Pros
- Love-it-or-hate-it looks
- Massive headroom
- Uncontrollable urge to pretend you’re 18
Cons
- Love-it-or-hate-it looks
- Failure to impress young ladies
- Uncontrollable urge to pretend you’re 18
Calling all Autobots! Nissan has located the Cube, aka the Allspark, the source of energy and life for the Autobots, and it’s right here on Earth. And it definitely looks alien even here in the Bay Area. It has asymmetric styling! The left side looks different than the right! Although this is the first time Nissan is selling the Cube here in the States, it is actually the third generation Cube. The previous two generations were sold in Japan only. This one is slightly larger than both previous generations and believe it or not has more curves on the exterior design. The tester I drove was a 1.8SL, which has a 1.8-liter four cylinder engine mated to a Xtronic CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission). This Caribbean Blue Cube’s SL package comes with everything you’d see on a luxury car-a keyless Intelligent Key with push start ignition, a leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, fog lights, Bluetooth hands free phone system, back-up sonar system, XM satellite radio, and 6 upgraded speakers with a Rockford Fosgate subwoofer. It also featured the Interior Design Package and the Interior Illumination Package but I’ll get into that later.
Driving Impressions
The 1.8 liter and the CVT did not inspire a lot of enthusiasm for this section. To make matters worse, the Cube is actually a lot taller than a normal subcompact or a compact car. And it’s obvious the engineers did not bother test the design in a wind tunnel. I was expecting the usual from a compact car, yawn-inducing acceleration, a bumpy and harsh ride, and barely in-time braking.
Shockingly, the Cube blew apart that stereotype as soon as I stepped on the accelerator. The Cube sprints ahead with a good jilt, and the CVT is well tuned to provide decent low-end torque. Off-the-line start is actually quite decent. Don’t get me wrong, the Cube is no Challenger at the stop light, but it does hold its own and I managed to surprise quite a few cyclists when the light turned green.
The ride quality was good for a sub-$20k car. The steering was very light and there’s not much road feel. It handled quite well on corners and I think the perceived body roll was largely due to the humongous greenhouse and the virtually 90 degrees A, B and C pillars. Brakes were good enough and provided more than enough stopping power to slow this monster down. Wind noise on the freeway is more noticeable than every other car I’ve ever driven safe for a convertible, but if you cranked up the 6 upgraded speakers and the subwoofer enough you won’t care.
Build
I give the Nissan Cube’s build quality about a A-. The quality of the interior materials is quite impressive, and the texture of the plastics feels rich for a small car. The exterior panels fit together really well with little gaps in between and the small details are well designed. For example, the rear door is hinged on the left side and opens sideways, but the hinges are not exposed as one would expect on a compact car. You see a small bump on the panel that adds to the quirkiness of this car. The only complaint I had about the build is when you close the doors. The doors are pretty solid, but it just feels like you didn’t shut them all the way. But you did. So you start doubting yourself after a while and it kind of drove me a little nuts that weekend.
Interior Comfort and Ergonomics
The interior space of the Cube is HUMOOOOOOONGOUS. It’s like Harry Potter walking into the Wizard camping tents at the Quidditch World Cup, which look like small normal tents on the outside but are actually extremely spacious inside. Like magic. The windshield is well ahead of the driver and there’s so much headroom Shaq would have no problems fitting his whole family in here. I remember hearing echo when people were talking in the car. The seating position is high for a car, I guess that’s why the Cube is technically classified as a small wagon. It feels a little like you’re driving one of those small delivery vans in Europe dropping of baguettes, with great visibility all the way around. The roof of the Cube was about half a foot higher than a MAZDA3 I parked next to and almost as tall as the Toyota Sienna.
There’s plenty of legroom upfront and in the back the rear bench seat slides forward and back to give you more cargo room flexibility. There’s virtually no overhang in the tail of the car, so cargo capacity is limited with the rear seats pushed back. You can fold them down but they don’t go into the floor or anything, because the Cube also has very low floors, making in and out access very comfortable. The rear seats also recline a little, a feature that impressed many coworkers when I drove to lunch. But they’re easily amused. Oh and there’s an ipod jack on this Cube that worked really well. Nissan also managed to fit a cup holder in every nook and cranny of the car.
Performance
Shock and awe. OK I’m kidding. As I mentioned earlier, the Cube’s 122-hp, 1.8 liter DOHC four banger works decently well in conjunction with the CVT. It’s like riding a really fast turtle. It won’t blow you away but it will pleasantly surprise you. More often than not I was the first one off the line at a stop light but you probably won’t care to do that if you’re the type of person who just bought a Cube.
The Cube gets 28 MPG in the city and 30 MPG on the highway. It is very fuel efficient considering the size and shape of the car. The CVT actually gets better MPG than the 6-speed manual(24/29). The ride quality is superior for a vehicle in this class, so smooth that my wife thought it was much better than the MINI Cooper. Road grip was also pretty decent, I took some corners pretty quick and at no time did I fear I was losing control despite the tallness of the car.
C’mon, if you bought a Cube, you’re not looking for performance. The good news is that nobody expects any performance from this car and that’s what gives you that advantage at the red light. Low expectations
