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The 2020 Nissan Rogue

The humility of the 2020 Nissan Rogue lasts as long because it takes you to see the refrigerator door. See that long list of errands and honey-dos? The Rogue attacks all of them better than many in its compact crossover class. 

Unassuming and even a touch boring, the 2020 Rogue weighs in with a TCC Rating of 6.3 that’s weighted heavily toward the worth end. Many safely haul the maximum amount of people and cargo, with room to spare, but few rolls in the hay as inexpensively because of the Rogue. (Read more about how we rate cars.)

Nothing’s changed on the Rogue this year apart from a couple of numbers. The 2020 Rogue is out there in S, SV, and SL trim levels with a standard front-wheel drive on all models, and all-wheel drive available for $1,350. The Rogue starts at $26,245 for a base front-driver and runs up the tab past $34,000 for a top-trim Rogue SL with AWD. 

The standard engine on all Rogues may be a mildly anemic 170 horsepower 2.5-liter inline-4 that’s paired only to a continuously variable automatic drive (CVT). Speed isn’t the Rogue’s forte, space and efficiency are. The EPA rates front-wheel-drive models at 29 mpg combined, and AWD versions at 27 mpg combined. 

Inside, five comfortable seating positions offer many legroom and headroom for adults. Behind the second row, there are nearly 40 cubes of obtainable cargo room, which is near the highest of its class and also near the top—much of the space is vertical. 

With the second row folded, the cargo deck grows to just about 70 cubic feet.

The Rogue is provided with standard active safety features including automatic emergency braking, active lane control, and blind-spot monitors. Mid-grade and better versions can get driver-assistance features typically reserved for luxury cars. 

Federal and independent crash testers may slightly disagree about the Rogue’s structure, but the IIHS called top trims of the Rogue a Top Safety Pick for 2019. 

Every Rogue gets good standard features including a 7.0-inch touchscreen for infotainment with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, 17-inch wheels, power features, Bluetooth, and USB connectivity. 

2020 Nissan Rogue
Styling

Although it's going to be modest, and modestly priced, the Rogue has plenty to brag about.

Plain and easy, the 2020 Rogue doesn’t take many risks in its style.

The Rogue’s looks haven’t aged poorly, but they’ve still aged. 

While we appreciate its no-frills, can-do attitude toward our list of errands, the Rogue can blend into the background compared to others in its class. We provide it a 5 for style. 

If nothing else, the Rogue’s looks are clean and functional. The high window line rises toward the roof within the rear and doesn’t cut too deeply into the rearward vision

In front, the Rogue wears Nissan’s V-shaped grille—the most adventurous a part of the crossover’s design. 

In back, the liftgate buttons together nicely but doesn’t boast many of today’s trends—no LEDs spanning the width of the gate, wide badging, nor chrome tailpipes. It’s unadorned if that’s what you’re into. 

Inside, the Rogue’s logical layout is dominated by a 7.0-inch touchscreen plunked into the center of the dash. the straightforward controls are easy to ascertain, apart from a stack near the driver’s left knee including AWD Lock (when equipped) which will be hard to seek out. 

The available panoramic sunroof helps open the cabin more to sunlight and, when paired with a light-colored interior, makes the inside feel even bigger without cutting too deeply into available headroom.

Its ride is now on par with the remainder of its class, but its powertrain feels a step behind. It’s a 4 for performance. 

The Rogue’s sole powertrain for 2020 maybe a 2.5-liter inline-4 rated at 170 hp and 175 pound-feet of torque. It’s paired exclusively to a CVT geared for efficiency and it delivers combined mileage within the high-20s, rain or shine. Front-wheel drive is standard on all Rogues, though many are going to be equipped with an all-wheel-drive for all-weather traction. 

The ride and handling within the Rogue are expectedly dissonant and much off, just how we like our commuter crossovers to be. (Not a day may be a race, we know.) 

The Rogue’s base 17-inch wheels are the simplest at swallowing bumpy road imperfections, but 18- and 19-inches on top trims aren’t overly harsh. 

The Rogue steers and drives down the road confidently, although its tall-riding body leans heavily into corners. It’s reasonably nimble around parking lots and at low speeds, and thankfully the Rogue has better outward vision than many of its competitors. 

The 8.4-inch ground clearance on the Rogue makes promises that its long overhangs could never deliver. Although tall-riding + all-wheel drive = off-road potential, the 2020 Rogue prefers to remain planted on pavement—or something resembling a roadway.

Last year’s Rogue Hybrid was shelved and therefore the unrelated Rogue Sport is roofed elsewhere. 

When properly equipped, the Rogue is rated to tow up to 1,100 pounds, which is about the maximum amount as a little moving trailer

The 2020 Nissan Rogue is spacious and cozy for up to 5 adults.

The tall, boxy 2020 Nissan Rogue has room for five—and room for high-fives. 

It’s a durable-feeling crossover with spread-out space and room for gear. It’s an 8 for comfort. 

Nissan’s institutional knowledge of the way to make a cushty seat—that’s not overly padded and eats into rear-seat legroom—gets a warm welcome from our rears. The front seats are all-day comfortable, heated, and power-adjustable in Rogue SV and Rogue SL models. (Base versions can add heated seats as a spend-up extra.)

Second-row riders get nearly 38 inches of legroom with a perk: the tall headroom means big bodies and large legs can better fit.

Three abreast may be a breeze within the back seat, with only very broad shoulders trying to find more flexibility. 

Behind the second row, the Rogue carries 39.3 cubic feet of cargo, which is impressive albeit much of that space is little-used vertical space. With the second row folded down from a 40/20/40-split affair, the Rogue’s rear carries 70 cubic feet of cargo. Underfloor bins help secure small-item storage beneath the ground, far away from prying eyes. 

Base Rogue S models wear durable cloth that doesn’t feel cheap but doesn’t impress much either. the inside plastics are black and cheap-feeling, a clear place where the Rogue has cut its costs. 

Dressy Rogue SLs wear leather hides that look high-buck but feel a touch low-rent

The 2020 Nissan Rogue has our safety scorecard crossed up like defenders on Steph Curry. 

Federal testers gave the Rogue a comparatively rare four-star overall score for crashworthiness, only a few new cars are rated similarly. The IIHS counters with a Top Safety Pick nod after it earned top “Good” scores on most of its tests, except the newer passenger-side small overlap crash test.

The Rogue is provided with standard automatic emergency braking, active lane control, blind-spot monitors, rear cross-traffic alert, and high-beam assist on all models. Rogue SV and Rogue SL are equipped with an expanded suite that has rear automatic emergency braking. Driver-assistance features that will help drive the car with minimal driver attention (but not hands-free) are on the choices list. The pluses outweigh the minuses for now, so it’s an 8 on our safety scale. 

More on the security scorecard: Federal testers gave the Rogue a four-star overall score for front crash safety and rollover protection. That four-star score indicates relative safety compared to other cars that weigh more or less an equivalent because the Rogue, in which there are many. Compared to cars 10 years old or older, the Rogue’s structure reduces the danger of injury during a crash, but not the maximum amount as its competitors. 

The IIHS’ rated the Rogue’s standard automatic emergency braking system as “Superior” at avoiding forward crashes at 12- and 25-mph. the highest Safety Pick award applies specifically to the Rogue SL when equipped with a $1,820 premium package that adds upgraded LED headlights. 

Aside from automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitors, and active lane control, the Rogue is often equipped with Nissan’s latest suite of active driver assistants called “ProPilot Assist” which will help steer, slow, or speed up the Rogue on long trips. The system is way from hands-free and much from perfect, but it's available at a lower cost than many of its competitors. When turned on, the system reads lane markings and cars ahead to guide the Rogue with minimal driver input. 

If the wheel doesn’t detect hands for a brief period of your time (fewer than 20 seconds) it beeps. And it beeps when it detects a car ahead. And it beeps once you change lanes. And it beeps when it recognizes road markings again. It beeps when it can’t activate any longer. And so on. We appreciate the communication, but Nissan’s gone out of its thanks to reminding us to stay our hands on the wheel. Fair play. 

2020 Nissan Rogue
Features

The Rogue’s best feature is going to be its affordable price for several shoppers.

Affordability and availability are the 2020 Nissan Rogue’s loveliest qualities, and that we reward those virtues here. 

The Rogue lacks the panache and polish of a number of its rivals, but its low starting price of $26,245 has an appeal all its own. Paired with Nissan’s generous incentives and sales efforts, more shoppers may consider a 2020 Rogue.

Those shoppers could do worse. Every Rogue gets life-saving safety tech that we cover above, a 7.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, USB and Bluetooth connectivity, and power features. Those are good features among small crossovers for Rogue’s starting price, $26,245, but we doubt many of us are going to be asked to pay that much. On our feature scale, the Rogue gets points above average for its base features, value, and a 7.0-inch touchscreen. It’s 8. 

Like last year, the Rogue is out there in S, SV, and SL trim levels. All-wheel drive is optional on trims and costs $1,350 extra. 

An optional package aboard Rogue S models adds a leather-wrapped wheel, 17-inch alloy wheels, heated front seats, and nicer exterior trim pieces for $800. Unless keyless ignition with remote start for cold days and available driver-assistance features were must-haves, that’s the model we’d pick with our money. 

For $27,645 to start, the Rogue SV adds to base versions more speakers for the sound system (six vs. four), keyless ignition, power-adjustable heated front seats, and more available options like adaptive control, a panoramic sunroof, embedded navigation, driver-assistance features (that we cover above), premium audio by Bose, and unique wheels. Those packages can add $1,800 to $3,500 to rock bottom line, so we might tread carefully. 

The top-trim Rogue SL adds leather upholstery, 19-inch wheels, and everything listed above. For $32,635, the Rogue SL’s value proposition falls against others in its class. 

Unplug the bottom Nissan infotainment system and connect a smartphone—in a rush. 

Although the Rogue’s touchscreen is generously sized compared to others in its class, the menu system and baked-in navigation feel stuck in 2008. What’s worse, we’ve noticed that the screen within the Rogue washes calls at direct sunlight easily, making it relatively hard to use for passengers and particularly in cars equipped with a sunroof. (Mercifully, there are redundant hard buttons for menu, back, track selection, and contrast.)

Provided you'll see the screen, the bottom Nissan system is simple with big, easily readable icons that help us dive into menus. Drivers would have best to line it and forget it—then find an Apple CarPlay- or Android Auto-compatible device for the duration

2020 Nissan Rogue
Fuel economy

The Nissan Rogue Hybrid is gone this year, and what’s left is average among compact crossovers.

Compact crossovers just like the 2020 Nissan Rogue have finally trapped with other new cars for fuel-efficiency. The Nissan Rogue is rated 26 mpg city, 33 highway, 29 combined in front-wheel-drive configuration, consistent with the EPA. That’s a 5 on our fuel-economy scale. 

Opting for all-wheel drive modestly dents those figures: 25/32/27 mpg. A slow-selling Rogue Hybrid was shelved last year by Nissan, despite increasing competition from automakers like Honda, Ford, and Toyota. 

Among small crossovers, the Rogue keeps pace but won’t lead the pack. The Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Subaru Forester return about 30 mpg combined with all-wheel drive.