My chief complaint against the setup pertains to the inability of the driver to engage him/herself into the action. Unlike other CVTs I have experienced, my tester didn’t allow me to row through incremental pseudo-gears to inject a dose of enthusiasm into the drive or to apply just the right quantity of engine braking when the need arose.
The stick shift had an ‘L’ setting but this caused the engine to instantly rev 5,000 rpm or more, which was audibly intrusive and complete overkill when low to moderate engine-braking was sought. The alternative was to deactivate the electronically controlled overdrive, which wasn’t a bad compromise but a compromise nonetheless.
There’s a good likelihood that the CVT shortcoming I’ve raised is of little consequence to most drivers, especially those that seldom find themselves in hilly terrain or challenging driving conditions. Fine. But if you’re like me and you yearn for maximum input into any mechanical contrivance, you’ll want more than what the Rogue’s CVT offers.
It should be further noted that the Rogue is not available with a manual gearbox.
Pleasant driving dynamics define the Rogue
Despite my preceding rant, the Rogue is truly a pleasure to drive both in town and on the highway. It’s not going to win any performance awards but it feels lively and capable enough in most driving scenarios, which in my case included a run up to the local ski hill while loaded with humans and their gear.
In this scenario, the CVT performed admirably by smoothly sorting-out hill climbing duties over fuel economy. When not seeking to be first to the powder, the AWD Rogue delivers decent fuel economy, which is rated at 9.3L and 7.7L/100km city and highway driving respectively. The FWD version does slightly better at 9.0L and 7.0L.
My AWD tester displayed an average economy of 10.9L/100km during my varied testing.
The stick shift had an ‘L’ setting but this caused the engine to instantly rev 5,000 rpm or more, which was audibly intrusive and complete overkill when low to moderate engine-braking was sought. The alternative was to deactivate the electronically controlled overdrive, which wasn’t a bad compromise but a compromise nonetheless.
 |
| The stick shift had an ‘L’ setting but this caused the engine to instantly rev 5,000 rpm or more, which was audibly intrusive. (Photo: Rob Rothwell/Auto123.com) |
There’s a good likelihood that the CVT shortcoming I’ve raised is of little consequence to most drivers, especially those that seldom find themselves in hilly terrain or challenging driving conditions. Fine. But if you’re like me and you yearn for maximum input into any mechanical contrivance, you’ll want more than what the Rogue’s CVT offers.
It should be further noted that the Rogue is not available with a manual gearbox.
Pleasant driving dynamics define the Rogue
Despite my preceding rant, the Rogue is truly a pleasure to drive both in town and on the highway. It’s not going to win any performance awards but it feels lively and capable enough in most driving scenarios, which in my case included a run up to the local ski hill while loaded with humans and their gear.
In this scenario, the CVT performed admirably by smoothly sorting-out hill climbing duties over fuel economy. When not seeking to be first to the powder, the AWD Rogue delivers decent fuel economy, which is rated at 9.3L and 7.7L/100km city and highway driving respectively. The FWD version does slightly better at 9.0L and 7.0L.
My AWD tester displayed an average economy of 10.9L/100km during my varied testing.
 |
| The AWD Rogue delivers decent fuel economy, which is rated at 9.3L and 7.7L/100km city and highway driving respectively. (Photo: Rob Rothwell/Auto123.com) |