The 2025 Nissan Rogue Rock Creek Edition looks ready to hit the sidewalks of your local Starbucks

The trend toward lightly beefed-up compact crossovers isn’t going away anytime soon. After all, when Toyota sells a RAV4 on off-road tires, Subaru sells a lifted Forester, Kia sells a Sportage on modestly supple street tires, and the Ford Bronco Sport exists, it’s only smart for a manufacturer to jump on the trend of modestly equipped compact crossovers that look rugged while rolling through the Starbucks drive-thru. It took Nissan a few years to bring the Rock Creek treatment from its Pathfinder to its most popular model, but the 2025 Nissan Rogue Rock Creek is here, and not only does it look aggressive, it also gets some nifty bits that should come in handy on more aggressive gravel trails.

At first glance, the 2025 Nissan Rogue Rock Creek makes a big impression with more red accents than a Warped Tour kid’s wardrobe. From the grille badge to the stitching on the faux leather upholstery, Nissan is really leaning into the “red means extreme” concept, and it should draw attention since it’s presented in a neutral color palette. A new black grille and tubular roof rack round out the aesthetic side of the equation, but you won’t find sculpted fascias to increase approach and departure angles or additional underbody armor here.

Vehicles in this segment don’t typically come with a lot of off-road equipment, but they almost all come with more aggressive tires. With that in mind, the Nissan Rogue Rock Creek rides on 235/65R17 Falken Wildpeak all-terrain tires, a chrome upgrade on a crossover of this type that shouldn’t sacrifice much in handling for a little more grip on dirt. They’re a popular choice in this segment of lightly-rugged compact crossovers, and they feel great on other models I’ve driven.

In addition to the tires, the Rogue Rock Creek comes with a 360-degree camera system, which is a smart idea when you find yourself doing a few laps in a vehicle without extra skid plates. Not only can a set of alternate views keep drivers from tearing up the pavement, it can also keep them from scraping the underbody on rocks, giving them a better chance of getting home. Of course, all-wheel drive is also standard on this trim, and hill descent control could certainly help dirt track beginners descend steeper inclines.

As for other equipment, the Nissan Rogue Rock Creek gets a few practical upgrades over the Rogue SV. Heated front seats should keep your butts warm, while a 12-volt outlet in the cargo area should be enough to power something like a car cooler. After all, when you’re out of town, you’ll probably want to stay hydrated. If you want it, a premium package that adds a heated steering wheel, a wireless smartphone charger, a hands-free power liftgate, exterior mirrors that tilt down in reverse, a power passenger seat, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, and ambient lighting is available for a currently undisclosed cost, but the list of standard equipment is already pretty good.

The 2025 Nissan Rogue Rock Creek isn’t the most rugged crossover on the market, but it sits at an interesting point in the lineup, sitting squarely in the middle of it in terms of equipment, between the high-volume SV trim and the better-equipped SL trim. While pricing hasn’t been revealed yet, its positioning within the lineup gives me hope that it could be cheaper than the $39,645 Toyota RAV4 TRD Off-Road. I guess we’ll just have to see where things stand later this year when this crossover in an Otterbox goes on sale.

(Photo credits: Nissan)

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