Put about 1,000 miles on a Nissan Rogue SL, review
11-10-18, 02:50 PM
#1
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Put about 1,000 miles on a Nissan Rogue SL, review
So my cousin recently traded his 2016 Honda Civic on a Nissan Rogue SL. The Civic was bugging him with how low it was, and up where he lives they get a fair amount of snow and he wanted an SUV. His wife has a Murano, and they really like that so he decided on the Rogue for himself.
He had open heart surgery about a month ago, and we decided we would take a quick trip down to southern WV for a couple days now that he's doing better to get him out of the house a little bit. He can drive, but he's not 100% back yet so I drove down there and back and around while we were there. 350 miles down, 350 miles back and about 200 miles running around while we were down there. Highway driving, some light offloading (rutted trails and poorly maintained gravel roads), and backroads country mountain driving. Driving back yesterday we had torrential rain the whole way.
Overall impressed with the Rogue, but it wouldnt be my choice in the segment. Its a surprisingly well optioned little vehicle, thought I would post some thoughts:
Exterior
Overall, quite nicely finished with nice machined face wheels. Paint is pretty good, a little flat and thin. Plastic cladding around the lower part of the vehicle seemed pretty good quality, gloss black trim in places seemed very nice, nice chrome accents. Doors are a little thin and tinny sounding. Excellent LED headlights, as good as the LED lights in my LS. Long dark stretches of mountain highway and backroads and the lights were excellent. Nice big windshield, I found the wipers a little slow in heavy rain, even on high speed. Overall, a good looking little vehicle that seems more upscale than it is.
Interior
Overall, very nicely finished for its price class. Lots of soft touch plastics, with harder touch plastics in places as you would expect. Pretty nice leather seats, but I found the "zero gravity" NASA seats a little bit of a letdown. Seats are 6 way power driver, but manual for the passenger. We were plenty sore and ready to get out after 5 hours in the car. Nice optitron gauge cluster that feels very Lexus like, with good adjustable info between the gauges. I like the orange/red backlighting and that the optitron gauges stay white. Nice big panoramic sunroof. Room in the second row is excellent, navigation is pretty good, little outdated. Cargo area is good with adjustable shelving type systems and a nice privacy cover. Lots of good features, BSM, adaptive cruise, pre collision, LDW, the works.
Couple of ergonomic complaints, hard to find the window controls underneath the grab bar for the door panel, and the controls at the lower left of the driver are low and very hard to see.
Ride & Drive
This is something that initially started out very well, but declined as the trip wore on. The vehicle rides quite well, and handles country highways and switchbacks with aplomb. I never felt out of control, even at higher speeds negotiating sharp turns when going down an 8% grade. Tracks well and feels reasonably solid, a little light. However, this vehicle is SLOW. The combination of a small low horsepower naturally aspirated 4 cyl and a CVT makes accelerating from a stop or out into traffic a slow, loud, and coarse affair. Oddly enough, highway passing power is good, but even with the CVT it was unable to hold 80MPH going up a 7% highway grade, it fell to 73-74 at 4,200 RPM. Which as you can imagine was a LOUD, DRONING, COARSE affair. By the end of the trip back after all of that driving, I was really ready to get out of it.
The vehicle is reasonably quiet on the highway on good pavement, but coarse pavement sends a lot of noise up through the floorboards.
Overall, if they put a turbo 4 into this, it would make a huge difference in the vehicle...and lose the CVT but thats never going to happen with Nissan.
So, while its a good looking vehicle with great space, packaging and very good value...my $$ would go elsewhere in the segment.
He had open heart surgery about a month ago, and we decided we would take a quick trip down to southern WV for a couple days now that he's doing better to get him out of the house a little bit. He can drive, but he's not 100% back yet so I drove down there and back and around while we were there. 350 miles down, 350 miles back and about 200 miles running around while we were down there. Highway driving, some light offloading (rutted trails and poorly maintained gravel roads), and backroads country mountain driving. Driving back yesterday we had torrential rain the whole way.
Overall impressed with the Rogue, but it wouldnt be my choice in the segment. Its a surprisingly well optioned little vehicle, thought I would post some thoughts:
Exterior
Overall, quite nicely finished with nice machined face wheels. Paint is pretty good, a little flat and thin. Plastic cladding around the lower part of the vehicle seemed pretty good quality, gloss black trim in places seemed very nice, nice chrome accents. Doors are a little thin and tinny sounding. Excellent LED headlights, as good as the LED lights in my LS. Long dark stretches of mountain highway and backroads and the lights were excellent. Nice big windshield, I found the wipers a little slow in heavy rain, even on high speed. Overall, a good looking little vehicle that seems more upscale than it is.
Interior
Overall, very nicely finished for its price class. Lots of soft touch plastics, with harder touch plastics in places as you would expect. Pretty nice leather seats, but I found the "zero gravity" NASA seats a little bit of a letdown. Seats are 6 way power driver, but manual for the passenger. We were plenty sore and ready to get out after 5 hours in the car. Nice optitron gauge cluster that feels very Lexus like, with good adjustable info between the gauges. I like the orange/red backlighting and that the optitron gauges stay white. Nice big panoramic sunroof. Room in the second row is excellent, navigation is pretty good, little outdated. Cargo area is good with adjustable shelving type systems and a nice privacy cover. Lots of good features, BSM, adaptive cruise, pre collision, LDW, the works.
Couple of ergonomic complaints, hard to find the window controls underneath the grab bar for the door panel, and the controls at the lower left of the driver are low and very hard to see.
Ride & Drive
This is something that initially started out very well, but declined as the trip wore on. The vehicle rides quite well, and handles country highways and switchbacks with aplomb. I never felt out of control, even at higher speeds negotiating sharp turns when going down an 8% grade. Tracks well and feels reasonably solid, a little light. However, this vehicle is SLOW. The combination of a small low horsepower naturally aspirated 4 cyl and a CVT makes accelerating from a stop or out into traffic a slow, loud, and coarse affair. Oddly enough, highway passing power is good, but even with the CVT it was unable to hold 80MPH going up a 7% highway grade, it fell to 73-74 at 4,200 RPM. Which as you can imagine was a LOUD, DRONING, COARSE affair. By the end of the trip back after all of that driving, I was really ready to get out of it.
The vehicle is reasonably quiet on the highway on good pavement, but coarse pavement sends a lot of noise up through the floorboards.
Overall, if they put a turbo 4 into this, it would make a huge difference in the vehicle...and lose the CVT but thats never going to happen with Nissan.
So, while its a good looking vehicle with great space, packaging and very good value...my $$ would go elsewhere in the segment.
Last edited by SW17LS; 11-10-18 at 03:13 PM.
11-10-18, 03:06 PM
#2
Lexus Fanatic
Thanks for the write-up. The Altima, from what I've seen (a friend of mine has a new one), would address at least some of the complaints you had with the Rogue, such as the tinny doors (Altima's are like a tank in comparison), backache-producing seats, and the anemic in-line four (the Altima offers a turbo-4, but I agree they should have kept the former V6)....but you cousin apparently needs a high-stance SUV, and I can see why.
How was the CVT for engine/compression braking going down those grades? Many of today's automatics have grade-logic, which automatically keeps it in lower gears when it senses a steep downgrade, so you don't burn the brakes up or have to continually downshift manually. I've done lots of local reviews here with CVTs, but haven't really had one in the mountains yet.
You probably already know this, since you are from WV, but some of the scariest rand most difficult roads go up and down what is known as the Allegheny Front, a very steep NE/SW escarpment which marks the Eastern Continental Divide and the boundary between the Appalachian Ridge/Valley Region to the east and the higher Allegheny Plateau to the west. It runs essentially from north-central PA to east of Johnstown to just west of Cumberland, MD, to Spruce ****, WV. Most of the roads crossing it have to deal with either long steep grades, sharp hairpin turns, or both. US. 33 and 250, in WV, are both quite hazardous, not only over the Front, but over other ridges as well.....such as Shenandoah Mountain. The absolute worst grade I've seen on a major road there, for steepness, is the one I've mentioned before (the famous Uniontown Hill)....10% for over 3 miles, down Chestnut Ridge on U.S. 40, into Hopwood/Uniontown, PA, but that is fairly straight, not as long as the grades on the Front, and less curvy, with relatively gentle curves.
How was the CVT for engine/compression braking going down those grades? Many of today's automatics have grade-logic, which automatically keeps it in lower gears when it senses a steep downgrade, so you don't burn the brakes up or have to continually downshift manually. I've done lots of local reviews here with CVTs, but haven't really had one in the mountains yet.
You probably already know this, since you are from WV, but some of the scariest rand most difficult roads go up and down what is known as the Allegheny Front, a very steep NE/SW escarpment which marks the Eastern Continental Divide and the boundary between the Appalachian Ridge/Valley Region to the east and the higher Allegheny Plateau to the west. It runs essentially from north-central PA to east of Johnstown to just west of Cumberland, MD, to Spruce ****, WV. Most of the roads crossing it have to deal with either long steep grades, sharp hairpin turns, or both. US. 33 and 250, in WV, are both quite hazardous, not only over the Front, but over other ridges as well.....such as Shenandoah Mountain. The absolute worst grade I've seen on a major road there, for steepness, is the one I've mentioned before (the famous Uniontown Hill)....10% for over 3 miles, down Chestnut Ridge on U.S. 40, into Hopwood/Uniontown, PA, but that is fairly straight, not as long as the grades on the Front, and less curvy, with relatively gentle curves.
Last edited by mmarshall; 11-10-18 at 03:30 PM.
11-10-18, 03:13 PM
#3
Lead Lap
my friend had 2 rogues before going to the 4runner, and has NEVER looked back lol
if all one needs is a basic cheap station car to lease that gets driven <10000 a year and won't be defeated by a few inches of snow, i think it's a great option. i had a tough time when someone in that situation wanted to know why they should pay like over $100 a month more for a base rav4 than a rogue. toyota care, jd power survey, roadside assistance, most safety features in the class, blah blah blah yada yada... i know all this but i just drive a few miles a day and will just least another one in 3 years, so who cares? ok sir fine go get the rogue...
does build quality seem any better? both of my friend's rogues got leaky sunroofs and i'm pretty sure one even leaked in the trunk. now as anyone who cares about driving will say, small quality control issues can be overlooked if the car is really nice to drive, but the rogue really just isn't lol. the cvt is the nail in the coffin for me, and in tight cornering it really did feel like it wanted to flip over (2014 model).
this all makes me feel that the rav4 v6 was taken for granted, THAT is a fun crossover and it pains me that they don't offer any rav4 with the v6 anymore.
if all one needs is a basic cheap station car to lease that gets driven <10000 a year and won't be defeated by a few inches of snow, i think it's a great option. i had a tough time when someone in that situation wanted to know why they should pay like over $100 a month more for a base rav4 than a rogue. toyota care, jd power survey, roadside assistance, most safety features in the class, blah blah blah yada yada... i know all this but i just drive a few miles a day and will just least another one in 3 years, so who cares? ok sir fine go get the rogue...
does build quality seem any better? both of my friend's rogues got leaky sunroofs and i'm pretty sure one even leaked in the trunk. now as anyone who cares about driving will say, small quality control issues can be overlooked if the car is really nice to drive, but the rogue really just isn't lol. the cvt is the nail in the coffin for me, and in tight cornering it really did feel like it wanted to flip over (2014 model).
this all makes me feel that the rav4 v6 was taken for granted, THAT is a fun crossover and it pains me that they don't offer any rav4 with the v6 anymore.
11-10-18, 03:14 PM
#4
Lexus Fanatic
I am quite familiar with the Rogue. Nice vehicle. Lots of standard items. I always found it rode well, but load up any 4 cylinder model and the performance will struggle. Really easy going well thought out design.
Last edited by Toys4RJill; 11-10-18 at 03:20 PM.
11-10-18, 03:21 PM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
How as the CVT for engine/compression braking going down those grades? Many of today's automatics have grade-logic, which automatically keeps it in lower gears when it senses a steep downgrade, so you don't burn the brakes up or have to continually downshift manually. I've done lots of local reviews here with CVTs, but haven't really had one in the mountains yet.
my friend had 2 rogues before going to the 4runner, and has NEVER looked back lol
if all one needs is a basic cheap station car to lease that gets driven <10000 a year and won't be defeated by a few inches of snow, i think it's a great option. i had a tough time when someone in that situation wanted to know why they should pay like over $100 a month more for a base rav4 than a rogue. toyota care, jd power survey, roadside assistance, most safety features in the class, blah blah blah yada yada... i know all this but i just drive a few miles a day and will just least another one in 3 years, so who cares? ok sir fine go get the rogue...
does build quality seem any better? both of my friend's rogues got leaky sunroofs and i'm pretty sure one even leaked in the trunk. now as anyone who cares about driving will say, small quality control issues can be overlooked if the car is really nice to drive, but the rogue really just isn't lol. the cvt is the nail in the coffin for me, and in tight cornering it really did feel like it wanted to flip over (2014 model).
this all makes me feel that the rav4 v6 was taken for granted, THAT is a fun crossover and it pains me that they don't offer any rav4 with the v6 anymore.
if all one needs is a basic cheap station car to lease that gets driven <10000 a year and won't be defeated by a few inches of snow, i think it's a great option. i had a tough time when someone in that situation wanted to know why they should pay like over $100 a month more for a base rav4 than a rogue. toyota care, jd power survey, roadside assistance, most safety features in the class, blah blah blah yada yada... i know all this but i just drive a few miles a day and will just least another one in 3 years, so who cares? ok sir fine go get the rogue...
does build quality seem any better? both of my friend's rogues got leaky sunroofs and i'm pretty sure one even leaked in the trunk. now as anyone who cares about driving will say, small quality control issues can be overlooked if the car is really nice to drive, but the rogue really just isn't lol. the cvt is the nail in the coffin for me, and in tight cornering it really did feel like it wanted to flip over (2014 model).
this all makes me feel that the rav4 v6 was taken for granted, THAT is a fun crossover and it pains me that they don't offer any rav4 with the v6 anymore.
Really what I would choose in the segment is the Mazda CX-5.
If they addressed power I think it would really be a winner, it would change the whole feel of the car. Car needs like 50 more HP and the lower end grunt of a turbo.
11-10-18, 03:31 PM
#6
Lexus Fanatic
It was two people and two duffle bags. Hardly loaded up. Its just a really slow vehicle. 0-60 in the mid 9 range is just really slow by todays standards. Turbo 4 would help a lot.
If they addressed power I think it would really be a winner, it would change the whole feel of the car. Car needs like 50 more HP and the lower end grunt of a turbo.
Last edited by Toys4RJill; 11-10-18 at 03:35 PM.
11-10-18, 03:35 PM
#7
Lead Lap
well when i say tight cornering i mean like parking lot autocross type cornering lol
i'm not trying to start some he said she said thing here but a nissan salesman came to work where i was for a little bit, and he was more than happy to admit (in his opinion) that the rogue is inferior to the rav4 in basically every way, except price and monthly payments
i agree though that while the power delivery at low speeds it bad, it does somehow muster up enough force to make highway passes without too much trouble, although my definition of trouble free highway passing has become quite skewed haha
i'm not trying to start some he said she said thing here but a nissan salesman came to work where i was for a little bit, and he was more than happy to admit (in his opinion) that the rogue is inferior to the rav4 in basically every way, except price and monthly payments
i agree though that while the power delivery at low speeds it bad, it does somehow muster up enough force to make highway passes without too much trouble, although my definition of trouble free highway passing has become quite skewed haha
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11-10-18, 05:35 PM
#9
Lexus Champion
Riding in the back seat (I purposely chose the back seat) of a colleague's Rogue last month, I found the noise from the open rear cargo area to be rather loud and boomy; Nissan should have put in more noise-suppression insulation under the floor, in my opinion. I don't know if he had the optional 3rd-row seat or not. But I have not ridden in a station wagon or crossover utility vehicle lately so I have really nothing to compare it to.
11-10-18, 05:44 PM
#10
Lexus Champion
I had one of these for a week while our Highlander was in the body shop. No complaints with the interior or exterior. It just felt lethargic to me. Too slow for me as a daily driver. I also found gas mileage to be poor. No power and yet I only got 21 mpg for the week.
So so not a bad package, but a let down with the engine. Not for me. Made my parents’ RAV4 seem powerful...
So so not a bad package, but a let down with the engine. Not for me. Made my parents’ RAV4 seem powerful...
11-10-18, 08:03 PM
#11
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Fuel economy wasn't that great either. I got about 27. I get similar mileage on that trip in my LS460.
Adding 50hp is not easy for a 4 cylinder, nor is a turbo.
The Rogue engine is for a car without the weight of a cross over and 4WD. Adding more weight is never a good thing for a 4 banger.
I just looked up power in the segment. The CX-5 is a NA 4cyl too, but with 17 more HP, 0-60 7.8 vs 9.4 for the Rogue. CRV is a turbo 4, 20 more HP, 0-60 7.6 seconds. I mean...the Rogue is way behind everything else in the segment and it really shows.
Better power would have made me like the vehicle a whole lot more.
well when i say tight cornering i mean like parking lot autocross type cornering lol
i'm not trying to start some he said she said thing here but a nissan salesman came to work where i was for a little bit, and he was more than happy to admit (in his opinion) that the rogue is inferior to the rav4 in basically every way, except price and monthly payments
i agree though that while the power delivery at low speeds it bad, it does somehow muster up enough force to make highway passes without too much trouble, although my definition of trouble free highway passing has become quite skewed haha
i'm not trying to start some he said she said thing here but a nissan salesman came to work where i was for a little bit, and he was more than happy to admit (in his opinion) that the rogue is inferior to the rav4 in basically every way, except price and monthly payments
i agree though that while the power delivery at low speeds it bad, it does somehow muster up enough force to make highway passes without too much trouble, although my definition of trouble free highway passing has become quite skewed haha
I just don't care for the Rav 4, I'd rather have a CRV, CX-5, Rogue, etc.
I agree 100%.
Last edited by SW17LS; 11-10-18 at 08:07 PM.
11-10-18, 08:08 PM
#12
Lexus Fanatic
The weak spot in a CVT for durability, particularly in higher-torque engines, has traditionally been the drive belt, since it gets most of the stress. But they are generally much better today than they used to be. As far as noise goes, the transmission itself is generally quiet, but the noise comes from the engine quickly revving to its peak-power band during acceleration and remaining there, unless the transmission (like in some CVTs) has been programmed or "stepped" with drive-belt ratios to imitate a regular transmission.
11-10-18, 08:11 PM
#13
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
The CVT would be what would keep me out of a Nissan product. For instance I really like the Infiniti QX60, the main reason I don't have one is the CVT.
11-10-18, 08:17 PM
#14
Lexus Fanatic
With a couple of exceptions, Subaru has also embraced CVTs. Like you, I'm not a terribly big fan of them myself, but their efficiency, simplicity, compactness, and light weight make them very attractive to some automakers seeking fuel economy.
11-10-18, 08:21 PM
#15
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
They'd keep me out of a Subaru too.
I will say though the CVT in his Civic wasn't bad.
I will say though the CVT in his Civic wasn't bad.