2021 Nissan Juke vs Renault Captur

What's the difference?

The Juke Ti is a tough one. There is a lot here that I was surprised and charmed by, even having reviewed the Juke before. This is a fun-looking, engaging little car, with a strong personality and surprising practicality.

It’s frustrating, however, that there are so many areas where even small improvements would turn a good car into a great one. The engine and transmission are at their worst in an urban scenario, and despite a unique and comfortable interior vibe and excellent Bose sound system, this car could really do with some of those high-end tech items like a digital dash, head-up display, and wireless charging to help it better appeal to a youthful urban buyer.

The second-generation Captur's arrival coincides with the brand's transfer to a new distributor and a fiercely competitive market still bruised and battered from a shocking 2020. 

It certainly looks the part and is also priced the part. Without a doubt, the mid-spec Zen is the one to go for unless you want the extra electro-trickery available on the Intens, which is quite a lot more expensive.

Setting aside my fondness for French cars, this one looks and feels more competitive in the compact SUV market. If you cover a lot of ground every year - or want the option to do so - you should really take a second look at the servicing structure, too, because in the Captur 30,000km in a year means a single service rather than three in turbo-engined rivals. That might be a bit niche, but even over the life of a car where you average 15,000km per year, it will make a difference.

The Juke is all design, I’d say the look is perhaps its biggest selling point, but this time around form meets function, too.

The Juke is part of a new generation of eye-grabbing small SUVs that serve up a serious dollop of street style, for better or worse. This new car references the curvy, edgy lines that made the previous model loved and hated in equal measure, but does so with a confidently modern execution. LED lights and huge wheels combine with the subtly finished contrast panels to complete this car’s contemporary look.

I’d say it’s more of a balanced, well-rounded design than petrol versions of Hyundai’s recently updated Kona, for example. The Juke also offers an interesting alternative to the similar Toyota C-HR, which stops a little short of being quite this eye-grabbing.

Our Ti leaves me with the overall impression this car is essentially an automotive sneaker. Cool looks, a wide stance, and signature highlight points really set it apart, but perhaps above all the new burnt-orange paint glows in the light like few other colours, giving this Nissan a unique kerb appeal.

Inside is where the Juke easily pulls ahead of the C-HR, at least in my mind. Where the Toyota plays it mostly safe with familiar Corolla switchgear, the Juke goes full whacky with the orange synthetic leather dash-filler really off-setting the dark plastics and leathers and matte silver highlights. It’s a lot to take in, but it’s meant to be and is designed around wowing onlookers.

Again, it’s too bad the Juke doesn’t double down with an equally impressive tech package, as many rivals are now offering screens which measure in the double digits, and at this top-spec price point, a fully digital instrument cluster to match.

Instead, the Juke leans into its familiarity with other Nissan legends, with some subtle and not-so-subtle references to cars like the iconic R35 GT-R in its circular vent fittings and raised, leather-bound console elements.

Overall, the Juke’s design won’t be for everyone, but it leans so strongly into its street-cred element that those it does appeal to will be absolutely sold. If nothing else, the Juke is a signature for Nissan, standing the brand well apart from rivals on the road.

I had to twice check this was the new Captur, but really, it's just the profile that is most like the older car. The new one is a bit bolder and less jacked-up Clio. 

The Life and Zen look pretty much the same apart from the Zen's (optional) two-tone paint jobs but the Intens looks pretty classy with its bigger wheels and additional materials changes.

The new interior is a vast improvement over the old one. The plastics are way nicer and they have to be because hardly anyone has plastics as bad as that old car anymore. 

The new one has more comfortable seats, too, and I really like the revised dash. It feels much more modern, is better-designed and the little paddle for the audio controls has finally been updated and is way easier to use. It also clears the steering wheel of buttons, which I quite like.

It's no secret that practicality was one of the worst elements of the previous-generation Juke. It had a tiny boot and back seat, next to no cabin storage, and woeful visibility.

The great improvement with this new one is its migration to a global platform it shares with Renault’s new Captur. This means all of these elements have been thought about from a wider perspective. Both cars need to look good and function just as well to give them the best chance of success, and I think both brands have really achieved it this time around.

It’s not without its issues, though. The Juke is still a bit light on the cabin storage up front, letting potential areas for storage bays give way to its overt design elements.

The centre console, for example, looks impressive with its raised shift-knob and synthetic leather cladding, compared to the previous Juke, but offers only a pair of cupholders and a tiny storage tray (which barely fit my iPhone 12) for stowing objects. There is also a truly tiny console armrest box, and some small storage bays in each door, but that’s it for front passengers.

Thankfully, unlike the previous Juke, the front seats are superb in quality and finish, an area which is becoming a Nissan strong point. The soft synthetic leather trim continues into the doors, and even the seating position and visibility are much improved this time around.

Rear passenger seating impressed me. While entry isn’t as easy as it is for front passengers, thanks to those small coupe-like doors, I was surprised to find I actually fit comfortably behind my own (182cm tall) driving position with a little room to spare for my knees.

The excellent seat trim continues (although it’s a little more flat and less supportive than the front), and even the rear doors come with a single large bottle holder and soft strips for your elbows. Amenity-wise, there’s a USB outlet for charging and a small tray on the back of the centre console, but no adjustable air vents. The small and heavily tinted windows also conspire with the abundance of dark trim and headliner to make the rear seat feel a bit claustrophobic and hard to see out of, despite decent head and leg room for adults.

Thanks to some smart design, the Juke also has a surprisingly large boot. Coming in at 422 litres (by no accident a figure identical to its Renault cousin) it’s big for the small SUV class and has a wide, open, and mostly square space, which fit our entire CarsGuide luggage set with relative ease, even with the cover in place. The only issue owners might run into here is the tall rear bumper, which might make loading heavy objects a chore. Under the floor the Juke has a space-saver spare wheel.

Overall, there’s a bit more to the Juke than just looks. This is now a small SUV, which can haul decent amounts of luggage and four adults with relative ease.

You get a massive boot to start with - bigger even than the fabled 408 litres of the Honda HR-V. Renault starts you with 422 litres and then adds underfloor storage. When you push the seats forward and include the hidey-hole under the false floor, you end up with 536 litres.

Of course, that sliding will affect rear legroom. When the rear seats are all the way back, this is a lot more comfortable than the old car, with more head and knee room, although it's no match for the Seltos or HR-V in that respect. Not far off, though.

Fold the 60/40 split rear seats down and you have 1275 litres, a not-quite-flat floor and 1.57m long floor space, 11cm more than before.

The French approach to cupholders continues. There are just two in this car, but they are at least useful rather than the frustratingly small ones in the out-going model. 

Rear seat passengers don't get cupholders or an armrest, but there are bottle holders in all four doors and - joy of joys - air vents in the back. Bit weird to have no armrest even in the top-spec Intens, though.

The three-tier range starts at $28,190, before on-road costs, for the Captur Life and comes with 17-inch wheels, a cloth interior, auto headlights, air-conditioning, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on the 7.0-inch landscape-oriented touchscreen, full LED headlights (that’s a nice touch), front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera and a space saver spare.

Irritatingly, if you want the extra safety that's standard on the Zen and Intens, you have to spend another $1000 on the 'Peace of Mind' package, which also adds electric folding mirrors and takes you to $29,190, $1600 short of the Zen which has all this and more. 

So think carefully about a Life with a package. I would put a modest sum of money on the idea that few people will buy the Life.

Step up to the Zen and for $30,790 you get the extra safety gear, walk-away auto-locking, a heated leather steering wheel, auto wipers, two-tone paint option, climate control, keyless entry and start (with the Renault key card) and wireless phone charging.

Then there's a big jump to the Intens, a whole five grand to $35,790. You get 18-inch wheels, a bigger 9.3-inch touchscreen in portrait mode, sat nav, BOSE sound system, 7.0-inch digital dashboard display, LED interior lighting, 360-degree cameras and leather seats.

The 'Easy Life' package is available on the Intens and adds auto parking, side parking sensors, auto high beam, a bigger 10.25-inch digital dash and frameless rear vision mirror for $2000.

And you can get the 'Orange Signature' package for no bucks. Which adds orange stuff to the interior and deletes the leather, which isn't necessarily a terrible thing. Not because the leather is bad, I just prefer cloth.

The new Renault touchscreens are good and include Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but I can only speak for the bigger 9.3-inch system which is similar to the Megane's. 

You get digital radio on top of AM/FM radio and six speakers (Life, Zen) or nine speakers (Intens).

These prices are more competitive than the older car. That seems fair because there's a lot more in it and prices are inexorably creeping northwards at the other brands. 

Missing out of the range is the plug-in hybrid version, which is sad for a couple of reasons. 

The first is that first-mover advantage could work in Renault's favour and secondly, its French rival Peugeot is pricing its new 2008 way higher than the Captur, so a PHEV could almost be cheaper - one imagines - than a top-spec, petrol-only 2008. 

Perhaps Renault is going to wait and see what happens when Alliance partner Mitsubishi drops the Eclipse Cross PHEV, which I think will do quite well.

This is where the Juke starts to fall behind. Coming with this new look and globally focused underpinnings is a new 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine in a rather messy looking engine bay. It produces a very average 84kW/180Nm. This lands it on par with its 1.2-litre four-cylinder turbo C-HR rival, but crucially there’s no hybrid variant of any kind, which ultimately prevents it from getting near the front of the segment here.

It is mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and drives the front wheels only.

For various reasons this combination has its good points and its bad points, which we’ll look at in the driving section, but one thing worth noting is the transmission has had a software update for the 2021 model year to improve some of its less-appealing characteristics.

All Capturs run the same 1.3-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine delivering a mildly impressive 113kW at 5500rpm and 270Nm at 1800rpm, which should make for some reasonable speed. 

Both numbers are slightly higher than the original Captur, with power up by 3.0kW and torque by 20Nm.

The front wheels are driven exclusively by Renault's seven-speed dual-clutch auto transmission.

Weighing in at a maximum of 1381kg, this enthusiastic engine will push the Captur from 0-100km/h in 8.6 seconds, over half a second quicker than before and a touch quicker than most of its rivals.

The Juke has a claimed/combined consumption figure of 5.8L/100km, courtesy of its small-capacity engine, placing it well amongst rivals.

Over a week of largely urban testing, our car returned a figure of 7.6L/100km, which is about right for this engine around town.

Because of its very European turbo engine, the Juke also requires mid-grade 95RON fuel. It may seem like this engine and transmission is offering up more than a few downsides, but it’s worth remembering this emissions-compliant combination will allow Nissan the economies of scale to sell this new-generation car in Europe.

Renault says the Captur's 1.3-litre engine will drink premium unleaded (important point, that) at the rate of 6.6L/100km. 

That's a more sensible baseline figure than the previous car's sub-6.0 official combined cycle figure and after some web sleuthing appears to be the more accurate WLTP testing number. 

As we had the car for a brief time, the 7.5L/100km is probably not representative of real-world fuel use, but it's a good guide nonetheless.

From the 48-litre tank, you should get 600 to 700km between fills. As you might expect, being a European car, it does want premium unleaded.

The Juke certainly has its pros and cons here. I’m a fan of this car’s driving position; despite its design it offers fantastic visibility and ergonomic seating and steering adjustments. The functions, too, are controlled relatively easily, with dials for the key features and a multimedia screen, which is close and full of large touch elements on the stock software, making it easy to operate.

Unfortunately, and this is especially true around town, the Juke’s transmission is still annoying. It’s hesitant, jerky, and uneven to engage from a stop, and it particularly dislikes hills.

The software update recently rolled out has had some major benefits compared to when I first drove this car in 2020, with each progressive shift being smooth and effortless, instead of indecisive and slow, the opposite of what a dual clutch should be.

This improved shift-mapping pairs nicely with the turbocharged surge from the little engine to allow it to punch above its weight despite its low power figures, comparing well to the almost anaemic C-HR. While you’ll still have to overcome some turbo lag, I dare say this engine becomes fun when you’ve got a nice piece of road. It even trades out its ragged mechanical tone at low speeds for a more gruff and purposeful bark when you’ve got some revs going, adding to the experience.

The steering is fairly organic, light without being too much so, allowing the driver scope for some engagement with this car’s relatively refined chassis. There’s certainly fun to be had here, even if it has to be eked out on the right road and with a more aggressive driving style. Sport mode will even make the shifts snappier, but does nothing to arrest the shuddery launch behaviour.

The huge wheels do work with the firm suspension to make for a bit of a harsh ride, though, so it’s a far cry from the more comfortable cars in this segment, like the Toyota C-HR and Volkswagen T-Roc. Instead, the Juke deals poorly with more abrupt bumps and is noisy over road corrugations and textured surfaces, the likes of which are common in Australia’s population centres.

The drawbacks of this car just make it a little frustrating in an urban scenario. There’s a great car somewhere in here, with lots of admirable elements in the chassis, steering, ease of parking, and gruff little engine, but they’re not at the forefront, with the negative characteristics of the transmission, ride, and turbo-lag especially evident in the close-quarters of a city.

A hybrid option, which would alleviate many of the low-speed stresses this car is burdened with, can’t come soon enough.

Straight up, I will remind you of my fondness for French cars and the way they go about their business. Renault has been on strong form for some time now in the ride and handling department, even on tiny cars with rear torsion beam suspension. 

Where the previous Captur was let down was a common French failing - weak engines that work fine in the European market but don't go down so well in Australia.

Even though I quite liked the old Captur, I got why nobody bought it (relatively speaking). This new one feels good from the second you park your bum in the driver's seat, with good, comfortable support, great vision forward (less so back, but that was the same in the old one) and the steering wheel even has a subtle flattened edge at the top if you have to set the wheel high.

The 1.3-litre turbo is a bit grumbly and gristly on start-up and never really loses a slightly odd, reedy harmonic coming through the firewall, but it's a strong performer for its size and works (mostly) well with the seven-speed dual-clutch.

Renault's old six-speeder was quite good and the seven works just fine except for a slight hesitation from step-off and is sometimes reluctant to kick down. 

I blame fuel-saving rather than ham-fisted calibration, because when you punch the weird flower button and switch to Sport mode, the Captur comes good. 

With a more aggressive transmission and a slightly livelier throttle, the Captur is much happier in this mode and so was I. The steering is light and direct and there's no real pretence in the suspension for off-road use which is fine by me because it means it's great fun on the road. 

It kind of feels like a GT-Line version rather than out of the box standard tune. I don't know if there's a softer version available, but if there is, I'm glad Renault Australia chose this one.

And despite being fun to drive, the ride is almost uniformly excellent. Like any car with torsion beams, it's unsettled by big potholes or those horrible rubber speed bumps, but so is an air-suspended German car. 

It's also fairly quiet except when you've got your foot to the floor and even then it's barely an inconvenience rather than a genuine problem.

You get six airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, forward AEB (up to 170km/h) with pedestrian and cyclist detection (10-80km/h), a reversing camera, rear parking sensors, forward collision warning, lane departure warning and lane keep assist.

If you want blind spot monitoring and reverse cross-traffic alert on the entry-level, you have to step up to the Zen or pay $1000 for the Peace of Mind package. 

Given the marginal rear visibility and the ordinary resolution on the reversing camera, the omission of RCTA is annoying. I know Kia and various other rivals offer the safety as extra, but this is an important feature.

Euro NCAP awarded the Captur a maximum five stars and ANCAP is offering the same rating.

The Juke is covered by Nissan’s class-standard five-year and unlimited-kilometre warranty, competitive with its key Toyota and Hyundai rivals, and offers a capped-price-servicing schedule.

This program is good considering this car’s complex drivetrain, with each 12 monthly or 20,000km service coming in with a yearly average cost of $382.67. Not bad compared to its rivals, and the long service interval is particularly welcome.

Renault sends you home with a five year/unlimited kilometre warranty and a year of roadside assist. Every time you return to a Renault dealer for service, you get a further year, to a maximum of five.

The capped-price servicing runs for five years/150,000km. That suggests you can cover up to a massive 30,000km per year and only have to service it once, which is exactly what Renault reckons you can do. So yeah - service intervals are genuinely set at 12 months/30,000km.

The first three and then fifth services each cost $399, while the fourth is almost double at $789, which is a solid jump. 

So, over the five years you'll be paying a total of $2385 for an average of $596 per year. If you do a ton of kilometres, that will really work for you because most turbo-engined cars in this segment have much shorter service intervals, around 10,000km or 15,000km if you're lucky.