Nissan Cube road tests and consumer car reviews

Nissan Cube 2010

Designed for a world where speed is less important than comfort and space, Nissan have boxed clever with the Cube. From the crowded streets of Tokyo they have brought to us a wacky way of dealing with our islands doomsday queue of immobility, basing it on the philosophy - ’We’re stuck so we might as well be comfy’. What works in Tokyo has inexorably spread to our urban mayhem and I’m pleased to be able to report that it fits the bill well. Cube shaped it might be, but this is no furry dice. When you roll up in one of these you’re on a winner. Named as one of the fifty cars that changed the world by the London Design Museum, the Cube has been described as a ’lounge on wheels’ where you enjoy your own creative space and style in the city. It certainly begs the question - ’Can we see it as a building block towards the future of automotive design?’ It would take a mean spirited dinosaur to even dream of giving this wonderful little car a square bashing. Cars conforming to the common template are tin a dozen. The Nissan Cube is tangible proof that the frontiers of design lie not in the depths of the pocket, but in pure ingenuity. With its asymmetric rear end with the nearside window wrapping around the C pillar, drivers are better able to see what’s happening on the nearside - handy for kerb crawlers, perhaps: but I have to say that for creatures of the day it affords excellent visibility. Of course, one can give no guarantee that one will see the next stealth tax sneaking up. For that you have to have the new sat nav early warning device only available on H.M. Government website, courtesy of the new Under Secretary, Mr. Spider. The Cube has a range of standard equipment that is beyond most expectations and stretches from bluetooth and MP3 connectivity to sliding and tilting rear seats: not forgetting the big side-hinged rear door that gives excellent access to the boot - all designed to make life easy. In keeping with Nissan’s wacky styling there’s a shag pile mat on the top of the dash which proved ideal for taking items that might slide around - and having already rejuvenated the art of Picasso in his ’Cubic’ period, I realised that if the great man lived today he would have considered the Cube ’a cubic hare in a world of motoring tortoises’, springing ahead of the pack in terms of all those qualities that we now find so necessary - eating ones greens being high on the list. In this Nissan you get sedan chair sophistication for the modern pell mell world that never seems to get anywhere; but those suffering traffic jam delays in a Cube will at least be afforded a grandstand seat in the rubbernecking department. The range starts at £14,000 for the manual Cube, through £16,300 for the CVT Kaisen spec., rising to £15,800 for the CVT version of the LDN. Each variant uses a 1.6 litre, 110PS. petrol engine driving through a five speed gearbox which gives a top speed of around 110mph and reasonable overall fuel economy of about 42mpg. Performance could not be described as brisk - but as sufficient. What does stand out is the smoothness of the engine and transmission and the way it wafts you along in a most relaxed and easy manner. The engine is particularly quiet and one is hard-pushed to hear it running at low revs. Indeed, On the move the Cube is transformed and really is on a roll. Fears of ’brick-like’ wind resistance with noisy trailing vortices are wafted away and it sometimes comes as a shock to see its reflection in a shop window. How Nissan manage to square the circle is an aerodynamic conundrum. Here is a car that seems predicated upon pure utility and turns out to have a sophisticated charm and style of its own. Suffice it to say that it’s better in all departments than one might expect. Its all-round utility does have its limits. Don’t expect to brown your breakfast toast in a hurry because although you might pop up smartly at your destination, the Cube is not designed to toast sliced bread. However, its the best thing since. But I did fancy that as I was passing the pub, the drinkers in the garden were raising their glasses in a toast to me - and judging by the amount of smoke in the vicinity, someone was trying to start up an old diesel in the car park - or have I got it wrong? In the bends it’s far from an angular experience. Turn in is smooth and direct - no sharp edges whatsoever: and for the technically minded the square of the hippopotamus is equal to the sum of the meerkats on the Brooklands banking. Taking stock of the Cube I have to say that for square meal motoring at a sensible price, its full flavoured lack of compromise knocks the opposition into a three-cornered-hat - making for a very savoury proposition indeed.