Chevrolet Equinox (2025) Review

The old Equinox was invisible and this one is not, which counts for something in a segment where half the buyers choose on the dealer lot. The new body is upright and blunt, the Activ trim with its all-terrain tires looks the part, and inside there is an 11 inch instrument display and an 11.3 inch touchscreen running Google's software, which is among the better systems at this price. It is decent value too, opening just under thirty thousand with kit that used to cost more.

Then you press the accelerator. The 1.5-liter turbo has to move a heavier car through a continuously variable transmission, and testers are unanimous that it sounds strained and feels short of breath on a highway on ramp. Real world economy lands below the class leaders rather than above them, the interior plastics give the price away the moment you touch them, and Chevrolet's recent record leaves both resale and long term reliability as question marks rather than reassurances. Competent, well equipped, sensibly priced, and comprehensively beaten by the Honda and the Toyota it is parked next to.