Hey what's up? I'm Paul and I work for MWKS - we're currently partnered with Nissan to spread the word about the North American debut of the Nissan Cube. We're providing people with the opportunity to see the car before it hits dealerships in 2009 through these first-look photos. I've included the brand new pics below, and feel free to use or share them however you'd like. I tried contacting some mods here to make sure it's alright to share this material with you guys, but never heard back, so hope it's cool with you guys.



We're excited about the arrival of this new fuel-efficient compact car. You can see more official pictures and a teaser vid at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nissan...7996866?ref=ts or visit NissanUSA.com/cube if you're into it.

So what are your first-impression thoughts of the car?

 

Hi,

No problem with this post since it is consistent with the charter of this forum. Posting prices or just a 'click-through' to another site is not OK. If in doubt, it is always OK to hit the "triangle bang" and the moderators will soon enough see the note.

If you have a posting with significant commercial content, it is best to contact Internet Brands, our sponsors. They are very reasonable folks and as moderators, you won't have to put up with a bunch of 'freeloaders' abusing our forums.

Bob Wilson

 

It's kinda cute. 30+ MPG is pretty good (although I'll always wish for better ).

 

Thanks bwilson!

What you guys think about the asymmetrical back window? It's been a pretty controversial window, haha, I noticed a lot of people either love it or hate it, not so much in between.

 

Hi,

It is about three years too late. We had to replace a crashed '91 Camry in September 2005. Our choices were either a Scion xB or a used '03 Prius that won the toss.

Other than wanting our '03 Prius hybrid drive transplanted into a Scion xB body, I've not given either the Scion xB or any of the small box vehicle another thought. However, a hybrid minivan or even a microvan remains high on my list. To the best of my knowledge, the only hybrid minivan is the Estima sold only in Japan. I have no interest in a hybrid SUV.

This morning I drove our '03 Prius 10 miles into work in drizzle, wet snow, 37 F weather and got 50 MPG. This evening I came home in similar, 35 F weather and got +53 MPG. My '03 Prius has a 2" receiver and a light duty, trailer for handling 4x8 sheets of plywood and other home owner supplies. Without meeting these requirements, 50+ MPG and large interior space, I'm not interested.

We have both a 2001 Echo and 2003 Prius with instrument clusters in the center of the dash, offset from the driver. Asymmetry is not a problem if it serves a useful purpose.

Bob Wilson

 

I don't have a good answer:

• Cube is not on sale - so this is a posting about what is at most a concept car ... it isn't real in North America. If it were, the original posting would become a commercial posting and subject to Internet Brands advertising criteria.
• supposed to be Scion xB competition - my Scion xB data point is 3 years old under the old EPA numbers. I just checked and see that the new EPA numbers are significantly down.
• no hybrid content - as long as there is no hybrid drive, then General is ruled out.

But this raises an interesting question about whether this forum is 'relatively' high mileage or is there a floor, say the median fleet average for all vehicles, or should we go by the CAFE target? I don't know that there are a hard set of criteria.

My thinking is to see what develops. The American automotive industry is in a state of flux and the others are not that much better shape. I suspect more non-hybrid, pretenders to high mileage will show up. So lets see what shows up in the next year or so.

Bob Wilson

 

Dan Neil of the LA Times has his 2 cents here: http://www.latimes.com/business/prin...,7257455.story

For around 13 grand, not a bad deal. However from what little I know about aerodynamics, this cube (by definition) is going to be a real drag.

 

Which may not be that relevant - as an urban or delivery vehicle, Cx isn't all that relevant - for speeds < 50 MPH, and especially in stop-and-go driving, aero drag isn't as critical as weight and space utilization. And it looks like this concept excels at making most of the available space.

 

My wife just got her 2009 Nissan Cube. Got the SL model 1.8L engine and CVT. We'll see how it does as we start driving it to work - a 36-mile round trip of about 50% freeway and 50% city driving.