‘IF NISSAN ever went insane and offered the Juke-R for sale, I would line up at the dealership tomorrow.’
That’s the verdict of writer Mike Spinelli, who has his say on the street-legal GT-R-powered Juke concept on the website Jalopnik.
The project to combine the power and flair of the GT-R supercar with the body of a Juke was completed late last year – and now the world’s press have had the chance to get behind the wheel.
It’s famously faster to 60mph than the Ferrari California and has a top speed of 160mph. And the 22-week project to create it has been covered extensively by a Facebook group with more than 30,000 subscribers, and a YouTube channel which has received more than 3.5m views.
Spinelli describes the car as ‘a mash-up of two production cars from opposing ends of Nissan’s performance spectrum,’ adding: ‘The Juke R extends the purview of the Juke without diminishing what’s great (and not so great) about the GT-R.’
Top Gear writer Matthew Jones has also driven the car. He describes it as a spectacular feat of engineering adding that the drive is ‘infinitely better than you’d expect from a one-off’.
Paul Bailey, writing for AutoExpress, says simply that the car is ‘quite incredible’ commenting that it’s worthy of comparison with other great factory-built ‘Frankenstein’s monsters’ such as the legendary Renault Espace F1 and BMW X5 Le Mans.
While Adam Towler, writing on Autocar.co.uk, says: ‘Whatever you feel about that marketing spin, the car itself is definitely worthy of attention.’
And evo’s Richard Meaden was also among the first to get behind the wheel. Watch his video report below.