Safe, reliable car good in the snow

True to rental car torture test the Rogue looks to be a fleet favorite. The cat drone of 4-cylinder and the tin can sounding doors from the in-laws rental it was not on their list for a replacement vehicle.

Norm's comments about the drone, is due to the CVT, which Nissan loves to use in their cars. Helps with fuel economy and they are a low maintenance transmission, but Norm is right, the sounds they make aren't great.

Otherwise the Rogue is probably no better or worse than other crossovers in it's class. Like many Nissans these days, it is perfectly middle of the pack in it's blandness. Honda CRV or Toyota Rav 4 might be more reliable, although Honda is now using a new Turbo engine. Mazda CX-5 might be a bit more fun to drive than the Nissan.

As far as cars being good in snow. This has some to do with the AWD systems and the stability control, but among vehicles with similar drive wheels, the tires have the biggest impact on handling in snow. Also, the age/wear of the tires. Even very good all weather tires get the smaller sipes worn down as they get 20-30k miles on them and their snow performance declines quickly. Snow tires have a different compound and different sipe design and will be good in snow longer into their life.

Nissan sells a lot of Rogues, but owner satisfaction is bad, the Nissan CVTs are not reliable, and it is average at best. Overall reliability is average on the new ones. Ones that are 2016 and older are unreliable. CVTs are usually expensive to replace and fix. I would never recommend this car. New Nissans are not competitive in their segments.

The RAV4 is the most reliable, it doesn't have a CVT, and it's comfortable. It is about as boring as the Rogue, but it is a better car. You could easily put 200k miles on this car.

The Mazda CX-5 is my top pick and is fun to drive, reliable, and has nice styling inside and out. The RAV4 will be little cheaper to fix and will likely hold up better overtime.

I would definitely steer clear of the Rogue. An extremely boring and unreliable choice. Nissans CVT transmissions do not have a proven track record and encounter many problems as they age do to it being a newer technology. Have you looked at the new GMC Terrain/Chevy Equinox? They were completely redesigned for the 2018 model year and always have huge rebates off of MSRP. Not to mention, the Terrain/Equinox handle way more responisvely than the Nissan as it has a true automatic transmission vs a CVT.