Nissan Rogue Ground Clearance: What To Know
2021 Nissan Rogue SV AWD by Kevauto — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Nissan Rogue is an excellent option if you’re looking for a well-equipped compact SUV with plenty of cargo space and room for friends and family. Its brand-new design for the 2021 model year has never looked sharper inside and out.
While the last generation looked pretty good, it was the early 2010s, and a refresh was in order. With the update came a slew of new standard technology and a new engine. But are the new Nissan Rogue’s ground clearance of 8.2 inches and new engine enough to keep up with other cars in its class? We’ll discuss how it compares to the rest of the compact SUV segment and What you can expect from your new Nissan Rogue.
What Can You Do with a Nissan Rogue?
The newly redesigned Rogue should be able to handle all the roads you’ll typically drive down if you use it as a daily driver like most. It may not have the most clearance in its class, but 8.2 inches leaves plenty of room between the pavement and the bottom of your exhaust pipes and fuel tank.
On all but the roughest of roads with the worst of potholes, you shouldn’t have to worry about damaging the undercarriage of your precious new SUV. Though this high ride height doesn’t hurt the handling, it is still a reasonably nimble car, especially for its size.
When it comes to ground clearance, engineers and designers have to strike a good balance between agility and performance on the road with the ability to handle curbs, ramps, and even unpaved paths. Being lower to the ground gives cars a lower center of gravity, helping them take tight turns without losing traction in their wheels or even flipping over.
A higher ground clearance allows cars to maneuver over rough terrain like boulders and shrubbery. That’s why a Ferrari might only have 4 inches of ground clearance while a stock Jeep has about 11.
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The Rogue sits closer to the Jeep side of that spectrum. It can be taken off-road, if only onto unpaved dirt paths. As long as you are equipped with large tires with good treads that can grip uneven surfaces and not sink into shifting grounds, your Rogue should be alright off the asphalt. This is best achieved if you have the available all-wheel-drive powertrain.
While you still need to be cautious, you can be a little bolder with AWD. You have more control and generate more power over uneven surfaces where some wheels are getting more traction than others. If you want to go off-road with the standard front-wheel drive, you should only do so on relatively flat, dry ground.
But whichever powertrain you have, always take it slow, keep your eyes sharp, and search for any obstructions that could pop a tire. In addition, throw out your suspension, scrape up the bottom of your car, and don’t try driving anywhere you aren’t wholly confident your vehicle can get over.
What Can’t You Do with a Nissan Rogue?
While you can take the road less traveled in the Rogue, make sure that route isn’t too steep. The new engine might have more power than the previous generation did. However, it still isn’t known for its acceleration, with only 181 pound-feet of torque. No amount of ground clearance can make up for lack of power.
But 8.2 inches won’t be enough to get you over any big boulders like you may have seen some off-roaders do in rock crawls. The Rogue simply wasn’t built for that. Even if it had the power to do that, the suspension is too small and stiff. You would end up with massive damage under your car at best or a new car-shaped statue that sits upside down at the bottom of a hill that you would be lucky to walk away from.
The same goes for mud and water. You may have seen some cars spinning through deep mud pits and coming out the other side, but they were built to do that. Try mudding or fording a creek in a Rogue. You’ll end up with a costly towing bill or the real-life equivalent of Luke Skywalker’s X‑Wing on Dagobah.
And suppose you can get the car out. In that case, you’ll have to deal with clearing the mud out of the engine or repairing all that water damage before it starts to rust. A car that can handle itself fine on dirt roads is more useful than many others offer, just don’t try to push your luck in this one.
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How Does It Compare to the Competition?
The Nissan Rogue fits nicely in the middle of the pack for ground clearance among the compact SUVs of 2021. Its closest competitors are cars like the Honda CR-V (8.2 inches), the AWD version of the Hyundai Tucson (8.3 inches), the Toyota RAV4 (8.4 inches), and a little ahead of those the Subaru Forester and Outback (8.7 inches).
These cars (especially the two from Subaru with standard AWD) offer a good balance of on-road performance with off-road capability. The new model aims for better on-road performance but doesn’t give up too much height. This is similar to the previous generation Nissan Rogue’s ground clearance of 8.4 inches.
On the lower end of small SUVs are crossover vehicles like the Kia Sportage (6.4 inches), the FWD version of the Hyundai Tucson (6.4 inches), the Mazda CX-5 (7.5 inches), the Chevy Equinox (7.6 inches), and the Ford Escape (7.8 inches).
These cars focus on off-road performance to handle themselves in more challenging terrains than compact and sports cars, but not as much as competitors.
Then there are the more off-road oriented small SUVs like the Jeep Wrangler (10.8 inches), the Ford Bronco (8.4 to 11.6 inches), and Bronco Sport (8.8 inches). All are designed with suspensions tall and forgiving enough for more demanding terrains. You won’t get that with a new Nissan Rogue, but you will get a spacious, high-tech new SUV with a good balance of performance and capability.
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Should You Buy the Nissan Rogue?
The Nissan Rogue isn’t your best choice if you solely want to go on hardcore off-roading. Although the Rogue has a respectable ground clearance of 8.2 inches, it’s not enough for extreme off-road activities like rock climbing. You’ll need to have at least 8.5 inches of ground clearance as a rule of thumb. Plus, the Rogue is simply not built for extreme off-road activities.
Otherwise, the Rogue is a great and reliable SUV that will take you places. With the Rogue, Nissan has proven that premium quality doesn’t need to have a premium price. Even when you get the top Platinum trim with all the bells and whistles, the Rogue is still reasonably priced at under $40,000. The Rogue brings one hell of a value proposition to the table.
Moreover, the Rogue offers a comfortable ride, a spacious and practical interior, and top-notch standard and advanced safety features. All of these combined with the Rogue’s fresh and purposeful look, and you’ve got one of the best crossover SUVs in the segment. It can easily compete with segment leaders like Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V.
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