coupes for one of these. It is, however, as fun to drive as a minivan has any right to be. Enough power gets to the front wheels to break traction under hard acceleration, and enough rubber stays on the asphalt to keep the box in control through tight corners.

After more than a half century, Japanese brands have become staples of the U.S. marketplace. So ingrained are these brands to American buyers that a few of them regularly grace the top-10 sales charts. With this familiarity, why can't these automotive brands revel in their own flavor? Looking back at the first Toyotas and Datsuns that crossed the Pacific in the late 1950s, they were not copies of American cars but their own species. The gene pool has become watered down since then.

Nissan has now injected a distinctive taste in the people-mover category of the automotive market. The Quest joins the Cube and the Juke on this, er, quest to broaden the choices among cars. Two generations of good minivans from Nissan has convinced the Japanese automaker to try something new and different. You can get a cheaper minivan, but it's hard to find a more unique model among the blandness of the field.