2027 Nissan Rogue Hybrid: Drives like an EV, but there's no plug involved

Although this is the first time Nissan has offered the e-Power hybrid system here in the US, it has been on sale in Japan for a decade now, with more than 1.4 million cars on the road in that time. Those versions weren’t considered quite sufficient for our roads, so Nissan retuned the system for the Rogue Hybrid to be able to cope with harder acceleration and bigger vehicles.

Enjoyable to drive

From behind the wheel, you could very easily forget this wasn’t just a new EV—a replacement for the gone-too-soon Ariya, perhaps. Throttle tip-in is immediate, like any good electric car, and there’s enough torque to get you on your way without any fuss, even if a 0–60 mph (97 km/h) time of 6.4 seconds isn’t particularly fast by 2026 standards. Nissan has had plenty of expertise in calibrating one-pedal driving setups, and when you access the Rogue Hybrid’s by pushing a button on the center console, you’ll find it’s no different here.

So keen was Nissan to demonstrate the smoothness with which the powertrain decelerates under regen braking that it put us through a mini school-run obstacle course, complete with a fishbowl full of water mounted to the cupholder. Nary a drop was spilled, versus the same test in what might be the Rogue Hybrid’s greatest rival, Toyota’s hybrid RAV4. (The RAV4, with no one-pedal driving, requires you to use the brake pedal to slow and stop.)

Acceleration is good at highway speeds, and cruising is quiet—on a wet and windy day it was the gusts we heard, rather than wind noise generated by the car. Speaking of generators, you don’t really hear the engine running much either. It never revs particularly high and shuts off whenever possible—with music playing on the infotainment system, the occupants might not even notice.

The ride absorbed bumps on the road well, but it didn’t absorb sharp transient shocks as well as it did those of longer duration. A combination of low-rolling resistance tires and Californian roads that were seeing their first rain in some time conspired to create rather a lot of understeer as I entered a roundabout with perhaps a touch more vigor than normal. That said, I rather liked the Rogue Hybrid’s steering feel, and together with the smooth power delivery from the two electric motors and the easy one-pedal driving mode, my time behind the wheel was most pleasant.