Pricing
Winner: 2020 Honda CR-V
The Honda CR-V offers the lowest base price of these two compact SUVs, with an average MSRP of $25,050 for the standard model. As for the Nissan Rogue, it’s base price is about $250 more at $25,300.
The Honda CR-V provides plenty of comfortable features for its low price, and it even won our 2020 Best Compact SUV for the Money award.
The top trim of the Rogue starts at $33,040, and you can go as high as $34,750 to get all the fixings on your CR-V.
Seating Comfort and Interior Refinement
Winner: 2020 Honda CR-V
The 2020 Honda CR-V is one of the roomiest SUVs in its segment, offering ample head- and legroom in all five of its supportive seats. Cloth upholstery is standard, but you can upgrade to leather, power-adjustable seats, and a leather-wrapped and heated steering wheel. Even standard, the elegant cabin offers an upscale feel, and the higher trims have features such as faux wood accents. Overall, the Honda’s interior is a little bigger than the Nissan’s, so it earns the win here for that extra legroom in the back.
The Rogue is also a spacious five-seater offering comfortable, supportive seats for everyone. The interior is stacked with soft-touch quality materials, and cloth upholstery also comes standard. The Rogue offers similar upgrades to the CR-V, including a heated steering wheel, power-adjustable and heated front seats, and leather upholstery.
Car Seats
Winner: 2020 Honda CR-V
The Rogue offers two sets of LATCH car-seat connectors in the back window seats and an upper tether for the middle seat, with connectors that are easy to use and locate.
The CR-V offers a couple extra anchors, which make it that much easier to install car seats. It has the two sets of back window-seat LATCH connectors and a middle seat tether, as well as a lower anchor for the middle seat along with an additional anchor that can be borrowed from the driver’s side of the vehicle.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) rated the CR-V’s LATCH connectors as Acceptable, which is the second-highest rating for easy-to-use child seats.
Interior Technology
Winner: 2020 Nissan Rogue
The Rogue offers a 7-inch touch screen standard, which is easy to use and paired with choice physical controls. Other standard features include Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Bluetooth, two USB ports, satellite radio, and four speakers. You can add a few upgrades as well, such as navigation, HD radio, and up to nine speakers.
The CR-V comes standard with a smaller 5-inch display, Bluetooth, one USB port, and a four-speaker stereo. You’ll have to spring for upgrades to get a 7-inch touch screen, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, navigation, satellite and HD radio, more speakers (up to nine), more USB ports, and a moonroof.
Cargo Space
Winner: 2020 Honda CR-V
The CR-V offers 39.2 cubic feet of cargo space in the trunk – or 37.6 cubic feet if you are in the Touring model. When you fold down the back seats, the CR-V reveals a max of 75.8 cubic feet behind the front seats, which are excellent numbers for a compact SUV.
The Rogue offers 39.3 cubic feet of storage in the trunk, and up to 70 cubic feet with the back row folded down. These are also high numbers for a compact SUV, and you can opt to add a hands-free power liftgate for some extra cash.
Fuel Efficiency
Winner: 2020 Honda CR-V
Both of these SUVs have great fuel efficiency estimates among compact SUVs, but the CR-V edges out the Rogue in this category.
The 2020 CR-V’s fuel efficiency is phenomenal for a compact SUV, especially a non-hybrid. According to the EPA, the CR-V can get an estimated 28 mpg in the city and 34 mpg on the highway. Add all-wheel drive, and the CR-V can get an estimated 27 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway.
The 2020 Rogue’s gas mileage is also impressive, earning 26 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway in the standard front-wheel-drive model. The all-wheel-drive model earns 25 mpg in the city and 32 mpg on the highway. Overall, the Rogue has just a tad bit lower mileage than the CR-V can get you.
Performance
Winner: 2020 Honda CR-V
Although Honda dropped the 2020 CR-V powertrain lineup from two engine choices to one, it’s still more powerful than the Rogue’s engine. For 2020, the CR-V’s standard engine is a turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine that produces 190 horsepower. This engine accelerates swiftly, and is a smooth drive compared to rivals. A continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT) comes standard.
The Rogue’s four-cylinder 170-horsepower engine with a CVT has slow acceleration, but is a powerful driver in the city. It’s also noisy when you get up to speed.
Reliability
Winner: 2020 Nissan Rogue
Although both vehicles improved their reliability ratings over 2019, the 2020 Nissan Rogue earned an above-average predicted reliability score. The 2020 Honda CR-V slightly above average score, giving the Rogue the win here.
Both of these vehicles have strong reliability ratings, and shouldn’t cause major unexpected stress over the years. Both also come with a three-year/36,000 mile limited warranties coupled with a five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty.
Safety
Winner: 2020 Honda CR-V
Although both vehicles do very well in terms of safety, the 2020 Honda CR-V performed a little better in its crash tests. The IIHS gave the CR-V its highest score of Good in six crash tests, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gave it five out of five stars in its overall safety rating, five stars in the side and front crash tests, and four stars in the rollover test.
As for safety features, the CR-V comes standard with a rearview camera, lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control, road departure warning, automatic high-beams, and the Honda Sensing bundle of collision mitigation brakes.
As for the 2020 Rogue, it was named a Top Safety Pick by the IIHS and earned the highest rating of Good across five crash tests. The Rogue’s standard headlights didn’t perform well, earning the lowest rating of Poor for road illumination, but the CR-V’s headlights performed only marginally better.
Although a different set than the CR-V offers, the Rogue also has plenty of standard safety features including a rear view camera, lane departure warning, automatic high-beams, pedestrian detection, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and blind spot monitoring.
The Winner Is …
2020 Honda CR-V
The 2020 Honda CR-V triumphs over the 2020 Nissan Rogue in most categories, although the Rogue is still a solid pick for drivers who prioritize an upscale cabin with more standard tech features, and a high reliability rating.
Compared to the 2020 Rogue, the 2020 CR-V has a slightly lower price, slightly higher fuel efficiency, stronger performance, more comfortable and easy-to-use seating, and better safety ratings. While both vehicles are strong choices if you are considering a compact SUV, the CR-V’s compelling dynamics score better than the Rogue’s.
More Shopping Tools From U.S. News & World Report
When your research is done and you’re ready to shop for a 2020 Honda CR-V or Nissan Rogue, head over to our lease and financing deals pages to find the best deals on the market for these vehicles. You can always learn more about competing vehicles in our SUV rankings and reviews.
When you’re ready to make your final decision about a vehicle lease or purchase, check out our U.S. News Best Price Program. Shoppers who use this program save an average of more than $3,000 off MSRP.
2020 Nissan Rogue vs. 2020 Honda CR-V
- Price: 2020 Honda CR-V
- Seat Comfor and Interior Refinement : 2020 Honda CR-V
- Car Seats: 2020 Honda CR-V
- Interior Technology: 2020 Nissan Rogue
- Cargo Space: 2020 Honda CR-V
- Fuel Effeciency: 2020 Honda CR-V
- Performance: 2020 Honda CR-V
- Reliability: 2020 Nissan Rogue
- Safety: 2020 Honda CR-V
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Nissan Rogue vs. Honda CR-V: Which Is Better?
The selection of compact SUVs manufacturers have put on the market in 2020 makes for a tight competition. The 2020 Honda CR-V and 2020 Nissan Rogue come at a very similar price point for motorists in the market for a compact SUV, and that's not all they share.
Since both of these sport utilities feature kindred attributes, we break down how each SUV performs head-to-head against the other, one category at a time. Once you take a look at safety and reliability scores, engines, fuel efficiency, interior tech, and seat comfort, it is clear how the CR-V and Rogue stack up in the final bracket – depending on your priorities.
Keep in mind the scores mentioned in this article may vary from those in our reviews, as we are constantly updating our reviews as new data becomes available.
Keep reading to see whether the Rogue or the CR-V comes out on top.