I press the hill descent management button within the middle of the drive mode dial and take a deep breath earlier than slowly letting my foot off the brake. The Nissan Rogue Rock Creek crests a peak and begins rolling down a steep path crammed with chunky 2-inch diameter rock and unfastened sand.
The anti-lock brakes furiously buzz from one nook to the subsequent, however the Rogue maintains a 2mph or so pace and safely makes it down a path merely often known as the Tetons.
Nissan invited me to Holly Oaks ORV Park, 50 miles north of Detroit, to check its new Rogue Rock Creek trim for 2025. The Rock Creek sits proper in the course of the lineup, above the S and SV trims, however beneath the SL and Platinum. It stands out with commonplace all-wheel-drive, all-terrain tires, “off-road view” cameras, and a mega roof rack.
How does the Rock Creek philosophy, which I first skilled on the Pathfinder, apply to the two-row, compact crossover Rogue? Wanting to study, I headed north and mentioned goodbye to pavement for a morning to search out out.
In brief: The 2025 Rock Creek version up-levels the Nissan Rogue’s functionality simply sufficient to instill confidence to hunt out a bit extra journey off the paved route. All-terrain tires are a giant a part of this functionality, however sadly, the crossover SUV has no skid plates to guard undercarriage powertrain vitals. Nevertheless, preserve a detailed eye on the strategically positioned digital camera views, and also you’ll possible be high-quality. The Rogue offers loads of house and affordable consolation inside, too. Consider it like an off-road starter package that’s additionally well-suited for on a regular basis city adventures.
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Falken Wildpeak all-terrain tires grip quite a lot of surfaces effectively -
Off-road digital camera views assist make it a lot simpler to keep away from obstacles -
Inside provides a very good mixture of easy-to-clean and luxury -
Beneficiant cargo house
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No skid plate -
The all-terrain tires and the large roof rack hurts gasoline economic system -
Repeatedly variable transmission as a substitute of an computerized -
8.0″ middle show a contact on the small facet (SL and Platinum trims get a 12.3″ display)
2025 Nissan Rogue Rock Creek Evaluate
What Makes a Rogue Rock Creek?
Nissan adopted a really comparable playbook to the Pathfinder Rock Creek right here. The most important change is a set of Falken Wildpeak all-terrain tires, measurement 235/65R17, mounted on satin black wheels. They grip surfaces effectively and supply good traction for the usual all-wheel-drive to work with. Nissan prices $1,400 to swap from front- to all-wheel-drive on the opposite 4 trims.
Wildpeak tires dig in to loose-gravel and sand effectively sufficient to permit applied sciences like hill descent management to work when traversing steep slopes. To not point out the off-road driving mode, which permits the powertrain to behave extra appropriately for unpaved terrain. 4 different drive modes come alongside for the journey, by the way in which: Sport, Eco, Auto, and Snow.
When in off-road mode, a set of cameras mounted all through the Rogue illuminate what’s instantly in entrance of and across the facet of the Rogue, so long as speeds don’t exceed 12 mph. And no worries in the event that they do; they mechanically come again on as soon as speeds drop down once more.
Rock Creeks additionally get a beefy, tube metal roof rack mounted on prime, which may deal with 220 kilos of stuff whereas touring. And, Rogue usually provides a beneficiant quantity of cargo capability inside — greater than 31 cubic toes of house with the second row up, 74 cubic toes with the seats folded.
The roof rack additionally helps make the Rogue Rock Creek look the half, as does a novel black grille with silver accents slightly below the hood line and lava crimson accents on the base of the entrance bumper. A strip of crimson provides aptitude to every of the black wheels. And Rock Creek badging emblazons the entrance doorways and the liftgate in again. The $425 non-obligatory Baja Storm metallic paint finishes the look properly.
And that’s it. Nissan leaves the Rock Creek with the usual Rogue’s 8.2 inches of floor clearance. Nor did it obtain any type of skid plates to guard important powertrain elements. That limits how a lot additional functionality you get, actually. Nevertheless it additionally helps make the Rock Creek really feel very similar to an everyday road-going crossover. That helps, at the least theoretically, if you enterprise to extra city and suburban jungles.
Spacious Compact
Touchdown in the course of the Rogue lineup, the Rock Creek will get a combined bag of luxuries inside. You do get heated entrance seats, a power-adjusting driver’s seat, and an 8-inch middle show display with wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. However, SL and Platinum trims get a 12.3-inch display with wi-fi telephone connectivity and a digital instrument cluster, too.
Nissan provides a Rock Creek Premium bundle for $800 that provides a number of comforts, I most recognize the wi-fi smartphone charger, heated steering wheel, and power-adjusting passenger entrance seat. However, particularly contemplating the digital camera views provided in off-road mode, the 12.3-inch display would turn out to be useful.
Rock Creeks additionally get particular water-repellent materials on its seats known as ballistic nylon, making them each tougher to get soiled and simpler to wash. You additionally see the identical Lava crimson inside, used for accent stitching, and piano black dashboard trim. Lastly, within the cargo space, Nissan added a 12V port to energy your personal devices again there. Helpful.
Essentially, the Rogue provides a number of house for a crossover on this class. Furthermore, the second row provides sufficient consolation for adults. Each rows of seats present good ranges of help. And the motive force’s seat saved me planted and comfortable for two hours of very sluggish, very bumpy journey.
Plucky Powertrain
A turbocharged three-cylinder stays the one and solely engine provided within the Rogue for 2025. With the assistance of Nissan’s variable compression expertise, it produces 201 horsepower and a wholesome 225 pound-feet of torque.
With simply three cylinders pumping, the 1.5L emits a little bit of a buzzy exhaust word. However, actually, in comparison with different three-cylinder engines on the market, the Nissan sounds probably the most refined.
A repeatedly variable transmission bolts as much as that 1.5L after which sends energy to all 4 wheels. I felt nervous about off-roading with a CVT, nevertheless it behaved effectively. The CVT engaged shortly and supplied regular energy supply, even up steep hills, with no bizarre surges or lags. Moreover, the ratios appeared applicable for all of the totally different eventualities I threw on the Rogue, together with a 12-inch deep, 100-foot-long pond I splashed by way of.
By no means leaving the off-road park, my prime pace within the Rock Creek perhaps exceeded 25 mph as soon as. However Nissan provided me an opportunity to take a Rogue Platinum out on a fast interstate jaunt. Even at freeway speeds, the three-cylinder saved quiet and the CVT usually behaved, offering a large sufficient ratio vary to rise up to hurry shortly, however cruise at low engine revs. And, with the Rogue weighing slightly below 3,750 kilos, 201 horsepower felt sturdy.
The Rock Creek won’t really feel fairly nearly as good on the interstate if it’s something just like the Pathfinder. Not solely does the large roof rack rob a little bit of freeway mpg, nevertheless it additionally provides extra wind noise to the expertise. All-terrain tires don’t assist both. That mentioned, you continue to handle 27 mpg within the metropolis, 32 on the freeway, and 29 mixed. Not dangerous.
Off-Highway Park Shenanigans
Holly Oaks off-road park combines an attention-grabbing cross-section of steep but quick hills, uneven trails with a number of sharp crests, and a mixture of hard-packed gravel and unfastened sand. It throws in a number of water hazards of varied sizes to maintain issues attention-grabbing.
Some areas embody deeply rutted paths. In others, you’ll discover rocks of varied sizes sprinkled all through. However, usually talking, there’s little fear of clearing jagged rocks as you go.
This setting proved superb for the Rogue Rock Creek and its sufficient 8.2 inches of floor clearance, and average 19, 17.9, and 23.6 levels of clearance for strategy, breakover, and departure angles, respectively. A few minor scrapes of the decrease entrance bumper occurred, in any other case it left unscathed.
Even if you reached the highest of a hill and also you solely noticed sky out of the windshield, the entrance digital camera provided a pleasant view of the trail instantly in entrance. And both sides digital camera gave a detailed have a look at what your entrance tires needed to cope with. Nissan even imprints a yellow line on the display to point how far the entrance tires will stick out with the steering absolutely locked.
None of this implies it’s best to ebook a visit out to the Moab. Fairly, really feel assured that you just certainly could make it to that extra distant trailhead or scenic campsite. The Rogue Rock Creek takes you one stage farther off the overwhelmed path than your common SUV. It’s like going to your favourite Indian restaurant and ordering your meals medium as a substitute of delicate.
2025 Nissan Rogue Rock Creek Evaluate: Abstract
Simply because the Rock Creek trims fall in the course of the Rogue lineup, the $36,810 beginning worth places it roughly in the course of the Rogue worth vary. You may get an S for simply over $30K, whereas going Platinum with all-wheel-drive places the worth tag effectively into the $40s.
Personally, I believe $800 for the premium bundle is cash effectively spent. I’d pay that for simply the wi-fi smartphone charger and heated steering wheel. Contemplating the usual all-wheel drive, the strong roof rack, and the remaining, it appears like an affordable solution to get a extra adventure-ready however in any other case completely regular and spacious crossover.
Thoughts you, aside from the higher rubber, mechanically talking, Nissan provides a inventory compact two-row crossover SUV. To be honest, it does additionally obtain a novel steering help and shock absorber tune, however that’s largely to account for the totally different tires and make the Rock Creek really feel much like different Rogues.
That’s the purpose,: The 2025 Rogue Rock Creek stays a usable, helpful, compact crossover, able to deal with baby pickup at college, grocery runs, and all the same old menagerie of recent life. It additionally provides simply sufficient spice so as to add some taste to life when time permits.
