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2017 Nissan Rogue SL AWD Review By John Heilig


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THE AUTO PAGE
By John Heilig
Senior Editor and Bureau Chief
Mid-Atlantis Bureau
The Auto Channel

REVIEWED MODEL: 2017 Nissan Rogue SL AWD
ENGINE: 2.4-liter DOHC I-4
TRANSMISSION: XTronic CVT with Smart Shifter
HORSEPOWER/TORQUE: 170 hp @ 6,000 rpm/176 lb.-ft. @ 4,400 rpm
WHEELBASE: 106.5 in.
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT: 184.5 x 72.4 x 68.1 in.
TIRES: P225/60R18 all season
CARGO CAPACITY: 32.0/70.0 cu. ft. (rear seat up/down)
ECONOMY: 25 mpg city/32 mpg highway/25.4 mpg test
FUEL TANK: 14.5 gal.
CURB WEIGHT: 3,627 lbs. #/HP: 21.3
TOWING CAPACITY: 1,000 lbs.
COMPETITIVE CLASS: Kia Sportage, Toyota RAV4, Ford Escape
STICKER: $35,475 (includes $900 delivery, $3,265 options)
BOTTOM LINE: The Nissan Rogue is a nice small SUV with typical Nissan styling flourishes. It offers good performance.

There’s no doubt that the small SUV segment is crowded. It seems as if every manufacturer has a dog in this fight. Not the least of these is the Nissan Rogue, which I drove several years ago with a business and marital partner. Our ride that time was unfortunately too short. This time, I had a chance for a longer test. 


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The Rogue proves to have nice road manners. It is a vehicle you can drive and ride in all day without any aches or pains. The heated front seats are comfortable and two-toned with brown and black leather. A feature my wife appreciated was the deep sun visors. Many cars come equipped with thin visors that can’t do their job when the sun dips to just over the hood. With the Rogue, it was  nice to have a deeper visor.

The rear seats offer exceedingly good leg and knee room. The large sun roof extends to the rear as well.

There is decent power with 170hp, a 21.3 pounds-per-horsepower ratio. This doesn’t put the Rogue into supercar territory by any means, but there is enough get up and go for the Rogue to get up and go. Fuel economy is decent. Our test ride gave us 25.4 miles per gallon.  We had one occasion on our “hillclimb” run where we needed more punch than we could get with the CVT transmission. I shifted into manual mode and sequentially shifted by moving the gear lever forward or backward. It worked well.

In addition, our tester was equipped with all wheel drive. This won’t get you over hard off-road terrain, but then most drivers don’t encounter hard off-road terrain anyway. The Rogue handles light off-road activity well. 

Rogue comes equipped with Nissan’s Safety Shield, which is part of the $770 Platinum option package. Safety Shield includes Intelligent Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Departure Prevention, Forward Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection, and blind spot warning, which is standard. The BSW lights appear on the A-pillar whenever a vehicle approaches the Rogue in its blind spot. 

Perhaps my favorite feature of the Rogue is the overhead view. This is activated whenever the Rogue is put in reverse, along with the back-up camera. It gives the driver an “overhead” view of the Rogue, showing where curbs and parking lanes may be. In reality, the “Overhead” view is provided by downward-facing cameras in the front and rear and under the exterior rear view mirrors. You can also turn on the camera view separately with a switch on the center stack.

There is very good storage in the cargo area, rated at 32.0 cubic feet with the rear seat backs up. However, I had to lower the backs to get a set of golf clubs in the back. Lowering both rear seat backs gives you 70 cubic feet of cargo. There is additional storage under the cargo floor.

I was impressed by the extra goodies that our tester came equipped with. We had a first aid kit and a family travel clean up kit (a great ides!). We also had an emergency road kit that included jumper cables, a flashlight, orange triangle warning stand, duct tape, tools, batteries and an emergency blanket. The only thing missing was a porta-potty. I’m sure we all have had instances where we could use at least one of these handy kits. 

Interior storage consists of a good cubby at the base of the center stack with 12-volt, USB and AUX outlets. there are an additional two USB outlets at the rear of the center console.  Rogue compares well with the rest of the small SUV segment. The styling is not as dramatic as the larger Murano, but it is definitely part of the Nissan design family. It’s a nice package.

(c) 2017 The Auto Page Syndicate

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