Nissan Rogue First Impressions

Recently I won a free oil change from the local Nissan dealership in a free raffle at a nursing home. Normally I change my own oil, but it gave me a reason to hang out at the dealership for an hour and take a look at the new Nissan Rogue compact SUV.

The Rogue has not been as well received by the critics as Nissan probably would have hoped, but the sales numbers are showing the the public loves it, and this is not surprising on both sides. The Rogue basically looks like a small Murano, which to me is a good thing. I would say that for its class it is the best looking small SUV/crossover out there. In comparison to the Toyota Rav4, Honda CRV, and Suzuki Grand Vitara the Rogue is a work of art. I am not crazy about the styling of any of these vehicles mostly due to their wide rear ends.

The Good:
For a $25k crossover, I felt that the Rogue was very full featured. While the interior was made of typical Nissan cheap plastic, there are so many nice gadgets that come standard that I was taken back. The first thing that I did when I got in was sync my phone to the bluetooth and give my wife a call, then I started playing with all of the buttons and switches that controlled the various gadgets. The version that I drove was the AWD SL which came with a 6 disk cd changer that played both MP3 and WMA, it also comes with XM radio, and an auxiliary port. The steering wheel had like 12 buttons on it for controlling various aspects of the entertainment system, and I thought the styling was really nice which is typical of Nissans current lineup. The back seat seemed a little small and I think that it would have been nice if you could adjust the positioning somewhat. There was ample cargo room, but the cargo space seemed to be lacking some of the functional utility of a small SUV. While seats do drop down, it would be better if they dropped down completely flat and not at an angle.

The Bad:
The Rouge has a lot of nice features and it looks great but there are a few problems that come along with it. The first thing I noticed when sitting in it was how little visibility there was inside of the cabin. You have to rely on your mirrors for EVERYTHING. You cannot see out of either side, or the back. The blind spot is SO huge that it would be dangerous to have your family around it. I think the Infiniti EX35 would be a better buy because it has the camera system built into it. Having a family, it seems like a liability to have a moderately large vehicle with no rear visibility.

The other large drawback on the Rogue is the incredible lack of power. Sure it has a CVT, and paddle shifters to set it into one of 6 preset ratios, but 170 hp in a 3500lb suv just doesn’t feel like that much. I really had to punch it when I found that there was a large tanker pulling into my lane, and in spite of the fact that I was nearing the red-line, I just didn’t have that much confidence in my acceleration. If the Rogue came in an optional V6 like the Rav4 then I think it would be a much easier sell.

I only drove the Rogue for about 6 minutes and I feel rather torn between the positives and the negatives of the vehicle. I like the fuel consumption, and the features. I like that it is all-wheel-drive, but I hate that the car feels weak. I like the exterior styling, but I wish that I could see out of it better. While it is a new car I would probably have to wait until the next version to see if they can improve the few but massive flaws.