The Nissan Rogue AWD in Photos

Aligning with Nissan’s declaration of 2016 as the “Year of the Truck” and confirming market trends toward crossovers and away from sedans, in October the Nissan Rogue officially hopped past the Altima as the company’s best-selling vehicle so far this year.

Perhaps more significant is that the Rogue is vying with the Honda CR-V and the Toyota RAV4 for top sales honors in its segment.

The Rogue’s success rests in its intriguing styling in a sea of bland-looking crossovers and a size advantage over most competitors. For 2017, Nissan added a hybrid version and gave the Rogue-all-new in 2014-refreshed styling and interior appointments.

The two-row version we tested landed at $35,290, toward the high end of the Rogue spectrum, due to its premium features.

The front-wheel-drive Rogue S starts at $24,760, and adding all-wheel drive tacks on $1350. Stepping up past the midrange SV to our test car’s SL trim level adds $6140.

Our example also had three option packages-Premium, Platinum, and Platinum Reserve-dressing it with a full array of safety technology (adaptive cruise control, lane-departure warning and prevention, automated emergency braking, pedestrian detection), 19-inch aluminum wheels, a panoramic sunroof, and a leather-lined interior, inflating the bottom line another $3040.

It’s possible to spend more on a Rogue, but not much more-Nissan said the hybrid would be on sale “by the end of 2016,” but the company has yet to announce pricing. We expect it to square up against the Toyota RAV4 hybrid, in the $29,000 to $35,000 range.

The 2017 nonhybrid Rogue update was mostly superficial but brings a more upscale vibe.

Its face was restructured to bolster the V-Motion design theme, the head- and taillamps were reworked, and more chrome accents were added.

The rear liftgate now offers motion-activated opening, and 19-inch wheels appear on the options list.

The standard 2.5-liter four-cylinder remains the same as before and was the engine in this test car. It generates 170 horsepower and 175 lb-ft of torque, less power than the base engines in AWD versions of the RAV4 (176 hp), the Escape (179 hp), the Kia Sportage (181 hp), the CX-5 (184 hp), and the CR-V (184 hp).

Whereas many competitors offer even more powerful engine options, the Rogue has only the one powerplant, paired with a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).

In the cabin, a flat-bottomed and optionally heated steering wheel was adopted, the shift knob was redesigned with a leather boot, the center stack was redesigned, and a few of the dashboard and door accents have new finishes.

Driving the Rogue in traffic can resemble those movie scenes where the lead character moves in slow motion while the surroundings turn to blurry streaks.

The Rogue AWD turned in a zero-to-60-mph time of 9.1 seconds-0.2 slower than in our test of the 2014 model, although it ran the quarter-mile in an identical 17.0 seconds.

The NissanConnect infotainment system is in need of some refinement-or maybe more modern hardware. The screens look low-res, and pressing the touchscreen multiple times too quickly frequently triggers a buffering pop-up. When you’re on the move, a system pausing to gather its wits is unacceptable.

There’s also no option for Apple CarPlay or Android Auto just yet. (Nissan recently introduced the Apple smartphone-integration technology on the new Maxima and the Murano, but representatives wouldn’t reveal when it might be coming to the Rogue.)

One competitive advantage for the Rogue is that it offers a third-row option (in S and SV trim levels), a unique choice in this segment. Just make sure the people climbing back there aren’t fully grown yet.

Part of the Rogue’s advantage in cabin volume comes from its 184.5-inch overall length, versus, for instance, the CR-V’s 180.6 inches. With the seats up, the Nissan’s cargo space is good, and once they’re folded down, there’s 70 cubic feet.

This test car’s robotic-driving features-more popular in the marketplace than they are with us-surely improve the Rogue’s competitive stance and play into its new Star Wars marketing scheme, but for anyone interested in driving pleasure, this is not the crossover you’re looking for.