Photo by Vince Taroc.

Photo by Vince Taroc.

The Nissan Rogue has been widely embraced, including by fleet buyers, as a mass-market compact SUV that delivers a heavy dose of practicality.

Rogue has surpassed Altima as Nissan's best-selling vehicle, and it's been adopted in the pharmaceutical industry with sales reps and managers for its favorable total cost of ownership, solid fuel economy, appealing acquisition cost, and standard safety features.

The 2018 Rogue arrives as a very familiar vehicle with a few updates. Nissan is adding a semi-autonomous driving feature, called ProPilot Assist to a higher SL trim that allows a driver to maintain lane control and navigate in stop-and-go traffic.

ProPilot Assist, which was first rolled out on the 2018 Leaf, is considered a Level 2 autonomous feature that eases some of the burden of constant pedal movements in heavier traffic. The steering wheel contains a torque sensor that needs pressure from a driver's finger. Once that happens, the vehicle will self-correct within the highway driving lane to keep it from veering off the road. It will continue to maintain a safe driving distance from the vehicle ahead.

If the driver takes hands off the wheel, the vehicle will issue progressively louder audio alerts and evenentually bring the vehicle to a complete stop if there's no response. A small blue circular button on the right side of the steering wheel enables the system.

Photo by Vince Taroc.

Photo by Vince Taroc.

If the vehicle comes to a stop, the driver needs to push a resume button (RES+) just to the left of the blue button to re-engage the system.

While the system has its quirks, we could see it being one way to combat drowsy driving.

Other updates for 2018 include an updated infotainment system that's faster and includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard and Amazon Alexa skill compatibility through NissanConnect Services.

The 2018 Rogue will again be sold in three trim grades with S as the base model, followed by SV and SL. It retails for at least $22,615 for the base S and at least $27,615 for the SL with ProPilot Assist.

It's still powered by the 141-horsepower 2.0-liter DOHC 16-valve inline 4-cylinder engine mated to an Xtronic CVT with an Eco Mode switch.

We tested an all-wheel-drive Rogue SL that would retail for $36,625. It's would deliver 32 miles per gallon on the highway, 27 mpg combined, and 25 mpg in city driving.

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