Nissan Juke review: Nismo RS tested

Is there a more fighty-looking car on sale than the Nissan Juke Nismo RS? There are meaner and more aggressive cars, but none that better resemble the scrappy bloke at the wrong end of eight pints, picking on someone twice his size.

And that’s very fitting. Here’s a Juke, one of Nissan’s littler cars, with the power and mechanical nous to take on bigger, more traditional performance metal.

The Nismo RS replaces the underwhelming Juke Nismo, its 1.6-litre turbo engine up nearly 20bhp to a Golf GTI-like 215bhp; its body 40 per cent stiffer than before, reinforced in 26 places. More effective than either of those, though, is the addition of a mechanical limited-slip diff to the FWD Nismo RS – the one to buy, given the AWD version comes only with a CVT auto.

First impressions of the Nismo RS are good. The steering wheel, with Alcantara at the nine and three positions, feels great, and the chunky gearchange allows you to punch through the relatively short ratios.

Less immediately endearing is the driving position. The seats – whether you go for the £1,300 leather Recaros or stay standard – are firm but supportive, but there’s no reach adjustment on the steering, and even taking into account this is a crossover, you still sit too high.

There are upsides, though. Those extra inches can buffer your view a corner or two ahead, giving you the confidence to neaten your lines and maintain momentum. Making polished progress is satisfying, and the Nismo RS feels at home shy of its limits. But to really feel the tugging effects of that diff, you need to up the ante. With peak torque arriving north of 3,500rpm, the revs need to be singing, which feels rather uncouth. The speed, though, is surprising.

Once you lean on the diff and realise just how much turn-in grip there is, you can travel along at hot-hatch speeds, free from understeer and enjoying the composed suspension. The ride is not outright comfortable, but it is well controlled and, while the ruthless attitude to maintaining speed does come in the place of the Fiesta ST’s hooligan chuckability, there’s evident talent and some B-road giant-killing potential. The Juke Nismo RS packs real punch.