Nissan Cube—Getting inside the box

Nissan got at least one thing right on the small, boxy five-door Cube: the side hinged rear door opens the right way. (That is, to the left.) That may sound simple, but in fact it's a breakthrough for a Japanese automaker. Other small SUVs imported from Japan with side-hinged doors have had doors that open to the right since they were first introduced in 1996.

In Japan, where traffic travels on the left side of the road, this makes sense. At the curb, the door opens out, leaving the opening toward the curb for unloading cargo or groceries. In the U.S., driving on the right side of the road, the open door, swung to the right, is in your way as you try to load luggage.

So what's a Japanese company to do? At times, Honda, Suzuki, and Toyota decided it isn't worth the expense to build two versions of their small SUVs, with the rear doors opening opposite directions. (Honda has corrected this on the current-generation CR-V by using a liftgate.)

But with the Cube, expected to cost on par with the Scion xD (well below $20,000) and less than a small SUV when it arrives in showrooms this spring, Nissan has done just that. And that's not all.

The Cube is full of quirky designs, like the "pebble drop" headliner with concentric, raised circles and the asymmetrical rear window. With upright seating and a relatively tall roof, the Cube has lots of room for passengers inside. For the U.S. market, this second-generation Cube is powered by a 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine that's likely to have more verve than the 1.4-liter, Japanese-spec version of the previous Cube we drove a few months ago at a press event.

One other demerit is obvious, though. With the Cube's tail-lights across the bumper, the liftover height is tall. And the rear seat doesn't make a flat cargo floor, leaving a well for larger boxes to fall into.

We'll buy a Cube to test as soon as it's available and let you know whether Nissan is thinking is outside the box, or it has reinvented the box.

—Eric Evarts

Read more articles about the Cube:
Electric cars take charge in Israel, Denmark
The Nissan Denki Cube concept at the 2008 New York auto show.