S3 Magazine // Issue 34

REVIEWS
REVIEWS
NISSAN JUKE
2015 NISMO RS
REVIEWS
REVIEWS
TOYOTA TUNDRA
2015 TRD PRO
No doubt – the Nissan Juke Nismo RS is an odd little crossover. You either can’t
understand for the life of you why Nissan made it… or you can’t understand why
you kind of want it. Or both.
We can tell you after driving the Nismo RS, that it’s totally every bit as fun as it is
weird-looking. The Nismo RS has got a hopped of version of the turbo 1.6, and it
makes an additional 27 horsepower over the standard 188, for a total of 215hp
(yeah – out of a 1.6). It’s got 6 short gears in the 6-speed version, which makes
it really squirty around town and the backroads, but kind of leaves you wanting
one more gear on the freeway. Sorry – but that’s just the tradeoff with smalldisplacement
squirtyness (think B16 Honda). The RS also has a factory limited slip
on the FWD, which is really unique in a car like this, and allows it to grip hard
& pull strong without tire-slip when coming out of a corner on boost. It is also
available with all-wheel-drive… which sounds awesome initially. But you can’t get
the manual with AWD. In our opinion: go front-wheel-drive & get the manual with
limited slip all day.
The Nismo RS isn’t blistering ‘faaast’ out of the box… but it is hilariously fast for a
small quirky crossover. It’s the type of car where you can launch off a red light with
surprise, burn up the pavement like Marty McFly, and leave people scratching their
heads. It’s hugely amusing.
Even from the factory – the car sounds like a turbo import should – low tone
exhaust notes & a little swooshing. With a couple aftermarket intake/exhaust mods
– this thing would be a total rascal.
We took this one to the North GA mountains, and never felt weighted down by the
car. It was as sorted & nimble as smaller & lower hot hatches. At one point – I had
to get from a doctor’s office to a cabin 12 miles away, and back to the doctor’s
office – quickly. The Juke Nismo RS blazed down a mile-long wooded gravel road,
through a historic old town with speedbumps, up a winding paved mountain road…
and then did the reverse-course without missing a step or ever falling off its pace. In
other words, the Juke lived up to it’s name. It can handle what the world will throw
at it, without slowing down. And if left me with the question: If I owned a Juke Nismo
RS, would I lower it track-style as I do everything else? Or go full blown rally-style
with lights & mudflaps?
The front seats are hardback Recaros with leather & suede. They’re totally cool,
have great support… and are definitely one of the standout focal-points & sellingpoints
for any enthusiast. Suede carries over to other parts of the interior. There is a
‘sport-mode’ that sharpens up the responsiveness & performance… and you want
to be sure to hit that button every time, as soon as you get in the car.
You can see the top set of lights from the driver’s seat. It’s both cool & soothing to
be able to see the glow of the icy blue/white parking lights when you drive at night.
That’s one of the unique things I really like about the Juke – that you might not
notice from a test drive.
The windshield has a slight curvature or wrap-around, and from the driver’s seat
(in combination with the suede & dark interior/headliner)… it kind of gives you
feelings of being in a LeMans-type closed cockpit car. I know that maybe seems
like a stretch of a comparison, but I felt it for sure. And I think the feeling is further
accentuated by the decreasing roofline.
The negative side to the decreasing roofline, is that it limits rear seat entry/
exit room, and cargo room in a noticeable way. As a newer dad, I found it to be
a little bit of a challenge to get my 16 month-old daughter out of the car. You
have to ‘sideways-slither’ the babies out a little bit. Personally, I don’t mind the
inconvenience. I’m used to lowered, sporty cars, and I feel like the tradeoff is worth
it. But why have all this ‘sport’ packed into a crossover chassis… when it ends up
being no more convenient & roomy than your average hatchback? Also, speaking
as a parent again, there is not a dome light over the rear seats. Those Recaro seats
create a big shadow in the back when you only have front dome lights, and if you
have something on the rear floorboard at night.. you have to use the light on your
phone to find it. It just seems off balance that the Nismo RS would come with fancy
cameras in the sideview mirrors… but no simple rear dome light. I know that’s nit
picky, and I only mention it because – the Juke NISMO RS seems like a natural
choice for car-culture people who find themselves in need of a newer, reliable ‘kidcarrying
car’ with modern conveniences AC, keyless entry… and dome lights.
Basically: The Juke Nismo RS is a car that’s hard to quantify. In other words –
you can’t explain the Juke Nismo RS. The fun-factor is real. But if you’re trying to
rationalize the purchase of this car… then you’re doing it wrong. If you’re trying
to compare it to other cars, you’re going to confuse yourself. You could call it ugly.
And I could use up all my fingers pointing out iconic cars with cult followings that
are – arguably ugly. Like a pug… the Juke’s beauty is in the eye of its beholder.
Sometimes ‘weird’ works. If you see the appeal, and you like the car, you’ve just
gotta give in and go with it. You don’t have to justify it.
First off – we are really fortunate to be able to use this Tundra TRD Pro for road trips
to a lot of our out-of-town events, so we’ve spent a lot of time getting to know it.
And if you’re looking for a new 4×4 full size truck, and you’re the kinda guy/girl who
reads this magazine – then this is the one you want!
A lot of trucks out there try to separate themselves in the pointless differences. You
know why? It’s because they’re all the damn same – minus the emblem. One has
squared-off wheel wells, another has rounded wheel wells – who cares. One gets
product placement in a lot in country pop songs, another looks good tailgating, and
a third loves to run commercials of their truck towing a boat – who cares.
Let’s be honest – pretty much any full size truck will get a nine-to-fiver to Home
Depot & back on a Saturday. But as car enthusiasts, we want to take it further than
that. We don’t like cars/trucks that make compromises. And this is where the TRD
Pro comes into play.
The TRD Pro comes with a reworked front nose with black accents (no chrome) and
hard-amber rescue-style running lights. It’s made in San Antonio. It has a leveled
2-inch suspension lift with high-travel Bilstein reservoir shocks and TRD springs
– for 10.5” travel front and 9.5” rear. It’s got 4-wheel-drive with a locking rear
differential. It’s got a burly skid plate, and a burly TRD exhaust which stays pretty
mellow at cruising speeds, but thunders like a trophy truck at wide open throttle.
It’s got enough interior space to sublease. The back window goes down – never
underrate this feature, because once you have it, you’ll never want to go back. It’s
got ‘TRD PRO’ embossed in the sides of the bed. It’s got signature, ‘form=fashion’
red-accented TRD Pro seats. It’s got good sound waves with good bass for an OEM
truck. At a little over 6.5-feet wide, it’s too damn wide to get down narrow ‘Jeep’
trails, but we never found trails that tight on the moon.
You can get it in white, black, or Inferno orange. It gets comically poor gas milage
(about 14mpg)… but the tradeoff is: this truck will absolutely solve all the little
dilemmas, irritations, and annoyances of your life.
Going to the beach for the day and don’t know what umbrella, stroller, or cooler to
take – take ALL of them. Wanna go see what’s down that wet dirt road, but scared
to might get into a jam – you won’t. Go to the mountains & your wife sees an oak
table she’s gotta have – heave it in the back. Pull up on a car full of nuns in a station
wagon getting washed away by a Texas flood – throw ‘em a rope and drag ‘em out.
Stuck in a neighborhood full of speed humps – ramp them. Approaching traffic on
the horizon – hit the grassy median & and set cruise control.
The TRD Pro is not for everyone – that’s why it’s a special-purpose build… that
will go down as yet another one of Toyota’s legitimate 4x4s. On the other hand, for
being a significant model, Toyota has managed to keep the price pretty reasonable
– at only a few grand more than an SR5. Some mass-population reviews hint that
the TRD Pro’s off-road capabilities result in a soft ‘on-road’ ride. Professionally
speaking – durr. But from one enthusiast to another – I say don’t even sweat it.
Toyota did an amazing job with the TRD Pro.
Look – this is a giant, bright orange, rumbling/roaring, post-apocalypse-prepped
truck. And the kind of people that this truck attracts… are not bankers. Criticizing
the soft ride on this truck is like criticizing a jet for its ‘ground’ handling. As a buyer
– you just have to ask yourself, what features do you really want in your next truck.
And where do you want to set your limits?
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