The bubbly SUV-crossover shell of the top-selling Nissan Juke is one of the least likely places to find the running gear of the formidable R35 GT-R, but back in 2015, the Japanese marque and race engineers RML decided to shoehorn the innards of an R35 GT-R into its popular crossover… because they could. Partly crafted as a publicity stunt to promote the idea of a warmed-up Nissan Juke Nismo and partly an exercise in engineering prowess, just five Juke-Rs were ever built, with only a couple of those going to wealthy private collectors.
As a recap, the all-wheel-drive machine is capable of sprinting to 62mph from a standstill in 3.7 seconds, while that turbocharged 3.8-litre V6 engine is highly tuneable, meaning versions of the fiery Juke were kicking around with 700+hp.
But RML’s main goal was to retain the easy-going nature of Nissan’s small SUV, which meant crafting a vehicle anyone could drive. The automatic gearbox, simple starter button and fairly familiar surrounds of a Nissan GT-R greet anyone who steps inside. Granted, there’s a roll cage to contend with and those bucket seats are a bit of a nightmare for anyone with a bad back, but it’s surprisingly easy to hit Ferrari 458 levels of performance on your way to the local shops.
Now, German performance car specialists VDM Cars claims it has a Nissan Juke-R for sale…. albeit not one produced by RML but one crafted by Severn Valley Motorsport, who took a genuine Juke-R shell obtained from RML and then added the GT-R mechanicals at a later date.
Confused? Yeah, so are we, but the key message to take home is that this is still a very rare, very fast beast with a price tag to reflect this fact. It’s up for a staggering £580,000 and you can hit this link if you are interested in poking around some more or better still, buying it.
Keyword: Ultra rare Nissan Juke-R goes on sale