Times Five
The obsession with SUVs has resulted in a flood of new high-riding family wagons. Some look good but others missed the mark. Here are five of the latter,
Nissan Juke
The Nissan Juke is a strange mishmash of curves, circles and edges. The squinty headlights sitting above the smiley grille looks a bit manic, while the fender flares apparently evoke the ‘‘Coke bottle’’ styling popular back in the 1960s. It looks like a hot mess but it has remained on sale since 2011, doing well enough for Nissan to invest in a second generation, which almostbut-not-really fixed the styling woes. For whatever reason, Nissan even shoehorned in the 405kW running gear from the GT-R to create the Juke-R.
Toyota C-HR
The sci-fi design of the C-HR is divisive to say the least and we’d put ourselves on the ‘‘it hasn’t aged well’’ team. The large, angry eyes sort of gel with the chunky front and the big crease along the sides nearly works with the chunky wheel arches. But it all falls apart at the back, which seems to have taillights nicked from a Honda and too many spoilers. Rearward visibility is pretty poor and with the most potent powertrain an 85kW 1.2-litre turbo four paired with a CVT, it’s not particularly brisk either.
Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross
The original Eclipse now has quite a cult following, after a starring role in the first Fast and Furious film. After 22 years of being on sale, the Eclipse died a quiet death. Then, Mitsubishi brought it back . . . as a compact SUV. Not quite what the fans wanted. It emerged in 2018 with a dinky 110kW petrol engine and a 107kW diesel. Styling featured a slanty front end and a booty with a lot of angles. It’s hard to top the Juke for outward weirdness but the Eclipse Cross makes a good effort in trying. Unfortunately for some, Mitsi never did get around to building an Eclipse Cross Evolution with old Lancer Evo powertrains.
Ford EcoSport
Ford’s EcoSport crossover looks a bit like a Fiesta on stilts. The current-gen Focus actually managed the look quite well in the Active variant but the EcoSport doesn’t quite pull it off. Its grille is too high and too chunky, the wheels are too little and the interior focuses on function over everything else. Factor in subpar fuel consumption and mediocre acceleration and the EcoSport becomes a difficult sell. Consider the aforementioned Focus Active or step up to the Escape if you want to stick with the Blue Oval.
Citroen C3 Aircross
Citroen has always dared to be a bit different. Earlier small crossovers like the C4 Cactus featured ‘‘Airbumps’’, mottled panels on the sides of the cars designed to protect the doors from car park dings and the like. The C3 Aircross on sale now doesn’t have these but makes up for them with an otherwise interesting design. The C3 has narrow headlights that connect to each other through the double chevron logo, sitting above square foglights. There’s a small grille above a faux bash plate. Coloured accents are found on the roof rails, around the foglights and on the wing mirrors. The interior is best described as ‘‘Lego-like’’. See for yourself.