There are many different ways for car companies to retain and evolve their dedicated customer base. For starters you have to get them into the fold with a quality product that meets their needs, secondly you need to provide them good service, and thirdly you need to keep them engage with either new models, refreshed versions of existing ones, or another strategy to help influence them when they are ready to make their next purchase. Companies like GM famously created their tiered divisions where people graduated from one to the next as their lives and budgets allowed. The reality is that the car business doesn’t typically work like that anymore…or does it?
The answer is that it does in kind of a micro version. The move many people make in the modern buying realm is to find a model they enjoy, one that gives them a good experience, and every few years they are willing to get into the newest version of that model. This is typically true of non-enthusiast drivers and buyers, which, let’s be honest, make up the mass of the buying public.
This is the story of the 2025 Nissan Rogue Platinum AWD in our estimation. The Rogue has been a very steady and strong player for Nissan which needs more of them as we well know from the headlines the company has been featured in this year. Because of the strength of the Rogue and multiple generations of its existence, it has a very high rate of customer return purchases for the updated models. Because of this, Nissan has taken the logic to its natural progression. As people are trading their older Rogues, offering them more packages, more upscale options, and more opportunity to upgrade only makes sense.
The Rogue Platinum AWD is the top of the luxury side of the lineup for this model and it does a few things pretty well and a couple we’d like to see altered to really deliver the value in a vehicle that can top $48,000 when optioned all the way up.
The first place the Rogue Platinum delivers is with the exterior. The paint quality and color are quite nice, the 19″ wheels are modern, classy, and tie the whole thing together nicely. The chrome accented grill is classy looking and the chrome side accents are also a good addition for visual pop. The Rogue has always had a rather interesting split headlight design and this 2025 model year look is the most normal or perhaps the least strange yet. It has been a design hallmark of the Rogue so we understand why it exists, they sell plenty of them so clearly many people enjoy the look, it’s just not really our cup of tea, but that’s a design opinion take, nothing with regard to its quality of execution.
The interior is clearly where the investment went into the Rogue Platinum and where the major part of the upscale asking price comes from. The saddle-leather color was perfectly matched with the dark blue exterior and the accent panels in the doors, quilted look off the leather, and matching dash pad really tie this all together nicely. We give there interior high marks for its modern layout, nice ergonomics, and really effective sound deadening when it came to road noise and other things. If you are looking for a small SUV with a legitimately next level interior for this class of car, you need to shop the Rogue, but nothing’s perfect…right?
The engine in the Rogue is where this upscale program hits a pretty significant bump in the road for us. The fact that it has 201hp is solid, the fact that it has 225 lb-ft of torque is not stunning but seems acceptable, but the issue comes in the physics of how this power is made and delivered. The engine is a 1.5L three cylinder hooked to a CVT transmission. The engine really needs a fair amount of RPM to make its power so standing start acceleration is not exactly breathtaking nor is it very pleasurable in the audio fashion, either. We are not huge fans of CVT units for driving experience, quality, and feedback so when we pair the little engine with a CVT it’s a bit of an example of the worst of both worlds. A small displacement V6 would be an exceptionally good powertrain upgrade for this Platinum trim level model in our eyes. The 16.6 second quarter mile time at 85mph is not embarrassing but it surely does not speak to the level of performance one could and likely should want for spending this kind of money.
If you are a previous Rogue owner looking for the latest model and more luxury than has been found in this model before, the Platinum may be your jam and should be shopped. If you are in the market for a compact SUV that delivers some elements of a smaller luxury car, you could be a candidate here as well. If performance and driving experience are important to you and the daily relationship you have with your car, the Rogue may leave you short.
The 2025 Rogue Platinum AWD answers the question that many car buyers ask, we’re just not sure if it answers it completely.
