2017 Nissan Rogue Sport: First Impressions and Photo Gallery
CARS.COM — This Nissan SUV is called the Qashqai everywhere else in the world, but good luck getting Americans to say that properly when half the country still hasn’t learned how to say “fajita.” Borrowing part of a name from an already popular SUV seems like a good idea — it worked for the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, didn’t it? Thus, the new 2017 Nissan Rogue Sport was born, and you can see it at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
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It’s not a bad idea, given that the Rogue Sport is built on the same overall platform as the larger Rogue, but with more than 2 inches chopped out of the wheelbase. That shorter length is noticeable inside, but only in the backseat where legroom is considerably tighter than the unusually spacious Rogue.
Up front, the Rogue Sport shares a lot of its interior with the Rogue, and that’s a good thing. Option it up to the SL trim to get some nice leather, piano-black trim and a leather-wrapped steering wheel that feels chunky and substantial.
The front seats are comfortable, but the optional moonroof robs a couple inches of headroom from the front-row occupants. The rear passengers’ headroom isn’t affected since it’s not a panoramic moonroof and doesn’t intrude much into the backseat area. The larger Rogue’s panoramic moonroof does, meaning that there’s more usable headroom in the back of the smaller Rogue Sport.
Outside, the styling is so close to the Rogue that people may have trouble telling which is which. Park them side by side and the Sport’s shorter dimensions are obvious, as is the slight styling difference from the rear doors to the rear end. But from the front, they’re nearly identical.
That similarity, and a likely lower price tag, may spell some trouble for the increasingly popular Rogue, however. When the Sport goes on sale later this year, we’ll see if buyers curb the bigger Rogue’s upward sales momentum by opting instead for the slightly smaller Rogue Sport.
