• Year: 2005
• Make: Chevrolet
• Model: Equinox
• Trim: LS
• Body style: SUV
• Mileage: 89606
• Engine: 6 Cyl. 3.4
• Trans: Automatic
• Exterior Color: WHITE
• Interior Color: Light Cashmere
• Stock: G444B
• VIN: 2CNDL13FX56170570

Having the trio of OnStar, XM satellite radio, and the CD changer onboard meant that there was always more entertainment along for the ride. If you want rear-seat entertainment screens, though, you'll have to step up in size and price to a different vehicle.

With its unique look and larger size than the American and Asian competition, the Equinox is in a position to please the more demanding customers looking for more power and more space than the norm in this segment. The Equinox has a very flexible interior design with lots of space for family goods, and lots of space for American-sized people in both rows of seats.

Equinox is a Chevrolet, with Chevrolet-level quality and materials at a Chevrolet price. It has a distinctly Japanese feel to it, inside and out, but it's American, built in Canada, and a heck of a deal for the money, we think. Whether you measure it by the linear foot, the cubic foot, or by visual impact alone, it's the biggest of the smaller SUVs, and our FWD tester was loaded for bear for less than $26,000.

Equinox certainly looks the part of a Chevrolet truck from the front, with its more or less standard single grille bar sporting a large gold Chevrolet bow-tie emblem. But its side-view shape is quite a bit different from the rest of the family, and for that, we like it.

The pillars and the sheetmetal between the tops of the glass panels and the roof seem to us to be extra-thick, imparting a feeling of extra solidity and strength, perhaps important for a truck made on a car platform. When you shut the doors, the sound that's generated is more like a muted plastic mating than hollow steel sheetmetal, a sound that no other Chevrolet truck makes.

The Equinox look solidly planted on its wheels. The bigger size is evident everywhere. The doors open wide for easy entry and exit, and the rear gate goes up and out of the way for easy loading of cargoes, freight, dogs, camping equipment or what-have-you.

Standard amenities on the upmarket LT version include a remote entry system with programmable locks, a power driver's seat, air conditioning and a six-speaker single-CD stereo. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has rated the Equinox with a four-star rating (out of five) for frontal impact for both driver and passenger and five stars for side impacts, front and rear.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the powertrain in the Equinox. It starts, it runs, and it's relatively smooth. That is, until you ask it for full-throttle performance, when it starts to grind and whine a bit. The new five-speed automatic transmission shifts up and down just fine. It's just not a powertrain that will make your blood boil, although GM claims the Equinox's 0-60 sprint comes in only 8.5 seconds, whether it's AWD or FWD. As we said, this is a 25-year-old engine design that is without benefit of balance shafts, variable-valve timing or variable intake, but it's perfectly adequate for family SUV use. Chevrolet rates it to haul families plus trailer loads of up to 3500 pounds, and it has the guts to do it.

We found the long-wheelbase chassis of this 3600-pound car/truck provided a plush ride, good cornering performance, relatively crisp handling, and long-trip comfort. The brakes are well matched to the size and weight of the Equinox FWD that we tested, with good, progressive pedal travel and linear braking force application.

Equinox and the Saturn Vue have an electric power steering system. An electronic control unit programmed for a variety of performance characteristics controls an electric motor mounted adjacent to the steering column to provide the right amount of assist for a given driving situation. The steering ratio is variable, so the Equinox has good, steady road feel in highway driving and low effort at low speeds for easier parking. We don't think the average American driver can tell it apart from hydraulic power steering, and that's a good thing, especially when combined with the fact that engine power isn't used to drive the system and can be used to move the vehicle, saving gasoline.

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