[badpenguin]

2010 Chevrolet Equinox 2LT
Black/Titanium Leather Seats
18" Wheels
Cargo Package
Cyber Grey Metallic

Ordered the car almost 2 months ago, finally came in November 30th. So far, love it! Decided to buy my first "American" car and narrowed my choice down to either the equinox or its companion from GMC the terrain. Liked the exterior look of the terrain better, but didn't need all of the bells and whistles for the added cost, so I went with the Equinox. Features and advertised gas mileage better than any other compact SUV, American or otherwise, as far as I am concerned. The vehicle does not look like the typical "truck converted to SUV" put out by the American auto companies over the last decade or so.

The car is quieter than I expected, as a matter of fact it is quieter than my considerably more expensive 2003 Honda Pilot. My favorite "feature" by far is the remote start, love being able to start it from my office window and have it warmed up by the time I get ready to drive home. The ride feels sporty compared to my Pilot, particularly when cornering. Love the various displays, especially the instant MPG display, I have fun trying to squeeze the best mileage possible out of it. My average MPG, almost entirely around town so far, is 24.5, very respectable. Love being able play music from my iPhone 3G via the stereo, and the voice-activated bluetooth integration has worked flawlessly so far.

My only complaints...

The stereo does not work 100% with displaying the music on my iphone. For example when searching for artists, it lists 5 or ten blanks, like it can't figure out who the artist is. Then when drilling down inside of an artist, U2 for example, it will show the expected "All", but it will also list some other artist that does not belong there.

The stalks for windshield wipers/lights coming off of the steering wheel are not lit, which is a bit irritating when attempting to figure out the controls the first few times at night. On second thought, this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. It is simply a matter of getting used to the controls, my other car's control stalks are not lit either.

The seat has somewhat of a hard spot, right in the middle, I assume it has something to do with the seat heaters.

The owners manual, page 4-4, which is the diagram of where all of the controls are located, is an obvious misprint. Everything after item D (items E-X) is incorrect. For example the manual draws an arrow that points to the stabilitrac control button instead of the gear shifter, describes items that are not even present in the picture with labels (item X), and so on. How something like this made it through any sort of quality control process is beyond me.

The control knob for the stereo is too far away from the driver, attempting to search for songs on my iPhone while driving, for example, is not safe. They need stereo menu controls on the steering wheel. I have to wait for a stop light to actually use the menu system, otherwise I might end up too distracted to safely drive.

I don't believe the seat heater is automatically activating when I remote start the car. The other morning it was 19F, I have gone into the config and turned on the seat heater options during remote start, but when I get in the car after remote starting it does not appear the seat heater is activating. At least when I insert the key and turn the ignition to on, the indicator lights for the seat heater is not lit, and the seat does not feel heated up.

None of my complaints so far go beyond minor irritation. I look forward every day to driving to and from work, and find myself looking for excuses to go on "errands" It is a fun car, and fits my needs/expectations perfectly, so far. What sold me was the electronic features and the mileage, a very smart combination of features if you ask me.

 

[cheddar11]

Penguin, thanks for the review. Hope you love it. I have a SLE-2 Terrain and have experienced the same problems when accessing songs in my iphone 3G. The playlists don't show up correctly, but I found that if you go into playlists, press the back button and then go back into playlists you'll see everything displayed correctly.

I think this may because the iphone isn't 100% supported as you get the message to activate airplane mode when you plug the phone in. Hopefully a software upgrade will be made available.

The heated seats DO work with remote start, the light just doesn't come on. It feels like they come on at the lowest setting though. I just crank the setting once I get in. Never noticed the misprint in the manual, but I do have a Terrain instead of the Nox.

Enjoy the new wheels.

 

[badpenguin]

I think this may because the iphone isn't 100% supported as you get the message to activate airplane mode when you plug the phone in. Hopefully a software upgrade will be made available.

I figured as much. I researched it before buying the car and could not find any information indicating the iPhone's ipod would work at all, so I am tickled pink even if the playlists are a little screwy...

The heated seats DO work with remote start, the light just doesn't come on. It feels like they come on at the lowest setting though. I just crank the setting once I get in. Never noticed the misprint in the manual, but I do have a Terrain instead of the Nox.

It is kind of hard to tell because the car is already heated up nicely by the time I get into it. I think this evening when I leave work I will remote start it, get into it, turn the seat heat on its lowest setting, and see if I can feel a difference.

 

[Terrain_fan]

Nice review. You said "The stalks for windshield wipers/lights coming off of the steering wheel are not lit, which is a bit irritating when attempting to figure out the controls the first few times at night." Is there any vehicles out there that have this?

 

[10equinox]

that is a bit different, that the wipers are on the right stick instead of the left, like most other GM's, my first time driving at night in the rain, I went to turn the wipers on and I turned all the headlights off, while driving 60MPH, was kind of a scare, as it was pitch black out.

 

[Terrain_fan]

that is a bit different, that the wipers are on the right stick instead of the left, like most other GM's, my first time driving at night in the rain, I went to turn the wipers on and I turned all the headlights off, while driving 60MPH, was kind of a scare, as it was pitch black out.

Huh....I guess it depends on what GM vehicles you've owned. Here's how mine have stacked up, and where the wipers were:

09 Enclave, on the left stalk
04 Bonneville, on the right stalk
01 Silverado, on the left stalk
98 Grand Am, on the right stalk
95 Sunfire, on the right stalk
94 Cavalier, on the right stalk
86 Spectrum, on the dash, right of the gauges
83 Celebrity, on the left stalk.
72 GTO, on the dash, left of the steering wheel

Results:

3 on the left
4 on the right
2 on the dash

 

[badpenguin]

Nice review. You said "The stalks for windshield wipers/lights coming off of the steering wheel are not lit, which is a bit irritating when attempting to figure out the controls the first few times at night." Is there any vehicles out there that have this?

I plead temporary insanity. I checked my other car tonight, it's control stalks aren't lit either. How I got that idea in my head is beyond me.

 

[badpenguin]

Here are some photos of the misprint in my owners manual, sorry about the low quality. Starting with item E, nothing matches up correctly.

 

[10equinox]

Huh....I guess it depends on what GM vehicles you've owned. Here's how mine have stacked up, and where the wipers were:

09 Enclave, on the left stalk
04 Bonneville, on the right stalk
01 Silverado, on the left stalk
98 Grand Am, on the right stalk
95 Sunfire, on the right stalk
94 Cavalier, on the right stalk
86 Spectrum, on the dash, right of the gauges
83 Celebrity, on the left stalk.
72 GTO, on the dash, left of the steering wheel

Results:

3 on the left
4 on the right
2 on the dash

the grand am, cavalier and sunfire are all esentially the same vehicle, J body's, I was a gm mechanic for 10 years, and we rarely sold them, most of our cars sold and worked on were W bodys, lumina's cutlass's, monte carlo, regal etc., and buick B-body's, buick lesabre, olds 88, and pickups, and suburbans, and s-10's, comaro's and corvette's not sure about, didnt sell many if at all. All with wiper switch on the left stick.

 

[mkaresh]

This is a 4-cylinder? FWD or AWD? Cloth or leather?

Nice review. You said "The stalks for windshield wipers/lights coming off of the steering wheel are not lit, which is a bit irritating when attempting to figure out the controls the first few times at night." Is there any vehicles out there that have this?

The new Suzuki Kizashi has more backlighting than I've ever seen in a car. Not only the stalks, but even the paddle shifters (- and +) and the hood release. Everything that possibly could be backlit is backlit. But this is uncommon.

 

[badpenguin]

This is a 4-cylinder? FWD or AWD? Cloth or leather?

4-cylinder FWD, leather.

 

[dietz4ibanez]

Very good review.