the King Cab provides extra room up front, as well as just enough space for two behind

the front seats. Instead of a conventional bench seat in back, which would be

extremely cramped, Nissan's King Cab provides two small jump seats that fold down from

the sides and face toward the center of the truck.

The jump seats wouldn't be a comfortable place to roost for a long trip, but they work

fine for a jaunt to the beach or getting a small crew to a work site. And without

passengers, the seats can be folded up, creating a good-sized space for storage of

stuff you don't care to stow in the cargo bed.

Driver and passenger seats are supportive and comfortable. Once we figured out how to

work the tilt option on the steering column, we were able to get the relationship

between the seat and various controls arranged in a configuration that was more car-

than truck-like.

Nissan has installed a better grade of cloth upholstery on the '96 models, and

cupholders have been integrated into the center storage console in King Cab models.

The control and gauge array is logically and visibly positioned save for the dashlight

dimmer control, which required some searching to find. Nissan added a driver's airbag

for +96, but dual airbags won't be available until the new truck rolls out.

Ventilation in the King Cab is excellent. The rear side windows swing out, and the

rear window has a slide-open feature. Using a combination of side and rear windows,

it's easy to achieve an excellent flow of fresh air without any buffeting.

Nissan lists air conditioning as an "accessory," rather than an option, but the net

result is the same. You pay extra for it, something that's true of every

comfort/convenience feature you can name as far as the Standard truck is concerned.

The sound system in our test truck was an optional AM/FM/cassette unit with two

speakers--not exactly orchestral, but it did deliver a good range of sound and

maintained a tenacious hold on radio station tuning.