Would you recommend Rogue to a good friend or relative?

[maverick_rogue]

One of my friend is looking for a car and he took my Rogue for test drive.

He liked it very much specially the smooth drive on freeway and at the end of the test drive, he asked for my opinion on it.

I was not sure what to say. I really like my Rogue but the transmission issue and Nissan's apathy towards its resolution is something that boggles me.

I explained the transmission issue to my friend and also the fact that every car has one or the other issue. I also provided him reference to this forum so that he can make an educated decision.

Though I could not help posting this to the forum..... If some one asks you the same question " Should she/he buy Nissan Rogue tomorrow?" what is going to be your answer?

[lozen13]

A very good question. I have not seen weather they have made changes to the 2009.

For myself I have hated the keyless ignition. Sometimes it has taken me 15 minutes to start my vehicle as it will not recognize the key. Even manually trying to turn it over is not possible. This problem would keep me from recommending it.

If I had to do it all over again i would have stuck with my Matrix.

[Pescakl1]

In a heartbeat!!

I will tell him about the fuel economy that I do (and even more, the one I did during winter time) and the fact that in one year of ownership, I have never seen my dealer yet.

28.000 km trouble free and enjoying everyone of them.

The transmission problem is insignificant, number wise. Sure, it is a pain for anyone having it, but did you look at the statistic?If your friend won't buy this car because of that, he'd rather walk because he will never find a car model 100% troublefree.

I think people puts too much ambition in this car: Do you remember how much you paid for it?It is not a mercedes, don't expect the same smooth ride and silence.To get that fuel economy, the car has to be light (did you see the weight difference with the concurrence?). Less weight means less dampening material, meaning a little bit more noise in the car.Personally, I find this car as loud (or as silent) as any other car I drove before, but I never drove a high end car.

If I had to do it again, I would buy an AWD, because with the environmental tax reduction not existing anymore , the difference between the two will lead me towards the AWD for our winters (I am quite sure I can work to get the same fuel economy).

[takeshi]

I'd recommend it based on my experience but we haven't had any problems with our Rogue. Any discussion forum is going to be chock-full of people having problems with whatever product the forum is intended to discuss. It's really difficult to properly assess what the true common issues are by relying on a discussion forum but at the same time hearing from people actually using the product day-to-day can be very helpful.

For myself I have hated the keyless ignition. Sometimes it has taken me 15 minutes to start my vehicle as it will not recognize the key.

Interesting. I've never had any problems with it and love the feature. Have you had the dealer look into this?

[kerrton]

Very well said Pescakl and Takeshi, I couldn't agree more and yes I would recommend this vehicle to my friend or family member no questions asked.

Just to add to what they said, I've heard it so many times on here that Nissan Rogue "has a transmission problem", and "when will Nissan come up with a fix?". The Rogue overall doesn't have a CVT problem, some specific unlucky Rogue owners have a problem.

[maverick_rogue]

Wow. Good to see such passionate responses.And rightfully so.I did expect it,its a thought provoking question and after all we all have paid a good chunk of our hard earned money on this car ,so we deserve a nice car and as I said in other forums Rogue is a nice car.

Here are my thoughts around some of the responses.

Forums are full of such issues (Lets count # of responses to transmission related issues). This transmission issue is the longest and largest issue so far.

and almost everyone who was able to get Nissan / dealership agree to transmission issue got a response "Nissan is aware of this issue",and what we have is a marketing head giving a pep talk, not even a TSB so far quelling concerns.

I did have a look at statistics , went through pages full of this issue and looked at poll results at the forum. The #s are significantly high.

I know the body and the cabin is not isolated to save curb weight (Engine and other mounts need to be heavily padded otherwise) and to save cost and I have no complains about it.

Let me tell you ,I did NOT mention the squeaking noise from Seat Belt to my friend and nothing about the rattle from my side car seat and no word about noise from rear.I know these are trivial issues and are expected from a Non-Mercedes car (by the way I find Lexus better than Mercedes). I did mention to my friend about slow throttle response and that it would mean change in driving habits on freeways but also that it’s a normal characteristics of CVT and should be OK.

I know I don’t have a Lexus,but does that mean I have to expect a Kia from my Nissan? Any Noise Vibration in moving / rotating part is going to lead to an earlier than expected mechanical failure. That is where my concern lies. I do know the difference between a Lexus and a Kia (No offence to Kia owners, I am just going by statistsics) but where do we benchmark ourselves, with Kia or with a Honda or a Toyota? The key lies in setting the expectations.

Fuel efficiency is derivative of multiple factors including weight but if it was the only factor, everyone around would have gone for Hybrid.

Thanks and hope to hear more from you. Happy Driving.

[kerrton]

Interesting points. Since you mentioned Kia/Hyundai....these Korean automakers have actually surpassed Toyota and Honda in initial quality according to some sources. The current vehicles are nothing like those from a few years ago. To be honest I'd trust Hyundai quality over that of Nissan (Nissan consistenly rates around the average to slightly avove average quality by JD Power and Associates, whereas Hyundai rates excellent) but I went with the Rogue because it was the most reasonably priced and gets great gas mileage - it was the best all-around balanced compromise.

If price and fuel efficiency weren't an issue I would recommend the Hyundai Santa Fe as the best all around vehicle in a CUV/SUV body style. It's a little more money than the Rogue and gets worse gas mileage but the quality is awesome, the options are affordable and plentiful and in my research it competes with high end manufacturers. Hyundai is awesome and more people are discovering this based on skyrocketing sales figures of vehicles like the Santa Fe. However, the Rogue is not bad considering the price I paid, and I have no worries abuot longevity of the CVT, it has tons of advanced engineering packed into it, and you can't overrule this by making general subjective observations from simply driving the car - trust the engineers that created it and have been refining it over the past decade or so.

[maverick_rogue]

Thanks. You have valid points.I did follow your posts and coming from someone with varied experiences like yours , this comes as a relief.

And I do agree about quality of Hyundai. I had the oppurtunity to work on suspension systems for Hyundai in my past life as a Mechanical Engineer and I did like the designs. Kia might have improved after Hyundai took over few years back but going by survey results and discussions with Kia owners around me, there is still a large room for improvement.

About Rogue : My major concern is not with the transmission issue, I am pretty sure it will be OK, though my confidence on it is going to be as consistent as Nissan's approach towards this issues.

what worries me is inconsistency and what appears to be a pretty slow response to growing concerns among its buyers/ prospective buyers.

As a concerned Nissan buyer, and a good friend I have to tell all the facts to my friend and let him decide. And thats what I did.

I gave example of Lexus. When it started they did not have a very good start. They listened to the customer's, voice spent resources on improving customer experience and look where they are today. Again I dont expect Lexus out of my Nissan that comes at 1/3 rd price but atleast something to let me know they are working on it....atleast 1/3 rd of their efforts

[cdmuile]

We've had the Rogue for a year now. Absolutely no problems. The Rogue recently became our 'big car' when we traded the Hyundai Azera for a Scion tC.

Now, about Hyundai. Hyundai came to Canada with the 'Pony" in the 1980s. A total piece of s#$*. It made the Yugo seem like a limo. Fast forward to 2006. I was ready to trade the 2000 Jag S Type for something more reliable. I had been reading about Hyundai's new big car and decided to look at it. What a car!! It had everything the Jag had and more. Fit and finish were excellent. Power(263hp 3.8 litre engine) put the Jag to shame. Hyundai has come a long,long way. The Azera is Hyundai's 'secret model'. No one knows about it. I would still have that car if $4 gas hadn't happened.