We drove this MAD Nissan Juke hybrid rally car: REVIEW

Nissan has built a wild one-off Juke rally car, and we drove it through the Sahara desert.

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Scrambling along brutal rutted tracks in the Sahara desert, kicking up dust and nipping at a hydraulic handbrake was not how we envisioned our first acquaintance with the Nissan Juke Hybrid. Even so, the new powertrain’s first application comes in the form of a hulking, toughened-up rally car built to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Datsun’s East African Rally-winning 240Z, and we’ve driven it.

It’s difficult to fathom how an electrified crossover could pay homage to the dainty, straight-six-engined coupé that danced through the desert 50 years ago, but Nissan has had a fair crack at it. The Juke Hybrid Rally Tribute evokes the seventies classic with a red livery, Shell branding and the original car’s number 11 stamped on the flanks. As on the 240Z, the bonnet is painted matt black to prevent reflections beaming into the driver’s eyes as they negotiate rocks and dunes.

A standard Juke would shake itself to pieces from the shattering loads of a desert stage, so the Rally Tribute version has been suitably beefed up. This is not a full competition-spec machine in the mould of a junior Rally4 or Rally5 car, but Nissan has fitted chunky 275-section off-road rubber, underbody protection and uprated, long-travel Ohlins suspension to cope with rough terrain. Our man Yousuf Ashraf puts the new machine to the test in this review.

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