2022 Nissan Juke Ti Energy Orange long-term review: Introduction

I’ll level with you. I’m going to describe the approach to our newest long-termer, the 2022 Nissan Juke Ti Energy Orange SUV, using the top-line description of Aesop’s The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse fable without digging into any detailed subtext of the classic tale.

After all, we all know the basic premise; Town Mouse lived a decedent life in a high-risk environment, where Country Mouse made do with less and was altogether more relaxed for his troubles.

Yes, there are deeper learnings to be had, best summarised by Massive Attack’s Be Thankful for What You’ve Got, but this isn’t a hardened life lesson, so we’re heading down a far simpler and more literal path.

Quite simply, is the Juke better suited to the fast-paced urban hustle of the city and surrounds, or is it actually a more relaxed country tourer?

Inter-city or intra-city?

Town Mouse or Country Mouse?

It’s a question we are asked regularly of compact SUVs like the Juke, as many Australian buyers who live in regional centres need a car that can bundle a trip to the shops as well as they can manage a three-hour tour, all while ticking the equipment, practicality and efficiency boxes we all demand one-fifth of our journey into the 21^st century.

Fans of Town Mouse will note the Juke’s compact footprint (4210mm long by 1800mm wide) is 165mm shorter than a Toyota Corolla hatchback (4375mm long), despite having a boot nearly twice the size (422L in the Nissan, from 217L in the Toyota depending on the variant), and that the 84kW, 180Nm 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine has a claimed combined cycle consumption of 5.8L/100km.

Whereas Team Country Mouse will point out that economy really comes into play on a highway cycle (5.2L/100km), the dual-clutch transmission is better suited to swapping cogs while on the move, and that the host of driver assistance technology like adaptive cruise control and lane departure assistance is not all that handy in the Woolies carpark.

Well, we intend to find out.

Our car is the range-topping Juke Ti with the Energy Orange interior option.

This means, as the name suggest, parts of the interior are very, very orange.

It’s not all orange though, just the top of the dash, the door cards, the centre console, the seat base trim, and the stitching. So, yes, quite a lot of it, but with some black to balance things out.

Not everyone is a fan, but I think the Juke pulls it off and the bold trim is actually quite funky. Plus the leather is nice and soft to touch.

If you’re not into it, at $36,490 before options and on-road costs, the Energy Orange Juke is the same price as a regular Juke Ti which swaps the orange cows for black Alcantara. It’s far more tasteful and still quite funky.

The Energy Orange car can only be had with black, grey, red, silver or white paint (premium finishes like our Ivory Pearl White ask $595 extra) where the Ti adds a blue and burgundy choice (as well as a non-metallic white) to the palette.

It’s a good thing, as this way Nissan stop you from accidentally ordering a burgundy car with an orange interior. Try it in your mind, it’s not a good thing.

Equipment is generous with 19-inch alloy wheels, an eight-speaker Bose Personal audio system, an 8.0-inch touch screen with support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, DAB+ digital radio and a host of driver assistance technology like Autonomous Emergency Braking with pedestrian and cyclist detection and a 360-degree surround-view camera.

We’ve added a set of Nissan cross-bar roof racks (something, something, New Year Resolution stand up paddle board goals), which can be easily removed if you need to (or decide that ‘supping’ is something best done with cocoa after 8:00pm).

How some of these features work for Town or Country will be our focus, as we’ll be doing a bit of travelling in the little Nissan, between school runs and other commutes, to see how it balances each side of the Aesop coin.

Unlike our mice, there will be no moral imperative nor judgemental attitude directed toward skills in either environment, as we’re just keen to see where the Juke best finds its funky, orange-clad groove.

So buckle up while we take a classic fable for a modern spin, and let us know if there’s anything you’d like to know about the 2022 Nissan Juke Ti Energy Orange; town or country.