Lord Help Me I Think I Need A Stanced Nissan Cube

Nissan finally introduced a U.S. version of its goofy geometric Cube in 2009, though it sold two prior generations in Japan since 1998. I first saw the wacky Nissan Cube at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo in my hometown of Long Beach as a kid and immediately fell in love with its funky shape. By the time Nissan was ready to bring the third-gen Cube to the U.S., its styling became slightly less cubic than the second-gen Cube I first saw at the alternative fuels expo, but it retained the same spirit as the Cube I fell in love with. It's been 16 years since the Cube first went on sale in the U.S., but my Instagram algorithm recently reminded me of its zany take on a boring economy car. I keep seeing photos of customized Cubes that have me wondering if a stanced Cube might fix me.

The Cubes in question are all slammed to the ground with nice wheels that tuck neatly under the blistered wheel arches, and my favorite ones have Cube Krom–style body kits. Something about the proportions of the Cube lends itself to looking great when slammed, I think it's the way the body is stretched tightly around the long-looking wheelbase with a minimal front overhang and virtually no rear overhang. The Cube's funky yet relatively simplistic shape seems to play nicely with wacky wheel designs, and fun colors come together to just look cool.

The original Scion xB was the first box-on-wheels sold in the U.S., and it experienced a lot of popularity on the custom scene, but I like the look of customized Cubes more. Under its funky styling was a very conventional powertrain that came directly from Nissan's plain Jane Versa. It only had a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine that sent 122 horsepower and 127 pound-feet of torque through either a six-speed manual or a CVT. The Cube was actually a foot shorter than the Versa, and it had a 2.8-inch shorter wheelbase, so it was a tiny little box especially compared to its main competitors the much larger second-generation Scion xB and the Kia Soul. The Cube's diminutive size impacted its popularity, and had other eccentricities that made it a little too weird for buyers including asymmetrical styling, and a side-hinged rear cargo door. I'd argue, however, that time has been kinder to the Cube than its competitors, and that it manages to avoid the cheugy reputation of the second-gen xB and the Kia Soul.

According to Nissan designers, the third-gen Cube's exterior design took inspiration from, drumroll please, a bulldog wearing sunglasses, and the interior design took inspiration from a jacuzzi. These rather obscure references came together to form a funky, upright economy car with a unique design that turned out to be quite polarizing. I always appreciated the bold looks that dared to be different, but daring to be different didn't work out so well for the quirky Cube. Its single generation lasted just five years in the U.S., but I'm glad people are celebrating the Cube's bold, weird, arguably ugly but undeniably unique design.