Big on practicality

Big on practicality
The Cube's not all fashion and fun, though. There's a seriously practical side to it as well. The high seating position and square shape make it easy for the driver to judge the car's extremities, there's a decent boot that's easy to load and can be varied by that sliding and folding rear bench, and storage spaces seem to be everywhere.

Many of these are part of the personalisation programme it seems no new small car is worth launching these days without a range of stickers and attachments to let buyers mark out their territory that Nissan has devised. So, you can have wood or shag-pile carpet mats for the two shelves on the dashboard, coloured rubber straps to hold things in place, movable hooks and, yes, body stickers.

The Cube has something of the cartoon-like character of Nissan's futuristic recent show cars, Pivo and Nuvu. Clever, witty, fun and functional it's all the things Nissan claims for it. With a projected starting price of around 13,000, it also looks expensive, especially when the Kia Soul will offer much of the same quirkiness for around 2000 less. Some people won't mind what it costs: they'll just have to have one. Others wouldn't be seen in it at any price, and Nissan knows that. Us? Without having driven it, we rather like it. RS

Verdict:
You asked for it. Soon you can have it