Just In: Nissan Cube

"It's so cute! So, is it a hybrid or something?" That's how an Infiniti G35 owner, interested in the Cube I was driving, approached me in the Target parking lot. (I confessed that I'd rather be driving her Infiniti.)

As I told her, the Cube isn't a hybrid, but that sure doesn't seem to limit its trendiness or eye appeal. My colleagues report lots of staring from other drivers. After all, it isn't everyday that you see an (intentionally) asymmetric car driving down the road.

The craziness continues inside (see adjacent video from the New York auto show). The headliner has concentric circles, like a topographic map you'd get from throwing a pebble in a pond. There are elastic bungee cords on the doors to hold small items in place (although you'd probably bash anything you stashed there with your knee); a pack of different colored cords is in the glove compartment. The climate control knobs are different shapes, like they ran out and threw something else on instead of matching all of them.

And then there's the circular shag rug, part of the "interior designer package," that's glued on top of the dashboard. It looks all the world like a very bad toupee. We're not sure what to do with it; it seems like a good place to hold small items, but a tag underneath it says in big letters "Do not place any objects on this product. Unsecured objects may move during driving and cause driver distraction or may cause injury in a collision." Never mind that the shag's reflection in the massive windshield is plenty distracting all on its own.

Get beyond the funky styling of the "cube Mobile Device" and you'll find that, well, it's basically just a car. The Cube competes with the Scion xB and Kia Soul (these links are to model overview pages), two other uniquely styled boxes that pack a lot of room into a small, relatively fuel-efficient package. The Cube uses the Nissan Versa's 1.8-liter, four-cylinder engine and CVT. Our Cube came to $16,790, not much for a lot of funk.

How is it to drive? We'll let you know down the road.

—Tom Mutchler