DETROIT - For tailgaters and for families with kids, the award for the build-it-and-we'll-buy concept car has to be the Nissan Forum crossover, which adapts Bose audio technology out of a Ferrari to give an awesome multimedia car. It starts with a Bose head unit in the dash similar to what's in the Ferrari 612 that goes into menu mode when it senses your hand approach, and has outer/inner tuning wheels for gross and fine-tune adjustments (such as satellite radio genre then channel). The middle row seats swivel on a turntable to face front or back. Each of the six seats has a pair of "SeatCentric" speakers (Bose, of course) in the headrests and a subwoofer in the seatback so they can get individualized programming.

The Forum plays DVDs, of course, and can hook up to game consoles, iPods, etcetera. Hungry for popcorn? The console embeds a microwave oven. At the beach or stadium parking lot, the sliding doors on each side open to reveal rear-facing speakers in the trailing edges; Bose calls it a FreeSpace outdoor audio system.

Maintaining decorum: the Time Out button
Then there's a rear-seat video camera that shows what's going on behind you in the in-dash LCD display and a Time Out button embedded in the steering wheel. Based on the time-honored behavioral technique called "threatening to stop the car right now and wail the living daylights out of anyone who doesn't behave starting right now," it mutes all audio sources and activates a hands-free microphone, with which the driver can broadcast a brisk pep talk to all hands in back through those SeatCentric speakers.

Other than the white steering wheel and off-white corduroy carpeting - destined to be filthy within the first week - this is an eminently practical crossover utility vehicle and the saddle tan leather is downright gorgeous. It would be hard to meet crash standards with both middle seats mounted on a single turntable, but there's no reason they couldn't individually pivot, as Chrysler does on its current minivans.

Click here a slideshow of the Nissan - Bose Forum concept car.