The Ford F-150 is the best-selling car in most U.S. states. Other popular cars, such as the Ram 1500 or the Toyota Corolla, are the best selling cars in a few states. But New York is the only state where the Nissan Rogue is the best-selling car of 2019.

How Edmunds got its data

A lot of people buy and shop through Edmunds, so naturally, Edmunds has access to a lot of data. Edmunds used that data to find the best-selling cars in each state in 2019. That said, Edmunds says that it’s only using data from individual customers who bought the car at a dealership. Cars that were rentals or were bought by the government weren’t counted by Edmunds. 

In New York, the Nissan Rogue was the best-selling car in 2019. This was an entirely New York phenomenon too. The Rogue doesn’t even appear in Edmund’s 10 best-selling cars across the country list. But the runner-ups in New York, which were the Honda CR-V in second place, the Chevy Equinox in third place, the Toyota RAV4 in fourth place, and the Ram series of trucks in fifth place, all were on the national best-selling cars list. 

This means that the most popular cars around America were also popular in New York, but for some reason, the Rogue was more popular than them all.

What the Nissan Rogue can do

While the Nissan Rogue is smaller than many other SUVs, it’s still a pretty practical SUV, according to U.S. News. The Rogue can seat five people very comfortably, and it still has a lot of cargo room. U.S. News says that the Rogue has 39.3 cubic feet of cargo room and that increases to 70 cu. ft. of cargo room when the rear seats are folded down. 

On top of that, Nissan has a “Divide-N-Hide” cargo system that gives the Rogue various shelves and compartments depending on what’s needed. Due to this fact, U.S. News, as well as many car reviewers such as Edmunds and Kelley Blue Book, praised the cargo room that the Rogue offers. Indeed, U.S. News says that the Rogue has one of the largest cargo capacities in its class.

That said, the Rogue’s starting engine is very weak. This was the only major complaint that U.S. News had about the Rogue. The Rogue comes with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that gets 170 hp. While it’s a weak engine, it does get good fuel economy of 26 MPG in the city and 33 MPG on the highway. Furthermore, Nissan also offers all-wheel drive on the Rogue.

Why does New York love the Nissan Rogue?

While no one can say for certain why the Nissan Rogue has been so popular in New York, there are a lot of possible reasons why that’s the case. For one, many New Yorkers live in New York City, and cars aren’t really necessary there.

But the New Yorkers who own a car may want to go on a trip upstate in it. The rest of New York is just like any other state, so an SUV with all-wheel drive comes in handy. That said, because the Rogue is a compact SUV, parking it in New York City is easier than parking a full-size truck.

Another possible reason is economics. It costs a lot of money to live in New York, so an affordable car is very attractive. Unsurprisingly, the Rogue starts at about $25,000 according to U.S. News, and that’s pretty affordable for most Americans. Additionally, the Rogue’s great fuel economy means a lot of savings when it comes to gas prices, which do tend to be more expensive in New York.