Today's post is on the new 2010 Chevrolet Equinox, which is a front wheel drive or all wheel drive five passenger crossover. I am not necessarily an SUV or crossover fan...but I do need to bring up that the crossover segment is going thru some major changes.
Crossovers are continuing to evolve and develop....the new Equinox is a prime example. The 2010 Equinox is a much better vehicle than the model it replaces. It shows GM's resolve to finally get back to building good cars.
The feature to the Equinox that I thought was interesting was the application of GM's Active Noise Cancellation technology. Basically, the there are microphones to monitor the noise level and the speakers generates the opposite sounds to cancel low frequency noises.
This technology has been in development for a number of years....automobile manufacturers are now beginning to deploy the technology. The benefits are that the 2010 Equinox is exceptionally quiet with noise and vibration to a minimum. There was an additional benefit to the deployment of the technology is that the engineers were able to drop the idle speed and gain an additional .1 mpg.
The standard 2.4 liter Ecotec direct injection motor is rated at 182 h.p. with a 0-60 time of 9.6 seconds. An optional 3.0 liter direct injection motor is available with 264 hp and a 0-60 time of 7.8 seconds. The only available transmission is a six-speed automatic. This is not a sports car but GM is working on meeting the new higher CAFE fuel economy regulations.
Fuel economy for the 2.4 liter is an exceptional 21/30 city/highway, meanwhile the 3.0 liter is rated at 18/25 city/highway. All wheel drive is available which should reduce the mileage by 1-2 mpg.
Note that Chevrolet has continued with the two tone interior which is similar to the Chevrolet Malibu. Personally, I find the new interior on the Equinox to be exceptional in the class. The main competitors are the Ford Escape, Jeep Liberty, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Santa Fe, and the Toyota RAV4. This is a substantial change from the prior model.
SUMMARY:
The new 2010 Chevrolet Equinox is another example that GM has decided to build good products. It has exceptional fuel economy without the necessity of a hybrid or diesel technology. It is an attractive crossover that is extremely competitive in it's class. These are the kind of cars that will bring GM back from the brink!
