Nissan Juke Nismo RS, motoring review: A hot hatch challenger? It's not even a ... - The Independent
If you were a twentysomething lad (or lass) from Slough and you wanted something fast to pull doughnuts in at the nearest out-of-town retail park, you dreamt of owning a hot hatch. But now there is a challenger to the traditional hot hatch and the new kid on the block comes in the form of a dinky little crossover from Nissan. The Japanese firm has pedigree with fast cars – the Nissan GT-R is one of its best models – but the Juke Nismo RS is based on a school-run-friendly crossover, which perhaps isn't the best start. Also, my test model came in a rather pedestrian white, far from the usual brightness of a hot hatch. As a crossover, it should have more room to breathe, but inside it feels cramped, and a little cheap, with a mass of hard plastics. The rear seats are a pretty tight affair, too, with very little headroom and poor rear visibility. The Juke Nismo RS does share some characteristics with hot hatches, though: it has a notchy manual gearbox, a firm ride and a sporty soundtrack courtesy of a retuned exhaust system with a large diameter silencer. The real issue though, is that while the power is there, the Juke Nismo RS never feels. Source: www.independent.co.uk
