Good news, Equinox fans. No, don’t get too excited, you’ll still have to wait about a year or
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
so for a completely redesigned version, but Chevy has given the current model a nice mid-cycle makeover.
The design team didn’t stray too far from the second-generation model that’s sold very well for the bowtie brand. I liked the styling of the first-gen version too, all 12 years of Equinox sales adding up to 193,730 in Canada as of February, and 1,929,897 sold over the same period in the U.S. That’s more than 2 million Equinoxes delivered in both markets, and oddly a near even per capita take-rate (the two markets normally differ with respect to brand and model popularity). Even factoring in that Canadian sales have been sliding in recent years the Equinox remains an unequivocal success, although I’m sure those inside the hallowed halls of GM’s Oshawa, ON HQ, the many more working across the country in the General’s umpteen
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
independent dealerships and you, a potential Equinox buyer, are looking forward to the aforementioned redesign. Still, there are plenty of reasons to buck up for this refreshed 2016.
First off, it still looks quite nice. The reworked grille and front fascia combination falls into the category of not necessarily better, just new, but that should suffice for many of the model’s faithful who are looking for a good excuse to upgrade. That familiar bisected grille gets a couple of untraveled twists and turns, as do the headlights that come standard with halogen projector innards. A new set of restyled DRLs enhance the Equinox’ modified lower front corners, upgraded to LEDs
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
in top trims, while my LTZ’s halogen fog lamps are new too, but anyone catching the SUV’s profile passing by won’t likely see any changes unless they catch sight of the revised taillights that get stylish new lenses. It will need to be standing still to appreciate its new range of wheels, the machine-finished twinned five-spoke 18-inch alloys on my top-line tester managing to look both sporty and elegant simultaneously.
To Chevy’s credit the Equinox came with a stylish interior featuring advanced electronics when it debuted in the summer of 2009 as a 2010 model. I was on the Canadian press launch and was very impressed, even lauding on accolades like, “The new Equinox comes pretty close to replicating premium levels of interior quality,
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
with attractive aluminum-like accents, soft-touch materials on the armrests, door inserts and really nicely finished harder touch plastics everywhere else.” OK, maybe I was somewhat overenthusiastic in referencing premium quality, but we need to remember that this was almost seven years ago and both the mainstream and premium markets have changed dramatically since then. Now, volume brands are vying for premium buyers with luxuriously equipped and richly finished compact SUVs, whereas premium brands are trying to attract lower end buyers with ever smaller, more approachable models.
Also notable, compact crossover SUV sales are encroaching on Canada’s once seemingly impenetrable compact car segment and the 13 models on offer are extremely
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
competitive, some, as mentioned, more luxuriously appointed than many premium branded alternatives. Somehow GM missed a beat when it came time to upgrade its once class-leading Equinox and GMC Terrain cousin, and therefore it’s now a step or two behind in some respects. I prefer to be kind and call its rugged plastic interior utilitarian, seemingly capable of taking on the most destructive of peewee hockey teams and coming out unscathed. In truth hard plastic marks as easily as softer surfaces, but it doesn’t get pulled out of shape from sharp objects or worse, rip and tear, which means a tough and rigid interior like the Equinox’ may look better over time. Of course, the next-gen Equinox will no doubt soften up much of its cabin and therefore GM’s argument will change in favour of premium surfaces, but at least this is an alternative take on the current entry-level luxury trend of softening as many contact areas as possible.
As
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
it is you’ll be hard pressed to find any soft touch plastics inside the Equinox, with the only pampering being door-mounted armrests that get a harder rubberized treatment with faux side stitching, plus a much more padded centre armrest that’s covered in nicer leatherette stitched together with real thread in the French style. It’s not contrast stitched like the LTZ’s perforated leather upholstery that gets sporty red thread around the inside of the seat bolsters and across the headrests, but rather more like those seats’ outer stitching and that on the leather-clad steering wheel. Chevy also dressed up my weeklong loaner with some metallic plastic trim around the gauges, steering wheel spokes, centre stack interface panel, outer dash vents and power lock and door handle surrounds, plus chrome on those inner door handles, around the shifter gate and adorning the dual cupholders on the lower console, but other than that this is a pretty stark cabin.
Of
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
note, the overhead console continues to be particularly nice. It includes a large wraparound reading light plus controls for the centre dome light, and specific to my upgraded tester, buttons for the universal garage door opener, a rotating knob for the powered rear tailgate, which is programmable for height, and toggles for the powered glass sunroof. GM doesn’t offer a panoramic sunroof like some others in the class, but let’s keep our fingers crossed that this popular moneymaker gets added to the upcoming redesign.
Ahead of the driver, the primary gauges are traditional white numerals on a black background, which makes them easy to read day or night, while the multi-information display at centre is a light emitting diode throwback seemingly inspired by ’70s-era calculators (remember the ones you could type 710 77345 into
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
and then turn upside down to spell SHELL OIL?). It’s aqua blue on a blackish background, and quite rudimentary as far as such systems go, but again it’ll likely do the job for most until that new Equinox arrives.
Over on the centre stack the infotainment system isn’t the largest in the class at 178 mm (7.0 inches), but the graphics are reasonably good with fairly high resolution and a nice colour combination of deep blue and lighter aqua blue. The optional navigation system worked well, but the backup camera could have provided better clarity, yet even in the rain I could make out the general shape of things to avoid so no harm was done to paint, bodywork or worse, passersby. All of the switchgear is higher than average quality, with good damping and little side-to-side wiggle, plus it’s easy to figure out. I like the silver-tone HVAC interface and its rubberized dials that add a little extra grip, especially useful while wearing
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
winter gloves, but was a bit dismayed that it only can be had in single-zone automatic guise. Chevy includes a very small tray underneath for holding a much smaller cell phone than my Samsung Note 4 beast, although the larger tray below was ideal for mega-phones so I was set. That said I could appreciate that some might be looking for wireless charging in this top-line model, but once again you’ll need to wait for that next-gen model. GM does include OnStar 4G LTE with Wi-Fi hotspot capability, there’s a USB port for charging, and my tester’s Bluetooth audio streaming worked flawlessly.
On that note the optional eight-speaker Pioneer audio system is quite good no matter the genre of music it’s playing, while the inclusion of satellite radio is always a bonus as there’s no end to those genres or talk programs.
That
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
stereo sounds good front and back, the second row a good place to take it in thanks to excellent legroom, while the seats slide back and forth to provide limo-like space for passengers or alternatively more room for cargo in behind. That’s where the Equinox comes up a bit short, however, unexpected because the vehicle is longer than the class average. Part of the problem are seatbacks that don’t allow an optimally flat loading floor when folded, but on the positive Chevy provides a flap that automatically drops overtop the gap between seats and loading floor that might otherwise entrap small rolling groceries that escape their bags. Oddly the pricier Terrain Denali didn’t offer this useful upgrade, so kudos to Chevy for making the Equinox more utile. On the negative, both Chevy and GMC follow the status quo when it comes to folding those rear seatbacks down. You’ll need to walk around to both side doors to do so unless you’re very tall and can reach the seat top-mounted handles, whereas a handful of others in the class let you
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
lower their rear seats via cargo wall-mounted levers. What’s more, raising them back up again requires you to keep holding the seat levers until you reach the desired rake, as no seat return memory is built in.
As for performance, there’s no nicer way to say that the Equinox is a bit on the gutless side when infused with its base 2.4-litre EcoTec four-cylinder engine. This is due to just 182 horsepower and 172 lb-ft of torque attempting to motivate 1,781 kilos (3,926 lbs) of SUV, the General’s efficient and smooth six-speed automatic and optional AWD doing their best to mitigate the situation, albeit with little effect. Making matters worse, while the 2.4 idles smoothly and quietly enough it’s quite noisy when trying to get the most out of it, despite the sluggish takeoff.
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
Nevertheless, when up to highway speeds it goes well enough, even providing decent passing performance, while the Equinox pampers with one of the better rides in the class as well as reasonably good handling.
I took it to a local farming community with some nice switchback roads that really test a vehicle’s mettle and it proved better than expected, with nice controlled stability despite pushing past speeds I’d rather not mention. All the while the ride was smooth and comfortable, just as you’d expect a Chevy to be.
I should mention that GM is one of few automakers to still offer a powerful V6 in the compact class, the Equinox available with an energetic 301 horsepower 3.6-litre
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
mill when AWD is chosen. It should come as no surprise that this engine pulls much better than the 2.4, while the sound emanating from ahead of the firewall and exiting the exhaust is downright sports car-like, but as you can probably guess fuel economy is impacted. My 2.4 AWD tester actually fares pretty well with a five-cycle EnerGuide rating of 11.5 L/100km city, 8.2 highway and 10.0 combined (the base FWD model gets a claimed 10.5 city, 7.3 highway and 9.1 combined rating), but the V6 consumes 14.9 L/100 in the city, 10.1 on the highway and 12.8 combined, which is more in line with mid-size crossover SUVs that provide a great deal more interior space, so you may want to consider how this might affect your budget.
When I found myself wandering too close to the centre line my LTZ’s optional lane departure
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
warning made itself known quickly via visual flashes and audible beeps, but I like this system more than many others as it wasn’t too sensitive or intrusive. My tester also included forward collision alert, blind zone monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and rear parking sonar, these part of a Driver Confidence package that added $1,250 to the LTZ’s already near-premium $36,570 price, although earning it an IIHS Top Safety Pick rating to go along with the standard model’s 4 Star NHTSA crash test rating.
Additionally, the aforementioned Pioneer audio upgrade and sunroof comprised the $1,530 True North Edition package, while my tester also included a set of $290 universal tablet holders fastened to the backsides of the front seats, which is certainly a more cost effective way of providing individual rear entertainment for the kids if you already own a set of tablets. A $260 interior protection package included
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
all-weather rubber floor mats to ward off muddy boots and a thick all-weather cargo mat, while a trailering package added another $430. Altogether my Equinox LTZ AWD tester’s price eclipsed the $40k threshold with freight included, which is a lot to pay for any compact CUV, let alone one on the low end of the premium scale. Keep adding options and that price can balloon to $43,320 including freight. Of course, it would be your choice to keep adding features, the base Equinox LS FWD much more affordable at $27,170 plus freight and dealer fees.
I’ve mentioned a number of LTZ features throughout this review and noted when they’re standard or optional, but should add a few others that made my weeklong test more enjoyable. First, the Equinox’ optional three-way front seat heaters are some
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
of the better in the business as they warm both backside and buttocks plus do so with extreme vigilance in their topmost setting, while other features I appreciated include remote start, ambient interior lighting, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, eight-way powered front seats with two-way driver-side memory, etcetera. As complete as this list might sound the top-line Equinox was still missing HID or LED headlights with auto high beams, proximity-sensing access with pushbutton start, dual-zone auto HVAC, front parking sensors, rear seat heaters, and the list goes on, so keep this in mind when comparison shopping.
This in mind it’s always a good idea to ask the audience if you’re still unsure about what to buy, and in this respect your choice may be swayed whether choosing to listen to U.S. buyers or Canadians. In this class we northerners predominantly purchase
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
Ford’s Escape with last year’s total dropping to 47,726 from the all-time highs of 2014, followed by the Toyota RAV4 at 42,246 units, Honda CR-V at 38,961, Nissan Rogue at 35,841, Jeep Cherokee at 31,833, Mazda CX-5 at 22,281 and finally the Equinox at 19,766. Seven out of 13 isn’t too bad, but it’s not exactly sales leadership either. I expect the redesigned Equinox to blast past the CX-5 when it debuts, that is unless Mazda comes out with something really eye-popping.
In the U.S. the Equinox isn’t leading its segment either, but it does better in fifth place with the CR-V number one with 345,647 sales, RAV4 second with 315,412, Escape third with 306,492, and Rogue fourth with 287,190, the Equinox more respectably finding 277,589 new buyers last year and handily beating the new Cherokee
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
in the process. I’d like to say that one of the reasons the Equinox does better in the U.S. than Canada is pricing, the base LS FWD starting at just $22,600 USD and fully loaded LTZ AWD finishing off at $39,540, but factor in our lower dollar and we’re actually getting a better deal. Likewise it would be to GM’s credit if I could say that the reason many Asian rivals are priced lower is because their models are built in markets with devalued currencies like us instead of the U.S., but Canadian Equinox models are sourced from Ingersoll, Ontario, while the bestselling Escape is built in Louisville, Kentucky, so I can’t tell you why the less optioned and less luxurious Equinox LTZ is priced higher than better equipped competitors.
On the positive, the Equinox is rated highest in J.D. Power’s latest Initial Quality Study, tied with the Escape for first, with the GMC Terrain taking third, while Chevrolet
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| Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press |
is one of the highest rated mainstream volume brands in third place behind Kia and Hyundai. It doesn’t rate as highly in the same third-party analytical firm’s Vehicle Dependability Study, although strangely the near identical Terrain takes first and Chevy manages a respectable third amongst brands once again, but behind Toyota and Honda this time (fourth if you consider second-place Buick a mainstream brand). Consumer Reports wasn’t as kind with Chevrolet, however, placing it below average in their latest 2016 report card on reliability and road test performance at 20th out of the 29 brands represented.
All in all the mildly updated Equinox offers some styling improvements yet it’s been a few years since I’ve been able to say its interior is aging gracefully. Its base engine performance shortfall is underwhelming too, and fuel economy a bit harsh when opting for the V6, but its ride and handling are above par. Still, if you’ve got your heart set on a new Equinox I’m willing to guess its higher than average pricing can be remedied through generous discounts, something GM is noted for, so it may still be a reasonably good buy if you push for a deal, especially considering the model’s better than average expected reliability and top safety.
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