New York 2010: 2011 Nissan Juke

Attention all you small crossover fans out there, now is the time to get excited. Nissan pulled back the curtain on the 2011 Juke and although we've seen it (at the Geneva Motor Show), we're still glad it's here. We're being implored to mention that some of us think the front end has a Pontiac Aztek quality about it. Others ("Hi, Mom!") feel different. Yeah, it's... not normal looking, but we've seen worse. At least it's not derivative. The rest of the Juke's styling, however, is much less controversial. Especially that rear three-quarter view.

Sadly, Nissan has neglected to hold a press conference for the Juke, so we're still not sure exactly how much power this mini-ute is making. For now, we're stuck with the "180+ horsepower and 170+ lb-ft of torque" from its 1.6-liter direct-injected four-cylinder turbo, figures that are cited in the car's press release. There's a manual option for the front drivers, but CVT-only for the torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive versions. As soon as we can track down a Nissan employee with the details, we'll update the post. Until then, chew on this for more details. Also, while this here Juke is a right-hand driver, Nissan will be selling Jukes to us left-seat driving, high-rider loving Yanks come 2011.