Nissan Cube - your thoughts

[loose cannon]

Anybody know much about the supercharged
Impul version can’t find any stats for it

[ian_c_uk]

We / wife had a mk3, 1.5 CVT, Kaizen.

+
Design - if you like it, you will never tire of it - not only the outside, but interior touches also.
Very comfy, soft seats and suspension - drove from Lancs to Paris, no problems.
People wanting to talk to you about it - either good or bad - I love a car that makes people have an opinion.
Other owners - majority wave like lunatics, and the forums / meets were a good laugh.
Tardis - as you'd expect from a box, felt huge inside, but small on outside.
Visibility - sat high / can see edges easily.
Rear "bench" very good for three teenagers.

-
Not as neat a design as the mk2 - but that had a lapbelt for centre rear seatbelt.
Plastics felt cheap.
Technology - whilst lots thrown at it, felt dated rather quickly.
In no way fun to drive quickly - only suited loafing along.
People will sit alongside on motorway and just stare - not great if you want to change lane!

...and the reason we got rid of it:

CVT always had a slight rattle in reverse. Despite coming towards the end of it's Nissan "cared4" warranty, they would not investigate unless it "failed", and the cost to replace (sealed unit) was not far off the value of the car. May never had failed, but the cost was too great to risk.

Replaced it with a Mk2 Kia Soul - much better built and actually quite fun to drive in a french hatch kinda way, but nowhere near as "interesting" a design in comparison.

It did get under our skin - wife still refers to it as "the companion cube" and has t-shirts etc, just a shame the CVT gearbox was made of rattling things.

Oh, and kudos for them making LHD and RHD differently.....

[Mercury00]

ian_c_uk said:

We / wife had a mk3, 1.5 CVT, Kaizen.

+
Design - if you like it, you will never tire of it - not only the outside, but interior touches also.
Very comfy, soft seats and suspension - drove from Lancs to Paris, no problems.
People wanting to talk to you about it - either good or bad - I love a car that makes people have an opinion.
Other owners - majority wave like lunatics, and the forums / meets were a good laugh.
Tardis - as you'd expect from a box, felt huge inside, but small on outside.
Visibility - sat high / can see edges easily.
Rear "bench" very good for three teenagers.

-
Not as neat a design as the mk2 - but that had a lapbelt for centre rear seatbelt.
Plastics felt cheap.
Technology - whilst lots thrown at it, felt dated rather quickly.
In no way fun to drive quickly - only suited loafing along.
People will sit alongside on motorway and just stare - not great if you want to change lane!

...and the reason we got rid of it:

CVT always had a slight rattle in reverse. Despite coming towards the end of it's Nissan "cared4" warranty, they would not investigate unless it "failed", and the cost to replace (sealed unit) was not far off the value of the car. May never had failed, but the cost was too great to risk.

Replaced it with a Mk2 Kia Soul - much better built and actually quite fun to drive in a french hatch kinda way, but nowhere near as "interesting" a design in comparison.

It did get under our skin - wife still refers to it as "the companion cube" and has t-shirts etc, just a shame the CVT gearbox was made of rattling things.

Oh, and kudos for them making LHD and RHD differently.....

I enjoyed this post. I think I'd like one, only Nissan's French build quality puts me off.

[Prof Prolapse]

designforlife said:

kambites said:

designforlife said:

bad-
-possibly the slowest thing on 4 wheels, painfully, painfully slow.

Anyone who thinks it's the slowest things on four wheels needs to drive some older cars to get some perspective.
]

i used to own an 87bhp ford ka, so yeah, I have a frame of reference. That thing was at least nippy around town...the cube is quite a bit heavier.

I think you've just proven his point mate.

[classicyanktanks]

Mercury00 said:

ian_c_uk said:

We / wife had a mk3, 1.5 CVT, Kaizen.

+
Design - if you like it, you will never tire of it - not only the outside, but interior touches also.
Very comfy, soft seats and suspension - drove from Lancs to Paris, no problems.
People wanting to talk to you about it - either good or bad - I love a car that makes people have an opinion.
Other owners - majority wave like lunatics, and the forums / meets were a good laugh.
Tardis - as you'd expect from a box, felt huge inside, but small on outside.
Visibility - sat high / can see edges easily.
Rear "bench" very good for three teenagers.

-
Not as neat a design as the mk2 - but that had a lapbelt for centre rear seatbelt.
Plastics felt cheap.
Technology - whilst lots thrown at it, felt dated rather quickly.
In no way fun to drive quickly - only suited loafing along.
People will sit alongside on motorway and just stare - not great if you want to change lane!

...and the reason we got rid of it:

CVT always had a slight rattle in reverse. Despite coming towards the end of it's Nissan "cared4" warranty, they would not investigate unless it "failed", and the cost to replace (sealed unit) was not far off the value of the car. May never had failed, but the cost was too great to risk.

Replaced it with a Mk2 Kia Soul - much better built and actually quite fun to drive in a french hatch kinda way, but nowhere near as "interesting" a design in comparison.

It did get under our skin - wife still refers to it as "the companion cube" and has t-shirts etc, just a shame the CVT gearbox was made of rattling things.

Oh, and kudos for them making LHD and RHD differently.....

I enjoyed this post. I think I'd like one, only Nissan's French build quality puts me off.

Don't they usually Waive white things over there?

[Hammer67]

loose cannon said:

I must admit to liking them,
Did they ever do one with a manual box ?
I’ve never seen one

Yes the official UK version imported and sold in 2009/2010 came in mostly manual. Virtually all in white, with the HR16DE 109bhp engine also fitted in Micra, Note, Juke and Qashqai.

Nissan only agreed to sell them here after they stuck one on the stand at the Motor Show and following the response to it thought it would do well. Very few were actually sold as it was hugely overpriced. Only sold for 18 months on 59 and 60 plates.

I had one as a company car for a couple of weeks, quite liked it.

[Hammer67]

Mercury00 said:

I enjoyed this post. I think I'd like one, only Nissan's French build quality puts me off.

IIRC Cubes are/were built in Japan. No Renault input.

[loose cannon]

Thanks for the information
I do quite fancy one, but I’m not sure I could live with one or not, will have to go have a drive at some point see how I get on,

[Sa Calobra]

In white I think they look wrong. Dark colours it'd look quite nice.

[loose cannon]

I like the early shape the best it’s sort of like a miniature Bedford CF
maybe the customised CF that lived a couple of doors down when I was a child that had a round rear side window, lakepipes, and big rear and smaller front slot mags with a rear jack up,
Big engine and 2 big yellow fans in the front grill,
I thought it was the dogs dangles

[liner33]

I like them , wife however hates them so non-starter

[Sa Calobra]

Only a 1/4 polled think the Cube is a no no

[Mr2Mike]

JohnoVR6 said:

Used to love them, but over the past few years I've seen less clean ones and increasing numbers of horrifically modified ones. Shame really, as there needs to be more asymmetrical cars on the road.

The rear end of the Discovery should please you then

[Peanut130]

I like the Cube but was put off by the cvt autobox
Then i found this a Toyota Bb 1.5 4 speed auto based on a Yaris sport
had it for 5 years now, Great car Toyota Bbs were made 2 years before the cube came out

[Sa Calobra]

Is that Murial removable? It should peel off easily with the help of a hairdryer. Then it'd look 100% better.

[samoht]

I've rented the previous Mk2 Cube. I'm fairly sure it had a conventional automatic, rather than a CVT.

Comfortable, light, spacious inside - feels good behind the wheel. I thought it was ok to drive, lacking in power of course but it handled normal driving ok, and handled like a normal hatchback with a little more weight on top, I suppose.

I really liked it as a car, nothing special to drive but really fun to be in. I'd look for one (a Mk2) if I needed a practical car.

[AppleJuice]

Hammer67 said:

loose cannon said:

I must admit to liking them,
Did they ever do one with a manual box ?
I’ve never seen one

Yes the official UK version imported and sold in 2009/2010 came in mostly manual. Virtually all in white, with the HR16DE 109bhp engine also fitted in Micra, Note, Juke and Qashqai.

Nissan only agreed to sell them here after they stuck one on the stand at the Motor Show and following the response to it thought it would do well. Very few were actually sold as it was hugely overpriced. Only sold for 18 months on 59 and 60 plates.

I had one as a company car for a couple of weeks, quite liked it.

Also came with a 1.5 petrol. In other markets it was offered with a Renault 1.5 K9K turbodiesel.

[Speed addicted]

I really like them, always have. It's weird because I can't usually stand asymmetrical anything and the new discovery upsets me!
I considered one while looking for a replacement for the Berlingo dog van, but the CVT and lack of go put me off. They were also too much money at the time as a second car for me.

My wife hates them with a passion, she also hates the Skoda Yeti that I have a soft spot for!

[AppleJuice]

Speed addicted said:

I really like them, always have. It's weird because I can't usually stand asymmetrical anything and the new discovery upsets me!
I considered one while looking for a replacement for the Berlingo dog van, but the CVT and lack of go put me off. They were also too much money at the time as a second car for me.

My wife hates them with a passion, she also hates the Skoda Yeti that I have a soft spot for!

Saw a Disco 5 (really a Disco 4 as the previous model was just a Disco 3 facelift, but there we are) in the metal from behind and weirdly it looked reasonable. Probably just crap photography from Land Rover that makes it look, erm, challenging.

[Mr2Mike]

Speed addicted said:

My wife hates them with a passion, she also hates the Skoda Yeti that I have a soft spot for!

Neither of us like the Cube, but both really like the Yeti. Quirky design without being too challenging. She would have bought one but coming from an Octavia Estate the interior space wasn't that great.