The seven-year run of the second-generation Chevy Equinox has finally reached its halting point. It has paved the way for the third-generation 2018 Chevrolet Equinox that has been fittingly unveiled last September, which, in turn, has coincided on the date of the fall equinox. Experts said that the 2018 Equinox is the strong offering that the company just needed in order to be successful in its hyper-competitive segment. In addition to the car's refreshed looks that apparently tie the Equinox aesthetically to its brand mates, and considering the added safety and technology updates, a significant number of car enthusiasts say that the new Equinox is now taking a big breath of fresh air with a trio of turbocharged engines under the hood.
According to Automobile Mag, although the styling of the new Equinox turns out to be not as sharp as that of the new Mazda CX-5 or as funky as the Honda CR-V's, Chevrolet's new offering is considerably pleasant in a neutral way, yanking its stylistic cues from the Cruze and Malibu. It was found that there are three new powertrains up for grabs, but the most notable among them is the new 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that serves as the base engine. On the road, although it seems to be small, the turbocharged engine provided great torque, only to be let down by the somewhat lazy six-speed and experts claimed that the 1.5-liter works harder to motivate the heavier crossover as compared to what it does in the Malibu, but still remains to be impressively smooth and strong when pushed.
Furthermore, as per Auto Blog, the updated Equinox gets an aerodynamic makeover and sheds an impressive 400 pounds of weight for the new generation. The 1.5-liter Equinox, which includes engine stop-start, nets fuel economy figures of 26 mpg city and 32 highway for the front-wheel-drive model, while adding all-wheel drive subtracts just two mpg across the board. In terms of the Equinox's interior, the company reveals that it's about the same as what you'd expect from a Chevy crossover, with materials skewing more towards robust than refined, and added with controls and instrumentation which, in turn, maintains a fair share of analog simplicity.
Ultimately, the 1.5-liter Equinox goes on sale this spring, while the 2.0-liter and diesel models are set to arrive and be made available to the market this summer. With that, we could probably expect pricing to start around $25,000 for the base Equinox L. Thus, a number of car enthusiasts say that it will not be surprising to see that the whopper got even bigger and for the Equinox to cement its position as GM's second-best selling model.
