Nissan Juke - long-term review

One constant throughout my time with the Juke has been how outspoken people are about its styling.

As you’d imagine, the baby Nissan crossover polarises opinion – I would imagine you yourself probably have very certain thoughts on its looks. Makes you wonder where the inspiration for it came from...

This isn’t a quirk of fate or happenstance, Nissan deliberately created the original Juke to be stylised. The beach buggy looks were specifically designed to be, according to Nissan, “slightly rebellious”. The new Juke is an evolution of this thinking. Slightly toned down and smoothed off, I actually think the design is an improvement on the first generation, which can only be a good thing.

A large part of its appeal is how the Juke can be personalised, especially as you go higher up the specification ladder – an intense bit of website clickery and I’ve decided that two-tone paint is my favourite option. It’s actually standard on our Tekna+ and looks really smart – don’t tell anyone, but it’s a paint job I actually would have chosen myself. In total, there are 21 interior and exterior combinations.

Responsible for dressing the Juke from head to toe is colour, material and finish designer Carine Giachetti.

She’s based in Paddington and in a recent interview described the strongest influences on her work: “Nissan Design Europe is right in the heart of London, so we have access to architecture – a juxtaposition of new and old – coupled with modern art and the latest in fashion. All of this sparked the inspiration behind redefining the new Juke’s appearance. This helped us hone colour options and determine what will remain in vogue for years to come.” Um.

Well at least one thing is now clear – the inspiration for the new Juke was architecture. And art. And fashion. Glad that’s cleared up.