THESE PERFORMANCE SUVS ARE NO JUKE

Given the meteoric rise in popularity of crossovers, it has taken a surprisingly long time for performance crossovers to become a thing. Audi and Mercedes-benz were slightly earlier with the much more serious and expensive RS Q3 and AMG GLA 45, but the real pioneer was the Nissan Juke Nismo.

We gave this car just three stars back in 2013 and the more hardcore GTR version even went down to 2.5. You might argue it was misunderstood genius that was ahead of its time, but really, the way the Juke Nismo dealt with its higher centre of gravity was simply misjudged. The regular version was too soft and too ordinary; the GTR’S ride was way too hard yet its body still rolled too much. Both had traction issues and weren’t very rewarding to drive.

At least it provided plenty of lessons for future efforts…