2024 Chevrolet Equinox: It could be a bargain, and it wouldn’t be a bad one

2024 Chevrolet Equinox RS AWD: Not another ho-hum rental crossover?

Price: $38,220 as tested. Sunroof added $1,495; the Safety and Infotainment package added lots for $1,200. More noted below.

Conventional wisdom: Consumer Reports liked the “roomy interior, comfortable ride and quiet cabin, intuitive controls,” and “easy-to-use infotainment system,” but not the “drab interior” or “leisurely acceleration.”

Marketer’s pitch: “For well-qualified buyers, 1.9% APR + No monthly payments for 90 days.” (They’re focused on the all-new 2025 model.)

Reality: The Equinox has gotten better. And bargain-ier.

What’s new: Not much. The midsize Equinox carries over from previous years, and was last redesigned in 2018. Its new look in 2022 only impressed superficially.

But with time marching on past it, I expected, if not the worst, the averagest from the Equinox. The SUV voted Most Likely to Appear at Budget Rental.

It seemed to be going in that direction on Day 1. But as time rode on, I was surprised.

Competition: Besides the rental-car runner-up Nissan Rogue, there’s the Honda CR-V, Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-50, Subaru Forester (watch this space for a review of the ‘25), and Toyota RAV4.

Up to speed: I’d given up a BMW M240i when I gained the Equinox, so I wasn’t expecting much dazzlement in the 0-60 department. I worried as I faced entering a busy Route 322 outside Downingtown one afternoon. The Equinox is, of course, no BMW, but it surprised me. I thought the acceleration felt pretty zippy, and I had enough long trips to confirm that feeling.

But feelings can be elusive things, ethereal even, and the numbers are not in the Equinox’s favor. The 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine creates just 175 horsepower, and 0-60 is a languid 8 seconds, according to Car and Driver.

More concerning, the Equinox has a definite hesitation after cornering. I could expect a pause of several moments after steering into the neighborhood and starting up the hill, and this repeated itself as I moved around Pennsylvania.

Shifty: I’m getting over the need to shift, which is good for GM. The company almost never allows for more than one low gear and some buttons.

On the road: The biggest surprise came where the roads tangle like ribbons draped over green hills, which the Equinox handled better than I expected. It’s not fun on the curves, but it is able to move through them with some zest. Just don’t push it; the back wheels would like to leave the road surface frequently.

Driver’s Seat: The seat remains well-matched to the driving dynamics of previous Equinox generations — as soon as I started to push the Equinox to its limits, I felt myself sliding around in the frictionless, unbolstered Driver’s Seat. The $1,580 RS Leather Package didn’t delight, at least in this respect.

A long ride and a hike showed the seat’s limitations. The Lovely Mrs. Passenger Seat is convinced a better seat in the Equinox would have helped her recover on the ride home from an 8-mile hike through Rothrock State Forest. It’s too hard, she said. Strangely, I’m usually the complainer and I wasn’t bothered.

Friends and stuff: The rear seat is quite nice, not uncomfortable, and with plenty of leg and head space.

Cargo space is a healthy 29.9 cubic feet in back and 63.9 with the seat folded.

Play some tunes: The Bose Premium stereo (the part of the RS Leather Package that makes it worth the money) turned out to be excellent. Songs are reproduced with great accuracy and made the whole experience much more pleasant. Great sound used to be a hallmark of General Motors stereos, but that’s going back many years now. Anyway, A+. Rock on, Chevy.

The operation happens the usual way for a Chevrolet, through a lone volume dial, with some buttons for up-down, and the fairly clear but smallish 8-inch touchscreen.

Keeping warm and cool: Dials control temperature, and everything else happens from the rather willy-nilly array of buttons in between. The rectangular vents don’t offer great directional control.

Fuel economy: They started low, but after I got on the highway to see Sturgis Kid 4.0 in State College and Sturgis Grandchild 1.0 near King of Prussia, the numbers climbed — to 24.1 mpg at the end.

Where it’s built: San Luis Potosí, Mexico

How it’s built: The Equinox gets a predicted reliability of 3 out of 5 from Consumer Reports.

In the end: Maybe I managed to convince myself I was on a tropical vacation every time I drove it; maybe it was the hiking adventure. (“It’s just over that hill; it’s not far.” Lying college kids.) But with a great stereo and decent manners, you’ll maybe forget about the unhelpful seats.

So you could do worse than the 2024 Equinox. With the Forester, CX-50, Sportage, and RAV4 in the competition, you could do better as well.

Chevrolet will have another go at it, with an all-new redesigned Equinox for 2025. Until then, maybe here’s your last chance to get a deal on a not-bad vehicle sitting on the lot.