If I was going to get an economical Nissan, I’d get a Cube. Yeah, they look weird, but I rented one last November for a road trip to South Carolina and I was amazed. I thought I’d hate it. I fell in love with it. It’s a box on wheels, but that gives it immense amounts of room inside. The seats are comfortable, if you don’t have rear passengers you’ve got lots of cargo room, it drives great, and it’s amazingly maneuverable.
The best part? It’s a Versa underneath, which is a good platform, and despite being a fairly heavy and boxy car, it did 33 mpg on the highway and well over 25 around town. That continuously variable automatic that Nissan uses takes some getting used to, but it’s actually *more* economical than the manual. Amazing.
Forget the Leaf. It’s nothing but a gimmick.
}:-)4
I prefer my pickup.
I can get hundreds of miles out of a tank of gas (More if I fill both tanks) and carry a thousand lbs at the same time. Then there’s the added advantage of being able to stop a any typical gas station, fill up and go again within minutes.
I drive the “original” Scion xB. I’ve owned 28 cars in my life. Everything from beaters to luxury cars to sports cars and convertibles. This is my all-around favorite of all of them. If I ever have to replace it, I will be looking at the cube before I’d look at the “big” xB.
I bought the xB with a manual. It is probably the reason it feels more like an old Mini and less like a gutless economy car. I think the variable ratio transmissions are a great idea, but if they make it feel gutless, well, I dunno.