I’ve been wanting to share one of these for a long time, just because they’re a bit contrarian, which is something I can relate to. This may be a Nissan Note in disguise, but it is a lot more appealing, because it is different, deliberately, and for no other reason than Nissan could be, and still fulfils its practical brief.
The original Cube, from 1998 to 2002, was a much less charismatic vehicle closer to one of many shorter, taller compact minvans. The second generation vehicle adopted the familiar asymmetric appearance, centred around the rear side windows and the consequently differently hinged rear door, dependent on whether the car was left hand or right hand drive. Underneath, it was based on the Nissan Micra supermini.
This Cube is a third generation, from 2009 to 2018, and is a left hand drive car, hence the rear door is hinged. By now the car was based on the larger Nissan Tiida, with the wheelbase growing from 93 inches to almost 100 inches and an option of a 1.8 litre engine. Alongside the symmetry, the rest of the styling is also fairly, well, cartoon-ish. That is not a criticism, in this context.
But the most interesting feature of this car is the symmetric styling. This is a German market example, so left hand drive, left hinged rear door and right rear corner glazed. Right hand drive cars were the other way around. Being asymmetric is one thing; being variously asymmetric for different markets must have driven the manufacturing engineers at Nissan up the wall.
Still, an interesting alternative to a VW Caddy minivan or Citroen Berlingo Multispace
A class of car now owned by Kia, now that Nissan has given up on it (I know, asymmetric crossovers don’t work), and Toyota botched the second generation xB by getting and acting on too many suggestions. It’s a pity, I’ve always liked this cars, of only because they weren’t particularly conventional . . . and they were cars, not crossovers.
I always thought the second gen xB could’ve been a 2nd model, in addition to a redesigned first gen that kept what made it special. So those who valued refinement over the spartan, practical nature of the first gen could’ve had it, too, without leaving those who loved the charming 1st gen out in the cold (as was done). Scion had so little product, it certainly wouldn’t have hurt to have an extra model on the showroom.
The problem with this was the second bB had little commonality with other Toyotas because it was a rebadged Daihatsu Coo; the powertrains never found their way into any Toyota developed products let alone North America, so the cost associated with certification and after support with next to no other viable applications likely made the whole thing a non-starter. *If* Toyota were to add another small Scion, the Ractis was probably a more realistic proposition being Yaris-based, but then there is the question of what do you price such a vehicle? There was precious little room between the xD and xB in that regard as it was.
Maybe a sedan? They only had the iA in the last year of Scion’s existence. The Avensis could have worked maybe as an xS
Yes there should be a DS article about the 2nd gen xB. The car that single handedly killed Scion. The car was solidly engineered, but got bloated and lost all the things that made the 1st gen appealing.
That being said, I’d still take an xB over the Cube. The xB is better looking than the Cube and Toyota generally has higher quality than Renault-Nissan products.
I seem to remember that Paul has already done one, and it was GM-nasty in it’s complaint. Which fitted, because Toyota’s treatment of the xB was truly GM in it’s execution.
I’ll be the counterpoint here – I was never a big fan of the original one when they were new – yes it was a hoot to drive with the manual, and quite spacious for its exterior size and obviously tough as nails in retrospect…but as a regular real daily for someone with a commute, especially on the freeway, etc I think the second generation had a lot more to offer the typical stateside owner. Quieter, larger engine, somewhat more refined, increased safety (at least the perception thereof) etc. Of course when the second generation arrived the competition started to increase too with in the end the Kia Soul kind of running away with the segment, helped tremendously with its marketing, pricing, trim levels, and apparently attractive practicality and style and the others (like the Cube and of course the xB) being cancelled over here. I think the Soul does pretty well overall, although the “trade vehicles” such as the Promaster City and Transit Connect being cancelled is either a harbinger of what’s to come or maybe the Soul might pick up a few more orders from those that could make do with it instead.
Here it is:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/curbside-classicreview-2008-scion-xb-a-case-study-for-how-to-kill-enthusiasm/
These are great if quirky cars with lots of space inside, easy to drive, and fairly easy on fuel. The only downside is the CVT transmission seems to be made of glass, my ex-wife is on her third transmission (under warranty) in about 100,000 miles.
Never been a Nissan fan. Except for a couple of models in the seventies, just didn’t have much appeal to me. Nissan’s main claim to fame was, like Dodge and Mitsubishi, selling to those whose credit rating didn’t allow them to borrow towards a better, new Japanese car like a Toyota or Honda. Whenever I see someone driving around in a new, bottom-feeder Nissan like a Versa or Note, my first thought is whether that person truly wanted that vehicle or it was all for which they could qualify.
With that said, being a second-tier Pacific Rim brand meant Nissan had (has?) thinking outside the box on occasion, sort of like the Japanese version of Chrysler and AMC, and the Cube is a terrific example.
My biggest issue with the Cube was, while I appreciated the quirky, somewhat artsy styling, it wasn’t particularly efficient, either. I get that with the upright styling that’s not expected, but it could have been packaged better on the inside, say, like a Honda Fit that has an astonishing amount of cargo room with the ‘magic’ fold-into-the-floor rear seat. If Nissan had had something like that in the Cube, it might have sold much better.
I kind of like them, as Toad said above they are a rare sight now due to CVT failure that’s not worth fixing.
They were sold in North America until 2014, so the newest are 8 years old and if the CVT goes that’s it. Manual box was available but as with all sticks the take rate seems to have been very low.
Went to buy a secondhand one, low mileage and a good bargain. My wife threatened divorce and my children refused to speak to me. Nobody would even test drive. They sold very few in the UK.
Ive driven a few of these Cubes some are ok as an around town toy some are shite waiting to explode it depends on whether it has an automatic trans or the horrible CVT, we have one in the yard at work which has the regular automatic and its a handy little buzz box for ferrying items and running errands.
I had a rental CUBE back around 2014 maybe, and I LOVED IT. I usually drive more “substantial” vehicles but I fell in love with the goofy thing. I have not yet been able to find an excuse to buy one, but they catch my eye every time since.
Most Cubes I saw were in funky colors, which may or may not have helped sales. They always made me think of the aliens on The Simpsons.
I keep getting CVT whiplash. Everyone says they are the next great thing. Then everyone says that they die prematurely and take the inexpensive cars with them. Then everyone says they are better now and really the next great thing. Then they get a bad reputation and old ones disappear. Now there are more CVTs in cars than ever. I’m waiting on the other shoe to drop.
I kind of liked the quirkiness of the Cube, but have been put off by Nissans quality rep as being a step or three below the best Asian brands.
I never thought about the Cubes being mirror images in LHD vs. RHD markets — makes sense, but it never occurred to me.
I’m actually ambivalent about the Cube. I appreciate its contrarian nature, but the styling is just way too goofy for me to actually like.
I only had one short experience with a Cube, as a rental car. It was not an exciting vehicle to drive in any way, but was fine for a couple days of general running around. The one thing that was weird was that the body sides are so vertical that when sitting inside the car, they somehow looked like they slanted OUT at the top. I’m sure it is just an optical illusion, but I found it a bit unnerving.
I’ve seen the odd second-gen Cube running around here. For some reason they all seem to be white. Couldn’t have that, so…..
Very nice! You even included The Stig.
He’s often lurking in the background. Sometimes he gets a but pushier, but not for the Cube. 🙂
Cartoonish is right. My kid used to watch Wubbzy and I always thought these would look right at home on that show.
A common problem with Nissan with this, the Juke, and the Leaf was the impression that they were trying too hard. It smells of desperation and funk. Kia did a better job with their Soul, Honda did a better job with their Element, and AMC did it better with their Pacer.
It seems usually driven by retirees.
Huh. I’ve never picked up any whif of desperation from the Leaf or the Cube or the Juke. That just never struck me as the motive or impetus for the weird/unusual designs. They always seemed more like the product of pragmatic optimism—as though Nissan know they’re never going to be Toyota, so rather than trying to be Toyota Lite they leverage their lower volumes by making stuff differently.
I’ve never driven a Soul or a Juke, but on exterior design I do prefer the Soul. I don’t say it’s a better design, just that I prefer it.
As I recall, Honda were kind of shocked to find a much older-than-targeted demographic snapping up Elements. Perhaps the same was true of Nissan and their Cube. Not hard to understand why.
99% say they want to drive something that’s funky and different and not the same as everyone else….and then the same 99% end up buying exactly what everyone else has while condemning those makers that actually DO something funky and different and at the same time panning the overall market for being boring and too same same and then wonder why the automakers stop taking risks. Of course as soon as something funky and different is actually cancelled due to poor sales, then suddenly there’s a groundswell of support for it, witness Toyota FJ Cruiser and Honda Element as perfect recent examples. The market deserves exactly what it gets. The loudest complainers of course never seem to actually buy anything new anyway., compounding the supposed issue they rail against and of course everything is amplified on narrowly focused sits such as this one (and any other automotive site) that is nowhere near representative of the actual overall general market.
Were I to take a Nissan for any length of time, it would be a manual Cube or a manual Juke..the Juke was always just silly enough for me to find it endearing. The last CVT equipped Nissan I drove was an 08 Sentra and underwhelming doesn’t begin to describe it.
Currently my mom has a Fusion Hybrid with the eCVT, which is apparently a different animal from the type that Nissan use. It’s nothing exciting, but the fuel mileage game is fun to play.