"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enChevrolet is GM's volume division they offer something for everybody but what's surprising is that they didn't really offer a competitive small SUV sure they had the Chevy Equinox but it wasn't very refined and its fuel economy not good at all well to try to solve that GM's redesign the equinox so we bought two of them to test a four-cylinder and a loaded v6 probably the equinoxes biggest improvement isn't handling no matter if you get the four cylinder or the six cylinder the steering is responsive and it's well weighted by the control it's kept in check an emergency handling its confident and it's secure aided by standard stability control cruising along the equinox is pretty quiet inside one noticeable source of noise though is on the four-cylinder going up hills and merging the engine gets a little buzzy when it's pushed the equinox rides well body motions they're well controlled and this goes for either the standard 17-inch wheels or the optional a-teams on the highway it feels especially confident and steady but one reason why the equinox might feel so composed on the highway is that it weighs quite a bit and that's noticeable with either powertrain the four-cylinder it's certainly adequate around town but you definitely have to push it to go up hills it does get 21 miles per gallon that's decent for a small SUV the v6 now when you buy a v6 you normally expect plenty of power in a small Chevy but this three liter v6 it simply doesn't deliver that in fact most of us would stick with the normal four-cylinder and once we had to tow another good reason to stick with the four-cylinder the v6 is quite thirsty it gets 18 miles per gallon that's the same as you can get out of a lot of larger SUVs both the four-cylinder and the v6 use a 6-speed automatic transmission it's calibrated to get the best fuel economy possible unfortunately that means that it's often reluctant to downshift which makes these cars feel even slower than they are the equinox has a few issues with visibility now front and side visibility are decent but all the pillars are thick the Pilar's broad when you look to the side you see right into the b-pillar the rear roof pillars they're thick because of the exterior styling and the back window it's not that big at all but one thing that helps on higher trim levels of the equinox there's a standard back up camera in the rear view mirror that's a big help when you're backing up the equinoxes interior has lots of visually appealing touches there's red stitching on the seats on the armrests and on the door panels even when you open up the storage compartment there's a red liner also on our Equinox 2lt with its optional leather seats there's two-tone leather and a two-tone dashboard but there's some shortcomings all the plastics they're hard some pieces are loose and there's some sharp edges finally these buttons they don't line up right controls are fairly straightforward but there's some annoyances here there's a lot of buttons in a small space and there's some odd decisions made us to their size why is the eject button bigger than the radio band button you're gonna use radio band a lot more often than you're gonna be ejecting CDs also the climate control buttons are fairly small and the shiny background makes their labels hard to read finally the power/lock button we prefer it on the doors but in the equinox they're small and they here in the center of the dash a plus the equinox allows many drivers tall and small to get a comfortable position there's a wide foot well and a tilt and telescope steering wheel when you buy a fairly basic Equinox like our 4-cylinder you get a manual seat but it has power height and lumbar adjustments now that might seem to be a good thing but the power height adjustment when you raise and lower the seat it also moves the seat forward or back and I got to reach down grab the lever slide it back well then I've just changed the height so now I've got to move the height again go back to the lever move it forward we recommend if you buy an equinox spend the extra money get the full power seat it's easier to adjust probably one of the biggest advantages of the equinox is that it has a very roomy interior it sort of splits the divide between a small SUV and a mid-sized two row SUV that's no more evident than in the backseat back here there's tons of legroom tons of headroom you can fit three people across comfortably and if you need more cargo space the whole backseat it slides forward and you still left with decent legroom in the back you'll find a roomy cargo area you can also get an optional power liftgate that's pretty rare for this class no question this equinox is a big improvement over the last one it's a pleasant car to drive and it has a lot of room inside but no matter how you cut it it's competing against some extremely strong competition in this class you\n"