Avid Driver

Not much is known about the Nissan Juke. Except, maybe, that its name sounds suspiciously close to the word joke. From the small number of enthusiastic reviews this car has an overall trend seems to be emerging - the Juke is reviewed from more of a mature buyer point of view. As a result the reviewers mostly note the elevated, commanding driving position, the small space in the back and in the boot, the uninvolving handling and that it was too dark at the back with the tinted windows. Also that it has styling only a mother would love. I agree on that one - it does look like a frog. The overwhelming opinion and stereotype, then, for this little SUV is that it's a mutated Micra for the moms that want something different than a VW Tiguan but don't quite have the money for a Range Rover Evoque. I think they are missing the whole point of the Juke.

Let's start with the handling. Saying that the handling of the little Juke is uninvolving speaks directly how little the tester pushed it. Once you press the sport button on the main console the engine springs to life, the throttle gets sharper and the little crossover transforms into a short wheel base four-wheel-drive rally car.  The Juke has torque vectoring technology operating it's rear differential so it sends power to the wheel that most needs it. A similar system is used by Mitsubishi in their Evolution. So every time that the Juke is cornering in an uninvolving manner, apply lots of power and be amazed how the rear steps out and all understeer is abolished at the exit of the corner with an Evo-style powerslide.


There is, however, a limit to this all wheel drive drifting as the Juke is a bit higher than a normal car and is more prone to rolling over. Unsurprising, then, that the Guinness world record for most distance traveled on two wheels was done in a Juke.

The Juke that I drove had the 1.6-litre direct injected turbocharged engine producing a respectable 190hp and 177 lb ft of torque across a very wide rev range. This engine is also shared by the current generation Renaultsport Clio and most interestingly it propelled the 2012 Nissan DeltaWing racecar in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. As a result of this performance pedigree, the engine in the little SUV really wants to prove it's worth at every opportunity. Yet at just 15000 miles a turbo pipe popped off on mine and there wasn't a check engine light to alert me to this fairly serious problem. The good news is that I was able to fix a 2012 car in the era of microprocessors and laptop diagnostics with a screwdriver and off I went.










Ok, the styling is not something to be proud of, but driving it, you'll rarely see it - just avoid glass buildings and park it at night.  It's also a look that grows on you and, to me, the roofline resembles that of a Nissan GTR and from the back and sides it has a nice coupé silhouette. The front, however, is quite ghastly and all I can say about it is: WARNING: PROLONGED STARING AT THE FRONT OF A NISSAN JUKE CAN CAUSE EYE STRAIN!






Inside, there's none of the oddness of the outside and a lot of Nissan Z cars. The steering wheel offers a fantastic grip and the center console resembles a modern tablet with touchscreen controls. The Nissan Connect System offers control of both the drive modes and the dual zone climate control as seen in the cool gif.







There are a few problems with the Juke, though. For starters, even though it's 4WD it's not a real off-roader - the ground clearance is more suited for an MPV. In all my time driving the Juke, I didn't think for a second how good it would be off the road - my brain didn't even dare to suggest such a laughable idea. An off road journey would probably look similar to Jeremy Clarkson's adventures with the BMW X3:

Another issue the Juke has is the prehistoric infotainment system. Every time the car is turned off by the push-start button all the electrics cut of, the music stops, your phone is out of synch and the worst part of it is that there is a 2 minute wait for the system to start back up. Also there's a limit of only 4 phones that can be recognised at any time, but squeezing five people in the Juke is an achievement of its own. The USB does not recognise folders and in Bulgaria you have to pay 150£ to have the map for the GPS navigation that you already have in the car.

In a way this car is ahead of its time. The Juke has an engine that has racing pedigree, a short wheel base and styling influenced by the GTR - it really was not conceived to be a 4x4 Micra. The best representation of what the Juke should have been comes from Nissan themselves with the bonkers Juke GT-R. And don't forget - 3 years ago I wished for a Juke with a V6 from a 370z and Nissan overdelivered. Well done Nissan.

Toyota Yaris T-sport - the car that nobody knew existed

Marketed as a "warm hatch" and overlooked by absolutely everybody the Toyota Yaris T-Sport was introduced to the European market in 2001. Nobody really noticed its potential and it was bought and driven only by middle-aged women that liked it for its looks. What was underneath, however is another story. Below the cute,lovable and entirely unintimidating shell hides a true old school hot hatch from the 90s.





The T-sport was my first car and it taught me a lot about driving. It taught me a lot about lift off oversteer - something that hardcore hot hatches normally do. The lack of ESP wasn't of any help either but without it holding my hand I quickly learned to feel every inch of the car as it is losing grip and introduce minor corrections. Corrections that were much smoother than those of an ESP. That meant I developed an ability to push the car to the limit and keep it there because I knew way better than any computer or sensor exactly where the limit was. An ability that easily translated to every vehicle I have driven ever since. Being a FWD car the T-sport tended to understeer  and that is not a big surprise but because of its short wheelbase as soon as you lift the throttle the back stands out and this can be corrected easily by applying power. And trust me a little throttle can make the difference while sliding sideways, in the mountains, in the snow, during the night.



The handling department was where the T-sport excelled at. It had a lower and stiffer suspension than the standard Yaris and beefier front and rear disc brakes. Brake fade occured way later than expected. The full weight of a  T-sport was only 960 kg. For a comparison a VW Golf III GTi weights 1250 kg. On tight twisty roads the T-sport was almost unbeatable - the low weight and short gear ratios meant that the small Yaris could keep up and sometimes overtake cars that are at least 100 horsepower more powerful.




On the motorway, however, things were not so good. The short gear ratios that were so helpful on the twistys become the worst problem of the car. At motorway speeds the Yaris sits at at least 4500 rpm and your head soon is about to explode from the noise. The light weight and fast steering ratio that make the T-sport so nimble and sharp on b-roads now make the car feel like you are driving a go-kart and every time you even look at the steering wheel and think about changing direction results in a big reaction from the car and soon you end up concentrating really hard just to keep the car straight.

The engine inside the T-sport is noteworthy as well - the 1.5 liter engine produces 109 horsepower and 145 nm of torque. Not a lot you might say but the fuel consumption was the real surprise - from 47mpg on the motorway to 28 mpg on the track. 28 mpg is a huge achievement because I know people who had a Citroen Saxo VTS and were bragging that it did 24 mpg. The small fuel consumption is due to the fact that the engine has a system called variable valve timing that is pretty much standard on modern cars but back in 2001 not many cars had it and especially the Yaris' main rivals. To simply explain this system - when the car is pushed, the cams are at a maximum aggressive profile to provide max power and when the car is driven slowly the cams adopt a less aggressive profile and thus fuel is saved at the cost of a small performance loss.

Inside the T-sport benefitted from a leather wrapped steering wheel and gear lever which were very comfortable to hold and provided excellent grip.  The seats were the biggest difference between the standard Yaris and the T-sport and they were superb. Having driven a standard Yaris I can confidently say that a seat can make a huge difference. The side supports hug you in place and hold you through even the tightest of corners. The fact that the seats were so good may partly be due to the fact that they were made by Recaro - one of the most famous and renowned seat makers in the world.  The only problem I had with the interior is that I'm 190 cm tall and the T-sport was clearly designed for the much shorter Japanese.  So my legs get stuck in an uncomfortable position under the steering wheel because the pedals are too close. This is something easily amendable on a normal car by moving the seat back and the wheel column towards you until you find a comfortable position. Not the case with the T-sport. Toyota didn't bother to include forward and backward movement to the steering column. At the end of the day I had two options to choose from: either my hands to get tired from reaching to the steering wheel or my feet to get tired from being stuck under it.

Despite the little niggles, the Yaris T-sport grew on me and has a special place in my heart as the car that taught me the basics of driving and I had great fun learning. It also never went wrong in 10 years of driving. Talk about Japanese reliability. I leave you with what a T-sport can do if it's properly modified.

Legendary Fords are not born every day. Each decade of Ford history has its cars that stand out. From
the model T that started it all in the 20s to the iconic turbo saloons and hatchbacks from the 80s and 90s.

What does it take to spot the next legendary Ford? What kind of qualities a car has to posses in order
to become a future classic? Well character is definitely important. A Ford without a soul is never
going to be remembered and can be spotted easily by the lack of absolutely any emotion whatsoever experienced by the driver while on the road. An example that comes to mind is the dreadful Fiesta 1.3. Power is not an important factor as-well because when you think of the Ford Escort Mexico, massive amounts of power isn't the first thing to pop to mind.

I was spending my Christmas holidays with my grandparents and was completely bored. My own car was 500km away and I was stuck with the public transport. One morning while making my plans for the day I recalled that my aunt had a little Subaru that I`ve always admired. Was it`s perkiness, cheerfulness or simply the fact that it was a 4x4 Subaru, I don`t know? I loved that car.
One phone call later I was riding the bus towards my aunts`house. There she gave me an ordinary looking key and pointed me in the direction the Subaru was parked. The Vivio is a Japanese Kei car that was produced between 1992 and 1998. It featured a 660 cc engine developing 54bhp and for the JDM market there was a 660 cc turbo version developing a whopping 64 bhp. It was available as 2WD as well as part-time 4WD.


 When I saw it at first, I thought it was parked further away than it actually was. How the Japanese managed to make such a small four door car is beyond me. Of course space in the back is either for really small Japanese children or for people without legs. Seats were very thin and uncomfortable. Basically, I felt like a giant in the car. 

The Subaru that I was going to drive was a greenish color and was the 4WD model. I unlocked it with the key ( no central locking) and opened the extremely light and thin door. You sit quite low, but the position is really good. Everything is a hand away, even the headlights. The radio-cassette player is surprisingly good for such a small and cheap car. As you glance over the dashboard you notice that there is no tachometer. The only way to know when to change gears is either by using your ears or by the little numbers on the speedometer telling you at what speed to change gear.

 
Turning the ignition key does absolutely nothing. The car is so quiet when idling that you would have to give it some gas just to make sure it's working. The clutch I so light that it looks like is pulling your leg when you press it. The gas pedal, on the other hand, is quite stiff and it takes some getting used to.

Driving the Vivio is full of adrenaline, noise, and bumps. The 54bhp feel more like 20bhp, but that doesn't ruin your fun. The max power is achieved at 7000 rpm meaning that there is around 1000 rpm more until the limiter kicks in. The good part is that you feel like driving a v-tec racing car, the bad part is that the noise it makes is so awful you begin to think that the car is screaming with pain. At the speed of about 50 km/h, there is a drone from the exhaust that is quite uncomfortable. Other than that the journey towards the ski resort I was heading to was slow and full of smiles.
At the ski resort, the little Subaru showed it`s real power: the amazing combination between narrow tires, 700kg weight, and 4WD. I picked a mountain trail that had only been plowed, no salt or sand on it, to test the little Subaru. I met a bloke in a Mercedes G-class that was struggling to get up the slope. I stopped right next to him, asked him how was the snow and, to his amazement, drove off straight up the slope. 


I was very sad when delivering the car back to my aunt. The way that the Subaru drove on the snow and the way that it was so small and nimble was unlike anything I had experienced before. And the best part of it was that the needle of the fuel gauge had barely moved after all that fun.

- "Once you get into a Mercedes all other cars will seem inferior." - my driving instructor said when I first sat in the drivers seat of his Mercedes A-class. This was the first car I had to drive for more than a few kilometers. This was the place I would spend my next month or so learning to drive. And what an awful place it was . This particular car had a lot of imperfections and flaws.
The genius idea to prepare the A-class for the future means of propulsion has made sitting in the car comparable to sitting on the floor at an Arabian dinner.
Handling? I don`t think so. The Mercedes with front wheel drive is as stable through corners as the Titanic through icebergs and is equally reliable.
The gearchange is similar in nature to blind dates, you never now with what girl you will end up, and in the case of the A-class, what gear.
The gas pedal has about 5 positions you can choose from.
The ABS and the ESP didn't work.
The indicators switch is operated with the same ease as you would operate a sledgehammer.
The breaks start working after 3/4 pressed pedal and feel like Fred Flintstone is dragging his feet on the ground .
The windshield wipers clean as much as an ordinary gipsy streetcleaner.
After turning to full lock the servomechanism decides that it doesn`t want to be a servomechanism and just disappears.
These are only a small portion of the flaws the car i drove had. I won`t even mention the ride quality, the practicality or the price of the car.

P.S. I`m waiting for an invite from my country`s Mercedes dealer "Балкан стар" to test drive the new S65 AMG to change my opinion for Mercedes