Read through the oracles of GoodCarBadCar.net and it won't be long before you realize that The Good Car Guy firmly believes that this, right now, is the golden age of the automobile. However, that does not make 2009 the golden age of automotive style. Many currently produced vehicles are not as good-looking as their ancestors. Think about the Ferrari 360 Modena and the lackluster Ferrari F430. How 'bout the severely deteriorating Toyota Camry or the regressing BMW 3-Series? Oh, they get the details right. But clean lines are disappearing.Which brings us to the third-generation Nissan Cube, the first Cube to arrive on North American shores. No place for lying, this: the new Cube is a lovely simplistic design but isn't up to the standards of the Cube of 2002. This comparison isn't a Cube-on-Cube contest, however. The Kia Soul is a player here; a player with heavyweight presence.
Viewed from the front, the new Cube is a bit messy (especially compared with the second-gen Cube) but succeeds proportionally, no easy task given the Nissan's narrow girth. Meanwhile, the front end of the Kia Soul is butch. This isn't an SUV and shouldn't be seen as such, yet inset from the foglights all that cladding looks good. For their part, the Cube lends credence to the belief that Nissan struggled with North American crash regulations.
Move around to the profile view and you're presented with three stories in a two-car comparo. Kia's car, with 15 or 16-inch wheels, appears to be from the price spectrum beneath. Fit the Soul with 18-inchers and the solid 5-spokers help the Soul leave the dealer looking expensive and tough.
It is from this profile angle, however, that the Nissan Cube's wonderful peculiarities come into view. Asymmetrical design is applicable outside of the furniture world, it doth appear. Visible on the passenger side, the Cube's wraparound rear windshield is a memorable signature element.
Unfortunately, such a design feature comes at a price. Be careful how close you park to the car behind if you intend to open your rear cargo door. Although "fun", the Nissan Cube's hatch access is bulkier than it needs to be and doesn't make loading easier in any way. Redeeming its absurdity, the Cube's cargo door thankfully opens away from the curb side. Perfecting the rear bumper for North America resulted in something terribly rounded and rather bulbous. Taillamp height and shape is alluring, nonetheless. And that asymmetrical side/rear window is all the more eye-catching from the rear.
Kia positioned the Soul's headlights in a Volvoesque manner up high but slightly off the line of the rear windshield where one might expect them to be located. Rear fender flares are swollen to the point where they appear muscular even when parked behind the Soul at traffic lights. There's still no way the Soul captivates stylistically like the Cube can even when viewed beheld from the back.
EXTERIOR VERDICT
1st: NISSAN CUBE 9/10 - More than the sum of its styled parts, the Cube isn't what it could have been yet is still a boxy light in an oblong world.
2nd: KIA SOUL 7/10 - Not deficient in its design in any way, the Soul loses here only because the Cube is that much more unique.
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