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SALT LAKE CITY — This is a story of two hatchbacks we borrowed from Nissan.
The Rogue is a pleasant, kinda bigger crossover; and the Nismo Juke is a … I dunno exactly, but it’s pretty quick. NISMO (NISsan + MOtorsports) on the hood and sticker gets you nine more horsepower than a basic Juke and other stuff: read on.
The Rogue got the "family trip" test. We loaded it up and took it from Logan to downtown Salt Lake City to Heber City. Nissan says the Rogue is longer than other small crossovers, and that gave us plenty of cargo space. It was a good size for getting around in the city. The CVT let the engine rev up over Sardine and Parleys canyons while maintaining speed. EPA mileage is 22 city/27 highway for the all-wheel drive.
Since the Juke was the NISMO version, we ran it in the canyon with guest tester Chris Olkeberry, who is 6-foot-3.
"I fit in it better than I expected," he said.
Going NISMO gives you a front fascia and grill that’s supposed to send more air to the engine, and all the ground effects are supposed to create 37 percent more downforce. There are also LED lights up front.
"The handling’s pretty good," Okleberry said, though he was disappointed by the turbo-through-an-automatic acceleration. He was OK with the unique styling; "It’s kind of grown on me. I think it’s kind of a cool-looking car."
And he’s not alone: “We have loved Nissans, we’ve had a few,” said Meda Murphy.
“I love it!” added Janet Thompson. “(It's) a good different because of the trim. So it’s the detail.”
On the downside, the Rogue had a power seat for the driver that doesn’t go low enough, and the navigation/audio screen is too small and too low. It sits below the vents on the console.
The screen does give you cameras all around that really help with parking, especially parallel parking. Other cars are showing up with multiple cameras, but Nissan says it's the only non-luxury car to offer multiple cameras.
I ended up torn between "you'd be better off just adding a Garmin nav system" and "those cameras are helpful enough to justify opting for the screen."
The Juke has a dual function screen that switches the screen and surrounding buttons to control vehicle systems and climate control. In Eco mode, it changes throttle, shifting and steering. You can really feel the throttle response change; you gotta stomp it hard to go fast.
The sun visor fails while northbound at sunset. This would be easily remedied by allowing the visor to slide along its post.
Nissan announced that the NISMO Juke sold more than 3,700 units in Europe, Japan and the U.S. between its launch in January and the end of July. Nissan is working on a GT-R NISMO version (even more performance), which is expected to go on sale in 2014.
Nissan announced an all-new Rogue for next year. This is a teaser shot, but if you like this one, you can get $5,800 in incentives as Nissan has to clear this one out before you see the new one on the lots. Brian Champagne has reported on cars for more than nine years. He holds a master's degree in communications from the University of the Pacific and teaches at Utah State University.
