John's Journal - Nissan's Little Scamp

With unrest plaguing oil-producing regions from Venezuela to the Middle East, and global oil demand growing hand over fist, the price of a gallon of gasoline can only go up. Accordingly, consumers in need of cargo and seating capacity are crossing over to more efficient car-based utilities, which explains why Ford Explorer sales are in freefall.

No doubt eager to enter this hot segment, Nissan has taken its sweet time building a compact crossover of its own. Christened Rogue, Nissan's entry is squarely aimed at the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV-4, arguably the segment's top dogs. To separate the Rogue from the rest of the pack, Nissan gave it a few unique features, like a CVT and a rear cargo organizer. While it's hard to say if the Rogue is best in class, it is as good as any compact utility. Anyone shopping for a vehicle in this segment should definitely put Rogue on his or her shortlist.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• autoline
• detroit
• john
• mcelroy
• dptv
• wtvs
• speed
• channel
• car-based
• compact
• cr-v
• crossover
• Honda
• nissan
• rav-4
• rogue

[LeadHammer]

The San Diego design team must be fired. The first Murano looked nice and classy. The second one is a joke. The Rogue is just a boring soap bar. Pitiful. Bring the Qashqai to the States.

[melapelaz3]

The Rogue in Mexico does not have this cargo patrition thing

[MRSketch09]

That was interesting how they designed the vehicle so even the front passenger seat would fold over. Now that gives a lot of carrying space.

I definitely seen alot of people using there SUVs to haul furniture, the kind you put together. Work in stock currently, and its amazing at what customers have tried to fit in there. More storage space like this makes my job less complex.

[rbobinsky]

I got a Rogue about 3 months ago. It's the best car I've ever owned! It's like riding on a bed of air. Extremely responsive, and very roomy interior!!!

[johnnyb0830]

Well done. Very Informative.

Interesting though how people never mention that the Nissan Murano was the first Crossover with these looks then every car company copied the design (Ford Edge, Mazda CX-7 & 9, pretty much any crossover you can think of) Then the Rogue comes out and people say it looks that a lot of others already on the market. Yeah because it looks like the Murano which was the original. The Rogue is the Murano's little brother.