spillz

after looking at the nissan cube cubed. I realized that My chances of having a small economy car, with great looks, a solid engine, and a 5 speed transmission, with 6-7 seats for under $20,000 is possible.
I dont feel like waiting for years to see if the nissan cube will come to america, so i am thinking to my self why not build a xb with a third row.
Am i dreaming? or can it come true. I have not purchased my xb yet. Nor have i had a full inspection of the rear seat, cargo area, spare tire area, and so forth. But my conclusion of the looks of it would be possible If I can have the second row seat on a slider, and move it up and lock it at around 4 up from were it is now it might leave enough room for the third row.
For the third row, there are two possibilities. One is to remove the spare tire, and have the seating fold into the now open space. My only concern is what is right after the second row seating just before tray over the spare, Is there a large hump? Or is it possible to stick your feet underneathe the seating if you were sitting behind it. The other possibility is to leave the spare, but have a new type of cover thats thinner, And a seat that is connected directly to the hatch and both the back and bottom of the seat fold. It would need to be a thin cushion, and have a angle so that it will straighten out your back. Then hopefully there would be enough room for legs, and feet to go under the second row. I would also need lap seat belts.
I mean, To me it sounds like a crazy idea, but if its possible i will do it. If anyone can give me detailed pictures of the read cargo area with no cover and no spare, and pics of under the seat i would be greatly appreciated, any and all comments are welcome.

joe52985

sounds like its possible with enough money, fabrication and time it could be done, but the (now) back seat passengers will have little leg room. I also would be concerned for the safty of the third row passengers, being that the car wasnt designed for it, the locking mechanism on the truck wouldnt be strong enough in an impact, and the whole crumple zone deal could rain on your chances. maybe in the future they will make a bit of on extended xB with a small third row

rbloedow

Maybe if you wanted your occupants to die in the event of a rear end collision.

spillz

would there be a car in japan that is small, and fits 7 seats, but is a death trap?

http://www.motormagazinesha.co.jp/me...003_09/030908/

Its a serious question. I grew up with my dad, driving around in beetles and pintos. If im going to die in a car crash, then its my time to die. Although I will try my hardest to prevent such matters. The picture clearly indicates the leg room. When i measured the distance of the side of the second row to the opening of the door, the seat was atleast 4 inchs behind it. In the cube its atleast 4 inchs in front of it. Leaving atleast 7-9 inchs maybe more maybe less.

BlueScionXB

^^What He Said^^

showpaojoe

I think it is easily accomplishable. The 3rd row will be more like sitting at a japanese restaurant on tatami mats but since there is so much headroom, you could easily elevate the 3rd row and just have shorter people sit there.

This is similar to my original plan. I wanted to move the rear seat all the way to the back and put a big screen tv right behind the front seats. That way it would be more like a lounge seating.

MotoMan_YZ400

if you do manage to fit an extra row of seats in there, the next prob is going to be power... 108Hp and 104ft/lbs isnt really going to move much more weight. When i pack my scion full of my buddies (200lbs each) thats almost a half ton of weight add, and my scion tends to be very sluggish. So if i were able to fit 2-3 more of them in there; well i think that would be the straw that will break the camals back.

spillz

from my understanding, the nissan cube cubic is 90-100 hp, and 100-130 tq. While it does have a 4wd system up to 30 mph, I dont think the numbers differ dramatically enough to prevent the xb from performing. With intake,header,exhaust i might yeald 110-115 hp/tq hopefully. Regardless, I know no one who weights above 200 pounds, plus 2 out of the 7 passengers would be toddlers.

fr130

You could always do that Volva thing. Have two rear seats facing each other. Keep in mind, both the xB and Cube rear bumpers are lower than even most cars. With those gas guzzling SUV's and Trucks that only carry groceries, it may not be a good idea.

ncscion

i be damned if i would put toddlers in some home made contraption like that man. what are the demensions of the cube vs. xb? this may be why they are able to make accomodations for a third row. also doesn't the cube have some crazy transmission that enables it to pull like ____ or something? to sum it all up the other idea of making lounge setting in the xb by moving rear seat back is cool. but third row for toddlers is out of the question

TheScionicMan

Keep in mind that these cars are designed with crumple zones as one of the safety features. Designed to crumple inward to a degree and absorb impact in the event of an accident. What you are proposing would potentially push passengers into this zone. If it were a novelty item for shows and cruising it would be one thing, but you are putting your KIDS in there. I wouldn't risk my kids to some modding...

Plus the hardware to do it is going to cut into your Max payload weight, then you're going to add more people? The risks are increasing. If you need to haul my than 4 passengers, the xB isn't right for you, IMO.

kwicslvr

Can it be done? Sure. Cabn it be done and they be functional for normal size people to sit in? No. Think of the Lexus sc430 and it's rear seat. That's about how mouch room you would have for your legs.

scionxbny

NISSAN cube is cute but french engineering and poor reliabilty...uh no THANKS. As far as modding the xB to have all those seats...there is definetly room...but, good luck on steep hills with 7 people aboard. Prepare to be honked at.

KevinA

Look at something else if you need that much people-carrying ability in a small package.

Maybe a first generation Honda Odyssey.

rickbreitenfeldt

Base model MPV van. They have the seats the safety and a big rebate.
xBs are not a three row vehicle for a reason. Trust me, if in Japan you could get three rows they would have done it .

wyldkard

Stretch it. If you're gonna go to so much trouble to make an xB uncomfortable and stupid, you might as well stretch it. There's no way you're gonna make that idea work for under $20k including the cost of the car...unless you use milk crates as seats. Stretch it into a limo and throw a bigger powerplant into it, and then a better transmission and then you'd be better off buying a Tahoe or Suburban. These kids today and their 3rd row seat ideas.

Or here's an idea...buy 2 Kia's and you can fit 10 people, and you save a bunch of money. You can graft them onto one another and make a long 8 wheel kia with dual engines and transmissions. It will run on cornnuts and the exhaust will smell like cotton candy, and you can press a button when you run out of gas...I mean cornnuts, and unicorns will fly down and pull it like a magical chariot, while Leprechauns navigate for you.



It's all in good phun.

-Z

Max2k

This ain't gon' work, you should just buy a mini van or a station wagon. I wouldn't even think of putting toddlers in that kind of situation.

boxzila

I totally agree with rickbreitenfeldt. The Mazda MPV would be a way better vehicle to get if you need the seating, and they aren't to bad looking either. $23,260 base price isn't bad.

Vicki : )

Pulse

I wouldn't do this but this may be your best option (if you really wanted to).

first, move the back seats forward around 6 inches.

Next, get the seats out of another hatchback (the rear seats from a celica, or somesuch, should be small enough to work).

Take the spare tire out and strip that area, get a jeep style mount and mount the spare to the back door (maybe, you'd probably have to get new gas struts to be able to lift the rim/tire along with the door).

Clean the area out where the spare was.

Now, take the celica back seat and mount it facing the back door. Use the spare tire well as a foot area.

You'd need to lift the 3rd row back seat up some, but you should be able to fit people back there decently. Also, you could mount seatbelts up using the same stock locations as the current ones. Though you'd need longer bolts. (shouldn't be a problem as there are very few wrecks that the seltbelts would be stressed by both people sharing a mount.)

It would be a lot like the back seats in old station wagons. But you'd have no room for cargo if you had it full of people.

spillz

From my search on the internet, i have came up with the the weight, length and other specs available for each vehicle.
The scion-
Fwd, front motor, 4 cylinder, five speed manual 108 hp, 105 tq.@4200
curb weight- 2,425. length 155.3 inchs, width 66.5, height 64.6, wheelbase 98.4.

The best specs i can find for the cube is the cube ex 4wd, I cannot find the specs on the cube cubic, But to my understanding the exterior specs did not change.
Its a fwd, with 4wd staying on from 0-30. 4cylinder, 95 hp, and 100tq @3200
Wheelbase 95.7, length 146.9, width 65.7, height 65, weight 2513.

I dont know the max payload of the either vehicle. If in fact I found the specs for the cube cubic it would probably make the vehicle slightly heavier then 2513. But ill use 2513.

The scion is 2425, An extra seat plus hardware would be maximun of 60 pounds. thats 2485. I have no idea of what the actual crumple zone is on the scion, but. They did not make a new car for the nissan cube cubic, the redesigned the interior to fit 7 seats, having nothing to do with any safety configurations specially build for the extra people.

I wouldnt put my toddlers in the last row, rather any extra passenger would go there. From my understanding any third row in any vehicle is dangerous. If i move the middle seat up 6 inchs, and go on from there i really cant see the problem.
Getting hit by a giganitic suv or truck is not good in any vehicle. Its manly going to be for the option of having an extra 2 seats to go somewhere around town in. And i highly doubt it would cost me more then 1500 to have to professionally done. If safety was a concern I could always have some sort of extra support welded into the rear hatch.

Can someone tell me the max payload, thanks. more comments welcome, but in the end im still getting a scion, The price is right, and i really dont want to get a larger more expensive minivan, or buy used.

ps-everything is in inchs and pounds.
pss- here is information the transmission "Powering the Cube is a 1.4-liter engine teamed with the newly developed XTRONIC CVT-M6 continuously variable transmission, incorporating a 6-speed manual shift mode. Steering wheel-mounted switches enable the driver to upshift or downshift easily with one thumb. "