best bang for the buck for mid/compact SUV
my wife and i were eying for a compact/mid size SUV for the family for at least two years. the Chevy Equinox came down to be the best bang for the buck with the best in class fuel economy, good performance, most rear seat leg room, above average interior and doesn't look like a t u r d in a box. right before we pulled the trigger on the car, i was a bit concerned about many complains on the net in regard to the ticking noise from the eco tech engine. in fact, we went to two different car max and test drove at least 5 different equinox i-4 with the eco tech engine, and two out of 5 had the ticking noise engine. i was a bit wary, but eventually we found one without the ticking noise.
the fuel economy has got to be the best highlight of this car. some on the net have complained about unrealistic EPA estimate 32mpg highway rating. my wife and i however are able to achieve 34mpg average on the highway, i've even gotten it to do 36mpg on the high way on an extended 350mile long trip up to Monterey. (we live in Southern California).
the ample rear seat leg room helped sold us on the car, consider you can slide them forward and back.
i was also a bit wary on the 180hps rating for an SUV. i have a 450hps Hemi SRT. but i was surprised that the engine torque management of the equinox was well designed. it has a smooth and wide torque range that most of the torque seems available to you pass 1500~2000 rpm. you don't need to be in a very high rpm to get the car moving. the transmission shifting is of course lazy, very lazy, but that's to be expected for a fuel sipping vehicle. if you turn the ECO mode off, the shifting becomes slightly more peppy on a curvy uphill road. the manual shift mode leaves a lot to be desired. you can forget about the manual shift mode. the car's TCU will do what it want to do with its gears despite whatever gear you put it in. but since this car really isn't designed for any off-road purpose, it really doesn't matter.
for those of you shopping for an off-road capable SUV. most SUV/CUV today are NOT off-road capable. most SUV/CUV with all-wheel-drive are snow capable but not recommended for off-road. if you're looking for a true off-road vehicle, you need a real 4X4 like Jeep Wrangler or Grand Cherokee.
we love this car very very much. the only thing i wish GM could have done better was the front seats. the seats in the front don't have enough back support. it only has a little bit but not enough back support. also you're unable to adjust the angle of the thigh support which makes skinny people like me with little tush feel a bit uncomfortable.
overall, for under 30 grand... this was the best bang for our buck for a fuel efficient family SUV.
i should mention that after we picked the car up, we noticed the AC wasn't working. we took it back to Carmax and turned out it had a faulty o-ring that was leaking Freon. Carmax fixed it right away with its 30 warranty. :)
- Howie, 2010 Chevrolet Equinox
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