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SPEAKER 1: Right here we have the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox.
It's completely redesigned this year
and it's a huge improvement.
The big question is, is it good enough?
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So with this 2018 redesign for the Chevrolet Equinox,
it's kind of pushed the dial, but not really too far.
The overall shape and some of the style, it carries over.
But we've got nicer headlights and this grill
that kind of echoes the Camaro.
So, a little sporty, and a little edgy.
Now it is kind of a big SUV shape.
Let me explain that.
Almost all SUVs have this-- this gray bar on the bottom
and it takes a lot of the weight off
because if it was body-colored, it'd
kind of look like a minivan with really big wheels.
That's not really that attractive.
Another way they shave off some of the visual weight
is with this nice cove here that runs all the way down
here in a curve and kind of scoops it out there,
as well as some more surfacing up here.
There's also a nice chrome surround
around the windows and this roof rack on this top trim.
In the back, the taillights echo the headlight shapes up
front, as well as these bevels and these run through lines,
so even though it really didn't move the dial very far, as far
as style, it's kind of a safe bet.
So the base engine for all Chevy Equinoxes is a 1.5-liter
turbocharged four-cylinder.
It makes a 170 horsepower.
Not really that great.
This is the 2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder.
It makes 252 horsepower, and that's actually
really good in here.
Plus, it's made it to a nine-speed automatic
transmission so you get really good punch acceleration
off the line, but then up top, the gears
get really tall so that you get better fuel economy
on the highway.
Speaking of fuel economy, this gets about 25 miles per gallon.
That's three MPG less than the base engine,
but the real kicker is it's 5 MPG less than the Honda CR-V.
It's got a good balance of fuel economy and power.
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So right off the bat, there's really
nothing that's standing out with this new Equinox.
That's not entirely a bad thing because if there
was an issue, well, I would definitely know about it.
The power with this optional 2-liter engine--
it's plenty.
I've got all the power I need to pass.
Ride quality is smooth, but I'm still
feeling all of the imperfections,
so it's pretty much like the rest of the SUVs in this class.
What I am noticing though, is a little bit more road noise
than I'm used to hearing in the class.
Wind noise-- not so bad.
The engine doesn't sound half bad either when you get on it.
It's got some grunt.
As far as power is concerned, if I wanted to pass,
just lay into the throttle.
It's fairly quick to downshift.
It's got nine speeds in the transmission,
so it kicks down fairly quickly a few gears.
This time around, there are a lot more advanced safety
features.
Pretty much what we expect.
One thing we have is the frontal collision warning
in mitigation.
There's a button right here, amongst all the cruise
control buttons, and it allows you to adjust the sensitivity.
You don't have to go searching through menus,
you don't have to hit five different buttons to get there.
You have one, two, three different levels
so that if, say you're getting a lot of false alarms,
or you think it's too sensitive, you
could have it fire off a little bit later.
If you're getting a warning from the frontal collision
or the lane departure, you start feeling this buzzing
from the seat.
It's significantly stronger than, let's say,
the vibrate mode on your phone.
But also, I get--
it's kind of a head up display but not really-- it's
just some flashing lights that shine back to alert you
that traffic is slowing down.
It's bright enough, it gets your attention,
and if I didn't hit the brakes, well, it
would hit the brakes for me, fairly aggressively.
Outward visibility is OK.
I feel like nowadays, the rear window
is getting smaller and smaller.
This one seems to be pretty generous.
It gives you a very good indication
of what's back there.
With this trim and this option level,
you also get the 360-degree surround-view camera.
Pretty much all the guess-work is taken out for you.
As far as climate control goes, well, it's
dual-zone automatic climate control.
Once I set it, I really don't have
to mess with it after that.
But I do have one gripe.
It's these vertical vents next to the infotainment.
Visually, it frames it up nicely,
but in practice, it's a little prone to some cold spots.
It's chilling my arm and my knuckles--
not ideal.
I point it away, but now I'm not getting on me,
so I'd prefer if these were horizontal vents that give
a little wider dispersed flow.
So yeah, that's one of those form over function things.
It's a little bit of a sacrifice, not a deal-breaker.
All right, so we're inside the Equinox and design-wise,
again, it's an improvement.
It's got some nice, graceful shapes framing everything.
Materials quality, however, it's a little bit
below what we're used to seeing from some of the latest
crossovers.
This, in particular, is kind of hard plastic
and the graining almost reminds me of a dinosaur toy
or something, like the the dinosaur skin.
There are some soft touch materials.
I mean, they really do feel like vinyl or plastic,
but they are a well-shaped.
They don't bother my elbows after a long drive.
The steering-wheel controls are pretty much just
the regular Chevrolet steering wheel,
which you'll see in almost all of their cars.
And that's not such a bad thing, either.
These covered rubber buttons, they're easy to clean.
They're actually fairly easy to use too.
The latest Chevy MyLink system, it's quick to respond.
One of the best things though, it
comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, standard.
The seats-- they're pretty good.
I'm missing a little bit of thigh-support at the end, here.
But I can see why they did that too, for shorter drivers,
you certainly don't want a seat cushions that's too long.
With the Equinox, there's plenty of room
for all your personal effects.
You have some decent-sized cup holders, here.
You have a wireless charging pad, as well.
And this center-bin is really deep.
You can get a lot of stuff down there.
And there's even a nice little pocket
here for your cell phone.
Right here you have two USB ports,
and an auxiliary jack, another two in the center
bin, and yet another two for the backseats--
USB ports for everyone.
So here I am in the backseat of a 2018 Chevy Equinox
and it's pretty spacious, actually.
I'm actually getting a decent amount
of thigh-support, which is a little rare in compact SUVs.
I have plenty of legroom.
I'm just kind of average in height, so yeah,
that's pretty nice.
Even with this panoramic sunroof,
my hair's just barely brushing the headliner.
Same materials quality back here.
Other SUVs, they'll actually use these kind of materials
back here, but nicer materials up front because you generally
have kids back here who are kind of messing stuff up.
There's two more USB ports back here
and there's also a 120-volt household outlet down below.
You know, if you have a laptop that you need charged
or even if you have a game console hooked up
to an in-car entertainment system-- that
would be pretty cool.
Another power point here, another 12-volt,
and we have two-stage seat heaters, here.
You can either choose both the seat cushion the seat back
to heat, or just the seat back.
And that's only for the outboard seats.
Right here, nice cup holders, nice armrest,
it's the right height.
Now the center seat, it's, as you can see, pretty flat.
And when you're sitting in that position,
it actually feels like it's got a little bit of a crown,
so probably more suitable for a child's seat or very
small person.
Otherwise, yeah, I would be totally fine back here
for a road trip.
So when it comes to cargo with the Equinox,
it's kind of a mixed bag.
I do like that it has the hands-free power lift gate.
Now, you noticed I kicked it on the left side.
I had to look it up in the manual
because I was trying to do the swipe thing--
that wasn't working.
It has to be there, it has to be an upward kick.
Now, cargo space.
30 cubic feet behind the second row, 63 with them folded.
It is a decent amount, but it's significantly less
than the Honda CR-V. So, it really
is going to depend on how much stuff you really have.
I do like that you have a lot of underfloor storage here
and these seats, like the CR-V, fold
flat without having to reach forward or open the back doors.
So depending on what your priorities are
and how much storage you really need,
the Equinox might actually hold all your stuff.
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So the bottom line for the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox is price.
It's expensive for what you're getting.
As tested, it's $40,000.
Honestly, I mean, that's the territory
for the starting price for the BMW X3 and Audi Q5.
So it's practical, it's got all the flexibility you need out
of an SUV this size, but you do have to pay attention
to the options you're adding.
It's going to get expensive real quick.
For more information on the Equinox
as well as its competition, head over to edmunds.com and also
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