I test drove two Jukes today an SV 6speed and an SL FWD/AWD.
Here's the bottom line - I love this car.
I've been in the market for a year and this is the first car I'm excited about.
The downfall is I can't get a manual transmission in anything other than a FWD option.
What's up with that Nissan? OK I know it's a small market, but if every driver that preferred manual transmission actually made a bid deal about this instead of caving in and buying auto-transmission maybe they would make it.

Does anyone know if Nissan has any plans of making the manual transmission with other drivetran options like a manual AWD version?

Are there any owners out there with a Juke manual transmission that can tell me how this car handles in snow with only FWD? I really want the manual trans mission but I don't want to lose my ability to drive in snow if I have to. I live in the suburbs of Philly and for the last two winters we have seen 5 snow storms dumping over a foot of snow on us. We even had a few 2ft snow storms. I had no problem getting out of my hilly residential neighborhood with my 4x4 xterra.

Any advice you could share would be helpful.
Thanx,
Donna

I would only be able to comment on the CVT w/AWD. I drive around Cleveland and did some fantastic things with my car this winter. I would have never tried this without AWD. I really bought the V-AWD for the performance while cornering in good weather though. If it were just AWD and didn't have the Vectoring, I wouldn't have opted for fwd and saved myself the money.

I have more of a performance question...
I plan on getting the Juke in a couple of years. We just paid off both the Nissan and the Ion with my wife's settlement but my DD should last me another couple of years. I live in Minnesota, so we get a lot of snow. I would like AWD but I am wondering if the CVT tranny can handle upgrades. All I would do to the Juke is intake, full exhaust, a boost controler and possibly an underdrive pulley in the future. Those upgrades aren't too insane and would actually improve my gas milage but can the CVT handle that? As of right now I am planning on the FWD manual tranny because I don't trust the CVT. Would the CVT be able to handle that kind of power?

If I could do it all over again, I would have gotten the CVT automatic. It will hold you at the proper RPM to keep the turbo spooled up continuously. With the manual, the turbo rises and falls. Plus my lazy butt has to shift.

StockTurbosFTW wrote: I am wondering if the CVT tranny can handle upgrades. All I would do to the Juke is intake, full exhaust, a boost controler and possibly an underdrive pulley in the future.

Few people have turbocharged their cvt altima's with a considerable amount of hp and torque. I can't imagine a small bump in power doing any harm to a juke's cvt. (The 2wd Jukes cvt have the JF015E, and the AWD Juke's have the JF011E, which is a beefier system than the 15E. Murano's come equipped with JF010E's)

The only pulley i would consider would be an oem size lightweight. Underdrive pulley's, not so much.

Thanks for that!

I would add that if you plan to upgrade on the power, you may want to make equal upgrades to your brakes. Part of the thing of performance upgrades is getting the thing to stop equally as fast, ESPECIALLY if you plan on bigger tires/rims.

If I was in for a manual transmission, I'd go for a WRX. They're faster, AWD, more room, and very reliable.

subaruman wrote:I would add that if you plan to upgrade on the power, you may want to make equal upgrades to your brakes. Part of the thing of performance upgrades is getting the thing to stop equally as fast, ESPECIALLY if you plan on bigger tires/rims.

If I was in for a manual transmission, I'd go for a WRX. They're faster, AWD, more room, and very reliable.

meh if I had 3 grand to spend on brakes I would throw them on my Z...
I don't think the power I'm looking for needs a brake upgrade. It will be a DD and a winter driver. Just looking to make it a little more fun and improve the MPGs. The main reason I am getting it is to drive my son around and I won't be screwing around with him in there.
Thanks for looking out though

StockTurbosFTW wrote:

subaruman wrote:I would add that if you plan to upgrade on the power, you may want to make equal upgrades to your brakes. Part of the thing of performance upgrades is getting the thing to stop equally as fast, ESPECIALLY if you plan on bigger tires/rims.

If I was in for a manual transmission, I'd go for a WRX. They're faster, AWD, more room, and very reliable.

meh if I had 3 grand to spend on brakes I would throw them on my Z...
I don't think the power I'm looking for needs a brake upgrade. It will be a DD and a winter driver. Just looking to make it a little more fun and improve the MPGs. The main reason I am getting it is to drive my son around and I won't be screwing around with him in there.
Thanks for looking out though

3 Grand??? Whoa, the only upgrades in power I've seen so far was the intake and axleback exhaust. Don't know if there's something like a UTEC setup or not. I was thinking more along the lines of performance pads, rotors and/or maybe even steel lines. Those are reasonably affordable. All would be a must for bigger rims, though.

But now that you mention it, a big brake kit would be freakin' awesome on that thing. My mind is racing.

subaruman wrote: If I was in for a manual transmission, I'd go for a WRX. They're faster, AWD, more room, and very reliable.

Heh. The juke sections primary mod can tell you a thing or two about a wrx..