Fire up the... Nissan Cube

GET a six-year-old child to scribble a picture of a car for you and chances are their creation would look like something like this.

Nissan's Cube is cute and curious in equal measure, with its deliberately, defiantly boxy stance being the first thing that hits you when you come across it. Paint one red and you're letting yourself in for Postman Pat jokes, but get the colours, wheels and spec right on what's a very Oriental automobile and you'll have an intruigingly different bit of motoring on your hands.

There's no getting around the decidedly high-rise styling - you either love it or hate it, and given that the entire car's named in its honour, it's not going to be changing any time soon. It's particularly sensitive to colours, with pastel shades and white - national colour of Japan, the Cube's home country - being the best bet.

Step inside and it reminds you more of a Tokyo flat than the inside of a car, with more in the way of colour schemes shipped in straight from the Far East, thin, bench-like seats and lots of storage nets, which are not only handy for smaller items but actually lift the ambience of the entire car, adding to the very airy feel created by the expansive window space. With masses of head and legroom, it's about as far removed from the Micra as you can possibly get. You could spend hours marvelling at the ornate netting covering the sunroof in particular, because it honestly looks like the papery walls you imagine line every flat and hotel room in the whole of Japan.

Where it falls down is in the dynamics created by that tall, boxy body, suffering from vague steering and straight-line performance that's nowhere near gutless but not class-leadingly brilliant either, so keen drivers are better advised to look elsewhere. It's still worthy sacrifice to pay for the style and clever packaging, but it's not a car to reward on quiet country roads.

The starting price of £14,000 might put budget-conscious buyers off too, putting it straight into the sight of Volkswagen's Golf and the MINI, but where it scores highly is in providing a car that dares to be different that'll be endlessly reliable.

It's not for everyone but if you're smitten with the style it's well worth a look.

As published in The Champion on December 8, 2010