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C6 - The Canadian Champion, Friday, April 18, 2008 Stylish, functional Rogue has wide appeal By JOCK MCCLEARY Nissan's new Rogue enters a rapidly expanding market- place in the highly competitive small crossover-utility vehi- cle segment. Rogue certainly looks the part with its aggressive, per- formance-oriented styling suggesting power and utility. The Rogue will appeal to two groups in particular: the young, stylish 30-something who likes to look the part and appreciates performance, and the young family with a cou- ple of kids who require functionality with style but who still enjoy being young and expressing it. I drove the fully loaded SL inodel with all-wheel-drive, which quickly became a necessity in what would tom out to be a very snowy and ice-covered test drive. The Rogue comes in four flavours; in S and SL trim lev- els and FWD and AWD models. Both are equipped with an infine 2.5-litre DOHC engine pushing out a respectable 170 hp. All models come with Nissans advanced Xtronic CVT (continuously variable transmission) as well four-wheel disc brakes with anti-lock braking system (ABS) as standard equipment. The vehicle I drove was equipped with the all- new intuitive all-wheel drive system, which also incorporat- ed a yaw moment control and the standard vehicle dynanic control (VDC) and traction control system (TCS). MITSUBISHI MOTORS w,iwau p3jrak- Autopark ------- I picked up the car in Montréal the morn- ing after what was a record snowfall for the time of year (early December). It quickly became apparent that the AWD drive system was very capable of handling the snow-covered streets of this historic city The VDC and TCS were working overtime (albeit in the background), keeping the Rogue straight and mj tbishi,.qa, Mlitsubishi MITSUBISHI MOTORS RIGHT PLAY 2008 W -CIS PDRG NW 08ELPEG Ai : ' Ill j 'ii il: ' iqp e i O ,pw l(o cp e et li l ýhie aS vo", u'ly1Micl", ik,(,0wt Huffltqlw . fscmdSi t,, ik-dsau rnoe Ve efypwe io sIlltdorok 'Y'lýI 0, ,ofp w' o 7 l li, ,1 m r, pwi e& ir ls4Mie BS uk . ,i'[iic tto1 nhaqjiies i t tp M t im " I Fq1, l q d 'Il Iihq u ' t tme, citmi fq p IltdfotsisfrnadSfleirmrie dl Ilh r a ANA ANLY t~kilIk~M i$2 Fqi &A BI wEE IY '[-7L7,VIl TAXNCLDEN jIWEK TAICLDA -.. *qoT in fine on the road. The optional steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters carne into their own when trying to control the engine revs while negotiating some of the larger snow piles. The advanced traction systens performed flawlessly and were hardly noticeable in their actions, the only sign that they were working being that the Rogue stayed on the road and travelling in the right direction. The engine is quiet and bas great fuel economy, delivering 9.5Ul00 km in the city and 7.7 U100 km for the AWD ver- sion with the front wheel drive coming in below that with 9.1100 km and 7.21J100 km respectively. In lact, the front-wheel-drive version is one of the first non-hybrid vehicles to qualify for the Canadian govern- ment's ecoAUTO Rebate progran for fuel efficiency, which saves buyers a further $1,000 against what is already a corn- petitively priced vehicle in its class. On the highway, Rogue runs quietly and responsivelv with little engine or wind noise. The available heated seats were appreciated as well as the easily set up Bluetooth hands- fiee phone systeni that keeps your eyes and concentration on the road where it should be. The drivers seating area bas a cockpit-like feel to it with all gauges easy to read and all controls within easy reach. The Rogue lias been specifically designed to appeal to the 30-somîething market, which I think Nissan lias casily achieved. Nissan took the time to actually look closely ai the needs of todays drivers. Froîn lots of convenient and large storage spaces to the available Bose audio, XM Satellite Radio and MP3 player system, not only bas Nissan nanaged to make the interior attractive and functional, the exterior styling is also appealing with an aggressive stance and commanding presence in its class. Whether its a young mother dropping off the kids at the school or a young urbanite cruising the downtown streets en route to the theatre, Rogue addresses many needs with an inpressive price tag and great fuel econony