A previously unpublished road-test.

Hello all. Yes, I know, I haven't been blogging for ages, but I am going to make it up to you by posting a previously unpublished road-test that I did at CAR magazine while I was on work experience. Before anybody asks, I have no idea why it never got published - you'd have to ask Tim Pollard. Anyway, the notes of the test were written in July 2010 - so do excuse me if it isn't in-depth as you would expect.

Anyway, without further ado here it. The road test is of the Nissan Juke Board. Enjoy - Dan.

Nissan Juke Board: the lowdown.
In all honesty we were a little perplexed by this one; Nissan just sent us a box adressed to the team - we had no idea what it was until until we opened up the box to find an electric skateboard. Now, with an office comprising mainly of males and on the Friday afternoon the things that happend are normal to any bloke-filled office; take the skateboard out of the box, and chuck the instructions out of the window. (good shot Mr Barry)

The Juke Board is powered by a 9.3 volt electric battery which is good for a top speed of 30mph, claims Nissan. However, it is quite heavy - no official weight given but it is quite heavy for a skateboard. The user controls the amount of throttle using a wireless slot car-style controller which can control the Juke Board from up to two metres away. The Juke Board also has a reverse gear - something yours truly found out by mistake.

So, what is it like to 'drive'?
After the team had finished throwing the instructions around, we finally got to play with our new toy - kudos to Nissan for giving us a fully charged battery. First of all Tim went tenativly around the office, but after a couple of minutes he was getting the hang of the responsiveness of the throttle. Or he was getting more cocky, one of the two.

Then, it was my turn. I eletected to sit down on the 'board instead of going Bart Simposon-style. Unfortunatly, Tim had given the controller to staff writter, Ben Pulman, Before I realised what was happening, I was heading straight for a desk. Needless to say that you, dear reader will know what happend next. Yes, I got fired into the desk of some chap working for Practical Classics. If you are reading this, sorry mate.

Anyway, after Ben passed me the controller - he manged to turn down my offer of controlling him due to "I wouldn't like to know what the insurance people would say!". Wimp. - I had a few more runs up and down the office. My impressions? That the throttle is very responsive - a good thing on something like this in my opinion - and that it steers to the left slighty, although that could be down to me.

After a few runs, some bright spark thought that it would be a good idea for me to conduct some more serious 'road-testing' outside in the carpark where there was more room. However, while taking the Juke Board outside, we unconvered a few flaws. One is that as I've said then its very heavy, so carrying it out was, er, out. Secondly, its a real pain to manourve in, say, taking it into a lift to get to ground floor. It took me five minutes of pushing and shoving and shoving to get the damm thing in the lift. And finally, once you get it out of the lift, the receptionist shouts at you for riding it through the entrance. Well, I'm sorry love, but I can't carry the thing, so what else am I meant to do with it?

Once you get outside into the carpark, the Juke Board really comes into its own; the wheels are big enough to allow it to go over the surface easily, making cornering at 30mph a load of fun - make sure you don't do what I did a couple of times and fall off as it hurts quite a bit. However, I did experience a problem where the Juke Board decided what it wanted to do was steer the left towards the BMW M3-shaped barrier. Fortunatly though, no BMWs were hurt during this road test.

If you are reading this thinking "Great, but are there any practical uses to it?" well, yes there are, as Chris Chilton found out; he used the Juke Board to ferry himself to the water dispenser and back. He didn't fall off once, or spill any water on the way back so that will be a resounding yes.

Should I get one?
If you like this sort of thing, yes, however it is worth bearing in mind that this is just a marketing gimick by Nissan. Does it pave the way for a battery powered Juke? We'll have to wait and see. The test of the (real size) Juke can be found in this month's copy of CAR, on sale next Wednesday.