Equinox 2010: With features to go-go

By Angela Trimmer

“Wake me up before you go, go” – Wham! A sparkling navy blue metallic 2010 Chevrolet Equinox LTZ AWD comes rolling out in front of me at the General Motors Oshawa plant at 7 am on a Friday morning.

“Jitterbug into my brain, goes bang bang bang till my feet do the same” – I may be slightly over-excited to be testing the new Equinox, but this compact SUV makes the perfect road trip accessory. With a high, menacing front end grille and sleek bodywork built with rocker panels that are actually part of the doors, the fit and finish leave a quality impression.

“Wake me up before you go go, ‘cause I’m not planning on going solo” – a quartet sing along to the defunct 80’s iconic group. (I’m lying – we, three girls, sang at unbearably high decibels while our male companion jammed his headphones in and turned up his iPod.) The noise pollution may have been an issue; however, the comfort was not.  The front seats are roomy and supportive – my butt did not get numb and tingly the entire six-hour drive. For those not driving, the rear seat legroom is enormous, especially when it is cranked full-back.  Minus back passengers, the rear seatback split-folds: not completely flat, but close enough to be useful.

To add to our road trip enjoyment, the 2010 Equinox is equipped with a host of standard features including: StabiliTrak electronic stability control, traction control and rollover mitigation; OnStar; tilt and telescoping steering wheel; driver seat power height adjustment and power lumbar; 17” aluminum wheels; and laminated glass and extensive sound alleviation (to the dismay of our male passenger, mitigation was only for the exterior audience).

General Motors ups the ante with the Equinox by offering a range of available features including a touch-screen navigation system with a 40 GB hard drive which can be used for audio storage and playback; and live audio pause and resume functionality.  Segment-first options are also available to make an enjoyable drive even more so, with features such as a rearview vision camera system and dual rear seatback entertainment system with cordless headphones.

If the quality, comfort, style or karaoke don’t impress you, perhaps the segment-best highway fuel consumption on the Equinox’s 2.4L direct inject engine at an estimated 6.L/100km will. For those requiring more torque, the Equinox is also available with a 3.0L V6 direct inject engine.

The 2010 Equinox marks the first time GM has used the “direct injection” technology in a non-turbocharged four-cylinder and the six-speed automatic transmission, which is standard across the board.

For happy button-pushers, another, more subtle, fuel economy-enhancing measure includes the ECO button: Push it and, among other things, the transmission shifts at lower r.p.m., the torque converter locks up earlier, and fuel is shut off in deceleration. Why aren’t these things done all the time? Mainly because there are drawbacks in driveability, refinement, and noise. The ECO button gives drivers the option to choose.

“Don’t leave me hanging on like a yo-yo” – With all the standard features, fuel economy, quality, style, safety, and all-wheel drive (AWD) availability, one might expect luxury prices for a luxury vehicle. General Motors knows value is in the pricing: The base trim level front-drive four-cylinder Equinox starts at $25,995, but the expected volume seller 1LT trim is $27,725, which is within a few hundred dollars of GM’s major competitors. More impressively, the all-wheel drive upgrade is just $1,610 in the Equinox, versus two grand or more in the other segment-leading vehicles.  My tester, the top of the line LTZ AWD model, starts at a reasonable $35,070.

“Wake me up before you go-go, I don’t want to miss it when you hit that high!”

Angela Trimmer is the Women’s Post automotive editor.