Is it a hot hatch? Is it a sporty crossover? These are the questions UK buyers will be asking themselves when they lay eyes on the £21,995 price tag for the new Nissan Juke Nismo RS.

It can be had with either front- or four-wheel drive, and a choice of two transmissions: six-speed manual or paddle-operated Xtronic (continuously variable).

The RS promises “more performance, a sharper chassis set-up, more powerful brakes and extra equipment.” Cost options include special Recaro bucket seats or what’s called the Safety Pack adding “Xenon headlamps, Nissan’s Around View Monitor and Safety Shield, Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Warning and Moving Object Detection giving visual and audible warnings to avoid potential collisions.”

As in other markets, only three color choices are available: white, black and silver.

Should you consider buying one of these, you will not only be faced with the dilemma of not knowing what it is that you’re exactly buying in terms of type/class of vehicle, but also new problems. For instance, should you want more luggage space, this is offered by the front-wheel drive model, which has a reshaped luggage compartment.

Plus, you can only get the all-wheel drive variant with the CVT transmission, yet it offers torque vectoring. Oh, and to make the decision even more difficult, only the fwd variant gets a limited-slip differential.

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