Consumer Reports Review

[CapeCodChips]

It's finally done, They've had a Rogue since Thanksgiving and the 2014 Rogue review is posted.
Score was a slightly disappointing 74. By comparison: Forester scored 86, CRV 76, Rav 4 75
I highly value their opinion, but I thoroughly test drove all the vehicles above and chose the Rogue.
I'm at 4 months and 15,000 miles, and loving it.

Review:
Rather than Rogue, Nissan could have named this redesigned SUV "Mr. Congeniality." True, that's not very macho, but the model stands out as an easy-to-drive, family-friendly vehicle. And it now ranks among the better small SUVs.

The new Rogue has grown larger and more accommodating; it has a spacious cabin, easy access, and plenty of room in the rear seat. Refinement has improved dramatically, with a relatively quiet and more comfortable ride than is usual in this class. Other enhancements include more responsive handling, improved fuel economy of 24 mpg overall, and a better-calibrated continuously variable transmission that's smoother and quieter than the previous version.

Power comes from a 170-hp, 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that delivers adequate performance but can get somewhat vocal under hard acceleration. Our vehicle's all-wheel drive worked unobtrusively.

Handling is sound, with prompt steering response if not much feedback, and restrained body lean in corners. Overall, the Rogue feels competent and very secure when pushed to its limits, although it's not sporty or engaging to drive. You sit up high in the cabin, with plenty of head room. Some drivers felt that the pedals were too close, but sliding the seat back made the steering wheel a reach.

The cloth seats in our car are wide but lack sufficient support, especially on long trips. Theater-like raised rear seats improve the view, and there's ample room for three, which is helped by the almost flat floor.

Adding to the Rogue's family-friendly credibility is an optional third-row seat, which brings seating capacity to seven. That's rare among small SUVs, though the tight seat is best for kids. Opting for the third row eliminates the spare tire, which means you get run-flat tires and, probably, a stiffer ride. A removable shelf in the cargo area adds versatility.

Controls are mostly simple. The optional touch screen is relatively straightforward, but the radio's preset buttons are too small. Connecting a phone is easy, and voice commands work well enough for phone, radio, iPod, and navigation functions.

A backup camera is standard on all Rogues. And we really like the optional surround-view camera, which provides a virtual 360-degree view around the vehicle when parking.

Why buy one:
•Roomy and accommodating interior
•Very easy access
•Rides well for the class
•Available third-row seat is rare among small SUVs
•Standard backup camera and optional surround-view camera system
•Affordable high-tech safety features
Why not buy one: •Bland as dry toast to drive
•Engine gets loud when pushed and is exacerbated by the CVT transmission
•The driving position and seat comfort drew complaints
Viable alternatives: •Subaru Forester
•Honda CR-V
•Toyota RAV4
•Mazda CX-5
The Rogue line-up: All trim levels including the base S include a standard backup camera.

The volume seller is the mid-level SV, which comes pretty well equipped including a power driver's seat and automatic climate control.

Three-row of seating is only available with S and SV trim levels. To combine a third row with a leather interior and other upscale features requires stepping up to the larger Pathfinder.

If you can do without the third row, the top-trim SL includes leather, navigation and a handy surround-view camera. It also buys larger 18-inch wheels. The SL Premium package adds a moonroof and useful electronic safety equipment including forward collision warning and lane departure warning systems.

Best version/options to get: Go for the SV trim level and add the $1,420 Premium package. That will get you blind-spot and lane-departure warnings, a power liftgate, a surround-view camera system, and navigation -- a lot of features for the money. To get forward-collision warning, which has been shown to be effective in preventing crashes, you have to get the SL with the Premium package. One note: Don't confuse this Rogue with the previous model, which is outdated and now sold as the Rogue Select.

Changes from previous generation: Compared to the first generation Rogue (2008-2013), the 2014 redesign is larger and more accommodating. Refinement has improved dramatically, with a better ride and a quieter interior. Rear visibility is also better, something that was a sore point with the earlier version. In-car technology has improved considerably, along with the roster of upscale and optional features.

The Driving Experience

Handling: The Rogue handles soundly, with prompt response to steering inputs and not much body lean in corners. The steering is appropriately weighted for effort, but doesn't convey a whole lot of feedback. Overall, the Rogue feels competent and reassuring, if not sporty or engaging to drive.

At the track, the Rogue was secure. Stable and forgiving, it was easy to keep on course, and we posted a commendable 54 mph in our avoidance maneuver. The stability control kicked in early, but wasn't overly intrusive.

Powertrain: The only powertrain available is a 170-hp, 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine mated to a continuously variable transmission, or CVT. With essentially infinite gear ratios, this type of transmission generally aids performance and fuel economy. We recorded a 0-60 mph acceleration time of 9.5 seconds. That's adequate performance, but is toward the slower end of the class. But not many drivers complained about a lack of power, though.

We measured 24 mpg overall on regular fuel -- decent for a small SUV, but falls one or two mpg below the best in its class. Rogues are available with front- or all-wheel drive. The AWD system on our Rogue worked unobtrusively, but several logbook entries mentioned unimpressive snow traction from the standard all-season tires.

The redesign includes improvements to the CVT that mitigate some of our past gripes, without eliminating them entirely. The CVT does a better job of mimicking a conventional automatic in some respects, such as letting engine revs drop quickly when you take your foot off the accelerator. The annoying droning common to some CVTs isn't completely gone, but is mostly squelched. It's also a bit too easy to pull the transmission lever past Drive into Low, making the engine rev unnecessarily. There's no way to manually "change gears" and the overdrive (OD) button doesn't really shut off, it just increases engine braking for steep hills.

Off-road: The Rogue has absolutely no off-road ambitions. That won't be a problem for most owners, given that few small SUV pilots venture far from the pavement. Hill descent control is optional on all-wheel-drive equipped models.

Towing: Don't buy a Rogue if you need to tow much. Maximum towing capacity is just 1,000 pounds.

Ride comfort: The Rogue is among the better riding small SUVs. The suspension is compliant over bumps, and the body stays steady without any extraneous motions. The highway ride is uneventful, but in a good way. It's worth noting that third-row seat equipped Rogues come with run-flat tires, which typically hurt ride quality.

Noise: The interior is relatively quiet compared with stalwart competitors like the Subaru Forester, Honda CR-V, and Toyota RAV4. But engine noise is prominent, especially under acceleration. Most of the time the tone isn't offensive, though the engine revving typical of a CVT can be distracting.

Unlike many competing models, road noise is largely absent. But the optional panoramic moonroof is not. Even with it closed, there's enough wind hiss to compete with the audio system and normal conversation. Shutting the shade helps, but it's best to skip that option if a quiet cabin is a high priority.

Braking: The brakes performed well, with short stops on both wet and dry surfaces and an easy to modulate pedal.

Headlights: While the standard halogen lamps provide good visibility, the low-beam light is not distributed evenly. And that makes for dark spots and a somewhat blotchy appearance. LED headlamps are optional on SL trims as part of the Premium Package. We have found that LED lamps produce a very white and bright light, but they do not necessarily illuminate any farther ahead than conventional bulbs.



Inside The Cabin

Interior fit and finish: Open and airy, the Rogue's interior looks appealing when you open the door. Patterned cloth seats, a padded dashboard top, piano black trim, and stitched accents on the door armrests are all nice touches that make a good first impression.

While the look isn't cheap, it isn't exactly plush or posh. Like most competing small SUVs, the veneer of luxury is pretty thin. Most interior plastics are hard, and we'd expect something nicer than a rubber steering wheel for the $29,000 sticker price of our Rogue. Edges on a few plastic panels weren't smoothly finished, but that's a minor complaint.

Driving position: You sit up high in the Rogue, with plenty of head room. It feels spacious, even compared to other small SUVs.

That said, several people complained that the driving position felt cramped and that the pedals were too close. But sliding the seat back made the steering wheel a reach. Some also felt that the center console intruded a bit around the throttle pedal. On the plus side, short drivers were happy to sit up high and could easily reach everything.

Visibility: Definitely an improvement over the previous generation Rogue, with its smaller side glass and an especially tiny rear window. After we purchased our test car, Nissan announced a new optional rear camera display for the Rogue that allows the driver to switch the center rear-view mirror between conventional and camera views to improve visibility around passengers, cargo, and other obstructions.

This time around, all the windows are good-sized. Unfortunately, so are the roof pillars. Wide windshield and rear roof supports block vision to the corners, and the high beltline shrinks the view out of the side windows. Large side mirrors help.

A rear camera is standard on all trim levels, which we applaud. There are also a wide variety of optional visibility aids. Rogues without blind spot monitoring can have accessory spotter mirrors on the door mirrors, to help drivers see what's lurking in the next lane. Optional blind spot monitoring generally works well, but can be prone to false warnings when the coast is clear. We really like the optional surround-view camera system, which displays everything around you on the center screen when parking.

Seat comfort: Front seats are wide, with fairly flat contours to accommodate a wide range of body types. But cushion support from our test car's cloth seats is not the best, and drew complaints especially on long trips. The power lumbar support is appreciated, but even optional power seats don't get an adjustable bottom cushion which would alleviate the pressure point some felt under their thighs. Optional leather seats would provide more support.

Rear passengers get raised theater-like seating that improves the view. The raised rear seat cushions afford good thigh support. Head, leg, and knee room are all abundant. Three adults can fit across, with the nearly flat floor aiding foot space for the center passenger.

The Rogue is one of only two small SUVs available with a third-row seat. The other is the low-scoring Mitsubishi Outlander. Not surprisingly, this rather small seat is only useable for kids. And it takes up the space normally occupied by the spare tire, which means that third-row buyers get run-flat tires. This switch is likely going to make for a slightly rougher ride.

Access: Big, square doors and low, almost-flat sills make it a cinch to get in and out of the Rogue. Chair-height seats don't hurt, either. There's plenty of foot and leg room, which makes it easier to slide in and out of the rear seat. One minor complaint is that the sills are on the wide side, so you might dirty your pant cuffs against them in mucky weather.

Gauges: Large and brightly backlit gauges are easy to see. A full-color screen between the instruments displays fuel economy and other trip information.

The display includes a warning when the outside temperature is close to freezing, to caution about possible slippery conditions. It's a useful feature, but unlike similar displays from other carmakers, this one forces you to acknowledge it by pressing a button to extinguish it before letting you display anything else on the screen. This is ridiculous. You can shut off the warning completely through the car's menus, but it seems it should just be better designed in the first place.

Controls: Most are straightforward and simple. The Rogue uses big, well-labeled buttons and knobs for climate controls, although they're a bit shallow to grab. It's nice to have a dedicated display for climate settings, something that has become all too rare as manufacturers move toward all-in-one screens.

Our Rogue's optional high-level stereo has big buttons for source selection and knobs for volume and tuning. The system uses screen buttons for radio presets and to move through radio station selections and phone/music player artist/song/playlists. Simple system logic helps here.

Complaints are minor. Pushing the steering wheel adjustment lever into place takes a lot of effort. We wish the adjacent hood and fuel door releases didn't look alike -- or that Nissan would just give up on interior fuel door releases. And like many other Nissans, there's a big array of buttons for optional features mounted low to the left of the steering wheel near your knee. That would be great if your knee had eyes in it.

Electronic connectivity: The optional touch-screen display dominates the dashboard, and is a relative snap to use with a simple button layout. Frequently used controls such as radio presets, station name, cell phone battery/signal strength, and time are displayed regardless of which screen menu you are in.

Connecting a phone is easy, and once paired reliably reconnects each time you get into the car. The NissanConnect app gives you access to Pandora, Facebook, and Google search. Android users also get an iHeartRadio app, which must be running on the phone and uses the Bluetooth connection; iPhone users must tether it to the USB port.

The typical laundry list of sources can be chosen for listening to your favorite music, podcast or streamed content. All are easy to use and navigate, whether your choice is conventional or satellite radio, CD, Bluetooth audio, aux cable, or USB port. Some are just more seamless when using the aforementioned app. Pandora allows you to give a song the thumbs up or down using the touch screen, but streaming it from another device limits the menu to song info, pausing, or playing the current selection.

Voice commands work well enough, allowing phone calls, radio station selection, navigation, and iPod control. Destinations can be entered as a complete spoken address, rather than one piece at a time. The point of interest (POI) menu didn't work as well, not recognizing Starbucks and giving a choice of gas stations when we asked for Dunkin' Donuts. It did, however, understand popular fast food restaurants every time.

The system can read text messages from compatible devices aloud, but iPhone users cannot take advantage of this feature.

Navigation traffic alert works really well, as it aggressively reroutes you to avoid excessive traffic.

A subscription to satellite radio includes XM Travel Link, which gets you weather reports, fuel prices, stock prices, sports scores and movie locations and reviews. It also powers the traffic reports that the navigation uses to reroute you if there's a backup.

Climate features: At first glance, the mid-trim SV seems to offer a generous range of climate features, including dual-zone automatic climate control and heated mirrors. But at $29,000, our Rogue SV did not include a heated steering wheel or seats. Many of our testers were surprised that this content wasn't included. You have to step up to the top-level SL to get heated seats.

Cabin storage: There's a small open bin in front of the shifter with more than enough room to hold a smart phone, and it has a grippy, rubberized surface to keep it in place. You also get a two-tier covered bin between the front seats, and map sleeves on the seatbacks. Finally, there's a small open bin near the cup holders big enough for a pack of gum and a few rolls of Life Savers -- or your phone.

Cup holders: Front passengers have two cup holders between the seats. Rear-seat passengers get two cup holders in the fold-down center armrest. All four doors have molded bottle holders.

Electronic amenities: USB ports and auxiliary outlets are conveniently located in the open bin near the shifter.

Power sources: There are 12-volt outlets in front of the shifter, inside the front covered bin and in the rear cargo area.

Other neat features: The sunroof is enormous

Cargo area: Two movable floor panels, called "Divide-N-Hide," allow you to choose from three different floor levels and multiple storage options to arrange cargo or keep it out of sight. This clever standard feature adds a lot of versatility to the cargo hold.

The two-panel middle position forms the SUV-typical smooth load floor. It's flush with the rear bumper and can hold 165 pounds. Room underneath provides hidden storage underneath for smaller objects. If you need more cargo volume, put the shelf at its lower position, maximizing height but losing the level load floor.

The second row seat slides back and forth, allowing you to balance between rear passenger leg room and cargo space. Sliding those seats back, adjusting their recline to full upright, and dropping the cargo floor to its lowest position allowed us to fit three large upright suitcases behind the second-row seats. Payload capacity is 900 pounds of passengers and cargo.

A power liftgate is optional on the SV and standard with SL trim, and opens and closes with the touch of a button. You can adjust its opening height, a clever feature that accommodates short users and low garage ceilings. The liftgate can be operated using either a control on the dash, the key fob, or an exterior touchpad. Tie-down loops surrounding the cargo area help with securing items.

Spare tire: Models equipped with a third-row seat don't have a spare tire; instead they come with run-flat tires. Otherwise, the Rogue comes with a temporary spare.



Safety Notes

Safety belts: Front seating positions are equipped with pretensioners and adjustable upper anchors.

Air bags: Front-seat occupants are protected by front-, side-, and curtain air bags. The curtains are also designed to protect outboard occupants in the rear seats.

Head restraints: The rear outboard head restraints are tall enough to provide adequate protection to most passengers. The rear center restraint is not tall enough to provide any protection -- even when fully raised.

Crash-avoidance systems: Nissan crash avoidance systems are dubbed Nissan Safety Shield technologies.

The SV Premium package costs $1,420 and includes blind spot and lane departure warnings, and moving object detection that works with the surround-view camera to detect anything moving around the car. This package lacks the all-important forward collision warning -- technology that's been found to be particularly effective at preventing crashes.

Forward collision warning is only available on the top-level SL trim as part of the $1,990 SL Premium Package. The optional package also includes blind spot and lane departure warnings, and moving object detection.

Driving with kids: Forward- and rear-facing child restraints should prove secure in the outboard seating positions. It is difficult to install a child seat in the rear center seating position due to rigid hinge covers and buckle hardware that can interfere with child seats sitting flush against the seatback and seat bottom. There are three tether anchors; the outboard anchors are located on the seatbacks and the center tether anchor is in the ceiling. LATCH anchors are available in the outboard seating positions but they are recessed and difficult to access.



Reliability

We do not have data to predict reliability, this model is new.

Tested model: 2014 SV 4-door SUV AWD, 2.5-liter 4-cyl., CVT
Major options: Moonroof, SV Premium pkg (navigation, Aroundview camera, power liftgate, blind spot and lane departure warning.)
This road test applies to the current model year of this vehicle.

[CapeCodChips]

They spelled it:
Rogue 28 times and
Rogue twice

[kerrton]

I wouldn't interpret the 74 rating as disappointing, I'd say this is a tie with the class-leading RAV4 (75) and CRV (76), all came in basically with the same score. Based on this assessment alone I'd say Nissan can call the new Rogue a success, we'll see how the sales numbers and actual reliability pan out. I'd say Nissan will steal some buyers from Honda based on styling, as the CRV is pretty boring and dated looking.

The complaints about the CVT are interesting, the Forester has the much higher score and it comes with the CVT transmission as well. I'm curious if they are using an in-house designed CVT or one sourced from Jatco/Nissan, I believe this is their own design but either way I'd really like to compare the Forester to Rogue and see how noticable the difference in transmission performance is, if at all.

Edit: I checked the Subaru specs, and they claim they use a Subaru Lineartronic CVT, which I interpret as being an in-house design. Sounds like the critics like Subarus' implementation of CVT better than Nissan's, which is surprising considiering Nissan has been the leader in broad implementation of the technology for well over a decade now.

[Rogue One]

Audi, Honda, Hyundai, Subaru, and Toyota all make their own CVTs. Nissan owns a controlling interest in JATCO, the firm that supplies 49 percent of the world’s gear-free transmissions to Chrysler, GM, Mi­tsu­bishi, and Suzuki. In addition, nearly half of Nissan’s current U.S. models offer a JATCO-supplied CVT. http://www.caranddriver.com/features/ho ... ck-feature

From a Subaru Forum: Subaru sources their current CVTs from AISIN. They are chain drive as opposed to the stacked plate belt on the Jatco units.

I think Toyota doesn't use JATCO, but instead uses CVTs from AISIN. Toyota apparently chose AISIN as their CVT supplier as their product is less problematic than JATCO's.

[tsumeone]

I test drove the 2014 Forester before deciding on the Rogue. The ride over our badly paved freeway was way, way bouncier in the Forester - worse than my 2007 Escape. But the thing I really did not like was the CVT. I don't know how the critics can like Subaru's CVT more. It drones a lot louder than the one in the Rogue, and after flooring it and letting off the gas it takes FOREVER for the RPM to go back down. It felt like it was still trying to push the car forward even though I was braking. I did not like that at all, and that is why I decided on the Rogue. I am very surprised to see the Forester's CVT getting more positive reviews than the Rogue's.

[KC Rogue]

I was just looking at the 2015 Annual Auto Issue of Consumer Reports (April 2015 issue) page 95 in the reliability section that rates 2009-2014 models. Overall they give the Rogue an average rating, but the only below average ratings (half filled black circles) are
transmission major 2009 and 2010
drive system 2009
brakes 2009 and
body integrity 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
There were no solid black filled circles (much worse than average).
Transmission major was much above average 2011-2014.

The transmission major in the 4 cylinder Altima was rated much above average (solid red circle) for all years except 2009 (average).

For a 2012 Rogue purchased used, edmunds true cost to own shows repairs of
$197, $287, $333, $389, $452 in years 1 through 5.