It seems like just about every car manufacturer now makes at least one sort of macho’d-up crossover with knobblier tires and extra trim over a regular one. From the Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness to the Honda Passport Trailsport, these machines are perfect for posing, a rolling billboard for active lifestyles. However, what if you want your mainstream crossover to do a different kind of posing? Well, set your time machine to 2010. This is the Nissan Rogue Krom, and it’s the sort of bonkers we’ll probably never see again.
I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that by the standards of the CUV segment at the time, the original Nissan Rogue was reasonably attractive. Sure, the Xtronic CVT doesn’t have the best reputation as far as transmissions go, but Nissan otherwise used its parts bin well. The Rogue’s platform was shared with the Sentra, its 170-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine was shared with the Altima, it looked like a scaled-down Murano, and the result was a right-sized compact crossover with the right looks and the right efficiency to catch on.
Normally, that’s good enough to more-or-less rest on for a five-year model cycle, with a light facelift and some equipment shuffling somewhere in the middle. The thing is, Nissan couldn’t stop fiddling. For the 2010 model year, it rolled out something called the Rogue Krom, and it was pretty nuts.
Unlike the later Nissan Juke Nismo, the Rogue Krom offered no extra power, no sports suspension, and no crazy equipment like Recaro seats or a limited-slip differential. Instead, Nissan took a base-model Rogue, added steering wheel-mounted volume controls, then slapped on a body kit louder than the sound system at Madison Square Garden.
Up front, the Rogue Krom got an entirely new face. A chrome-bar upper grille and trapezoidal maw evoke shades of Suzuki XL-7, rather than Nissan’s corporate grille at the time. Also, check out those vertical air inlets outboard of the fog lights. How “Need For Speed: Carbon” is that?
Around the side, the Rogue Krom showed off a wickedly shiny set of 17-inch alloy wheels that, you guessed it, were chromed. Alright, so chrome wheels were already on the way out of the import scene by 2010, but Nissan might’ve actually hit the nail on the head here. The Rogue Krom is for posing, and chrome wheels play into that show-off archetype. Also, Nissan added privacy glass, and body-color mirror caps, to go with the three available colors of grey, red, and black.
However, the thing you’re all waiting to see is around back, and I’m not talking about the spoiler or the rear fascia with a ridiculous faux diffuser. I’m talking about the pièce de résistance, the center-exit twin-tip exhaust. Sure, it means you can’t fit a tow bar to a Rogue Krom, and it’ll probably suck to find a replacement should it rot out or suffer damage, but doesn’t it just look gloriously ridiculous?
At this point, you probably have several questions, starting with “Why Krom?” Well, according to Pat Steiner, director of Nissan North America’s Specialty Vehicles Group at the time, “Krom adds a level of style and appearance, along with a sense of intrigue, excitement and self-expression. The Krom name suggests ‘cars with attitude,’ rather than a literal interpretation of chrome wheels or trim.” Right.
Secondly, although the Rogue Krom was sold in America, it’s a rare sight for a reason other than style. Despite being equipped like a base model, it actually ended up more expensive than a better-equipped Rogue SL. At $24,060, you would’ve really had to love the look to give up features like a height-adjustable driver’s seat, a cargo light, a useful fold-flat front passenger seat, and a modern trip computer. It’s easy to forget just how miserly base models of 15 years ago were with features.
However, Nissan wouldn’t be deterred after just one year. Not only did the Rogue Krom go on for the 2011 model year with an upgrade to 18-inch alloy wheels, the Krom treatment also featured on the Cube through the 2014 model year, and on the Canadian-market Micra, although with substantially less verve. While the Cube Krom borrowed a body kit and brightwork from the JDM Cube Autech Rider, the Micra Krom really only added black alloy wheels and a bit of chrome trim.
Still, the concept of normal cars with mental factory-offered body kits just wasn’t meant to last, and with the Rogue Krom going off sale after 2011, Nissan’s brief adventure in giving regular crossovers center-exit exhausts was done. So, if you ever spot a first-generation Rogue with a wildly inappropriate body kit and exhaust, you might actually be looking at a rare bird rather than someone’s homebuilt special. How about that?
Top graphic images: Nissan; MTV
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I saw one once, but assumed someone was a Robert E. Howard fan and thought it was a nerd joke.
2010 Nissan Rogue Krom, for when you really want a Mansory Cybertruck but can only afford a couple grand worth of used beater.
No, I don’t remember, the rogue is the most forgettable vehicle it’s like your memory gets wiped when it leaves your vision.
I actually think that’s a pretty tasteful body kit for the era. You found the Rogue holy grail!
I keep reading this as “krahm” not an x-treme spelling of chrome. The only Rogue I ever considered was a Star Wars edition because I’m a mark. Then I realized it was mostly just some stickers on the interior and I came to my senses. And maybe it’s just the wackiness of the Cube (Cá¿¡b?), but I think it pulls of the Krom concept better.
Can’t say I ever noticed this, or any other Rogue. Why would you, they are the most anonymous of anonymous dreck?
Center exhaust are so dumb on anything where it doesn’t make sense for an engineering purpose, like a backbone chassis with a longitudinal engine. Who would buy one of these and limit the ability to carry bikes, extra cargo boxes, etc.? It didn’t even come with a roof rack, plus roof racks are more of a PITA and are worse for mileage. It’s not like it looks good, it’s like some smelly “lower” primate in heat presenting its genitals. Chrome wheels also suck even worse than all black or that damned machine face, a trend that seemed to originate with the bottom end of the aftermarket over 20 years ago and refuses to die even on high end production cars.
Still remember the Boxter of the late 90s with it. A classmate had one, and gave me a ride once, when I was an undergrad. From that day on, friends referred to “the porsche with the anus” I’d ridden on.
Because they look cool. I’d like to present the Renault Clio V6 as my evidence.
Although I guess in that case it’s partly an engineering decision, because it’s mid-engined, a centre exhaust does make sense.
I guess that’s why I think it looks cool, because centre exhausts are often used on cool mid/rear-engined sports cars.
I’m with you when it comes to chrome wheels though.
Ah Nissan. The Chrysler of the Japanese big three.
Mercury missed out on the trend. Imagine a red Mercury Krom; the kids will love it!
paging @Jatco Xtronic CVT
Also, they should’ve given us the first two gens of the X-Trail instead of the lame-ass Rogue. Of course, subsequent Rogues would end up being the same as the X-Trail.
I’ve been wondering about those xBs for years. GLad to find out what their deal is
There’s having a problem in secret and then there’s having a problem you can’t hide.
This is around the time the problems with the Nissan/Renault alliance really became undeniable.
Nothing could make this gen Rogue look good.
I was lucky enough to see one of these everyday on my way to high school my senior year (2015). I totally forgot they existed until now, but definitely remember thinking it was an extremely weird package at the time.
I’ll never understand why the gen1 Rogue exists. Why didn’t they just bring over the X-Trail? The gen1 Rogue and gen2 X-Trail were made at the same Japanese factory (Nissan Motor Kyushu) over the exact same time period. Did Nissan think that U.S. customers somehow preferred a blob-shaped crossover instead of an off-road themed one? Were Murano sales on the USDM that strong?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/2010_NISSAN_X-TRAIL.jpg/800px-2010_NISSAN_X-TRAIL.jpg?20101017021611
Even as a kid I thought the X-Trail was a vastly better and more appealing product. Too bad it got Rogue-ified into mediocrity after the two model lines merged with the gen3. But then again, why was this original Rogue its own thing entirely?
Canada got the first generation X-Trail for 2005 and 2006
You’re absolutely right. And yet these things were EVERYWHERE. Nissan didn’t just think Americans preferred these, somehow they knew it.
They were cheap and Nissan would give a loan to anybody.
Be that as it may, the Xterra was only about $800 more than a Rogue. It boggles my mind how many Americans, in the era of the Hummer H2, picked pudgy over boxy.
I guess there’s no accounting for taste.
The Xterra was truck-based and drove like one. The Rogue is just a hatchback with a lift kit so wifey can “sit up high”. That the Rogue was a big seller doesn’t surprise me in the slightest – the Xterra was overkill for most people’s needs.
I guess that’s the secret sauce to the crossover, in general. Where I live, boxy dominates the parking lots and overkill is a source of pride (hello, lifted Wrangler). The Rogue eventually got with the program to a degree with the Rock Creek.
It’s a Jeep thing, if you have a brain you won’t understand why people who never, ever take them offroad buy them.
I find the “off road” trim levels of lifted hatchbacks and bad minivans to be *hilarious*, as one who owns a Land Rover Disco I. A vehicle that certainly was sold 95% to soccer moms in the US, but at least it legitimately has real offroad chops, while still being a HELL of a lot more civilized on pavement than a Wrangler.
Just the timing alone is a head-scratcher to me. The Rogue came out years after the original X-Trail, so they just had a hole in the lineup until then. Toyota had no trouble with the RAV4, 4Runner, and Highlander in the lineup, so not like it would have been too much overlap early on.
This x1000
Was it mileage? The X-Trail looks less aero. If it is, that might be why. I would agree with you about the choice to sell that thing, but we’d both likely be wrong as these goofy things were everywhere even being rather unpleasant shitboxes (if somewhat comfortable) with notorious transmissions—my sister even bought one. She didn’t ask me, she just showed up, like, I got a Rogue. I had to fake approval. I don’t think she was all that convinced, but at least she wasn’t excited about it. I think it was just cheap and she still had a positive opinion of Nissan from a couple of old Maximas. It ended up limping on a failing transmission to a Subaru dealer as a trade in for an Ascent at just under 100k miles.
Do you want to know what peak “fake aproval” is? When your dad calls you, all happy, to tell you that he just traded his 2012 manual Focus for a 2017 Focus Titanium. Yes, with the Powershift thingy. I was living abroad at the time, and had to make a huge effort to correspond to his genuine happiness.
Six months later he’s looking to off-load it because the trans started to powershift itself. A huge pity, because it’s otherwise a phenomenal car. I still praise it, besides the trans, just to make my dad feel a little better.
I had a ’12 Focus 5MT hatch. It was Corolla reliable, but a much better car. Got rear-ended and totaled with over 200k miles still looking, running, and driving like it had maybe 40k on it. My other sister had a pair of DCT Focuses. They didn’t have any issues, but they didn’t drive much and they also both got totaled (hit a bear with one and slid on ice or something with the other . . . I’m pretty sure it was her fault as the details were never given and I didn’t push).
My dad had a sedan. The handling was superb, and the car was stupidly robust. On a rainy night I hidrolocked it by accident, but the only damage was to a couple of valves.
He bought it after I talked him off a Sentra with the troubled CVT. The second time, he didn’t consult, alas.
I hydroplaned into a caterpillar barrier at about 55 mph after a sudden rain storm left a large puddle around a turn on the highway. Caught the car as it bounced off and, with nowhere to pull over safely to check, I kept driving fairly slowly, testing the steering, which seemed OK, if a little shaky. I imagined the control arm or tie rod might have been bent, but it turned out to have no damage. Somehow, I only impacted with the wheel face (the moving HOV lane caterpillar barriers are shaped like an I beam with the top cut off, so the protruding bottom section must have stuck out far enough for the body not to touch) and the shaking was entirely down to the wheel being bent.
When it eventually got totaled (second heavy rear ending in under 24 hours, the first mostly damaging the bumper cover), a Camry went under the car, the front license plate leaving marks on the rear suspension subframe. I drove it off the hood of the Camry and about 10 miles home. Camry was DOA. Same platform as the Mazda3, which the Focus replaced, and the Ford felt like 2 classes higher of car and much more solid, plus an easy 6+ mpg better with the same hp and cost me over $3k less even as a special order (had to special order a manual hatch) and before accounting for 5 years of inflation.
Oh, was yours the European Gen II? If I’m not wrong, those were the ones to share the platform with the Mazda3 and the Volvo S40.
I never drove the siblings, but the interior of the Mazda did look underwhelming in comparison.
No, the US never got that version (I actually wanted that, but the closest I could get was the Mazda). For the Focus, we got ever-uglier Gen 1s until they were replaced with the Gen 3 in 2011 as 2012 models. I bought mine in the first year of production. The Gen 3 was a development of the C1 shared with my ’06 Mazda3, a few Volvos, and others. They didn’t seem to change much, at least as far as chassis went, but maybe the differences in quality were as much down to the platform development as differences with the OEMs. The rust was definitely a Mazda thing and I think the front end that felt like all the bushings were made of rubber with the Shore Hardness of condoms were a Mazda weirdness. The Mazda was a HUGE let down after my 270k mile 1990 Legacy that was massively better in every way except, I assume, safety and straight line performance and mileage was about even with the Legacy the better handler by far (it didn’t help that “driver’s car” Mazda felt the need to have visibly negative camber in the rear of a FWD hatchback).
I took in one of these on trade years ago.
We immediately wholesaled it. ‘Twas glorious garbage before that term existed here.
That’s really
appealing.I mean appalling. Absolutely appalling.
I saw one locally a few months ago.
To say I was flabbergasted is an understatement. It was so dumb to see in person, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Man I just can not understand why Nissan has been in decline for decades when they were knocking out bangers like this!
So these Nissans know what is good in life “To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.”
Oh wait. That’s a long O.
Sorry.
Carry on.
I’ve seen one around I just assumed it was something someone did. It always seems the parts bin turners don’t last long. Maybe it was a response to the whole Scion deal.
One of my co-workers has one of these. I figured it was some aftermarket mod. Now I know the rest of the story.
Same. I remember seeing one of these when they were new at the local Nissan dealership and assumed it was some goofy body kit the dealer threw on for an unreasonable markup.
To be perfectly honest, I thought the Krom badge was something the owner slapped on themselves, like the stick on porthole vents or bullet hole decals people slather on their cars.
I think that is a completely understandable assumption. It all looks just a bit too goofy to be something from the OEM.
It had all the appearance of a factory-installed Pep Boys accessory aisle. As that’s kind of what the great majority of the “tuner” scene was about, they pretty much nailed it.
Center exhausts make everything cooler.
(reads article)
Center exhausts make almost everything cooler.
As a cyclist and a camper, no.
Center exhausts are an unforgivable pain in the ass. Anyone who assists with their creation should be permanently banished from the engineering department.
Speaking of Bombastic, this reminds me of the time some foreign reporter got P Diddy mixed up with Shaggy, and Diddy was pretty mad about it.
I bet he’d love to be Shaggy right now. That’s the guy who can say “It wasn’t me!” and everyone believes him.
I always thought these were gloriously stupid. Who is actually going to be towing with one of these? So while I agree that it’s dumb to remove the possibility of having a town bar, it might have actually mattered to like two people. Hence why I think they are awesome in all the right ways, just didn’t fix enough of the ways in which they are dumb to make it worth it. I would jump at a Cube Krom with a manual though!
A hitch is not just for towing, a hitch can be for a bike carrier, basket or other useful stuff. and a small trailer is useful for towing so a pick up truck does not need to be purchased. Towing is not always 10000 pounds of RV or construction trailer.
It’s a Nissan. Just loop a rope around the exhaust tips and it’ll all be good.
Make it like that old VW Beetle trailer that mounts to the roof.
VW Bug fifth-wheel camper trailer that connects to a hitch on top of the car allowing it complete 360 degree mobility. : r/nextfuckinglevel
Hitch rack for bikes seems like a very likely use for one of these things (I have one for my GR86, mostly for bikes, but I even tow a utility trailer with it). Center exhaust are completely stupid unless there’s a reason (E-Type’s backbone chassis, for instance, and that’s a sports car from a day when people didn’t have as many hobbies and wouldn’t be expected to be an only car). Fitting just a 1-1/4 hitch to my Focus ST was kind of a pain (the receiver was designed to sit between the bumper cover and exhaust tip, but didn’t quite line up right and I had to make 1/2″ spacers, but that was after using it a few times, pushing up on the cover with the rack, which resulted in chipped paint at the corners of the rear wheel wells) and there was no reason it was there. I didn’t even like the look of it as it made it look heavier and static.