The Lovable Retrofuturistic Nissan Cube Spotted in the Philippines

    Continuing on the cutesy yet short of strange designs originating from Japan bore a fad, the boxy, spacious yet aerodynamically inefficient works supplying us with a string of hatchbacks imitating its design, such as the previously discussed Toyota bB, the Honda Element, the first gen Mazda Demio, and even a couple coming from its neighboring countries, such as the Korean Kia Soul and the Chinese Great Wall Haval M2. One of the most popular models carrying this design trend was the Gen 2 Nissan Cube.


    The Nissan Cube first started out in 1998 with a more Wagon R-esque design, simple yet easy on the eyes. 2002 was the year it featured more of a heavily blocky look. Its cubic structure, combined with more angular and curved surfaces gave it its "chocolate box" and "cut and paste sticker" look, in order to attain its target market directed towards the youth, using its unique looks that can easily get anyone to fawn over it.


    Built under the chassis of a Nissan Micra, the Cube was powered by a noisy, RC-sounding 1.4L straight-four engine. This left it with only 87 brake horsepower and 137 Nm of torque, giving it a lowly top speed of 161 km/h, but a nice 38 MPG fuel economy, which the average buyer for such a car was looking for.


    The Cube's cabin was a treat too. It had loads of space for families, much larger than the previous generation, and a cutesy interior with blocky bits scattered everywhere. However, what the Cube was nothing short of was its abundance of cubby holes and cup holders, just what the average unorganized, coming-of-age, frequenter of Starbucks, young adult really needs.


    Being a rare mass-made car with looks different on one side compared to the other, that didn't stop it from once becoming the best-selling car in Japan, and being exported to a few foreign countries such as Malaysia, where it was rebranded as a Mitsuoka. The Cube however wasn't sold here, instead was imported here straight from Japan through the grey import policy, then converted from an RHD position to an LHD position, which almost made it look perfect except for transposed speedometer and RPM gauge. Nowadays, finding the Cube can be quite rare, due to its unavailability officially in the country. However, that didn't stop it from being a unique car here, coveted for its looks.

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