MinisterofDOOM wrote:With minivans loosing popularity to crossovers, I think it's a good move to mix what makes minivans most practical (flat floors, lots of room, tons of seat/cargo arrangement options, and ease of entry) with what makes crossovers appealing. If Nissan can hit that mark, they might be able to find a niché where the minivan and crossover markets overlap.
EXACTLY. People like me, 30 years old with one kid and likely one more to come, want a cool ride with unique styling and options, a reasonable price, good gas mileage, good utility and interior space. Mini-vans are too big, ugly and hard on gas to meet this criteria, so I bought a Nissan Rogue because it came the closest to meeting all these requirements. This new mini-van looks to be almost perfect for people like me, because it is slightly smaller than existing mini- vans which have gotten WAY too bulky and hard on gas (does anyone remember mini-vans in the 80's? they were much smaller but still had great utilitiy and you didn't feel like you were driving a bus, then car company's got stupid and made everythign bigger and bigger). The new Nissan concept seems to be a perfect size, offering more room than my Rogue but a little more compact and fun to drive than current giant minivans. If it keep that sweet styling and offers a good 4-cylinder powertrain with decent power and good fuel efficiency this will be the perfect vehicle in my opinion, and I'll have to reconsider my plan to keep my Rogue for 10+ years. I love the Rogue, but if this van maintains the cool styling, adds sliding doors and more interior space, I guarantee it'll be a winner.
The only thing that I've seen to come close to this is the Mazda 5 minivan, which has been out for several years. The only reason I didn't buy one is because it is too small, the styling isn't great and utility is low ex. the back gate hatch is very small, hard to get a dog in and groceries etc., but if Nissan makes theirs a little bigger this'll be perfect. I'm excited to see a production model in person, hopefully soon?