We bought the Equinox when GM was struggling. Many experts thought the company would go under. So 9 years ago we paid about 18K for an LT with sunroof and nice wheels. It has been a v-e-r-y reliable car! Mostly it has shuttled back and forth to work, about 5 miles each way. It has made lots of Home Depot runs...plenty of space (although I do not know why more SUV designers do not allow the front right seat to fold forward, ala Pontiac Vibe or Toyota Matrix). It has made a few family vacations...up to 800 miles a day is no problem. Anyway, this car has not left us stranded even once. All we have done is regular oil changes. Brakes once, I think. Tires of course. About 70,000 miles we were getting check engine warnings and some power loss...e.g., not eager throttle response. I guessed this might be an EGR valve...easily replaced. But that wasnt it. I feared a transmission failure, but that wasnt it. What the car needed was a tune-up! New plugs and wires. We also replaced every fluid in the car at this point. I am now contemplating whether it makes sense to replace front shocks. Not really needed yet, but the car is not as supple as it once was and how long can parts like that last anyway? So anyway...this has been a good car and even in its darkest hours GM was making them.
Apart from reliability, what else? Well, it sits very high. It is relatively quiet. Not a sports car for handling, but OK. It would be nice if the back seat folded completely flat. Instead, theres a shelf between the seatback level and cargo floor, which means you cannot sleep comfortably in the back without adding some padding.
Economy: typically 17 mpg in town and 26 on the freeway.…
good family car
By Burgz | on Friday, December 19, 2008
4.0
My wife drives it most of the time. The main reason we bought it was the back seat roominess, great for getting kids out of car seats. Side air curtains. Decent mileage and pep. There are many blind spots and the turning radius is awful! The AWD in this vehicle leaves much to be deisred. My Audu A4 AWD will do circles in snow around the Equinox. The AWD is overated and not a value for this car. My wife enjoys the vehicle and it has been very reliable overall.…
Great little SUV
By princess82673 | on Saturday, June 21, 2008
5.0
I have had my 08 Equinox for 4 months. I did have a Saturn Ion, but needed something bigger for my son and myself and out of all of the SUVs and midsize cars I looked at, this had the most room in the back seat so my son could sit back there and have plenty of leg room, all the others his knees would hit the back of the front seat with it all the way back. Gas mileage I can not complain, yes we all want more, but I took mine to Tennessee and averaged 27 mpg only about 6-7 miles less then my Ion (which was plastic, 4 cyl, and front wheel drive as where the equinox is metal, 6 cyl, and AWD). So far I love this vehicle.…
