<div id="subtitle">Crossover boasts better fuel economy than RAV4 and CR-V</div><div><p>Chevrolet's sport utility vehicle named for the first day of spring had a rebirth this year, and the resulting 2010 Equinox is the best ever.</p><p>A crossover SUV that's based on a car-like chassis, the Equinox has stylish new looks, a refined ride, handsome interior and new, more fuel efficient engines.</p><p>The face borrows from the attractive front styling of the Chevy Malibu sedan and Chevy Traverse SUV. A two-tier grille and prominent hood, plus graceful side lines, create an attractive-looking SUV that makes even the Honda CR-V look a bit dowdy.</p><p>A compact SUV since it debuted in 2005, the Equinox also grew an inch here and there this year and looks on the outside larger and more substantial than before.</p><p>Best of all, the addition of a fuel-sipping four-cylinder engine gives it a better fuel economy rating — 22 miles per gallon in city driving and 32 mpg on the highway — than the top-selling Toyota RAV4 and the CR-V.</p><p>Starting manufacturer's suggested retail price, including destination charge, of $23,185 is lower than last year because of the smaller, base engine. But it's a tad higher than the starting retail prices for the new CR-V, at $22,255, and the new RAV4, at $22,300. All prices are for base models with four-cylinder engines, automatic transmissions and two-wheel drive.</p><p>The lowest-priced, 2010 Equinox with all-wheel drive starts at $24,935.</p><p>The interior is new, with nicely styled center stack of controls, comfortable seats and ice blue ambient lighting. Sure, there's a lot of hard plastic in there but fit and finish on the tester were excellent, and controls were ergonomically designed and easy to operate.</p><p>The ride was what impressed me most. Compared with the clumsy-feeling suspension of the old Equinox, the ride in the new model is downright refined.</p><p>The suspension — independent front struts and independent four link at the back — managed road bumps well, with just a few ba-boom sounds on rough stuff.</p><p>The Equinox had to manage both the road bumps and the considerable weight of the vehicle, which starts at 3,770 pounds with four-cylinder engine and goes to 4,000-plus pounds with V-6.</p><p>Despite the weight, which is more than that of the CR-V and RAV4, passengers rode above the road fray and felt only slight vibrations now and then. In fact, the Equinox provides quite a substantial, safe feeling to everyone inside. Some of this is due to the widened front track of the vehicle, which gives it a strong road presence.</p><p>That presence is backed up by government crash tests, which give the new model across-the-board five-out-of-five stars in laboratory front and side crashes.</p><p>The interior was surprisingly quiet, even though the test model was the uplevel Equinox LTZ with 264-horsepower, 3-liter, direct-injection V-6. I heard low, confident engine sounds while accelerating — never anything loud or raucous.</p><p>Understandably, the V-6 drinks unleaded gasoline at an average rate for a heavy SUV, resulting in a government fuel economy rating of 17 mpg in the city and 24 mpg on the highway. This is the same fuel mileage rating as several other six-cylinder-powered smaller SUVs, such as the sporty BMW X3.</p><p>But the ride and handling of the Equinox isn't so much sporty as it is poised and comfortable.</p><p>The six-speed automatic shifts smoothly and tries its best to deliver top mileage. And powered by the V-6, the still-compact SUV can tow a healthy 3,500 pounds.</p><p>In contrast, the 2010 Honda CR-V, which comes with only a 180-horsepower four cylinder, can tow a maximum 1,500 pounds.</p><p>Neither the RAV-4 nor the CR-V comes with a six-speed automatic transmission.</p><p>But Chevy also puts the six-speed tranny in the Equinox with the 182-horsepower, 2.4-liter, direct-injection, four-cylinder engine. This helps explain the noteworthy 32 mpg in highway driving for the four-cylinder model.</p><p>In comparison, the lighter weight RAV4 has top government mileage of 22/28 mpg, while the lighter weight CR-V tops out at 21/28 mpg.</p><p>Of course, no one goes from garage at home directly onto the freeway, so the everyday reality isn't going to be 32 mpg.</p><p>But with an 18.8-gallon gas tank in the four-cylinder model, the Equinox can travel a combined city/highway route of some 375 miles on a single fill-up, according to government figures.</p><p>There's even a first-ever noise cancellation technology for Chevrolet in the four-cylinder model. It uses microphones inside the vehicle to detect booming sounds and then seeks to cancel them out with counteracting sound waves from the audio system speakers.</p><p>Honda has had a similar system in its larger vehicles, such as the Odyssey minivan and Pilot SUV, for years.</p><p>But the Equinox's four-cylinder can feel a bit sluggish for such a heavy vehicle. It produces peak torque of 172 foot-pounds at 4,900 rpm, which comes at a higher rpm than the 172 foot-pounds at 4,000 rpm in the RAV4.</p><p>The tester had a disturbing low buzz/rubbing sound whenever I made sharp U-turns. It seemed to come from the power steering. And I had to be careful when turning around because the model with optional 18-inch tires needed some 40 feet of turnaround space. This compares with the 34.8 feet turning circle in a base RAV4.</p><p>The large pillars at the sides of the rear window make it difficult to see while backing out of parking spaces.</p><p>All safety equipment is standard, including curtain air bags, antilock brakes, traction control and electronic stability control.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=63126063&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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