Dealer’s Diary

 With deliveries of the new Nissan Juke starting, I thought I would take a look at how the old model is doing in the block. My rationale behind this is that dealers will now be working hard to tempt those ‘early adopters’ into the new design, meaning there will be plenty of choice in the coming year of the old model.

Those Mackems really set the SUV market alight with the Qashqai and then the Juke. Together they transformed the Washington plant from a producer of staid but worthy saloons into a factory bursting at the seams as it created and filled two new segments of the SUV market. Despite Brexit, the plant is still receiving hefty investment for the next generation of models.

Twice I was on the Top Gear set where the Juke featured controversially in the studio. It really was that trend-setting (controversial) at the time. Working at a dealer they appealed to all age groups, from teens to pensioners. And they were classless – I know of one customer who bought one to use alongside his Bentley.

They are genuinely good to drive and available in petrol and diesel (Renault’s 1.5 dci engine), in manual and automatic (again, a Renault transaxle), and in two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive – although you really need to look hard to find a 4wd. All models sold without effort when new, and there was no dud in the range when it came to driving them.

I went to look at a couple of petrol 2wd manual Jukes. One was 11-plate with 61k miles and four service stamps showing, the other 14-plated with 28k miles and three services. Both were entered from main dealers, both were 1.6 petrol models (one a Dig-turbo). Both were highly specified and in good colours.

However, the auction inspection reports highlighted the 11-plate as having a ‘noisy engine’ while the 14-plate had a ‘smoky engine’. So I left it at that – the risk was too great to warrant further investigation. Regardless if the prognosis is as simple as one having low oil while the other has too much oil, there simply isn’t the margin to take the risk these days. I will add that I know the 1.2

DIG-T engines in the second-generation Qashqai petrols like a slurp of oil.

Speaking to one of the traders at the block about this disappointment (and, in doing so, looking to see if there was a known issue with the petrol engine), he didn’t have the experience of them to say either way. However, what he did say is that he wouldn’t trust a Juke dci. Now this is the complete opposite of my experience.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that, if you go for a Juke – and I wouldn’t blame you – check it carefully and get a gold-plated warranty. Two dubious petrol engines in one sale and an old sage commenting on the diesels being dodgy is enough to raise my suspicions.

The auction inspection reports highlighted the 11-plate as having a ‘noisy’ engine... the 14-plate a ‘smoky’ engine.’