Yesterday I went to the dealer.

Currently, in Canada, the 2013 Nissan Rogue S has an upgrade package called "special edition". It has Alloy rims, intelligent key, fog lights, sun roof, roof bar, tinted rear windows, rear parking sensors, "sport" button (no heated seats). Back in 2011, S (which is the base model) was literally naked. Steel rims with plastic rim covers, no fog lights, no moon roof...nothing! That was why I preferred SV. I paid extra an upgrade to Premium Package which contains sun roof, fog light, alloy rims, rear view camera. But the SV (even with the premium package) did not come with the intelligent key option, only SL had and I couldn't afford it.

Now you can buy the most affordable trim, with lots of features with a little extra.

I understand Nissan wants to compete with other car manufacturers and makes some strategic decisions to add or remove certain features to make the Rogue more attractive, but that is a radical change which makes me feel like an idiot...At the end of the day, I paid A LOT OF MONEY just for the rear view camera (i honestly prefer an audible beeper in stead) and heated seats (if I really want one I can go and purchase a 12V add-on padding).

Note: For some reason, they decided to remove the insulation pad under the hood...it seems like Nissan saved another $40 from each car

That's the business of "planned obselescense"....sort of. It's how they keep you coming back to buy a new car, if nothing changed people would drive the same car for 15-20 years before buying new and the world would come crashing down!!

It doesn't matter if its cars, electronics, fashion, etc., our society is consumptive/consumer based and the way ALL manufacturers keep the big machine going is by offering new and better products at regular intervals. With electronics like computers, phones and tablets every year you get something a lot "better", often its just bells and whistles and change for the sake of change, sometimes its real progress. Vehicle manufacturers all do it too, options that used to be available on higher trim levels slowly trickle down to the lower trims, therefore getting cheaper to aquire (ex. Bluetooth, nobody had this 10 years ago, now its pretty much standard on all vehicle trim levels), and at the top end they create new innovative options like lane-departure warning, backup cameras etc..

It's the way the world works and there is one really good piece of advice for anyone who has just purchased something - enjoy your purchase and DON'T look at the new models, new deals, and advertisements because gauranteed you'll see a better deal than you got, or a new and improved product! It wasn't that long ago (2008), that I was really excited to have power locks and power windows FOR THE FIRST TIME in my life, my Rogue was super high tech to me at the time after driving cheap old cars for years prior to that. Now its barely worth mentioning these features because they are standard even on the cheapest base cars.

If you don't like it, pack up, head to a cabin in the woods to live off the land and avoid the throw-away, never satisfied consumer society that we all live in!!