We're not going to tell you our 2014 Compact SUV Comparison Test ended up in a six-way tie for 1st, but each member in our gang of six had plenty to recommend it -- a happy truth that we discovered during two long days of driving along the desert highways from Irvine, California, to Phoenix, Arizona, and through the mountain roads that constitute "the long way home" from Phoenix back to Irvine. Our group included three segment leaders -- the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4 -- as well as the three new-for-2014 contenders in the field, the Jeep Cherokee, Subaru Forester and Nissan Rogue.
At $32,395, the 2014 Nissan Rogue SL with all-wheel drive slotted in as the most expensive car in our field, but not by that long a shot overall. And besides, the 2-row Rogue SUV (really, you don't want the 3rd-row penalty-box option) came lovely and loaded with leather seats, touch-screen navigation, streaming Bluetooth audio and the genius of Nissan's Around View Monitor -- the city dweller's parking dream come true. Its 170-horsepower 4-cylinder engine was also the group's EPA fuel-economy leader, sipping just 26 mpg in the city and 33 on the open road.
Some of us loved the Rogue exterior, some loved the Nissan SUV's interior, but everybody liked both. Likewise, driving the new Rogue posed no challenges whatsoever. While not the most powerful compact SUV available, the Nissan never felt out of place, either on the highway or in the mountains. Its continuously variable transmission played its role in helping to dispense the 4-cylinder engine's power to all four wheels.
Besides styling, the 2014 Nissan Rogue SUV's star turn rests in its utility. There's good room in the second row, made even more useful by split/fold-down seats that slide fore and aft for added comfort and room. In 2-row form, the new Rogue's generous rear cargo space gets an added boost in smart-design points from its Divide-N-Hide Cargo System. Divide-N-Hide uses removable floor panels to both give you access to extra storage beneath the panels and -- more to the innovative-design point -- use the panels to create a second tier of storage space above the floor. In the end, stylish design and features like this are what made the Rogue the coolest compact SUV in our group.
As read on: http://www.kbb.com/car-news/all-the-latest/2014-compact-suv-comparison-nissan-rogue/2000010642/?scid=social_car_reviews23388164
