The Nissan Juke specs sheet reads two airbags (driver and front passenger) only. It would be better to see more of them in the coming models.

So, these were some of the changes that we think the Juke need to get to a large audience. At present, the Nissan Juke variants include only a single model - 1.6 UPPER CVT. If we look at the Juke specifications, this car is powered by a 1.6-liter engine that produces 116 PS of max power and 154 Nm of peak torque. It is mated to a CVT.

There are 4 different Juke colors to choose from - Pearl White, Black Obsidian, Red Alert and Solar Yellow. These are specifically chosen to enhance the car’s appearance and road presence. As far as the money is concerned, the Nissan Juke price at present is Php 1.02 million.