The last two years have been particularly challenging for Nissan with declining sales and internal political struggles both within the Japanese automaker’s ranks and with its alliance partner Nissan. An aging product lineup certainly has helped matters. After spending 2018 and 2019 launching a series sedans, Nissan is just now getting around to revamping what is arguably the most important product in its lineup for North America, the Rogue.
The compact SUV segment has rapidly grown to be the single largest segment in the U.S. market in recent years with sales of over 4 million units in 2019. Segment leaders including the Toyota Rav4, Honda CR-V and the Rogue have become the top sellers at the respective brands, overtaking the midsize sedans that previously dominated. It’s critical for Nissan that this new Rogue is a commercial success.
Nissan brought a fleet of new Rogues to the Ann Arbor area last week to give local media a chance to get behind the wheel for some first impressions. After more than two hours of hustling the Rogue I can confirm that it’s definitely a significant improvement over the prior generation, it doesn’t really break any new ground.
From a design standpoint, the new Rogue retains some of the DNA of the prior model, especially in the shape of the side glass but also adopts more of the look of other recent Nissans. The overall look is a boxier with sharper creases that give it a more faceted appearance. As we are seeing on an increasing number of new vehicles, the Rogue offers a two-tone roof effect on the SL and Platinum trims.
The designers took an interesting approach to making the V-motion grille more prominent without going completely over the top the way some brands have (looking at you BMW and Genesis!). They now call it a double V-motion with a slimmer chrome strip running parallel to the existing thicker bar around the outer perimeter. Flanking the grille, are new split front lamps as we have seen on many vehicles in recent years going back to the 2015 Jeep Cherokee. Slim upper lamps at the top corners serve as daytime running lamps while broader lamps below provide the primary nighttime lighting.
Ultimately the effect is handsome and leans more toward the truckier Toyota Rav4 than the softer Ford Escape.
Given that crossovers like the Rogue have become the default family hauler for many, Nissan made a smart decision in designing the rear doors. While I still prefer the sliding doors on minivans when it comes to loading younger children, the rear doors on the Rogue swing out to almost 90 degrees from the body and have large apertures, very handy for getting everyone secured in child or booster seats. Of course the downside to this, is you need enough room to actually swing the door out. Score a half-point advantage for sliders.
The Rogue I got to drive was the new Platinum trim which was fully loaded with all manner of options. That includes very comfortable seats wrapped in semi-aniline leather. For those in the back that don’t have to use a booster, the Platinum also includes heating elements to keep your backside warm on cold days. Regardless of the temperature, the Rogue back seat is admirably roomy for those that have long legs, torsos or both. The Platinum also gets a 12.3-inch digital display instrument cluster and a 10.8-inch heads-up-display. All Rogues this year get standard support for Apple AAPL Carplay and Android Auto, but the Platinum upgrades that to wireless capability for Apple users. Mazda’s CX-5 remains the class of the field in the look and feel of the cabin, but the new Rogue is much closer to the top.
One of the biggest annoyances I’ve had in Nissan vehicles in recent years is the company’s choice of displays for the central touchscreen which in this case measures 9-inches across. Nissan’s displays have typically been dim, low in contrast and hard to see with polarized sunglasses. Fortunately, the Rogue no longer suffers from that. Even with my sunglasses on, the display remained legible and responsive and even the HUD remained readable.
Under the hood, the Rogue gets an upgraded version of Nissan’s familiar 2.5-lither four-cylinder. The engine mounts have been enlarged and direct injection has enabled 10% more power and 3% more torque to 181-hp and 181 lb-ft. While it won’t run with the available 2.0-liter turbo in the Escape or 2.5-liter turbo in the Mazda CX-5, the performance with the retuned continuously variable transmission is more than adequate.
On the road, the new engine mounts, acoustic glass for the windshield and front door glass, thicker insulation on the bulkhead and improved isolation in the rear suspension have done wonders for the noise, vibration and harshness. The Rogue doesn’t have the levels of serenity of something like the Lincoln Corsair, but the engineers responsible for the Cadillac XT4 might want to benchmark one of these.
Following the reveal of the Rogue, I was disappointed that Nissan chose not to include any electrified powertrain options. The gas powered variants got EPA fuel economy estimates of up to 30 mpg combined with front wheel drive and 28 mpg with all wheel drive which is fully competitive with the comparable powertrains from Ford, Toyota, Honda and actually 2 mpg ahead of the CX-5. However, the Ford, Toyota and Honda all offer hybrids and the first two also have plug-in hybrid options that get up to 40 mpg and 40 miles of electric range for the PHEVs. The just revealed 2021 Hyundai Tucson will also have these electrified options.
Nissan acknowledges that they are working on a hybrid but gave no indication of when it will arrive. Nissan will be launching the similarly sized Ariya about a year from now as a fully battery electric alternative, but it will also be considerably more expensive than even the plug-in hybrid competitors. Given the growing popularity of hybrids in this class with Toyota selling nearly 100,000 Rav4 hybrids in 2019, Nissan seems to have missed an opportunity here.
The Rogue was Nissan’s first product in North America to get ProPilot Assist as an option several years ago. ProPilot is Nissan’s first generation level 2 partial automation system. It combines adaptive cruise control with lane centering capabilities but it’s still a hands on the wheel system. The Ariya will debut the next generation system that allows hands-off capability on highways, but the 2021 Rogue gets some upgrades.
In stop and go traffic, it will now automatically resume within the first 30 seconds after coming to a stop which is much more convenient than the 3 seconds on the original version. After that time out, the driver has to tap the accelerator or the resume button on the steering wheel. The other major change is the addition of Navi-Link. When a destination has been entered into the navigation system, ProPilot looks ahead on the maps and when the time comes to take an off-ramp or interchange, the system will automatically slow the vehicle down. I found the system worked well on an off-ramp, but it failed to slow down when taking a ramp from one highway to another.
Unfortunately, this only works if you are actually using the built-in navigation system. If you know where you are going and don’t enter a destination, or you opt for Waze, Google or Apple maps, you’ll have to watch your own speed, at least until the camera sees a speed limit sign. The Rogue also has speed limit assistance. When using cruise control or ProPilot, when the forward facing camera sees a change in speed limit, it will prompt the driver to automatically change the set speed. By default, it will ask for confirmation which is given by the set/resume switch to move the speed up or down. There is also an option to do this without confirmation or turn it off entirely. I found the default confirmation mode to be very useful.
Over two and a half hours of driving on highways, twisting back roads and city streets, the Rogue was thoroughly pleasant to spend time in. It’s certainly no Z or GT-R, but neither is it intended to be. The word appliance is often used as a pejorative in the automotive space, but for a mainstream family vehicle, it’s a perfectly acceptable characteristic. People want there vehicles to just work, getting them where they need to be in quiet, reliable comfort and hassle-free.
The 2021 Nissan Rogue does all the things you expect of a daily driver with no fuss. It’s not exciting in either good ways or bad. It is the form factor most people want in 2020 with competitive performance, efficiency, pricing and pretty much all the features most people want. The lack of hybrid options is the single biggest missing item, but that is apparently coming. Production has started and Rogues should be hitting dealerships in the coming weeks. The base front-drive Rogue S starts at $26,765 including delivery while the all wheel drive Platinum will set you back $37,925.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samabuelsamid/2020/10/05/2021-nissan-rogueis-better-enough/
2020-10-05T00:00:00+00:00