Nissan Juke SUV (2024 - ) review

No changes to the engine range for 2024 means the Juke is still available with a 1.0-litre petrol engine or a 1.6-litre hybrid. The latter offers more power and a couple of miles of electric-only driving, but the efficiency difference isn’t as wide as you think. Nissan quotes around 48mpg for the petrol and 58mpg for the hybrid, which in the real world means only a few mpg difference. And because the hybrid premium is around £3,000 – plus you can only have it in higher trim levels - you might be better off just going for the basic petrol; the entry cost into a hybrid is £29,000, as opposed to £23,500 for a petrol. Either way, the Juke looks quite expensive compared to some cars of a similar size and price. The Citroen C3 Aircross starts at £17k, the Vauxhall Mokka at £21.5k, and of course, there’s always Dacia to skew everything, with the Sandero Stepway starting at just £15k.

Nissan doesn’t match the five-year warranties offered by rivals like Hyundai, the seven years from Kia or the potential 10 years cover Toyota gives for the equivalent C-HR if you commit to servicing it with a main dealer. No reason to think the Juke will be unreliable, though – Nissan’s reputation is good. The hybrid system actually comes from Renault, although again, no need to worry about that. Renault does well in dependability surveys has plenty of experience building hybrids.

The Juke is a full five-star car according to Euro NCAP. As standard it comes with automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning and traffic sign recognition. For 2024 it’s been given a couple of extra safety features. Driver alertness warning is standard now (it’ll tell you if it thinks you’re tired), and Lane Keep Assist, which corrects the steering if you’re drifting out of lane, is optional on base cars, but standard from Tekna and above. (We’ll explain the trim levels below.) A rear-view camera is standard now too, and related, while it’s not an additional feature as such, the bigger touchscreen is also much more high-def. That means the camera now runs at much higher resolution, so those plant pots will look less like shadows. It also has a clever “invisible bonnet” feature that shows you the front wheels to help you avoid kerbing them when you’re parking. For family buyers looking to squeeze their kids into a Juke though – not implausible – it’s slightly frustrating that there’s no ISOFIX mount on the front seat. Just the two for the (quite cramped) rear.

On the road, the Juke’s ‘sporty’ setup will suit some people to a tee. It’s combination of sharp steering, a firm ride and little body roll make it more interesting than something soft and wallowy – something like the Citroen C3 Aircross. The flipside, though, is that it deals with potholes like Boris Johnson deals with small children on a rugby pitch – smacks into them. It can get annoying if you’re less bothered about cornering fun and more bothered about basic comfort. The Juke has never been the most spacious small crossover, especially for rear passengers, where huge c-pillars and lack of glass make for quite a claustrophobic place. There’s no doubt that cars like the Hyundai Bayon and Citroen C3 Aircross offer a much more accommodating space for passengers. The Skoda Kamiq too, albeit that feels a little bigger on the road than the Juke. The hybrid loses a chunk of boot space compared to the regular Juke as well, 68 litres down on the 422 that the petrol has. Either way it’s a decent size, though. A Volkswagen Golf’s boot, for comparison, is 381 litres - a car in a class up. The high boot floor makes loading and unloading bags a little easier too.

Because the hybrid engine is only available from the mid-level N-Connecta trim, it costs more but comes with a more generous specification, including Google-powered navigation (a 2024 upgrade from the old Tom Tom system). The Bose stereo system on Tekna trim and up is lovely, too, including front headrest speakers. Your biggest issue will be understanding the Nissan trim hierarchy. It’s vast, and structured using words that sound like things Craig David would say between the verse and the chorus: “Acenta”, “Tekna” and “N-Connecta”. With some ‘plus’ and ‘premium’ thrown in for good measure. For 2024, there’s a new N-Sport trim too, which adds styling stuff and sits near the top of the trim tree. A basic Acenta Premium car gets alloy wheels, manual air conditioning, the new bigger touchscreen, wireless smartphone mirroring and the safety stuff we mentioned earlier. It’s enough. Only N-Connecta cars and upwards get a digital instrument panel, although that’s probably not a deal breaker if you’re cool with old-school dials for your speedometer.

The Juke with a plain 1.0-litre petrol engine has 114 horsepower, which doesn’t seem like a lot but it gets this high-riding runabout up to speed quickly enough. Just under 11 seconds to 62mph, and quiet enough while doing so. The optional automatic is worthwhile if you do a lot of stop-start driving, and it’s a much better auto than the one in the hybrid. It’s quick and smooth with its shifts. The hybrid uses a different sort of automatic, the sort that makes the engine sound like it's overrevving quite a lot. The hybrid itself is a lot more powerful on paper (143 horsepower), but what that extra power is doing isn’t clear. Although the electric motor makes pulling away seem quite sharp, the hybrid is barely any quicker to 62mph than the basic petrol. While being noisier and only a few mpg more efficient. Basic is best in a Juke, we think.