Personally, I still LOVE my '08 Rogue! Here is my experience...
I purchased my '08 Rogue SL AWD in Indigo Blue in November, 2007 and we're still cruising along at 173,000 Miles. At 700 miles, I switched to Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5W-30 and have changed it every 5,000-6,000 Miles since. Knock on wood... No issues with oil consumption. The biggest major failure was the original CVT failing at 119,500 Mi. The replacement was covered under the class action lawsuit extended warranty (10YR/120k). I was very lucky in the timing on that!
The next major failure was the rear differential at appx. 155,000 mi (March, 2023) and I replaced it with Nissan Part: 38300-JD610 at a local shop for $1,700. The AC compressor has been replaced twice, but that is a fairly common issue on all vehicles. I had the HVAC blower motor replaced last year at 168,000 Mi. ($500).
Smaller repairs: I've personally replaced the radiator, which cracked due to age and the exterior door handles on the front doors twice, which is a pain in the #$$. Then you have the stupidly designed exterior door handle pull cable that can pop out inside the door. I just fixed that on the passenger side last week. It only took me 2 years of putting it off and having to open it from the inside.
The interior is holding up nicely, with the exception of the driver's leather seat which is cracked and missing an 10" wide section on the outward facing side, exposing the cushion. One BIG pain point on this car has been the Moonroof/Sunroof drains... they CLOG! I've had water in my footwells and stain the headliner a few times which had gone unnoticed until an odor started getting worse and worse. I found out the carpet under the passenger floor mats was soaked and getting moldy! I was able to get that cleaned up and I Bio-Bombed my car to fix the odor. I've since learned how to clean them out with irrigation tubing and an air compressor to get the air all the way down to the drain outlet so as to not blow out the tubing. Again, I learned the hard way having to reconnect it above the headliner and behind the glove compartment what a royal PITA!
As for the Exterior, the Indigo Blue paint on the hood and roof is oxidized and the clear coat is deteriorating. There are other areas with clear coat starting to come off, but the doors, rear cargo door and quarter panels look good.
For improvements, back in 2015 I replaced the original Nissan (Bose) Radio/Head Unit with a Pioneer AVH-4100NEX CD/DVD, SXM, Bluetooth, Android Auto+Apple CarPlay head unit. I tapped into the factory roof antenna for the SiriusXM signal for a clean install. This required running a new wire from under the rear driver side cargo area, where the antenna and bluetooth modules live, then ran it down under the plastic interior moulding (interior sill plate area), up to the front dash, then over to the center head unit area. What a pain, but it was oh-so-clean and works perfectly! What a huge improvement this was over the factory head unit! The other improvement was to put in WeatherTech floor mats, which have held up very well.
Fast forward to now: I am getting ready to replace, for the first time, the Front Struts and Rear Shocks along with having a mechanic check all of the steering/control/wear parts and replace the serpentine belt. Once this new work is done, I'll take her for an alignment. I'm hoping to keep my Rogue going for at least 3-5+ more years, that is, if my wife will let me. Perhaps my Rogue will be treated to one more set of tires before she is retired.
Anyway, I don't see many posts from 1st Gen owners on here, since I know they are getting quite old by now and many have gone to the junk yard due to the CVT issues, age, or collisions. Look forward to hearing from any others out there, even if this post finds you years from now.
If you've made it this far... You're Awesome!
Thanks for reading!
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