The 2009 Nissan Cube S, which is one of Nissan’ latest models in the market, has a very distinctive style and a specious interior which are very practical. It also has an electronic road holding technology which is standard, thus exhibiting excellent driving characteristics and great performance in urban areas. It has a wagon body style, cube trim levels and a gas engine. It also has standard safety features like anti lock breaks, traction control, stability control, and an adaptive cruise control which is also standard. It has a connection for portable MP3 system and a two way security system that makes it very convenient.
With such great features in one of their latest models Nissan seems intent to out sit Honda and Scion xB from the throne of the polarizing style. Although it’s not very attractive by the outside look and has no cabinet tech, it has massive space inside with a large load area, which is created by the side hinging rear hatch and is also very economical. Its performance on the road is fantastic as it is very responsive to the gas pedal. It is very convenient and works great for the city streets even though it has nothing much to offer as far as entertainment on the road is concerned. One has to hook up an MP3 player to the auxiliary audio input which is faceplate mounted. Again, in its dashboard, it has no convenient pockets for personal electronics. Its audio system is not the best; the stock door woofers and A pillar tweeters are every inadequate. It therefore needs a good amp and better speakers, preferably sub woofers. But its unique appearance accords it lots of attention from the passers by.
The cube come with quite a number of dealer accessories like the round patch of shag carpet which is mounted on the centre of the dash board and Garmin GPS navigation device.
Its little 1.8-litre, four- cylinder engine produces 127 pound- feet of torque and about 122 horse power. To optimize its efficiency, it uses variable valve timing and has an engine which is standard at all its trim levels. A higher version of the cube has lots of standard and optional cabin tech; an iPod port, automatic headlights and MP3 CD compatibility. In other packages, you also find blue tooth cell phone integration, better speaker, a smart key and good subwoofer as well as a satellite radio. The S trim cube was fitted with a continuously variable transmission, which eliminated gear change bumps and improved mileage. This has also worked well in the cube although here it does not have as much power to play with as in the other models.
In the S model, there is also a six-speed manual which is the only transmission at the base trim, while at the SL trim; there is CVT as the only transmission available. In addition to the traction control and the vehicle dynamic control and a stability program, the cube comes standard with the anti lock breaks as well as break force distribution and pressure monitoring. The cube S trim is about $1,100 cheaper than the SL trim, which with the blue tooth and sub woofer apart from many other things is a good deal!
Focusing only on the cabin tech, one would erroneously rate the 2009 Nissan cube S lowly, but the truth is that it has a very good performance; with very good round town drivability. Many will fall in love with its decent gas mileage and the large room for lots of cargo, which is highly practical. With its low cost, the cube is a good value for the money!
Source: reviews.cnet