- some nissan dealers are allowing shoppers of the 2021 rogue crossover to test drive the toyota rav4 side by side, as reported by automotive news.
- the rogue has been redesigned for the 2021 model year to make it more competitive with rivals from honda and toyota.
- the 2021 nissan rogue starts at $26,745, and the 2021 toyota rav4 starts at $27,225.
nissan has significantly redesigned the rogue crossover for the 2021 model year, giving it a more attractive look and a nicer interior in hopes that it will be more competitive with the more popular choices in the category from honda and toyota. in an effort to get its sales up to (or beyond) the level of its competitors, nissan is sending toyota rav4s to some u.s. dealerships so that potential buyers of the new rogue can test drive them side by side.
in 2020 through september, nissan sold 167,401 rogues to toyota's 302,574 rav4s. however, that doesn't account for the newly redesigned nissan crossover, which went on sale at the end of october. the 2021 rogue starts at $26,745, which is $160 more expensive than the previous model year's base price.
a nissan spokesperson told car and driver that nissan expects 500 of its dealers to participate in the test drives. nissan will send dealers in the u.s. model year 2020 and 2021 rav4 xles rented from december 11 to january 11 so that prospective buyers can test drive the two back to back and—they hope—drive the new rogue home.
compared to its predecessor, the new rogue is slightly smaller. however, it's still slightly larger than the rav4. the toyota boasts more cargo space than nissan's new crossover, though. it's powered by a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter inline-four, and the rav4 also uses a 2.5-liter, which makes slightly more power, and also offers a hybrid option. nissan has said that it has no plans to bring back the hybrid rogue, which was sold from 2017 to 2019. epa-rated combined fuel economy is nearly identical, ranging from 28 to 30 mpg for the rogue and 27 to 30 mpg for the rav4. both come standard with front-wheel drive, with all-wheel drive available as an option, and the rogue is equipped with a continuously variable automatic transmission (cvt) while the rav4 uses a eight-speed automatic unit.
the 2021 nissan rogue is on sale now starting at $26,745 and tops out at $36,525 for the platinum model. the 2021 toyota rav4 starts at $27,255 for the front-wheel-drive le model and can reach up to $39,275 for the plug-in-hybrid prime model.