What happens when you cross a supercar-slaying, performance icon of its generation, with a popular family SUV? Although they might at first appear to be a ludicrous pairing, using elements from both has created something extraordinary.
Complete with its 480bhp GT-R sourced 3.8 twin-turbocharged V6, it’s quite hard to get your head around at first. The Juke is an odd-looking thing in its tamest of guises, but when it’s dressed in sinister matte black, sat on those familiar 20-inch GT-R alloy wheels and with a whole host of aero enhancements, there’s no denying it’s taken on some of the GT-R’s menacing styling cues and it's worked well.
Open the back doors and you’re not greeted by the usual rear seats. Your eyes meet a full competition-spec roll cage, and there are five-point harnesses for the front OMP bucket seats. It’s a bizarre thing to behold.
Getting into the driving position is quite an arduous task in itself. Once you’ve negotiated your legs over the roll cage bar, you’re immediately clasped in by the seat. It’s certainly a snug fit, but once you’re harnessed in and anticipation levels are at an all-time high, you brace yourself for what’s to come.
As with the GT-R, it’s easy to move off the line as it shares the same semi-auto gearbox. It’ll shuffle along through its speeds with consummate ease. It’s a strange thing as your eyes recognise the familiar Juke interior cues but then they catch things such as the GT-R rev counter, the speedo, and the GT-R–style G-meter screen which tells you everything you could ever need to know about how the car's behaving.
So what does a 480bhp Nissan Juke feel like on full power? It’s absolutely bonkers. Stamp on the throttle and as with its bigger brother, there’s instant traction and instantaneous momentum generated by that fantastic engine. It’s not quite as fast as the GT-R, but there are many similar characteristics in the two cars.
First up, the brutality in the way they pile on speed is evident. Zero to 60mph takes just 3.7 seconds in the Juke-R, so it’s supercar fast. Then, because the two share the same four-wheel-drive set-up, that invincible point-to-point pace is there as well. It’s also got that same feel to its responses when you’re pushing its limits as it manages to feel hugely lighter than it actually is. At 1806kg, it’s a heavy car, but you’d swear the car’s a few-hundred kilos lighter once it’s on the move. The noise is louder in the Juke-R, as inside it’s much more pseudo-racer than the GT-R is. Although there are no race-spec materials to the touch, its hip-hugging seat and harness immediately gives the driver a completely different mind-set, as opposed to the relative luxury you're used to in the GT-R.
The rear’s much more playful in the Juke-R, too. It’ll understeer at first, and then oversteer if you’re overly ambitious with the throttle. It’s not the confidence-killing type of inconsistency though, as it’s very easy to judge on the limit and the four-wheel-drive offers its driver a huge margin for error.
As Nissan only commissioned two of these incredible cars to be made, I’m honoured to have been given the opportunity to drive the Juke-R. Its engineers, RML, ought to be extremely proud of what they’ve achieved with their interpretation of the humble Juke. It shares many similarities with the sensational GT-R, but also manages to have a unique character of its own. The Juke-R truly is a revolutionary and hugely memorable creation, and although it was never destined to make it into full production, the Juke crossover is clearly a capable basis for handling a sportier set-up.
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