01/07/2010

I enjoyed an interesting day with Nissan last Friday on the first drive of The Juke. This is a small car offering from Nissan and is very much catagorised as a crossover vehicle. It has the looks of a 4x4 but the handling characteristics of a Mini. It will therefore come as no surprise that Mini and Citroen DS3 will be some of the vehicle's main competitors.

The vehicles I drove were pre-production models, however fit and finish were very good. The drive was good as were handling and performance, especially from the range topping 1.6 turbo models. The car is very different looking from anything we have seen before and if Qashqai success is anything to go by with Nissan's previous venture into a crossover vehicle then everything seems to look good for this latest arrival.

There will be a 1.6 normally aspirated engine and also a 1.5 diesel to complete the line up, With the launch just a couple of months away, Nissan dealers I have spoken to are already finding interested customers for the new car.