What’s the difference between these two compact crossovers? American readers will recognize the vehicle on the left as the forthcoming facelift of the Nissan Rogue. The crossover on the right is a recently-released update to the European-market Nissan Qashqai. The Rogue is slightly larger in most dimensions than the Qashqai (not counting the extended-wheelbase Qashqai +2), and only offers a 2.5 liter engine while the Qash has a palette of four two-liter and smaller gas and diesel engines. But it’s not the Euro model’s cramped quarters or low-displacement engines that we find ourselves wishing could find their way to the American market… it’s the Qashqai’s updated styling that we want. Sure, these things are subjective, but the updated Rogue just doesn’t seem like much of an improvement on its predecessor’s looks. The Qashqai, meanwhile, has gone from filler to killer.
Oh, but the Rogue now has a chrome grille! Americans like chrome!
Agree.
Nissan has always been a front runner for “Mostbuttuglyfrontend”….and they’re keeping up the pressure.
Can’t agree. The Rogue is fine; in fact, I like it better.
What happened to US styling? All of a sudden all the styling is ass-backwards. This Jeep from China http://www.chinacartimes.com/2010/07/30/baws-007-suv-to-launch-in-third-quarter/ can in no way ever lose a beauty competition with its Queen of ugly US cousin the Jeep Patriot/Compass.
The Euro Nissan is hot looking compared to whats being offered in the US
Could not agree more. Jeep should have been unconcerned with style, or marketability, but a dressed up car masquerading as a jeep is silly.
I make fun of them in my head when they roll into the shop. I call them Dodge Neons with pedigree that is undeserved. Although, the people that buy them are likely not concerned with tearing up the trails.
Had to do a double take… for a minute I thought the Qashqai was a new mini-ute from Volvo. Clean lines with hard edges and an aggressive grill for character but overall smooth flowing sheet metal. Even the lights look good. The Qashqai wins by a land slide. The Rouge’s grill has always been a huge WTF to me.
The “new” Rogue looks just like the old one. The Qashai looks better, but the compact crossover segment just doesn’t seem to have exciting vehicles. They have cool sounding names like Rogue, Escape, and Nitro, but they seem sort of bland.
Their names sound like American Gladiators.
At first glance, I thought the Euro Rogue was an XC60.
Big compliment to Euro Nissan and a diss to Nissan NA.
Yes – it looks like the XC60 from the front and sides. Rip-off.
Or the X-Trail, which would be better then either of those two options. Prettier? Not necessarily, but entirely more useful and able.
Get a Kia or a Huyndai – they look like the euro-nissan
the Rogue looks like it’s from the Vel Satis school
the Qashqai looks pretty decent for what it is however it hasn’t been the success they thought it would be.
Probably because the market is full of hatchback crossovers and Korea are eating their kimchee.
I don’t know, Ed…
It really looks similar enough that it doesn’t matter.
I like the fact that it resembles its big brother.
One of the only reasons we never considered it (we took the Tiguan instead) was it’s LACK of power.
Not so sure what the Euro diesels offer, but smaller engines without the turbo help don’t do it for me.
Thought about a Rogue when they first came out. CVT tranny-no. They look obsolete already. Glad I did’nt bite.
Nissan’s 2nd gen post-revitilization cars haven’t aged well in general. I still think the 02-06 Altimas look great, and the 03-07 Muranos are also still very good looking, edgy designs (if you liked them originally). However, many people judge the CVTs unfairly. I wish their was stick options, but the CVTs are smooth and responsive. They make city travel a really relaxing experience.
I’m with you seabrjim. I’ve driven a few CVT cars, the most recent being the 09 Maxima, and while smooth, it was just weird. The transmission of the future indeed appears to be the DSG.
I would guess that the target demographic is different for cute-utes in the U.S. vs Europe….hence the feminine looking Rogue vs. the chiseled looking Qashqai. Can anyone confirm? Are cute-utes accepted as more gender neutral in Europe?
I don’t know about Europe, but in China, all the Qashqais I’ve seen have been driven by women.
Finally someone said it. Nissan has to be building some of the ugliest cars I’ve ever seen for the U.S. but holding the “cool cars” back. Even the show cars ar unstoppably hideous i.e. Juke.
Granted, the Maxima and Altima are styled okay, but so is a Camry, so is an Accord, so is a Malibu. Nissan offers the ugliest line up in the U.S. this side of Acura with Honda not far behind.
It’s like they saved all the interesting stuff for Infinti and gave Nissan all the goofy French-Japanese crap…and Im looking at you Versa and Cube.
+1, but I don’t think that their Infiniti-branded stuff is any interesting. For crying out loud, the Impala is more dramatic that the G and M series.
Have to agree. Oh, well. At least we have the new Sportage.
http://tinyurl.com/37ujkgb
I like the Qashqai better, save for the excess of plastic cladding around the bottom – mostly pretentious, as it’s not an off-roader.
I was really liking the looks of the soon-to-be-released Mitsu Outlander Sport, except that it’s going to be saddled with an underpowered 2-liter, 148hp N/A motor (sigh).
How does the pricing compare? There’s no way Americans will pay more for less space with a weaker engine.