2018 Chevrolet Equinox 2 0t REVIEW
Channel: Premium Cars
Date: 2018-01-13

Since 2010, Chevrolet has been limping the second-generation Equinox along, doing the bare minimum to keep it competitive in the compact crossover segment. But for 2018, Chevy finally gave the Equinox a ground-up redesign, with a lighter body (by 400 lbs) and chassis, and three new turbocharged engines. A turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder serves as the base engine, and a 1.6-liter turbodiesel that will be available later this summer will be the economy leader. In-between is a 2.0-liter four-cylinder gas engine introduced just recently. It's this example that we got to try out in Nashville, Tennessee, to find out if the new Equinox is worth your consideration.  This new 2.0-liter unit isn't as powerful as the 3.6-liter V6 it replaces, making 252 horsepower as opposed to 301. Torque is down, too, with 260 pound-feet instead of 272. But what it loses in power, it gains in fuel economy. The old V6 only managed 17 mpg city and 24 mpg highway with front-wheel drive, and the all-wheel-drive version got 1 mpg less in each category. The new 2.0-liter four-cylinder gets 22 mpg in the city and 29 mpg on the highway with front-wheel drive. Going with all-wheel drive drops the highway number by 1 mpg.  Compared with the rest of the segment, the Equinox's 2.0-liter engine fares well, more so than the already available 1.5-liter. Only the Ford Escape Titanium with its own 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 245 horsepower and 275 pound-feet of torque comes close to the "big-displacement" Equinox. The front-drive version of that Escape also matches the Chevy for fuel economy, but the all-wheel drive version loses out with 20 mpg city and 27 mpg highway. The 2.0-liter Equinox also outguns competitors such as the Mazda CX-5, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, and Nissan Rogue – which all make less than 200 horsepower. That's not an entirely fair comparison, though, since the $30,090 2.0-liter Equinox costs roughly $6,000 more than any of those less-powerful crossovers. The $24,525 1.5-liter Equinox is a closer competitor, and its 170 horsepower and 200 pound-feet of torque are square in the middle of the pack.    In practice, the 2.0-liter engine feels well-suited for this crossover. It doesn't turn the Equinox into a tall hot hatch, but you'll never struggle to pass people or get up to speed on highway ramps. Power delivery is smooth without much turbo lag. The engine is also quiet around town and when cruising on the highway, but at high rpm, it elicits some thrumming noises that permeate the otherwise relatively quiet cabin. It's unlikely many drivers will frequently experience high rpm, though, since the 9-speed automatic transmission does everything it can to keep the engine turning slowly. This of course means plenty of upshifts to keep the needle from swinging too far up the tachometer, but every shift is silky smooth and nearly imperceptible. Where the transmission could use some improvement is in shift speed. It takes a moment for it to wake up and downshift when you demand more giddy-up, and the same goes for upshifts. Putting it in the low mode or manual mode doesn't speed things up, either.  The impeccably maintained winding roads outside of Nashville also revealed that the Equinox is a fairly agile handler. For a tall crossover, there isn't much body roll, and the chassis reacts quickly when changing directions and is stable through corners. It was further evident the chassis was more capable than the tires fitted to it, which complained at their earliest convenience in the turns. The Equinox exhibited significant understeer when applying throttle in the corners, but engaging all-wheel drive (on an Equinox so-equipped) helped mitigate this. The steering isn't quite as enjoyable as the chassis, though. It's fairly sensitive and precise everywhere except just off-center, and it weights up well. Unfortunately, feedback is slim making it more difficult to place the front tires. Tennessee's smooth back roads, while great for driving, made it tough to evaluate ride quality. But we found a handful of bumps exiting Nashville on which the Equinox exhibited more body movement than we would've expected. The suspension also felt fairly firm, but it didn't kick or buck over bumps.    We should pause here for a moment to explain the Equinox's unusual optional all-wheel-drive system. As mentioned in the discussion of handling, the Equinox's system is selectable. Most all-wheel drive crossovers use a full-time system in which the front wheels are powered all of the time, and when they slip, some proportion of available power is rerouted automatically through a center coupling to the rear wheels. The Chevy Equinox's AWD system only transfers power rearward when the all-wheel drive button is pressed. Otherwise, the Equinox stays in FWD mode and the rear axle is disconnected entirely. If the car suspects all-wheel drive is needed, it will prompt the driver to hit the butto