Nissan Cube
- Starting price: $14,980
- Gas mileage: 27 mpg city/31 mpg highway
With its boxy body, the Nissan Cube is aptly named. But if you're looking for a small car that hauls like a van, the Cube is a good option. With 58 cubic feet of storage with the rear seat down on a body that is 13 feet long and 5 feet 6 inches wide, the Cube can accommodate plenty of cargo or up to five passengers. A rearview camera should help drivers parallel park and back into tight parking spaces.
Those who take the Cube for a test drive may notice that it sounds a little different from other automatics. But according to Nissan, that's due to the continuously variable transmission technology, which seamlessly shifts between gears, avoiding "gear hunting" and "shift shock" -- Nissan's terms for the occasional bumps and hiccups that come with other automatic transmissions.
At 31 highway mpg, the Nissan Cube gets good gas mileage. But some reviews were less than impressed with the car's acceleration and handling.