2009 Nissan Cube review

Scion's quasi-iconic xB has finally encountered some lookalikes in the 2010 Kia Soul and 2009 Nissan Cube. Both cars hit the market last spring. I've spent considerable time in all three, and am ready to call some results. The Cube is the best choice for the group's advertised environment: Metropolis. But few drivers rack up all of their miles in urban areas, and for shoppers who want their vehicle to meet a wider set of needs, Nissan's box-car turns out to be a lot less viable.

The Cube comes in four trim levels: 1.8, 1.8 S, 1.8 SL and the tricked-out Krom ("Chrome") edition. Nissan offers manual or automatic transmissions, but the 1.8 SL and Krom come only with automatics. I drove a stick-shift Cube 1.8 S. Compare the four trims here.

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Lounging About
Nissan says it wanted to make the Cube's cabin feel like a "casual lounge." (When, pray tell, is a lounge not casual?) True to form, my test car's off-white cabin had the modish feel of ...

Call
Name (speak name) A If there are entries stored in the phonebook, a number associated with a name and location can be dialed. See “Phonebook (phones without automatic phonebook download fu ...

Suggested maximum speed in each gear
Downshift to a lower gear if the engine is not running smoothly, or if you need to accelerate. Do not exceed the maximum suggested speed (shown below) in any gear. For level road driving, use t ...