My New Daily Driver - Cube Cubic

[(OO)SKYLINE(OO)]

$950 a set?!

Damn that is a hot price.

The Cube is gonna be sweet.

[llama_au]

That's just straight off Yahoo Japan. I should be able to get them cheaper. Still researching.

[adam87]

teins will be a bit cheaper than the cusco's. also, tanabe currently has a promotion on their line up so id say the bottom level would probably come down to the same as the cusco's if your lucky

[llama_au]

Tein's Basic Compact coilovers are more expensive, looked into them already.

I don't know much about Tanabe, any good?

[adam87]

Tein's Basic Compact coilovers are more expensive, looked into them already.

I don't know much about Tanabe, any good?

teins were definitely cheaper last night. low 7x000yen. cant remember exactly. not through yahoo tho.

have never used tanabe before.....

[GTR-N1]

Tein's Basic Compact coilovers are more expensive, looked into them already.

I don't know much about Tanabe, any good?

There are great Tein's and there are garden variety that'll shake your wisdom teeth loose. My son (with an R33 GT-R) switched one type of Tein for the electronically adjustable > very happy now.

Same with Tanabe.

Tanabe's are very popular with the Honda contingent, but I have them on my non-v-spec R34 GT-R and I can't speak highly enough about them. Just check and see that the ones you buy are suitable for the purpose you're wanting them for.

[llama_au]

Excellent, thanks for the feedback Terry. I have Super Streets with Electronic Damper Force Control in the Pulsar so I've had very good experiences with Teins. The Super Streets aren't offered for the Cube - only the Basic Compact (height adjustable only) and Super Compact (height and damper adjustable, compatible with EDFC) but both are quite expensive. There's two options that are currently looking attractive due to price - BC V1 series and Cusco Vacanza. I don't know anyone with the BCs on a Cube, however I know plenty of people with BCs in other cars with good reports. The Cuscos Iron Chef uses and he's happy so I'm leaning more towards those.

Car leaves Sydney tomorrow. ETA of Wednesday to my mechanic. Rego next week. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[llama_au]

Took delivery of the car today as it was pissing with rain and the car is consequently filthy. Got to drive it for all of 30m into my mechanic where it was dropped off before the battery died. Charging the battery (or replacing) and RWC tomorrow, then I'll book in a rego inspection with Vicroads I didn't get much of a chance to look over the car as I had to rush back into work.

[(OO)SKYLINE(OO)]

Nice 1!

Now let the mods begin!

[llama_au]

Gah, can't book in a rego inspection until next Thursday so she'll sit in the workshop un-driven until then The car's a massive talking point, they said they've had a lot of people go in to ask what it is.

[fib]

Something nice and different. The back of looks really strange!

[llama_au]

The back is my favourite part

I'm hanging out to drive it on the road, but I'm also hanging out to be able to bring it home and give it a good wash, polish, wax and clean of the interior.

There's a few small things that may get attention at a later date - both bumpers don't completely match the colour of the car and the rear bar has a small indentation + scratch next to the passenger side tail light (visible in the pictures). There's a little bit of fuel stain outwards of the fuel filler. One seat has quite a large water mark which I imagine will come up as-new with an upholstery clean. The lower glovebox is also a bit scratched, but it shouldn't be hard to replace the lid. Nothing major, but things that weren't known before it arrived. Otherwise it was given a check-over by my mechanic when he issued the RWC and appears to be consistent mechanically with the low km's it's stated to have.

[GTR-N1]

The car's a massive talking point, they said they've had a lot of people go in to ask what it is.

And so, you've had to admit,

"OK I'll come clean. I cheated at kindergarten and I've had to learn how to stack blocks all over again... "

[llama_au]

Noticed something else, broken centre console lid latch *sobs*

Anyone with access to Nissan FAST?

[llama_au]

Okay, so today was registration day. Everything went smoothly as expected.

Now onto the important part - the first drive. First impression? Awesome! Not at all as gutless as I was expecting it to be. Despite the tiny engine and it's relatively large weight in comparison it gets up and moving very well. The combination of the 1.5L, coupled with an excellent CVT transmission and lovely responsive electronic throttle make driving completely effortless. Hills? No worries, don't need a run-up for those. Viewing angle? Brilliant! There's barely a blind spot and you sit up quite high so it's easy to see over most traffic. Parking? Couldn't be easier. It's a tiny car, the steering is light, the viewing angle is great and the turning circle is excellent. The ride? Comfortable. My only gripe is that it lacks a footrest

So far, so good. It'll get driven more and washed on the weekend

[Yo-Yo]

Very funkystyles there's a silver one that gets around my area, so cute it looks like puppies & rainbows should stream from the exhaust

do you get the feeling hello kitty drives one of these things?

in all seriousness how's the windnoise on the highway like, it's a fairly upright windshield

I saw in a video somewhere that cubes also have illuminated kick plates as an option?, would be soooo stylin

[llama_au]

I haven't gotten near a freeway yet but the wind noise is pretty chronic at 80kmp/h. I think the noise is mainly caused by the mirrors, or at least that's where it sounds like it's coming from.

Today was a day of firsts. I filled it up with fuel for the first time, got the battery in the central locking remote replaced and took it around to my Mum's to visit. Cat meets car for the first time, thinks car looks like a convenient step ladder, proceeds to jump from the ground to the bonnet to the roof to the roof of the garage and gets stuck up there. I spend the next half an hour trying to coax her down, get bitten in the process but succeed. Cat goes into the house, pleased with herself while I learn a lesson not to let her get into the garage again.

I snapped some quick iPhone pics while she was in the garage. Please note that she still hasn't been washed inside or outside since Japan some time ago. If the weather improves tomorrow I might get onto that.

I added a little bit of home to her:

Trying to describe the engine bay is literally as small as my forearm:

It's ridiculously clean in there. All the fluid containers are spotlessly clean, there's not a spec of dirt or stray oil or other fluid in site.

And some other random photos:

I'll do a proper shoot once she's washed and her new wheels are on in the next few weeks.

[llama_au]

Got some tyres put on the wheelios while I was at work, wheels on and I'm pretty pleased with the result:

Original rims & tyres - 175/65/R14 +11billion offset

New rims & tyres - 205/45/R16 +40 offset.

[(OO)SKYLINE(OO)]

OMG!

Cat Bus!

I have a huge 1 sitting on my couch

Nice wheels too, they filled out quite flush and you got slight poke too!

Please lower it

+ that is a decent step up in wheels and sizing, the stockies must be tiny... Hows the handling with the new wheels and tyres?

[llama_au]

Catbus is ftw!

The ride is definitely harsher on the bigger wheels and lower profile tyres. No plans for lowering it for a while, kinda enjoying having a high car