Been a good few years since I posted up a Readers Rides thread, but here goes. The story starts at the beginning of 2019, I'd just endured a few months of owning what was essentially the worst Volvo 940 Turbo ever. A car that due to its perpetual habit of breaking was the first car I can honestly say had truly tested my love for all things four wheeled. With the Volvo out of my life I decided that if I was going to own another car, it had to be something that I'd wanted for some time and after owning a string of cars which had come with their fair share of hassles, something that could be owned with the minimum of fuss too. Step up the Nissan Cube. Maybe not dream car territory for most, but a car that I had hankered after owning for some time, ever since the first ones had made their way over here via private importers in fact.
Now, I'd like to say I looked high and low, researched every aspect and after a few months, narrowed it down to the right car, but I'd be lying if I said that. What actually happened was that I posted a status on Facebook and minutes later I'd agreed to purchase one off of resident Retro Rides Nissan and Datsun aficionado Ratdat. As luck would have it, he was having a bit of a clear out and actually had two available the one you'll see below and a white one which eventually found its way to another Retro Rider, Dez. I was smitten straight away, a deal was struck at a price I couldn't refuse on the understanding that I knew that it was beginning to develop a common Cube fault in which the timing chain tensioner causes the chain to 'stretch' and would need a new engine in the not too distant future. This sounds far scarier than it actually is because despite all of the Cubes quirky JDM-ness, it is essentially just a bog standard Nissan Micra K12 underneath, and as such engines are more than readily available. With Ratdat's reassurance that he would be happy to undertake the transplant when the time came it was agreed that I would pick it up in a couple of months once I had sorted out parking arrangements and Ratdat had given it an MOT.
Those couple of months soon came around and the Cube entered my ownership and together we enjoyed a good few months of steady driving. I say steady, because I soon came to realise that a Cube isn't a car that you can really rush, it takes its time and you're just there to enjoy the ride. In fact, I'll be perfectly honest, it's the slowest car I've ever owned, and that's saying something. But despite that and its healthy appetite for Super Unleaded I was really enjoying owning a car again for the first time in a long time. It was a head turner too, admittedly mainly the heads of middle aged women, but a head turner nonetheless and I found myself getting into little conversations with people about it wherever I parked up. Soon though the dreaded engine warning light began to appear signalling that time was nearly up and it would soon be time to undergo surgery. A couple more months passed and starting her up had begun to get laboured, Ratdat was contacted and true to his word he said he'd get it sorted. I managed to source a low mileage engine from a late Nissan Note E11 locally (later engines fixed the tensioner fault) and the Cube made its last journey under the power of its old engine to Ratdat Towers in Lincolnshire. A couple of weeks later she was back, under fresh new power and with a new crossmember too which was replaced while the engine was out. It might have been our imaginations but both me and Mrs. Ratdat (who's ex daily the car was and who was the test driver on this occasion) both decided that the new engine was slightly perkier in terms of performance and if I'm not mistaken, slightly more frugal on fuel too. Although they were both obviously the same lumps, no one actually knows how many miles the original engine had, since the clocks had been changed a couple of times since it had been imported (KMH to MPH) so I guess the old one could well have been past its peak before it developed the fault anyway.
In terms of future plans, well nothing immediately to be honest. Due to living in a city centre I've had no use for a car in this current Covid controlled climate so like the rest of us she's under lockdown too for the foreseeable. However, once this is over I do have a couple of bits that I want to tidy up, mainly a few bits of paint and the scarred sill as well as a couple of small, subtle details that I think will look cool without changing the overall look too much. Eventually a change of wheels is also on the cards to something a little more JDM authentic, but I've no set plans yet and I'm quite partial to the Wellers anyway if I'm honest. So yeah, just keep on enjoying owning a car again basically, which let's face it, should be the aim of any car really.
First picture I saw, decision was made straight away.
First day of ownership.
New engine collected.
Surgery
Back in time for Christmas.
As an aside, I just realised after I posted this that this was just over a year old and on the other side of the world when I first signed up here. Not terrifying at all.
Now, I'd like to say I looked high and low, researched every aspect and after a few months, narrowed it down to the right car, but I'd be lying if I said that. What actually happened was that I posted a status on Facebook and minutes later I'd agreed to purchase one off of resident Retro Rides Nissan and Datsun aficionado Ratdat. As luck would have it, he was having a bit of a clear out and actually had two available the one you'll see below and a white one which eventually found its way to another Retro Rider, Dez. I was smitten straight away, a deal was struck at a price I couldn't refuse on the understanding that I knew that it was beginning to develop a common Cube fault in which the timing chain tensioner causes the chain to 'stretch' and would need a new engine in the not too distant future. This sounds far scarier than it actually is because despite all of the Cubes quirky JDM-ness, it is essentially just a bog standard Nissan Micra K12 underneath, and as such engines are more than readily available. With Ratdat's reassurance that he would be happy to undertake the transplant when the time came it was agreed that I would pick it up in a couple of months once I had sorted out parking arrangements and Ratdat had given it an MOT.
Those couple of months soon came around and the Cube entered my ownership and together we enjoyed a good few months of steady driving. I say steady, because I soon came to realise that a Cube isn't a car that you can really rush, it takes its time and you're just there to enjoy the ride. In fact, I'll be perfectly honest, it's the slowest car I've ever owned, and that's saying something. But despite that and its healthy appetite for Super Unleaded I was really enjoying owning a car again for the first time in a long time. It was a head turner too, admittedly mainly the heads of middle aged women, but a head turner nonetheless and I found myself getting into little conversations with people about it wherever I parked up. Soon though the dreaded engine warning light began to appear signalling that time was nearly up and it would soon be time to undergo surgery. A couple more months passed and starting her up had begun to get laboured, Ratdat was contacted and true to his word he said he'd get it sorted. I managed to source a low mileage engine from a late Nissan Note E11 locally (later engines fixed the tensioner fault) and the Cube made its last journey under the power of its old engine to Ratdat Towers in Lincolnshire. A couple of weeks later she was back, under fresh new power and with a new crossmember too which was replaced while the engine was out. It might have been our imaginations but both me and Mrs. Ratdat (who's ex daily the car was and who was the test driver on this occasion) both decided that the new engine was slightly perkier in terms of performance and if I'm not mistaken, slightly more frugal on fuel too. Although they were both obviously the same lumps, no one actually knows how many miles the original engine had, since the clocks had been changed a couple of times since it had been imported (KMH to MPH) so I guess the old one could well have been past its peak before it developed the fault anyway.
In terms of future plans, well nothing immediately to be honest. Due to living in a city centre I've had no use for a car in this current Covid controlled climate so like the rest of us she's under lockdown too for the foreseeable. However, once this is over I do have a couple of bits that I want to tidy up, mainly a few bits of paint and the scarred sill as well as a couple of small, subtle details that I think will look cool without changing the overall look too much. Eventually a change of wheels is also on the cards to something a little more JDM authentic, but I've no set plans yet and I'm quite partial to the Wellers anyway if I'm honest. So yeah, just keep on enjoying owning a car again basically, which let's face it, should be the aim of any car really.
First picture I saw, decision was made straight away.
First day of ownership.
New engine collected.
Surgery
Back in time for Christmas.
As an aside, I just realised after I posted this that this was just over a year old and on the other side of the world when I first signed up here. Not terrifying at all.
