Hot in the Lot
Payne Makes Rogue a Radical Ride
NEIRAD enilno edition
Modifications
-Whistler radar detector
-20% tint all around
-fully debadged
-vanillaroma air freshener
Future modifications:
-blackout taillights
-powdercoat stock wheels black
Clean is the only way to describe a nice, well-modified car. Not only does senior James Payne’s 2008 Nissan Rogue follow this definition of clean, but also the standard definition of clean- free from dirt and pollution.
No matter where you spot James his car always looks freshly washed and waxed. “I normally wash my car every week or two by hand (drive-through car washes leave streaking!), and wax it every month or so,” James said.
To help stay on the theme of “clean,” James installed some modifications to his Rogue. For looks, James has 20 percent tinted windows all around, and a fully debadged trunk. By debadging his vehicle, James removed the stock lettering from Nissan, which included the universal Nissan emblem, the Rogue lettering, and the SL-awd, standing for the all-wheel-drive system the car comes equipped with. “I think the fully deabadged trunk gives the rear a much cleaner look,” James said.
The interior of the Rogue seems as if it was designed for a teenager. With well bolstering seats with red stitching the Rogue’s interior looks sporty. The two things James did in the inside of his car were add a Whistler XTR-695 radar detector to keep him free from the police that don’t hide in bushes outside of our school, and add a vanillaroma air freshener which he claims, adds 15WHP.
To get through the notorious New England winters James chose the all-wheel-drive option over the standard front wheel drive application. Nissan’s SL-awd system is known to be able to get through the toughest of weather. “Having AWD is almost a requirement living in an area such as Darien where it snows often in the winter,” James said.
James claimed the only thing he wants to be different about his car is the engine. “I just wish it had a little bit more power,” He said. The rogue comes equipped with a 2.5L, four cylinder engine that puts out 170HP and 175 lb-ft of torque. He understands that the Rogue isn’t supposed to be a fast car as its main purpose, and also claims that the Rogue is decently fast for what it was designed to do on the road.
In the future James plans on “murdering out” his car (murdering out means to black out almost everything on the car, including wheels, grill, windows etc. (a good example of this is American professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek’s Chevrolet Tahoe.) James plans on powder coating the wheels matte black, blacking out the front grill, and painting his roof rack black as well. This will surely make the Rogue stick out among others around Darien.
