Nissan Juke vs Kia Stonic

What's the difference?

The Juke is a fun little car. It looks cool, it packs most of the important features and safety equipment, but while it can be fun to drive, it’s also a little clunky around town.

It’s so frustrating, because there is a great car in there somewhere, and it would take only small tweaks and enhancements to bring it out.

Unlike a lot of rivals in this segment, the Stonic's actually quite a bit of fun to drive, and that alone earns it a tick from me.

Yes, it can feel underpowered in places, especially when you're trying to do high-speed overtakes or if you're on a really engaging road and on and off the accelerator. But just cruising around, the little powertrain gives you plenty to get around the city.

And I guess that is the point. This does feel like a very city-friendly vehicle, even if it is undeniably showing its age in places.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer with meals provided.

Note: The author, Andrew Chesterton, is a co-owner of Smart As Media, a content agency and media distribution service with a number automotive brands among its clients. When producing content for CarsGuide, he does so in accordance with the CarsGuide Editorial Guidelines and Code of Ethics (https://www.carsguide.com.au/ethics), and the views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.

Urban style is clearly what the Juke is about. It’s always been about this, but the original incarnation, while unusual, was a bit bulbous and awkward. The current version is a razor-sharp re-interpretation of the original.

Ugly duckling no more, the Juke blends the elements of Nissan’s current design language with its own unique take, in a clever way.

The roofline and bulbous face of the original car, complete with its ‘eye’ headlights are all maintained, but this time they look more contemporary with a splash of chrome and gunmetal plastic in the face, offset by gloss blacks running down the doorline.

The new light fittings look great and the curviness is also gently off-set with some sharp angles. The massive 19-inch wheels finished in a two-tone gloss black and aluminium brush keep this car looking like a concept come to life. Just don’t crash them into the curb. It would be very easy to.

The cool elements continue inside, with rotary air vents, a blend of textures, including a gloss grey for the vent claddings, with white stitching for the wheel, seat, and into the door cards, too.

There are touches of chrome about the place, and an ambient red LED light surrounding the shifter, which sits on its own little pedestal thing.

It’s quirky and punches above its weight when it comes to soft trims in the doors. Like most higher-grade Nissans the seats are pretty comfy, too, clad in a hard-wearing synthetic leather material.

But it won’t be for everyone, and it’s not without its downsides. The abundance of grey plastic down the centre console is a bit cheap, and the tech offering doesn’t match the youthful style.

The centre screen is adequate, but compared to many rivals it’s a bit small and dull, and the Juke is still missing a digital overhaul for its instrument cluster.

The black headlining, usually reserved for sportier cars, makes the cabin feel smaller than it is.

I'm not gonna spend too much time on the exterior design, because from most angles it largely looks a lot like a Kia Stonic, right? The big exterior change occurred up front, where the old Kia 'face' was retired, and replaced with an LED-trimmed front-end more in keeping with modern Kia models.

It is a tale of good and bad in the cabin of the Stonic. The good is the fact that it all feels very familiar and very Kia, which isn't a bad thing.

Th bad is some of the door materials aren't just cheap and hard plastic, but they feel a bit flimsy in places as well. Same with the centre console plastics. There are some elements where you could definitely lift up the ambience in the interior.

The Juke is a small SUV in the true sense of the word, sitting below the Qashqai which is more like a mid-sizer these days in terms of dimensions.

However, it’s quite cleverly packaged on the inside and is more useful than it first appears.

The front seats, for example, offer heaps of headroom and a surprising amount of width, and while the seats are manual, they’re pretty adjustable. I was able to find a great seating position.

There are big pockets in the doors with an integrated bottle holder suitable for even the largest bottles, although the centre console area is a bit less versatile, choosing its funky design over additional storage.

It features two good bottle holders, but a tiny armrest box and a shallow tray with one 12V socket and a USB-A outlet, as well as an auxiliary audio input under the climate controls.

On the topic of climate controls, I love the fact the Juke maintains a dedicated ventilation panel complete with buttons and dials for all the core functions. No touchscreen nonsense here.

The media screen, as mentioned, is a tad small, and falls victim to glare easily.

The stock Nissan software is a massive upgrade on the brand’s previous-generation products, but while it’s functional it’s far from the prettiest or the fastest on the market.

The back seat offers more space than you might assume, but it’s not as well thought-out as the front of the cabin. At 182cm tall I fit behind my own driving position with just enough space for my knees and just enough headroom.

There are decent bottle holders in the doors, and a further two small ones in the drop-down armrest. The backs of the front seats are clad in that synthetic leather material, which is nice, and have soft pockets, too.

The back of the front centre console offers just a single USB-A outlet and a small cubby. There are no adjustable air vents for rear passengers. It also feels a little claustrophobic back there thanks to the black trim on everything and smaller windows.

Boot capacity for the Juke is impressive for an SUV in this class, with 422 litres on offer, which is close to the volume we’d expect from something a size-bracket up, and 1305L with the second row folded down. There is a space-saver spare under the boot floor.

In the GT-Line trim, you get the twin screen setup, which looks sharp, and I do like Kia's multi-function control bar, which takes care of things like navigation and media on the one digital screen.

It really is feeling a little bit old school in places. There's no wireless phone mirroring, for example, so you need to plug in. And even then you need to plug in with a USB-A rather than a USB-C, despite having both plugs at your disposal.

The other thing is that the GT-Line is almost $36k before on-road costs. And there are places where it just doesn't feel like that much money.

It's a case of what you see is what you get in the back seat of the Stonic. And what you see is... not that much.

There are two USB-C ports in the more expensive trims. There are bottle holders in each of the doors, but no cup holders, and no pull-down seat divider. It is a fairly sparse back seat experience.

What you do get, however, is the luxury of space. Sitting behind my own 175cm driving position, I had absolutely no problem with knee room and no problem with head room. In fact, even as an almost full-size adult, I reckon I could sit back there pretty comfortably, even on longer road trips.

The big news is the addition of a 48-volt mild hybrid system, and that 48-volt battery is under the boot floor. But because it's hidden under a flat partition, it actually doesn't impact boot space.

Kia is still claiming 352 litres with the rear seats in place and 1155 litres with the rear seats folded flat. You do, however, miss out on some under-boot storage. And there's no spare wheel to speak of, just a tyre repair kit.

You can have your Stonic in three flavours, the S, Sport and GT-Line, with retail pricing stepping from $28,180, to $32,290, to the range-topping $35,740 respectively.

The S is pretty basic in terms of kit, riding on 16-inch alloys, nabbing LED lights and daytime running lights, cloth seats, manual air-con and a six-speaker stereo. Tech comes via an 8.0-inch central screen with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto (but make sure you pack a USB-A cable to make it work, which feels very old school), as well as a 4.2-inch driver display and a smart key with push-button start.

The Sport packs in plenty more. Your alloys are now 17 inches, you get LED front fog lights, and your cloth seats now have synthetic leather trim. You also get centre console storage, single-zone climate control, a better feeling steering wheel and shifter, and rain-sensing wipers. You also get a bigger 12.0-inch central screen, extra USB-C ports and access to the Kia Connect app and over-the-air updates.

Finally, the GT-Line rides on a unique 17-inch alloy wheel design, and nabs a sunroof, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and ambient interior lighting. It gets the full Kia twin-screen treatment, with two 12.3-inch displays handling infotainment and driving data, and you get a wireless charger.

In the Juke’s messy engine bay lies a 1.0-litre, three-cylinder, turbo-petrol engine which sends 84kW/180Nm to the front wheels.

Nissan has its own 'HR10DET' engine code for this unit but it’s actually a Renault 'H5Dt' engine as evidenced by Renault logos all over the place.

Power is communicated by a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic which has been a source of strife for this car since it arrived. This very European engine and transmission combination is one which the Juke shares with its Renault Captur cousin.

I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but I would prefer a continuously variable transmission (CVT) which Nissan uses elsewhere in its range. It would solve maybe the main issue with this car, which we’ll explore up next in the driving section of this review

All Stonics get the same powertrain. A clever three-cylinder, 1.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine with 48-volt mild hybrid assistance. That means 88kW and 172Nm (up from 74kW). It has a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

We don’t have an official zero-to-100km/h time, but I’m estimating in excess of 10 seconds.

One of the reasons this car comes equipped with a dual-clutch automatic is to chase fuel efficiency as well as emissions output. On paper DCT autos don’t suffer the inherent losses of a traditional torque converter transmission.

The official combined cycle fuel consumption figure is 5.8L/100km. My week of driving, weighted slightly more towards freeway conditions, produced a marginally higher average of 6.8L/100km. It’s not the claim, but it’s pretty good.

This little engine requires mid-shelf 95RON unleaded fuel, and the Juke has a 46-litre fuel tank, suggesting a driving range of 793km using the official fuel consumption number.

The 48-volt system helps drop both fuel use and C02 emissions, with the Stonic pegged at 5.0L/100kms on the combined cycle and 116g/km for emissions, both of which are lower numbers than the last model.

The Stonic’s 45-litre tank could theoretically deliver a circa-900km driving range.

The Juke can be fun to drive, and I wanted to like it more, but the transmission its peppy little engine is paired with is frustrating.

Outputs of 84kW/180Nm doesn’t sound like a lot, but power isn’t the problem. The little engine has a fun turbo-surge which pairs with the Juke's light frame to make for a car which is quite athletic when you push it.

The issue is a mountain of turbo-lag conspires with the clunky dual-clutch automatic to make it far too sluggish off the line.

There’s a full second (or two, at times) to wait for any power to arrive, which simply isn’t good enough at T-junctions and roundabouts, the kind of situations a little urban SUV like this will constantly be encountering.

Nissan says the transmission software was even updated after the Juke’s launch, but it’s still not where it should be.

It has good traits, too. When you’re out on the open road, it has quick, snappy and well-defined shifts, and the engine is much better when it’s being properly pushed, too.

It has a gruff, entertaining tone, and the Juke’s light frame, firm ride, and comparatively heavy steering make it a joy to throw into some corners.

The long wheelbase for such a small SUV, paired with a decent set of tyres, also keeps it confident when its predecessor was a little clumsy.

Again, though, the reasonably hard ride, not helped by the very large wheels, isn't its best trait in an urban environment. The Juke is by no means uncomfortable, it just seems like the priorities for this little SUV aren’t in the right place.

I’ve said this before but there’s a great car in here somewhere. The Juke is fun to drive in the right environment, it’s just this environment is not where most prospective buyers will primarily be looking to use it.

What could fix this issue? A different transmission perhaps. Better yet, an e-Power hybrid powertrain.

It is a really interesting drive proposition, this Stonic.

First and foremost, it does feel really well sorted in places. The steering has a nice weight to it. It's nice and direct. The ride is comfortable. It can get a little bit crashy over the harsher bumps, which actually isn't all that common in Kia products – like if you hit a cat's eye at speed, for example, you can definitely feel it in the cabin – but generally it's an engaged and comfortable drive.

Similarly, going around corners, even at speed, there's not a huge amount of body roll. The tires grip up pretty well, and it's really not a bad thing to throw around corners.

Where it gets interesting, though, is in its power delivery. At city speeds, so 50 or 60km/h, it's nice and easy and quiet. If you're gentle with the accelerator, and patient, it accrues speed in quite a calm, considered manner, without feeling overly sluggish.

Where it does start to fall apart a little bit, which is when you're at speed, say on a freeway for example, and you pull out to overtake and really plant your foot, and find there's really not a lot there. It can mean overtaking takes a lot longer than you might think. 

If you're on a really challenging road and you're kind of on the gas, on the brakes, on the gas and on the brakes, it can feel a little bit wheezy and uncertain, too, which is no doubt a byproduct of that relatively tiny powertrain.

We're definitely not talking rocket ship acceleration, and nor is it all that quiet in the cabin when you really start to wring its neck, which you will do occasionally.

But I think I've really stepped away from what this vehicle is supposed to be and what it's supposed to do. If you are easy with the accelerator, it can be a really calm, quiet cabin experience. And if you do find yourself on a twisting road, it actually sits and grips better than you might be thinking as well.

But there is no doubt the Stonic shines brightest in the city.

There’s no immediate plan to crash test the new Stonic, meaning its five-star rating has now expired.

All models get things like lane keeping assist with lane follow assist, and blind spot collision avoidance and front and rear parking sensors. The S also gets auto emergency braking (AEB) with car, pedestrian and cyclist avoidance, but the Sport and GT-Line both add junction turning to the system.

Nissan offers the Juke with a five-year, unlimited km warranty, with five-years of roadside assist included.

It requires servicing every 12 months or 20,000km and the cost is subject to a capped price servicing program for the first six years.

This averages $651.33 annually, which is not cheap for a small SUV in this class.

However, there is also the option of a pre-paid five-year service plan which brings the annual cost over five years down to a more reasonable $429.60.

But, notably, it does not include the pricy $1521 sixth-year interval. It’s worth asking yourself how long you’ll own the car for before splurging on it.

The Stonic is covered by Kia’s seven-year unlimited-kilometre warranty, with capped-price servicing covering the warranty term.

Servicing is required every 12 months or 10,000kms, and all seven services will set you back $3780 combined.