Watch The Juke-R 2.0 Drag Race The Nissan GT-R Nismo

Both technically have the same engine and running gear. The results will surprise you.

Earlier this year, Nissan announced another iteration of its wildly popular Juke-R dubbed the Juke-R 2.0. Finally, Autocar (Aug. 7, 2015) took both the Nismo GT-R and the Juke-R on the racetrack and let them duke it out via a simple drag race. Both utilize the same twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V6 good for 600 HP and 481 lb-ft and both engines are paired to all the same running gear underneath. Obviously the biggest differences is that one is shaped like a large matt black bubble and the other is carrying on the fighting pride that is Nissan GT-R. You’d also be surprised to know that the Juke-R weighs more (3,968 pounds) than the Nismo GT-R (3,813 pounds.) Check out the video below for the results.

Spoiler alert! If you haven’t watched the video by now then you probably don’t care to see it. Both cars start out from a rolling creep due to Nissan engineers wanting to be careful with the gearboxes of both cars. Sadly, we don’t get to see the GT-R’s infamous launch control that can propel the AWD beast to 60 MPH in 2.9 seconds. For the first run, the Nismo GT-R barely beats the Juke-R 2.0 by half a car length. Hats off to the pokey little Juke-R for giving its grandad a proper run for its money.

The second time around, the Juke-R switches to a softer suspension setting for a better launch and jumps to a lead and keeps that lead for the entire run beating the Nismo GT-R. Race car driver Jann Mardenborough who was piloting the Nismo GT-R called this run bad news and suddenly got very serious for the final run. It was a no mercy run for Jaan.

The third run was much like the first run with the GT-R’s superior aerodynamics besting the tiny Juke-R. It’d be interesting to see the results if you switched drivers. But if you really wanted to choose between the two, with the Juke-R priced at around $600,000 and the Nismo GT-R at a solid $150,000, the decision becomes much clearer. If you want to still buy a Juke-R 2.0, you’d better call Nissan quick as only 17 will be made.