January 24, 2015
Gay Car Geek :: 2015 Nissan Juke - Curvy and Nervy
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
I love weird shit, weird people, and especially weird cars. And the Nissan Juke NISMO RS is about as weird as cars get these days. Just like your nephew that dresses up as Thor and believes it, this Napoleonic runabout thinks it's a freakin' GT-R, and I'm not about to tell it it's not.
What's a GT-R, you ask? It's Nissan's insane, $100K supercar, and needless to say, it's a lot faster than the Juke NISMO RS. That said, the Juke NISMO RS brings it when it comes to performance, with a raucous, 210-hp turbo engine, razor-sharp steering and handling that's as flat as Kansas. An automatic transmission is optional, but with a manual shifter this perfect-seriously, it's everything, I can't imagine wanting it.
The interior is pretty intense, too, with small info screens everywhere, black leather and suede upholstery, and hard-shelled front seats that are straight out of a racecar, the latter requiring you to sit over their edges lest you bruise your ass on the way in (I learned this the hard way). And of course, the styling reflects this NISMO's overly exuberant personality, with huge black wheels, smoked lamps, aggressive grille-work and body skirts, and occasional red accents. Completely polarizing yet whimsically adorable, the Nissan Juke NISMO is a character looking for a driver ballsy enough to drive it.
2015 Nissan Juke NISMO
Base Price: $28,845
Power: 1.6-liter 4-cylinder (215 hp, 210 lb-ft of torque)
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel Economy, city/hwy mpg (EPA est): 25/31
Or you could buy:
Mini Cooper S
VW GTI
Subaru WRX
Renowned automotive journalist and gay car geek Steve Siler has turned his life-long love of cars into a fruitful and enthusiastic career traveling the world to test thousands of new vehicles as they are introduced. Siler is s regular contributor to Car and Driver Magazine, Edmunds.com, AutoTrader.com, AOL Autos and Yahoo! Autos, and also pioneered automotive writing for the LGBT community more than a decade ago.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.