Two years ago, Nissan decided to bring over the Qashqai crossover from Europe. But since Americans likely couldn’t pronounce ‘Qashqai’ and the Rogue had just finished the year as one of the best-selling vehicles in the US, Nissan decided to rebadge it as the Rogue Sport. While this model has only been on the market for a few model years, it was released in Europe back in 2013 so a refresh is now in order.
Nissan has revealed a refreshed 2020 Rogue Sport. This face lifted model includes updated front and rear fascias, revised trim levels and option packages, and a slew of new safety technology.
Nissan has attempted to further differentiate the compact Rogue Sport from its larger Rogue sibling with a new hood, Vmotion grille, and bumper, redesigned rear taillights, and LED daytime running lights. Nissan has also added a new 19-inch aluminum wheel design along with two new colors called Nitro Lime Metallic and Monarch Orange Metallic.
The biggest addition for the 2020 model year is the expansion of Nissan’s Safety Shield 360 technology to all trim levels. Safety Shield 360 was formerly offered on the SV and SL grades but will now be offered on the base S trim as well. This suite of safety features bundles in automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, rear automatic braking, lane departure warning, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, and high beam assist.
The 2020 Rogue Sport will continue to offer Nissan’s ProPILOT Assist technology, which offers single-lane “hands-on” driving assistance. ProPilot is able to control the accelerator, steering, and braking under certain conditions to offer semi-autonomous driving. Nissan hasn’t made any changes under the hood, so a 2.0-liter four-cylinder producing 141 horsepower will be the only engine option sending power to front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive though a Xtronic transmission.
When we drove the 2018 Rogue Sport, we noted how acceleration felt adequate for the segment though we’d never object to a more powerful version. Pricing hasn’t been announced but we expect it to remain close to the 2019 model’s starting price of $22,240. Nissan says the 2020 Rogue Sport will arrive in dealers starting in fall 2019.