Driven: 2025 Nissan Rogue Rock Creek Offers Value Over Capability

As a company, Nissan might be in some turmoil right now, but the Nissan Rogue is still fresh from an upgrade, and competes directly with the segment-leading Toyota RAV4. The Rogue is powered by Nissan’s still-recent turbocharged 1.5-liter variable valve engine making 201 horsepower. The twist, however, is that it only has three cylinders and manages to be more fuel efficient than competitors while improving on the previous four-cylinder’s power.

The current line Nissan is pushing is that it’s offering six cars for a starting price under $30,000, and the Rogue is one of those. The base MSRP $29,230, with the top-tier Platinum coming in just under $40k. The off-road focused Rock Creek is smack in the middle. In theory, the Nissan Rogue offers a lot of value in a segment that demands value for money, two rows of seating for five, a usable amount of cargo space, and available all-wheel-drive. But does it do enough against evergreen competitors? We drove it for a week to find out.

Exterior Looks: Disappears Into Traffic

The 2025 model year Nissan Rogue was refreshed to include new front and rear fascias, a new version of Nissan’s V-motion grille, new inner taillights, and satin-finish exterior badges. Overall, it’s a design that’s striving to be fresh and up-to-date, but comes off as trying too hard – which is a shame, as Nissan has been doing a great job styling things like the Z and the new Kicks model.

The Rock Creek trim we tested doesn’t come with any changes to the suspension – it’s mostly appearance upgrades. For off-roading, the Rock Creek version relies on a set of Falken all-terrain tires, a hill descent control setting, a new camera system with off-road views, and the all-wheel-drive system as standard. A tubular roof rack is a welcome addition, and it’s cross-braced to support the extra luggage or equipment that won’t fit in the cargo area. Everything else, like the Rock Creek specific black grill with silver highlights, are for the aesthetic – you don’t even get any form of extra underbody protection.

Interior & On-Board Technology: Little Flash, But All The Necessary Features

Inside, the Rogue meets the demands of a small family crossover comfortably. The front seats are some of the more comfortable we’ve experienced in the segment, there’s enough elbow room for long-limbed adults, and the driving position is SUV-like and gives great visibility. Visibility through the rearview mirror isn’t perfect, but it’s not terrible either. Sitting in the back, this six-footer was comfortable and with better headroom than you would guess from the shape of the Rogue.

As you go up the range, the Rogue shows off a more premium interior. However, the base model Rogue is fairly sparse inside with cloth seats and single-zone climate control, and it misses features that are standard on rivals, like push-button start, remote start, and a built-in garage door opener. Dual zone climate is standard above the base model, while tri-zone is an optional extra.

Infotainment

In the front, there are two USB-C ports, but to get two in the back you need to go up the trim ladder. The standard infotainment touchscreen is an eight-inch unit, but the Rogue XL, Platinum, and Rock Creek get a new 12.3-inch HD color touchscreen with Google Built-In – which bakes in Google apps that include Google Assistant and Google Maps with more available from the Google Play. If you want to use Apple CarPlay wirelessly, you’ll need the larger screen.

The 12.3-inch screen is nice and crisp and the new interface is sleek and reactive to inputs. Having Google Maps built in is much better than any in-house navigation system any automaker produces. Also available on higher trims is a 12.3-inch reconfigurable digital gauge cluster, which is nice but not necessary. The available 10.8-inch head-up display is nice and clear, and worth the upgrade. At this point, though, we feel a wireless charger should be standard. A Bose Audio system is available, but, unfortunately, it’s a Bose system and lacks any sophistication.

Performance: Economical, Not Fun

Nissan’s three-cylinder engine will have its doubters, but with its variable valve timing and turbocharger tuning, you would never know without being told. It’s a livelier engine than the previous non-turbo 2.5-liter four-cylinder unit, but it still can’t be called properly lively. It’s perfectly adequate, power wise, and matches well with the Xtronic-branded continuously variable transmission (CVT) to make a smooth drivetrain.

Performance Impressions

While 201 hp is more than the average gas-only crossover in the class makes, it’s not particularly quick. Zero to 60 mph comes fast enough to get up to freeway speed and join fast-moving traffic, and it’s responsive enough to make driving the Rogue a breeze. It’s also a quiet engine, so little noise makes it into the cabin. The cabin is generally quiet as well, with almost no noise coming even from the aggressive Falken tires on the Rock Creek trim.

Ride and Handling

The Rogue’s ride quality is as good as it gets for the price, and perhaps a little better with the Rock Creek trim’s specialty all-terrain tires installed. The steering is perfectly adequate around town and on the freeway, but there’s certainly no thrill to have on a twisting road from the chassis. Bumping off the road on a 24-mile trail up and down the wonderful Thomas Mountain in California, the suspension copes surprisingly well with the lumps and bumps, considering it is unchanged. However, the ride height is also unchanged. As a result, care was needed in places on a trail that is not an off-road challenge.

Fuel Economy

In front-wheel-drive form, the EPA estimate for the Rogue is 30/37/33 mpg on the city/highway/combined cycles for the S and SV trims. With the extra weight, the higher trims lose a mile or two per gallon. With all-wheel-drive optioned, the lower trims are estimated at 28/35/31 mpg. At its lowest rating, the estimated mileage is 28/34/31 mpg. Overall, the Rogue’s figures are better than the RAV4 in its gas-only form but the moment you introduce RAV4 hybrid models to the equation, the RAV4 is naturally much more fuel efficient.

Verdict & Pricing: Would Be An Easy Sell With A Hybrid Option

With a starting price of $29,230, the Rogue is an attractive option that undercuts Honda’s $30,100 CR-V, but the CR-V has grown in size. The Toyota RAV4 comes in a little less expensive, and Kia’s $27,190 Sportage is a lot less expensive. Both crossovers make it hard to recommend the Rogue as the value option. With more money to spend, a hybrid RAV4 becomes a no-brainer. When you consider the Rock Creek trim, it would likely be more expensive to add the upgrades from the aftermarket. However, the Subaru Forester in Wilderness trim is $34,920 — less than the $35,420 Rogue Rock Creek and more off-road capable.

The Rogue is in a tough spot. It’s certainly a solid value option for anyone looking for a compact SUV that’s purely powered by gasoline. However, there are cheaper options, including the segment-leading RAV4, and the smart buys right now are hybrids – of which Nissan currently has none. If the Rogue ticks the right boxes for a buyer in price and feature combination, we can recommend it as a family crossover. However, it’s hard to broadly recommend when other cars are less expensive or have hybrid options. When it comes to off-road trims, we would certainly recommend going for the Subaru Forester Wilderness over the Nissan Rogue Rock Creek.