We compare Nissan Juke engines, and the efficiency crown goes to…

 

By Stuart Johnston

Nissan’s Juke made a splash here when it was launched in South Africa in late 2011. Quirky styling and a fresh approach to the emerging Cross Over market saw the Juke achieve respectable popularity. Here we take a look at the most efficient engines in the Juke range.

Nissan’s Juke is one of those cars that is difficult to ignore. It has a quirkiness to its styling that has won many fans, and it has achieved something of a cult following amongst Nissan fans who enjoy the big statement it makes.

The brave frontal styling is the most noticeable feature, with its headlight treatment that includes sharp-edged light clusters straddling the front fenders and conventional round lights in the grille area. It also has a semi-fast-back rear end which looks really cool, although a lack of boot space has probably hurt sales now that the initial euphoria has passed.

Engine choice in the 2012 model year

The Juke was initially launched here with a naturally-aspirated (non-turbo) 1,6-litre petrol engine that produced 86 kW and  158 Nm at 4 000 revs. The top-of-the range model,  the 1.6 DIG-T Tekna featured a much more entertaining 1,6-litre turbo petrol engine. This produced 140 kW and 240 Nm at 5 000 rpm (quite a high torque peak), and the chassis on the Juke was lively enough to make this a sporting delight over twisty roads.

A diesel is introduced 

In mid-2013 a diesel variant was introduced to the Nissan Juke range. Nissan  was proud of this diesel as it was the sixth generation of its 1.5 dCi diesel and complied with Euro 6 emissions requirements. It featured sophisticated multi-phase injection and exhaust gas recycling. It produced 81 kW and 260 Nm of torque and was available only with a six-speed manual gearbox.

Downsizing petrol engines

The next global phase of engine fitment saw smaller capacity turbocharged engines replace naturally-aspirated petrol engines in many model ranges. The Juke was updated with different lights and grille in early 2015, and at the same time a 1 197 cc turbocharged petrol four-cylinder, producing 85 kW and 190 Nm of torque replaced the 86 kW non-turbo 1,6 in the range. So now the entire engine range was turbocharged in the Juke offering.

Click here  for a full report on the 2015 facelift and the then-new  small turbo engine in the Nissan Juke.

The current Juke engine range

Currently the Nissan Juke comes with the 85 kW turbocharged petrol 1,2-litre in the Acenta and Acenta + trims. The 81 kW turbodiesel comes in Acenta + trim, while the 140 kW turbo petrol 1,6-litre motor introduced at launch is still with us in the top Tekna trim models..

If fuel efficiency weren’t an issue, this original 1,6-litre turbo engine would be our favourite, as it gives the Juke the required power levels that its funky exterior deserves. With this engine you get a sub-eight-second 0-100 km/h time and a 200 km/h top speed. But consumption figures are rated at 7,2 litres/100 km  with careful driving and a large mix of highway mileage, while exploiting its performance  around the city will see fuel guzzling rise much higher.

The 1.5 dCi diesel is largely unchanged, but it is still a very efficient diesel engine even four years after introduction. It is rated at just 4,2 litres/100 km in official testing and in the real world you can expect figures in the 5,0 to 5,2 litres/100 km bracket

The 1.2T engine in the entry-level Juke is officially rated at 5,6 litres/100 km.  But in the real world, the combination of long gear ratios that comes with this engine package mean that you are often winding the engine up more than you would like to in the lower gears. Realistically, a figure of 6,0 litres/100 km to 6,5 litres/100 km is on the cards with this one.

So, the efficiency crown goes to…

The 1.5 dCi turbodiesel. This is actually a very user-friendly diesel and we have found that when it comes to comparing smaller-capacity turbo petrol engines with diesels, often the larger-capacity diesel proves to be the most fuel-efficient in the real world. The Renault-Nissan-developed diesels have an excellent reputation, and we have no hesitation in awarding the “efficiency crown” to the 1.5 dCi diesel engine in the Juke range.

You might also like to read our article that includes other Nissan models’ running costs. Click here.