MotorMouths

The 2011 Nissan Juke is a fun, sporty little urban runabout with zippy performance, a shot of utility, and a face that’s all its own. For city dwellers looking to tread the midtown mayhem, it’s perfect.

The Juke’s face is one only a chief designer could love. Thinking outside the box can go too far. That’s a shame because the rest of the Juke is great

With its short wheelbase, sharp steering, and easily-available turbo power, the 2011 Nissan Juke is a gas to drive.

The JUKE is at least as much sports car as crossover. It’s highly styled and — a rarity these days — drives even sportier than it looks. It reeks personality. The flipside: the JUKE’s not terribly practical or even easy to live with.

For its $22,310 as-tested price, our Juke delivers an impressive array of features. Bluetooth and iPod integration work delightfully well, and the optional navigation system far outperforms what its $800 price tag would suggest.

So, what do we have here? A sporty SUV with limited sportiness and limited utility. That sounds like a problem, but Juke does have a surfeit of a much more rare, intangible quality: Personality.

Nissan’s new Juke blurs the line on conventional definitions. It is a crossover-slash-sports car. But segment-blurring can be a double-edged sword. Nissan has packaged a sports-car feel into a utility vehicle; but as a utility vehicle, the Juke is a bit petite.

With an exterior style cribbed from off-road rally racing and interior features revved up to mimic sport bikes, the Nissan Juke is a quirky five-door, five-seater for individualists who don’t want to sacrifice fun just because they’re pinching pennies.

Even with its gangly looks, the Juke is pretty impressive. The sporty ride may win a few customers, and all of that useful space provides lots of utility. It is definitely a vehicle that makes you re-evaluate your first impressions.

The Nissan Juke handled the elements well and in the end, I’m torn. It’s hard to resist the its odd charms.

We see the Nissan Juke as a distinctively styled, quick, fun-to-drive alternative to the Suzuki SX4, but we definitely won’t be recommending it to any twentysomething young dudes who are considering a used sports coupe.

The 2011 Nissan Juke is a comfortable and highly competent sporty crossover. The question remains whether its polarizing styling will turn people on, or turn them away.