Downsized 2017 Nissan Rogue Sport Has Pizzazz
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With its new Rogue Sport, Nissan joins the never-ending quest to offer an SUV at almost every size and price, slicing the segment even thinner.
Starting at just $22,380, the Rogue Sport is Nissan’s way of plugging the gap between the Juke and the Rogue, and competing with the likes of the Honda HR-V and Mazda CX-3.
We’d understand if you did a double take looking at the new Rogue Sport. Even though the styling is similar, the Rogue Sport is a full foot shorter than the popular Rogue. Whereas the roomier Rogue is designed for families, the Sport might have a younger, urban runabout appeal.
All Sport trims get a 141-hp, 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine mated to a continuously variable transmission. Although this powerplant gets the job done, the Rogue Sport could use a bit more oomph to help you merge onto the highway. (And it might make you yearn for the bigger Rogue’s 2.5-liter, 170-hp four cylinder.) That's a common complaint in this size SUV. At least the CVT does its job well; you can even manually override the transmission through seven predetermined ratios.
We’re seeing about 26 mpg, according to the SUV's trip computer. That observation is on par with the EPA-sourced 27 mpg overall fuel-economy rating—the same figure the government has for the larger Rogue. We’ll see how it really stacks up when we buy our own Rogue Sport and have an instrumented test.
On the road, the cabin remains relatively quiet and civilized, even when it's on the highway, and the ride is quite composed for a small SUV. Handling is responsive, though we’d stop short of calling the Rogue Sport “sporty.”
Nissan has done a good job of making the Rogue Sport easy to live with. The interior comes with lots of open storage spots for your phone and other necessities, as well as easy-to-access USB, auxiliary and 12-volt outlets/ports. Simple, well-placed controls are a welcome contrast to some fussy competitors. The radio preset buttons are so small, though.
Getting the top-shelf Rogue Sport SL trim brings a comfortable six-way, power-adjustable, leather-covered driver’s seat. Other nice details include a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, and heated seats and steering wheel. There are generous soft-touch surfaces that add class in such a price-sensitive segment.
The base S model's seats comes with manual adjustments. You also get a 60/40-split fold-down rear seat to help with people- or cargo-carrying flexibility.
Other slightly upscale features on the SL include 19-inch wheels, a surround-view monitor, and a 7-inch touch screen with navigation.
If you add a few other features, such as a sunroof, and all the safety features—those include automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot warning, lane-departure warning, and rear cross-traffic alert—you’re topping out at $31,365. At that price, there are many other, larger options.
Whether or not the Rogue Sport opens up a new frontier in this segment will depend on how it stacks up against competing models.
We’ll know more about this promising new model soon when we buy our own and rack up the testing miles.
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