2008 Chevrolet Equinox Review

Specifications

When I last wrote about Chevy’s smallest crossover, the Equinox, there were only ten players in the entry-level compact SUV market. Heck, we hadn’t even coined the term crossover yet, or at least it wasn’t in common use, and despite its enticing price point the Equinox was hardly compact. Now, nearly a half decade later the Equinox is still not much of a compact, continuing to dwarf even some midsize CUVs, and the competition has heated up to overwhelming levels. Think about how difficult it is for you to choose from among the twenty-four compact SUVs currently available, and then consider how challenging it would be to bring something to market to compete in this melee of machinery. I’m glad I just have to write about it. Nevertheless, as competitive as this segment is and then taking into perspective the duration that Chevy’s Equinox has been in production relatively unchanged, it still sells surprisingly well.

Case in point, my mother-in-law called me up to ask for advice on buying a new vehicle, and knowing they were still puttering about in an ancient albeit still functional Dodge Caravan, I knew they needed space. I immediately thought of that manufacturer’s new Journey, as it’s a great vehicle for the money and they were familiar with the brand already, but that familiarity didn’t necessarily cause them to make a bee-line for the nearest Pentastar dealer, but rather gave them motivation to see what else might be out there. I received another call after a few days later with their list narrowed down to two vehicles, and when telling me they were considering the Equinox I was able to give them my solid thumbs up. Whether I had any influence or not they opted for the Equinox, and their reasoning made sense, as did the price they purchased it for. So far they’re ecstatic with their new vehicle.

Of course, the folks at General Motors, and particularly Chevrolet love to hear about such stories, and I found it all very interesting too. After all, while a solid seller the Equinox isn’t top of the charts; the totally redone Escape and recently revised CR-V fill these shoes. So I set out to get myself an Equinox to test, and GM willingly obliged by offering up the particularly attractive Navy Blue Metallic LT model shown on these pages.

First and foremost, the Equinox has aged well. It was good looking when it debuted in 2004 as a 2005 model, and remains so despite all the newcomers and redesigns. Now in its forth year, with the unchanged 2009 model nearing and only Bluetooth connectivity slated for the update, it’s still an SUV to be reckoned with.

Aside from the rich blue paint, the first thing I noticed was its sparkling chrome 17-inch five-spoke alloy wheels. Hardly the standard alloy 16s, these optional rims give the crossover a customized look, although they’re not the largest offered. Chevy understands that customers want to personalize their rides, and therefore offers Equinox customers five different aluminum designs from 16 inches in diameter to 18. These are the only chrome plated wheels, and offset the dark blue particularly well.

Inside, our tester impressed with optional leather in light gray to complement the exterior color scheme. These aren’t the softest, plushest hides around, but the surfaces appear extremely durable, important in this class that sees much more rough and tumble action than the luxury and sports car segments. And while stain resistant fabrics are standard, I always recommend leather for families, as it’s a lot easier to clean. The rear seating area is large and spacious, more so than the majority of its competitors due to only trying to fit in five seats rather than seven. This makes it especially accommodating for loading in child safety seats, which lock into the LATCH clasps provided at each window position, and the kids that go in them. The Equinox is both longer and wider than most in this class, so even fully loaded with passengers there’s plenty of room behind for luggage; a loading area made especially useful thanks to a height-adjustable cargo shelf, carpeted on one side and washable plastic on the other. The 60/40 split rear seatbacks fold flat too, for longer items, or when up, actually slide back and forth by 8.0 inches and recline; GM dubs them Multi-Flex seats. Oh, and the front passenger seat also folds forward if you need to bring along a ladder, a bunch of 2×4s or a mast.

Parents will appreciate that it gets top honors in frontal and side-impact crash tests, not to mention that they’ll get OnStar with a year of the Safe & Sound plan gratis. Better than having OnStar call on your behalf if in an accident, GM’s Stabilitrak electronic stability control system is standard, as are four-wheel discs with ABS and traction control. Chevy also includes a tire pressure monitoring system to maintain optimal contact with the road.

I realize that safety isn’t all that parents think about when buying a new vehicle, and that, like my mother-in-law and her husband, young families aren’t the only ones buying crossovers, so keep in mind that Chevy equips each Equinox with a number of standard convenience features too. The basic package includes air conditioning with air filtration and rear-seat heating ducts, power windows, mirrors and programmable door locks with remote entry, a tilt steering column, driver information center, and a six-speaker AM/FM/single-CD stereo system with an auxiliary jack for the music player of your choice. You can get a six-disc CD changer for extra, but most will probably be satisfied with somewhere to plug in their iPod or the option of XM satellite radio. Personally, my favorite standard feature with this car is Chevy’s zero-deductable, five-year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty, call me pragmatic.

And the price for all of this equipment? A front-wheel drive Equinox LS will set you back $23,650, so it’s not the cheapest in its segment by a long shot. Then again, factoring in that a V6 comes standard, a positive or negative depending on how you look at it, and that it’s a fair bit larger than most rivals, ditto on the happy-sad equation, means you get a lot of crossover for the money. With the base model you can add on options, such as roof-mounted side-curtain airbags, or you can move up to an active on-demand all-wheel-drive Equinox LS for $25,275, step up to the LT FWD for $24,520, or better yet the same LT AWD in these pictures, minus some options, for $26,145. There’s also a 2 LT trim level, which is like a better-equipped LT model for $25,845 in FWD trim, or a 2 LT AWD for $27,470; there is also the fully loaded LTZ trim line which starts at $28,425 for FWD and $30,050 for AWD. Top of the line models get the Sport designation, and like the others can be had in front-wheel drive for $28,730 or all-wheel drive for $30,355, and come with such features as 18-inch aluminum wheels, some sporty styling details that make it look faster standing still, a lowered performance-tuned suspension, and most importantly a 264-horsepower 3.6-liter V6 mated to a six-speed automatic with tap-up/tap-down shift controls. If you add on every available option, including a power tilt-sliding moonroof and navigation, but excluding dealer added accessories, a Sport will top out at $33,495. Yes, that’s quite a bit, but my guess is that your dealer will sell for less.

The 185-horsepower 3.4-liter V6 and five-speed automatic combination that comes with lesser models worked fine for me, however, and my guess is that it’ll be ideal for most peoples’ needs as its 210 lb-ft of torque comes on at a very tractable 3,800 rpm, allowing quick takeoff and ample passing performance. With such a large vehicle I wouldn’t want to have to struggle along with a four-cylinder either, and my guess is that it wouldn’t fare much better at the pump. As it is, the 3.4 manages a reasonable 17 mpg in the city and 24 on the highway.

Out on the road it ramps up to highway speeds quickly and travels along at a fairly quiet, comfortable pace. Its fully-independent suspension setup allows for quick, controlled lane changes and contributes to the braking system’s impressive stopping power. Then again the Equinox isn’t a sports car, so you can’t get hard on the brakes around every corner without experiencing some fade, and while pretty good around the corners you’ll need to give it the necessary room to move about in tight traffic.

Over the years Chevy seems to have fixed some of my previous complaints, with the chassis slap that occurred over speed bumps or particularly bad road surface irregularities exorcised out of the suspension, and added sound deadening to make the cabin feel more upscale than it previously did. If you’re a stickler for plastics quality you probably won’t be wowed by every interior surface, but on the bright side there are more padded areas than some much more expensive competitors. My tester was dressed up beautifully with a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, the aforementioned leather seats, a woodgrain surfaced center stack (plus a strip of faux wood on the shifter knob), bright and brushed metal detailing and such niceties as steering wheel audio and cruise controls plus automatic climate control. It even had a Panasonic DVD-entertainment system hanging overhead!

Yes, I can see why a young family or a set of empty-nesters would opt for the Equinox, and I haven’t even mentioned anything about its time tested reliability. There’s something to be said for buying a vehicle later in its life-cycle, and when it has aged as well as the Equinox, there are few drawbacks to doing so.