both good reasons to buy a cube, welcome to the club! ;D
New Cube in Philadelphia Area
I picked up a 1.8S, 6-spd, Caribbean Blue Cube with the light interior on Friday. I had two dealers that had the blue in stock. The local dealer offered me $220 over invoice. A dealer 50 miles away responded, via an internet sales request, with an offer at invoice. The 50 mile trip was worth the $220 savings. Here is a picture of the car in the showroom waiting for me to pick it up.
I just finished applying three cans of 3M Scotchgard Auto fabric protector to the seats. Hopefully this will offer some protection from coffee and soda stains.
Funny, I did not see a single Cube on the road for the past three weeks. Even though I didn't need a car immediately (I work from home), I wanted to buy the Cube now for two reasons: currently made in Japan and nobody else had one. On the way to the dealer I saw THREE Cubes; including a blue one. So much for being the only one around.
Regarding being made in Japan. I associate that with quality. I was a long time Toyota fan. I had a Corolla SR5, Celica GTS, and a Camry. The first two Toyotas were flawless. I drove them both over ten years with absolutely no problems; I mean nothing. The only parts that were replaced were the expected limited-life parts: muffler, battery, light bulbs, and tires. The Camry however, was a different story. It was made the first year Toyota moved production out of Japan to the US. It had all kinds of problems: automatic transmission failed and had to be replaced (after warranty of course), engine leaked oil, front end could not be aligned properly (I had to replace the front tires every 5,000 mile), rear window stuck in up position, master remote lock key stopped working on rear doors, driver door inside handle fell apart, front end rattle that got worse during the winter months, etc.
So I am concerned about a drop in quality if Nissan moves Cube production to Mexico (like the Versa) to be more price competitive with the other "square box" cars. My sister in-law just purchased a Versa and you can see the difference. The hood and truck are on crooked on the Versa; the Cube doors, hood, and back door are aligned perfectly. The engine and alternator aluminum casting is very rough on the Versa (it almost looks like the engine and alternator sat out in the rain for months); the Cube's aluminum has a nice polished shine to it. There are other cosmetic differences. Whether these differences translate into differences in reliability remains to be seen over time.
I just finished applying three cans of 3M Scotchgard Auto fabric protector to the seats. Hopefully this will offer some protection from coffee and soda stains.
Funny, I did not see a single Cube on the road for the past three weeks. Even though I didn't need a car immediately (I work from home), I wanted to buy the Cube now for two reasons: currently made in Japan and nobody else had one. On the way to the dealer I saw THREE Cubes; including a blue one. So much for being the only one around.
Regarding being made in Japan. I associate that with quality. I was a long time Toyota fan. I had a Corolla SR5, Celica GTS, and a Camry. The first two Toyotas were flawless. I drove them both over ten years with absolutely no problems; I mean nothing. The only parts that were replaced were the expected limited-life parts: muffler, battery, light bulbs, and tires. The Camry however, was a different story. It was made the first year Toyota moved production out of Japan to the US. It had all kinds of problems: automatic transmission failed and had to be replaced (after warranty of course), engine leaked oil, front end could not be aligned properly (I had to replace the front tires every 5,000 mile), rear window stuck in up position, master remote lock key stopped working on rear doors, driver door inside handle fell apart, front end rattle that got worse during the winter months, etc.
So I am concerned about a drop in quality if Nissan moves Cube production to Mexico (like the Versa) to be more price competitive with the other "square box" cars. My sister in-law just purchased a Versa and you can see the difference. The hood and truck are on crooked on the Versa; the Cube doors, hood, and back door are aligned perfectly. The engine and alternator aluminum casting is very rough on the Versa (it almost looks like the engine and alternator sat out in the rain for months); the Cube's aluminum has a nice polished shine to it. There are other cosmetic differences. Whether these differences translate into differences in reliability remains to be seen over time.
