2011 Nissan Juke

Nissan seems to be on a war path to fill every last ounce of white space in the automotive spectrum. The company has unleashed a barrage of vehicles that range from playful to downright confusing. At first blush, the 2011 Nissan Juke would seem to fit into the latter category. With styling that’s two shakes away from robo-reptilian, the small crossover packs plenty of power, a tall ride height and a small footprint into one sub-$20,000 package. If you can avoid pigeonholing the Juke, you’ll find that the engineers at Nissan secretly managed to bring their own interpretation of the hot hatch to market without raising the ire of the company’s accountants.

We wouldn’t blame you for thinking we’re one stud short of a lug pattern on this one, but point your peepers to a few specs and you’ll see what we mean. The Juke weighs in at less than 3,000 pounds in front-wheel-drive guise and packs a turbocharged, direct-injection 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine that’s good for 188 horsepower. For reference, the company’s own Sentra SE-R hits the scales with an extra 88 pounds on its waist and 11 fewer ponies at its command. Opt for the manual gearbox in the Juke, and things get even lighter. Intrigued? We were too.