Video: 2023 Nissan Rogue Review: The Practical Package

I hadn't driven a Rogue in quite some time and just the whole combination of how nice it is inside, in particular, really did surprise me. The interior quality on this is surprising. It's got quilted leather seats. It's got really beautiful panels on the dash and the doors. Overall, it's really just an astonishingly nice vehicle inside. <v Bell>It won't surprise you to know, my favorite feature of the Rogue, very airy tall roof cabin. I had head room to spare which is not something I'm used to in most vehicles. And in addition to the airy cabin, the thin windshield pillars makes for a panoramic view out the windshield. <v Bragman>Yeah, the visibility out is good. Your seating position is not too high, it's not too low. In some of these vehicles we've seen, you've felt like you're sitting in a hole, like in a bunker and some. Everything is really low in front of you. This is, I think, at the perfect spot. And the interior is loaded with actual buttons, it's not touch sensitive everything. You've got buttons for just about everything. It does have a multimedia screen that is touch sensitive for the multimedia system, but everything has a button control and they're easy to use and easy to find. And I frankly love that about it. <v Bell>Yeah, maybe not the biggest infotainment screen around. And Nissan's sticking with push buttons versus touch sensitive controls is a big plus. <v Bragman>Yeah. Also, the small item storage in here is fantastic. <v Bragman>It's got plenty of cabin space. It's got the, what did you call that, that center console? <v Bell>The purse porch. <v Bragman>The purse porch. The Bombay style doors. And how... Why is that good for us? When you got kids in the backseat that need to get something out of the center console, if you've got a flip up lid it blocks access, but the Bombay doors open like this. Kids can reach in and get their juice box or whatever out of the center console. Given how good this interior is, we usually then say, yeah, but the powertrain is not so great. But in this thing, I'm just as impressed with the powertrain as I am with the interior. And it's a Turbocharged three cylinder engine, which is rather unusual. <v Bell>Yes. And if you wouldn't have told me, I probably wouldn't have guessed. It's quiet, it's punchy, peppy. At least in around town driving. When we got to the twisty climbing parts of our drive route, the engine, the CVT transmission, did need to hold higher RPMs, and the buzz of the engine comes through a little bit then. But in everyday driving, surprisingly quiet. It does run out of steam at higher speeds on the highway as well. So if you're driving along at 65, 70, you need to pass something, you put your foot down, it's going to tell you there's not much left and you're gonna have to do some planning ahead of time. The other thing, the one thing that I would really potentially ding it for though, however, is the ride quality. These great big 19 inch wheels and tires don't do it many favors in terms of ride quality. It can be a little bit bouncy and harsh and a little bit noisy. <v Bell>Yeah. And that's, 19 inch wheels come with the platinum trim. They're all, there are smaller diameter tires available which would maybe help a little bit. But yes, this is one of the stiffer riding vehicles in the group. But when you put four people in it, it actually does smooth things out considerably. So when you're using it as a family vehicle, you may not necessarily notice that ride quality nearly as much. The other area that we didn't score it terribly highly was in handling. Now it not to say that it handles poorly, it doesn't. It's just a little bit numb. It's not quite as athletic as some of the other ones were. But again, using it as a family vehicle is not gonna be an issue. <v Bell>For sure. If you'd like to read more and see how it did in a comparison test with other compact SUVs, you can find it all on cars.com.