When I was researching potentials vehicles, I kept on coming across reviews stating "engine drone" with the Rogue. After test driving, I still didn't understand what the reviews meant. I was pleasantly surprised with the acceleration and handling. After driving the Rogue for awhile, I began to realize what the term "engine drone" felt like. As the Rogue accelerates it runs through the gears adequately, however, once driving speed is reached, the Rogue shifts to a high gear ratio to maintain low RPM's. Accelerating at this speed (say at 40 mpg), causes the transmission to gradually lower gear ratios for adequate acceleration. The "engine drone" is felt during initial acceleration at the higher gear ratio. The phenomena is Similar to starting out in 5th gear in a standard transmission vehicle. This being said, the ability to override the automatic transmission with the paddle shifters eliminates this "engine drone" phenomena by manually shifting to a lower gear ratio. Which, by the way, makes the Rogue a fun SUV to drive. Hope this helps in your decision process.