2010 Chevrolet Equinox
The Chevrolet Equinox has never really been a loser in the compact crossover segment, but it has also never really been a leader, either. It was always just kind of “okay,” with milquetoast styling, so-so performance and reasonable roominess, but never anything really attention grabbing. Coming just a week after General Motors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Chevrolet General Manager Ed Peper officially introduced the all-new 2010 Chevy Equinox as the first product of the “New General Motors,” and it’s clear that the company hopes their new baby is able to grab a much larger share of this burgeoning segment.
Among other things, the Equinox gets all new powertrains, including an available four-cylinder engine for the first time. Both the four and the new 3.0-liter V6 have direct fuel injection and are paired up with six-speed automatic transmissions. In fact, everything about the Equinox is new. Apparently the only major component carried over from the old model is the sunroof module. Everything else has been reworked or replaced. We had the opportunity to spend some seat time with both the four-cylinder and V6 models with front- and all-wheel drive.
Tags: automatic transmissions, chapter 11 bankruptcy, chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, chevrol, chevrolet equinox, chevy equinox, manager ed, toyota rav4, v6 modelsRelated posts
2010 Kia Soul deserves
Greeting the Kia Soul with low expectations didn’t make sense. Perhaps the details of the funkwagon’s story seemed overly familiar at first blush – Kia wants, nay, needs to be more than just the bargain-basement Hyundai store. Differentiating product lines with the help of bold design has been tried before, and the results have been disastrous more often than they’ve been wildly successful. Finding out that the Soul’s styling inspiration was a wild boar sent the cynical mind of this autowriter reeling, preparing to suffer with a bore of a swine-inspired car. But Kia’s been on a roll lately with aggressively priced product that’s well equipped and imbued with performance that’s often more inspired than the sum of its parts. If any brand stands a chance of melding its design studio’s hit parade with tuning that lives up to the looks, it’s Kia.