Review and photos by Steven Bochenek
If you’ve read much of my stuff, you may have noticed I’m not a huge SUV fan. The Nissan Rogue S AWD didn’t do much to change that. But if you’re looking for a decent-sized and solid people mover for your family there’s a lot to recommend it. Whether it’s worth breaking the $30,000 barrier for is contentious.
   2013 Nissan Rogue S AWD. Click image to enlarge |
First, let’s talk safety features, a priority for any sane parent who’s driven in rush hour. Vehicle dynamic control (stability control) and traction control are standard, as they are with most vehicles these days but that doesn’t make them any less useful, especially in a greasy, slippery winter. The tire pressure monitoring system is more than a safety feature. It’s practical for helping maximize fuel efficiency.
If you’re buying an SUV you’ll probably hear that you need all-wheel drive, but that really depends on where you live and what driving you do. We live in the heart of the city and for years I’ve quibbled over whether all-wheel drive is necessary where there’s so little snow. However, this winter we’ve had several heavy dumpings immediately followed by monsoon rains and flash floods. The Rogue’s all-wheel-drive system helped get us out to the streets while the tires of front-wheel-driving neighbours slipped, whined and created acrid blue smoke.
A part of this tester’s special edition package, fog lights are highly undervalued until you’re driving in the middle of a low cloud. Water droplets are reflective, so your regular beams can be mirrored back, whiting out your sense of direction. (A sudden deep dip in the road on an early morning can be quite eerily disconcerting.) Fog lights arc the beams downward so you’re lighting the road not creating a cyclorama.
The trouble with airbags is that you never deploy them in a standard auto review like this. At least not intentionally. The Rogue S comes standard with airbag protection in all the right spots: dual-stage supplemental front airbags with seat belt sensors; up front, seat-mounted side-impact airbags; and back where the kids are, roof-mounted curtain side-impact supplemental airbags for head protection and extra protection in the case of a rollover.
(If you upgrade to the SL package, you’d get Around View Monitor, which looks like it sounds. Four miniature camera images from overhead are composited together in your monitor for views all around you when you’re parking. In a busy neighbourhood, such unimpeded 360o awareness goes from being a convenience to a safety feature for others. The composited picture takes some getting used to because, well, for one thing, you aren’t actually on the roof. And in case you’re wondering, no, you can’t see yourself through the moonroof.)
The engine is a 2.5L 16-valve four-cylinder that puts out 170 hp at 4,400 rpm and 175 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm. That’s not a lot of power at the tap of a toe and you’ll need to be patient in traffic.
The continuously variable transmission (CVT) is not everyone’s cup of tea, although they’re becoming fairly common in this category. They’re odd things to wrap your head around because they’ve done away with gears. So you press on the accelerator and wait patiently for the wheels to match the engine speed, like you’re revving a scooter. It’s noisy as a result – in Sport mode it positively screams, revving up in stroke territory – but has a positive effect on the fuel consumption.
  2013 Nissan Rogue S AWD. Click image to enlarge |
The EnerGuide fuel economy listings are 9.6 L/100 km in the city and 7.7 on the highway. I came close to both of these during the week I drove it. (If you select a front-wheel-drive model it’s lighter and the stats reflect that in better fuel efficiency – something to consider on a morning like the day it was returned, when gas prices inexplicably leapt by two cents.)
And if fuel consumption is a priority, the Rogue’s cruise control is dead simple to figure out with plain on/off, cancel, set/decelerate and reset/accelerate buttons placed in logical order by your right thumb. It’s basic – no clever sonar slowing you down if you approach a slower vehicle from behind – but simple and no doubt added to the favourable fuel consumption stats during its test week.
While we’re here at the steering wheel: over by your left you have useful controls for infotainment, including volume, an audio source button and switcher. It’s a basic AM/FM/CD audio system but with an auxiliary input and iPod interface that works well.
As for the steering, it’s a bit looser than I like, optimized for city life and family commutes.
At 4,655 mm long it’s in that Goldilocks territory that for most people means just right. For me, it wasn’t quite long enough to accommodate my cross-country skis without invading my elbow space, but it was just a bit too big to drive like a car. Indeed, in corners it felt positively fluffy, a symptom of that light steering balance.
The back seats fold down almost completely flat in a 40/60 split and the front passenger seat folds down too. With all seats in the user position you have 818 L of cargo capacity but that increases to 1,639 L with the rear seats down. So Goldlilocks could drive all the bears’ stuff away if she chooses not to sleep while they’re still out picnicking.
    2013 Nissan Rogue S AWD. Click image to enlarge |
The compact/mid-size SUV segment is a very competitive category. So it makes sense that the Rogue comes with a lot of standard equipment at no extra charge. Heated outside mirrors can be a life saver in winter and air conditioning is practically de rigueur from March till October these days. The tilt steering column is also quite common at this level but that doesn’t detract from its utility and comfort. The Rogue has the girth to house a full-sized spare wheel, cached conveniently out of the way.
This tester contained the special edition optional factory equipment, a heap of extras for a decent final price of $1,400, including tinted privacy glass, a moonroof (not sure how it differs from a sunroof but that’s what the Autos.ca comments section is for), 16-inch aluminum wheels and a few other bits.
A truly interesting one is the Intelligent Key System. It’s hard to see its point beyond being different. From the driver’s point of view, it has all the features of a traditional key-in ignition, including a slot for the key, except it doesn’t actually have one. The advantage of effective push-button start and keyless access is that you don’t have to fumble around for keys. Since your hands are usually full of coffees, bags or babies, it’s advantageous to simply pull the door open, get in, press the start button and go. In the case of the Intelligent Key System, you still have to click the fob to unlock the car –nothing unique at this price range – but, once inside, you also still must grab the ignition knob between your index finger and thumb and twist it with your foot on the brake to start up. Only the unit’s truncated because no key was inserted in the slot. Strange and interesting, but not necessarily advantageous.
  2013 Nissan Rogue S AWD. Click image to enlarge |
If you like the look of SUVs, you’ll probably like this one best with its angular spacecraft accents. It looks faster from the outside. Indeed, ‘roguish’ is a good word to describe the look of the Nissan Rogue. (Insert Sarah Palin joke here.)
On the inside it’s only changed marginally from last year, including a few more metallic accents. The black cloth seats and black plastics in the interior attract dirt and salt in the winter. Unless you’re fussily neat, consider upgrading to leather seats.
Which leads us back to the price, with a quick detour to review the warranty. Nissan’s ‘Satisfaction Advantage’ entails: three years or 60,000 km of bumper-to-bumper warranty; five years or 100,000 km warranty for the power train; three years of roadside assistance and travel-planning services; five-year warranty for any corrosion perforation, which would be easy to justify with this tester’s three-coat paint option.
It’s all baked into that price. Which, as is mentioned above and displayed below, barely but definitely cracks the $30,000 barrier.
Pricing: 2013 Nissan Rogue S AWD
Base price (S AWD): $26,778
Options: Special Edition – $1,400 (16-inch aluminum allow wheels, power moonroof, front fog lights, privacy glass, intelligent key system, tonneau cover, mood lighting, Special Edition badging); 3-coat paint – $300
Freight: $1,750
A/C tax: $100
Price as tested: $30,228
Competitors:
Ford Escape
Honda CR-V
Hyundai Tucson
Kia Sportage
Mazda CX-5
Mitsubishi Outlander
Toyota RAV4
Crash test ratings:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
