Mechanically Nissan has also decided to keep the basic formula the same. So the engine is again a 2.5liter 4-cylinder (although not the same actual one as before), this time producing 181hp as well as 181lb-ft of torque, available at 6,000 and 3,600 rpm respectively. Converting this power to motion is Nissan’s X-tronic CVT that uses simulated shifts to mask its nature along with an Intelligent All Wheel Drive system to route the power through all four wheels.
While in normal operation there really isn’t anything to criticize, driving it wasn’t an especially moving experience either though. I fully recognize that 95% or likely more of the population just requires a vehicle to get them wherever they are going and viewed in that context this Rogue does that very well. However, when accelerating, the simulated shifting seemed to make it rev to its peak and then for whatever reason decided to throw a few shifts in which led it to come across as a bit confused. If your foot is anything but steady it really tries to please by putting another shift on the board but not really seeming to make much of a difference in how the forward progress is delivered.
On the freeway it seemed to be laboring a bit to move the metal, of course I was generally traveling at 75-85mph and with a minimum of 5000 feet of elevation coupled with 181 horses and torques, and then figuring in the over 3,600lb curb weight before options, well, yeah, I suppose that isn’t too surprising. Noise was well suppressed and the ride was very acceptable without standing out abnormally either way.
That curb weight, while not light, isn’t really heavy either nowadays and it did feel relatively lithe in the way that really only (some) Asian vehicles do anymore. Turning was accomplished with aplomb, while there wasn’t ever much feel it did take a line and stuck to it fairly well.
We took it on a ski trip and while my son snowboarded all day long I drove up and down the mountain repeatedly, in the end that day venturing from our home at almost 5000′ to the ski area at 11,000′ and then down and back up twice to towns both at 7,000′ (Evergreen) on one side as well as 7,500′ (Idaho Springs) on the other. On the parts of the roads that were dry going down was a delight, with the Rogue eagerly diving into turns and carrying more speed than I would have expected, but on the way back up, well, it could have used more power or less “shifting” in the CVT. Using the manual mode wasn’t any more rewarding.
Playing around with the Terrain Mode selector was interesting especially since I had the opportunity to try in on dry, wet, and snow-covered roads. When in Normal mode, it defaults to FWD for economy’s sake and moves some power rearward upon heavy acceleration and more if slip is detected at the front. However in Snow mode, it defaults to always having some power at the rear and will push as much as 50% back there.
Off-Road mode seems to behave similarly when I tried it as well. That said, there is a noticeable difference in how it grips the road (or what’s covering it I suppose) between Normal and Snow. The system apparently also adjusts torque during cornering to help maintain the predicted line based on measuring the driver’s inputs.
While the Rogue didn’t come with winter tires and was instead equipped with Dunlop’s Grandtrek PT21 tires sized at 235/55-19 on 19″ alloys, on this Rogue these tires worked very well in snow that was deep enough to scrape the bottom at times when I ventured beyond the packed down areas of the roads. As a winter tire evangelist, I generally shy from the idea of using all-seasons year-round, however this worked far better than I had anticipated, assuming some modicum of self-control is practiced.
On a sharp turn with too much throttle it’ll still slide off line in snow, albeit very predictably with the ability to catch it and bring things back in line. Of course in braking they would easily be beat by a set of winters, but acceleration even uphill from a stop, normal cornering, and just cruising through deep snow with this setup were non-events. I suspect the technology helped as well, either way it’s good to see progress made in this area. Add a set of winter tires and the Rogue should be able to do extremely well in serious winter conditions.
While I wasn’t particular easy on the Rogue, I did manage to cover 443 miles with it. 250 miles of that were going skiing along with my various mountain town trips that day (so maybe 150 of it freeway), another 140 or so split among two trips eastbound along low trafficked county highways and then the balance of approximately 53 miles around town. Overall a fairly good split with the weather being around the freezing mark for most of it and the ski trip right in the middle of both the days and the mileage.
The Rogue is rated at 25City, 32Highway with an average of 28mpg. My result turned out to be 28.1, pretty much right on the money. The AWD system was engaged for a good chunk of that, coupled with the low temperatures and mountains I’d venture than many others in other places at a different time of the year would easily beat 30mpg. I had the average mpg display selected most of the time and it was remarkable how it just seemed to stay around the 28mpg mark, I believe the lowest I ever saw it at was 26 and the highest just over 30, with no huge swings.
The most budget-friendly Rogue S FWD starts at $25,650. The SL as I had with AWD starts quite a bit higher, at $33,400, at which point it must be noted that there are a lot of other vehicles available. The Rogue though was well packed with features at that price, with all manner of safety systems including an all around camera monitor (bird’s eye view) that came in handy when pulling in and out of my tightly packed garage, Brake Assist, Automated Emergency Braking, Blind Spot Warning and Intervention, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Lane Departure Warning and Intervention, Automatic High Beams, Rear Automatic Braking, and Intelligent Forward Collision Warning. This packet I believe puts the Rogue at the head of the class for technology features.
Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are included, as is SiriusXM, an 8″ touchscreen, and a WiFi Hotspot. Air vents in the second row, Remote engine start, the TriZone Climate Control, Heated and Leather covered seats and steering wheel, Rear USB charge ports (2), Rear door alert, Rear Sonar, and Intelligent Cruise Control with Full Speed Range are also on board.
All of the exterior lighting is LED, the mirrors also feature LED indicators and have a Reverse Tilt-Down feature, the rear glass is tinted, and there is also the large opening Panoramic Sunroof as well as Roof Rails. ProPilot Assist is also included, this system is basically one where it can use the automatic cruise control along with the lane centering tech to help get you where you want to go with the vehicle doing much of the “driving”.
It’s not at all actual self-driving which does not exist yet, but basically makes some of the decisions while giving the driver the ability to have full control instantaneously, that driver is still required to be in control, i.e. hold the wheel, pay attention, etc.
As far as options, go, the big one (but not really a big spend for what’s included) is the SL Premium Package at $1,320. This upgrades the screen to 9″, makes the Apple CarPlay wireless, adds Front Sonar, a BOSE premium audio system with dual driver subwoofers, Traffic Sign Recognition and Nissan Door to Door Navigation with ProPilot Assist with Navi-Link.
Adding this enhances the standard ProPilot Assist system by using the Navigation system to help power the car through turns, off-ramps, etc. by adjusting the throttle position of the cruise control and adding the ability to use the Traffic Sign recognition to adjust the set speed. It also extends the time that the car is able to be stopped due to the Automated Cruise Control to a full thirty seconds before requiring a pedal tap or button push to resume forward progress again (three seconds is the default otherwise).
The Two-Tone premium paint added a further $695 to the bill, External ground lighting (when the door is opened or unlocked) another $350, Illuminated kick plates will have you kicking in another $400, Interior accent lighting (with adjustable choice of hues) goes for $350 and the Frameless Rearview Mirror with Universal Remote rounds things out with another $310 charge.
Add the obligatory Destination Charge of $1,095 to all of that and the Grand Total is $37,920. Nissan has improved the Rogue in many ways from its predecessor, much of it in an evolutionary manner, which makes sense. However it’s also “grown up” a bit, no longer is the Rogue and the segment as a whole any kind of bit player or considered a bunch of cheap vehicles. With the current generation most of these have become real family vehicles over the last half or so decade, hence the ever greater presence of technology and more sophistication in design as well as materials.
Nissan is on the comeback trail and the Rogue is its main breadwinner here, it’s done well so far, thus it’s difficult and perhaps not wise to risk a lot with it, just let it keep doing its thing. While the Rogue is a nicer and better package all around, and certainly competent, I believe that Nissan will actually start to see larger returns from some of its other newer products (of which there are many and several of which we have reviewed favorably).
There are other upcoming products that promise good things as well including a new Frontier as well as a new Pathfinder (without a CVT), those may speak to some that have fond memories of past Nissans as well as Datsuns before that.
Thank You to Nissan for letting us take a close look at the new Rogue along with providing a full tank of fuel.
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In Europe they apparently only get the Rogue Sport and it is quite popular in a few countries, especially Great Britain where the outgoing model was number 1 in its segment. But then, they don’t get the CVT and I believe a turbocharged diesel engine WAS available (not sure if it still is). If this didn’t have a mandatory CVT here in the ‘states I might be interested in one of these.
In Portugal we get both.
The Sport as the Qashqai and the Rogue as the X-Trail
If I ain’t wrong, the Qashqai can get the 1.5 and 1.6 dCi Renault diesels
This platform is about to spawn the 2022 Outlander, that I’m pretty sure might save Mitsubishi in the US
Interior
The Mirage saved Mitsubishi in the US. The Outlander should build on that by allowing them to expand their dealer network beyond used-car operations looking for a “new-car shingle” to give them access to better financing.
Great review; let me explain why I read relatively little of it carefully.
Whenever I read a review (by anyone anywhere) I scan for the section on performance specs and handling first, because if a car doesn’t perform, I’m not interested in how nice the interior is and how much fun the display is, or isn’t. I realize my attitude is more and more a sign of my old curmudgenliness; another way in which I differ from apparently the large majority of car shoppers today.
In this case, it was as I expected – an annoying CVT which values MPG above all else, tied to an engine with adequate power but no more. I owned a 2008 Nissan Altima with a 2.5 liter 4 and a CVT, and it had about 180 hp – 13 years ago. Nissan seems stuck in that mode with its best selling vehicle – the Altima then and the Rogue now. The Altima handled well, but forget any sporting aspirations – ditto the Rogue. For better or (IMO) worse, Nissan has tied its fortunes to this formula on its mainstream offerings, and it’s the single reason why I won’t darken the door of a Nissan dealer anytime soon.
I’m curious if Nissan has fixed the NVH with the new 2.5. We had a 2012 Altima 2.5 and it was the rattiest sounding modern engine I’ve personally experienced outside a subcompact economy car. Fairly quick for a 4 cylinder at the time, though, and I liked the general smoothness and responsiveness of the CVT until it began to fail at a young age. That last point is more off-putting to me than the stagnant power figures.
It was quieter than the CR-V as far as engine noise under throttle goes and the quality of noise was a decent one, not objectionable. That’s very subjective of course. I tend to like how 4cylinder watercooled VW’s sound, this was less gruff (not the same as rough) than those but starting to head in that direction.
Our 2008 Altima was actually not bad in that regard, although the noise level increased over time until we traded it in 2018 with about 120k on the clock.
Actually, it had been quite durable up to that time, considering our two children drove it as their first car, sequentially. I called it quits after learning younger daughter had driven it solo to Syracuse NY from Hartford, CT and back in the dead of Winter. The biggest problem it had was clogged drains for the sunroof (one in each A and C pillar). It seemed one clogged at least every couple of months, leading to soaked carpets in the appropriate footwell and the inevitable musty smell.
I read the other day that Nissan is turning the corner in terms of its profitability,after a deep plunge into the red. Lots of new product like this as well as backing away from the overly aggressive volume growth model.
Meanwhile, Renault is still struggling badly.
Sales were down last year, and the investment in product must weigh on the earnings as well, but should pay dividends in the longer run. Focusing on the meat of the market and offering what people seem to be looking for in those vehicles would appear to be the right strategy from my perspective at least. With the new Pathfinder and curiously underhyped Ariya EV CUV being released in the not so distant future along with what’s already out there as well as the other products that are being revamped (and significantly, not just minor refreshes), it would seem that things can be looking up. Of course, turning a ship around takes time and it won’t happen overnight.
An interesting point of interest here since you bring up the Rogue’s “little brother”, the Rogue Sport. That is a very different car (SUV), and sold at the Qashqai in other markets, and Canada. I guess Nissan felt that Americans couldn’t handle such an exotic name. Nissan named the vehicle after the Qashqai people, who live in the mountains of Central and Southwest Iran. I am always fascinated by the name-game in the automotive world.
The Rogue Sport/Qashqai is somewhat different, I guess, though really it’s just that the ” regular “/Non Sport Rogue is the smaller car that has been widened and given a different engine. (Even the interior/instrument panel is very similar.) A few of the other dimensions may be different, but really this is like the old Acura TSX was the Euro Honda Accord, and (for a time) North America got a wider, and different trimmed version.
Solid-looking effort by Nissan. It’s a hyper-competitive but passionless, utilitarian class of vehicle in which the feature list is crucial and small splashes of performance and style are appreciated. This one is far more appealing to me than either of its predecessors. It seems to do most things expected of it quite well, which may be dull but is no small trick for a manufacturer.
Nissan has been making excellent gauge clusters (look at those–clean, clear, worthy of a sports car), seat comfort seems to be excellent (wasn’t on the outgoing Rogue–no thigh support), roomy, decent interior materials, and appropriate power output. Ideal on paper.
The only thing that would give me pause is the Jatco CVT under the hood. I like the concept of CVTs in practice, particularly under those mountain driving conditions where the infinite ratios allow smaller increments in engine speed rather than gear-hunting…but it sounds like Nissan programmed this one to gear-hunt anyway and I still don’t trust the durability of them from this company. I’d roll the dice on a CR-V instead, Honda’s transmission has a good reputation and the turbo would be nice for our elevation. Ideally, though, for $37K I’d be hunting for a RAV4 Hybrid or CX-5 Turbo.
Not word put wrong there, Mr P.
I’d be curious to see how you compare this Rouge to the Mazda CX-5 you tested recently.
I was thinking about that…That Mazda (a 2020 model in this case) is faster for sure (since it was the turbo model). I was a bit underwhelmed by its interior, didn’t see what all the hubbub I had been hearing was about, and the wood trim I was specifically referring to in this review was that one’s. The Mazda handled…fine, but wasn’t overly “exciting” to drive, on my downhill runs the Nissan wasn’t really any worse. Uphill the power deficit and CVT conspired to make it less fun than the Mazda, which still wasn’t what I consider “fun”. More fun comparatively maybe, but…
The ride on the Nissan is quite a bit better than the Mazda’s even though wheels were the same size, the Nissan is sprung softer. The Nissan seemed roomier as well. As you may recall, the larger Mazda CX-9 with the same engine that I drove later I was much more impressed with overall, it was just better balanced as a package. Note of course that the Nissan is in no way trying to come across as a performance machine, so it’s hard to give it demerits on that count.
The CX-5’s infotainment system was lacking compared to the Rogue (but if it has been improved in the meantime to be what the CX-9 now carries, then that’s a moot point, it’s much improved.)
If a buyer is what 95% of buyers in this segment seem to be, i.e. want something non-objectionable, comfortable, and capable, the new Nissan has fewer “sore” spots compared to the CX-5 in turbo form. But if the buyer wants a sportier feel, and accepts some harshness due to that while insisting on needing raw speed and being ok with a slightly smaller cabin, then the Mazda is the one. The transmission makes a big difference, the CVT in the Rogue sucks a lot of the fun out of it, but is irrelevant in most driving situations in many locales for lots of people. I had higher expectations for the Mazda than I did for the Rogue, the Mazda didn’t fully deliver, the Rogue didn’t quite either, but was less off than the Mazda was.
It’s a huge segment and at this price level there are many, many choices…
Good review, Jim, for a very important vehicle. Not only does it sell well in North America, but in China it’s considered to be a sort of aspirational brand for the rapidly growing middle class. Yes, I was quite surprised when I heard it, too!
Nissan sells somewhere around 1,500,000 units a year in China and it would be safe to say the lion’s share would be going to this model, called the X-trail.
What’s not to like? They start at Y200,000 and top out at Y244,000, Or $30k-$38k, taxes in. It’s still a seller’s market in China and this also includes taxes.
China’s car market, like everything in China, is honking huge, something like 24,000,000 units a year. There is plenty of room left to grow, too.
One really has to go to China to see the scale everything is on. Everything is enormous, like the cities, the train stations and the market. The amount of shopping is simply breathtaking and there are plenty of folks with plenty of spending power. This is in the cities. Rural China has always been a different world.
Thank You. I’ve been to China a couple of times myself (including Beijing, Xi’an, Lueyang and a few others) and traveled there via car and (high-speed) train as well as on foot. You aren’t wrong, and it is simply impossible to explain the scale of things as well as the progress made compared to what I learned in school to many who have not been there. It’s like accurately trying to explain the vastness of the Grand Canyon or something but a million times over. I was surprised on my first trip about a decade ago that most of the scooters for example were electric, they seem to be attempting to improve the environmental conditions. While there is still plenty of scope for improvement, they are not messing around, and as a consumer powerhouse, there is no greater.
I am surprised to hear of Nissan’s success in China considering in 2012 Japanese cars were getting smashed and burned by Chinese protesters. Maybe they see Nissan as a French company rather than Japanese. Or it might be the anti-Japanese sentiment in China is not what it once was.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_China_anti-Japanese_demonstrations
The younger generation, those less than age 40, doesn’t carry the “blame Japan” thing like their parents. My students don’t remotely care.
The 2012 demonstrations were politically inspired. Japan bashing usually means the local government is about to do something extremely corrupt.
In response to said demonstrations, the Japanese government halted the sales of the chemicals used in the manufacturing of computer chips. This means that their billion dollar machines sat idle.
Koreans recently did the same and my old company, Tokyo Electron, refused to ship anything until they started to behave themselves.
Looks nice. Those crash test results, though. Wow. REALLY bad. We forget that there are still brand new vehicles that *aren’t* safe. I’d never get one of these when the Mazda CX5 has better dynamics, more prestige and way better crash test results. (I and I own a Nissan).
Are you referring to the finding regarding the passenger side results that apply to Japan built vehicles assembled prior to the end of January that were publicly released right around when this review posted? My understanding is that A) this only applies to vehicles built prior to Jan 28 in the Japan plant and not the Tennessee one and B) changes have already been made to the Japan-assembly procedures and a retest is in the works.
My (limited so far) understanding is that it is a software issue, i.e. to do with the timing of the airbags and restraint devices firing, not hardware. I’ve seen two commonly viewed sources to date, one seemed reasonably written and seemed to explain it fairly well, the other came across as significantly more sensationalistic and was confusing to read and understand, lacking context.
Time will tell, the critical information though seemed to be that as of now, any vehicles built prior to Jan 28 of this year in the Japan plant should be avoided.
The US gets the vast majority of its Rogues from the US plant, although my tester was in fact a Japan built version.
Not bad looking CUV, but I don’t trust the CVT. For the same money I’d rather have a RAV4 Hybrid XSE or for a bit more a bare bones RAV4 Prime SE at $39,275 or a no option Prime XSE (rebates notwithstanding) about $4.7K more than the tested Rogue.
Here, there’s no vogue for a Rogue, but folks Trail to Nissan for a place marked X. It sells well enough.
As Petrichor said above, it’s in a category of (particularly) passionless, utilitarian vehicles, and this here thing might be the exemplar of reality now in the car world: a Nissan, a Renault (Koleos), a Mitsubishi (Outlander), it matters not that the styling is also from everyone – though perhaps, especially Volvo, who did it first and best, Mr Nissan – and the experience behind the wheel is, it seems, essentially universal too. That’s no biggie, given the vast hordes of normal non-CC folk who want and need a reliable warrantied machine, and rightly don’t really give a shit beyond getting current levels of functionality. (Like me buying any sort of computer, as it happens, but I digress).
Personally, not a damn chance on any of ’em for me. NissUbishiRault – well, Nissan mostly – are simply not for trusting, not with various reliability nonsenses but particularly that woeful CVT and attendant attitude of the maker to failures.
Still, I would’ve fallen over, had I not been sitting, to read that the Equinox outsells this. The bloody Equinox, really?! The very sort of utterly Not Good Enough rubbish that helped to finally kill GM hereabouts – even without GM’s own determination to be rid of this market anyway – so in NitsuMissanNault’s favour, there’s that.