Nissan built the Z12's tailgate hinge on the right for left-hand-traffic markets, flipping it just to keep the asymmetric look consistent.
Median 83 hp across 342 similar cars
Lead trim: 1.5 HR15DE (109 PS) · up to 122 hp
Nissan Cube Z12Z12 · 2008–2019
- 0spots by members
- Unclaimednobody has spotted one yet
- 1set it completes
Nobody in Burbles has spotted a Nissan Cube Z12 yet. See one on the street, point the app at it, and the first card is yours — with your @handle permanently credited on this page.
FactNissan built the Z12's tailgate hinge on the right for left-hand-traffic markets, flipping it just to keep the asymmetric look consistent.
Revealed at the Los Angeles Auto Show on 19 November 2008, the same day it went on sale in Japan (in the US from 5 May 2009), the first Cube officially exported beyond Japan, with rounder styling, an asymmetric wrap-around rear window and a side-hinged tailgate (hinged on the right in left-hand-traffic markets), and a "jacuzzi" interior with a water-ripple motif and a personalisation accessory line (shag-carpet dash piece included). On the B platform with the Tiida/Versa and Juke, powered by the 1.5 L HR (109 PS), the 1.8 L MR18DE in North America (122 hp, 127 lb·ft), the 1.6 L HR in Europe and a 1.5 dCi diesel. The e-4WD trim has an electric rear-wheel motor. Withdrawn from the UK and rest of Europe in early 2011 after disappointing sales and a poor exchange rate; North America ended after the 2014 model year, and Japan built it to at least December 2019.
Collectors Spotted in the Nissan Cube Lineage
No member has published a public street spot of the Nissan Cube yet — the First · Worldwide stamp is wide open.
Trims & Figures
4 published trims in the catalogue. A blank is a figure not recorded, not zero.
| Trim | Years | Engine | Power | Torque | 0–60 | Drive | Gearbox | MSRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 HR15DE (109 PS) | 2008–2019 | 1.5 L Inline-4 | 108 hp | 109 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 1.5 K9K dCi diesel, Europe | 2009–2011 | 1.5 L Inline-4 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1.6 HR16DE, Europe | 2009–2011 | 1.6 L Inline-4 | 109 hp | 113 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
| 1.8 MR18DE, North America (122 hp) | 2009–2014 | 1.8 L Inline-4 | 122 hp | 127 lb-ft | — | — | — | — |
Owning one
An estimate, for the 1.5 HR15DE (109 PS) trim: fuel on its EPA figure and a dated national price, upkeep on a per-mile average for the kind of car it is.
Owners’ builds
Nobody has claimed one yet.
Photographs
Nissan's own designers said this Cube's interior was shaped by the 'enveloping curves of a jacuzzi' — spa styling applied to a boxy city car.
Nissan built the Z12's tailgate hinge on the right for left-hand-traffic markets, flipping it just to keep the asymmetric look consistent.
The Z11 Cube spawned a seven-seat Cube3 stretched for a third row, sold alongside the regular five-seat version.
Nissan sold the first Cube only through Red Stage dealers, so most Japanese buyers never saw one in a showroom.
Rivals
Same body, same money, other badges — tap any card to flip.
Japan was a minor market for the Swift: when it passed 2 million sales in 2011, about 39% were in India and 27% in Europe, against roughly 15% at home.
To adapt the Horizon for America, Chrysler bought nearly 100 Volkswagen Rabbits purely to reverse engineer them.
The Mk3 Focus RS's AWD system could send 100 percent of engine power to the rear wheels alone — built not in Ford's home country, but at the Saarlouis plant in Germany.
In June 2003, a Mégane II became the subject of the first ever live televised crash test with a real human driver at the wheel instead of a dummy — filmed by Top Gear.
This Wagon R redesigned its rear doors specifically to kill off the D-pillar — bigger doors with built-in quarter glass solved what earlier generations needed a whole extra pillar for.
The BX was the UK's best-selling diesel car for four years from 1987, and 2,315,739 were built in all.
Six months before Suzuki retired the Fronte name for good, the CN11S's 796cc version was already being built in China under a completely different name: the Anchi 6330.
Built to use up Chrysler-Simca's parts bin, it took its engine and gearbox straight from the front-wheel-drive Simca 1100 but mounted them amidships instead.