Tests Say the Juke-R is Awesome. Duh. But Would You BUY One?

by Zack K

The Juke R was released into the wild recently, starring as the pace vehicle for the Dunlop 24 Hour race. Everyone and their mom saw the awesome video of it sliding around a small course, being chased by a Gallardo, SLS AMG and some other pretty cars. At that event, every magazine and blog (except this one!) were invited to stop by and drive this midget power-lifter around the course. And what a surprise, it’s really fun and really fast. Shocking. The results of putting a Nissan GTR drive-train into a shorter, lighter car are as risky and predictable as replacing the cheap Hershey’s syrup on your Sunday with a fancy chocolate flown in from Sweden. Gee, I wonder if that will taste good?

Of course it did. Motor Trend took it around and reported it had quicker turn-in, rotated easier and was generally more fun and involving to drive. Awesome. And of course, now the speculation begins as to whether or not Nissan will actually sell this psychotic pill bug to the public. I’m betting if the office gets enough inquiries from well-financed buyers (read: not people like you, or me, or 14 year old Forza ‘Ring rats) they will. But my question to you is: Would you actually buy one? Would you spend, say, 6-figures for this car? And if you did, where would you drive it? I’m genuinely curious. Journalists live in impulsive fantasy land, “Should they make a 3,000HP Audi A1 with balloon tires? Of course they should.” But the subtitles there are, “That way I can rub-and-tug my way into a test-drive and have some fun in this ridiculous moon explorer without committing any real money to it.” We want everything built because no way in hell eventually we’ll get to drive it for free. We try to make imagination land real, for free. But that’s not fair.

So the Juke-R is fun, it’s fast, it’s crazy-looking and it’s clearly the love-child of mischief and LSD-inspired design. But would you plunk down the coin for it? If it’s a track toy, aren’t there better or more exciting ones for the money? If it’s a fun street-machine, how soon before that novelty wore off? And if it’s a daily driver, in my opinion, for the money, it’s too ugly. So, comment below: If they built it, would you buy it, and why?

Pics from: Automotor Blog