The verdict: It won’t win any drag races, but the redesigned 2025 Chevrolet Equinox drives beautifully, looks good, comes value-packed with safety equipment and feels like a high-quality piece.
Versus the competition: Competitors have more power, but few have the combination of style, comfort, refinement and equipment that the new Equinox delivers.
Few vehicles on the road for model-year 2024 were more long in the tooth and in need of a thorough refresh than the Chevrolet Equinox. Last given a big update for the 2018 model year (with a later minor refresh that was COVID-delayed to 2022), the Equinox was still a decent seller in the critically important compact SUV category — but going up against perennial customer favorites including the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Nissan Rogue, Toyota RAV4 and half a dozen other compact SUVs meant that Chevy needed to do more than touch up the old Equinox for another round.
The 2025 Equinox has now arrived, the last of the Chevy SUVs to get its redo and the last piece of the puzzle that’s now seen the brand completely revamp its SUV lineup over the last 18 months. The new Equinox arrives with a totally different look, more width, more content, a ton of safety features and a revamped trim lineup to boot — but the same turbocharged four-cylinder engine paired with a choice of new automatic transmissions. Has Chevy gone far enough in its redo to maintain its surging sales momentum, or is the new Equinox’s beauty only skin-deep? I traveled to Minneapolis to drive it and find out. (Per our ethics policy, Cars.com pays for its own travel and lodging when attending such manufacturer-sponsored events.)
Related: All-New 2025 Chevrolet Equinox Priced From $29,995
That Fresh SUV Look
There’s no denying the obvious: The new Equinox’s look is far, far more appealing than the utterly boring outgoing model. Like so many other makers of car-based, crossover-style SUVs, Chevy is rediscovering boxy styling, switching from tall wagons that looked more carlike back to trucky, chunky, rugged-looking styles that are more masculine and aggressive. The ‘25 Equinox looks nothing like the outgoing SUV, but it does look entirely like the rest of the updated Chevrolet showroom, which now features no fewer than nine SUVs in total.
From its squared wheel arches meant to evoke the signature style of its pickup trucks to the “shark fin” flourish on the C-pillar that’s from the bigger Traverse to the two-part headlights-and-LED-running-lights face, it’s obviously a Chevrolet, and that’s no bad thing. The latest Chevy styling is dramatic, distinctive and attractive, and an Equinox that looks more like a baby Traverse while the even smaller Trax resembles a baby Blazer is fine by me.
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There are now three looks to choose from for your Equinox. It starts with the LT trim, which serves as the base variant, with its standard 17-inch aluminum wheels (19-inchers are optional), chrome grille and optional two-tone paint with contrasting roof. Step up to the sporty-looking RS and you get 19-inch wheels standard (20-inch wheels will be optional) and blacked-out trim with an available black roof. Topping the range is the new-for-2025 Activ trim, an off-road-themed (but not necessarily off-road-capable) variant with chunky all-terrain tires on 17-inch wheels, a unique front grille and bumper, and an available white roof. These are the simplified trim levels for the ‘25 Equinox lineup, offering up three very distinct looks for the SUV — even if the flavor of the Equinox remains rather the same across the range.
Lots of Substance but Short on Speed
Slip behind the wheel of the new Equinox and get underway, and regardless of what trim you’ve chosen, you’re in for largely the same driving experience. What strikes you most, however, is how quiet, comfortable and beautifully damped the Equinox is. The chassis tuning is brilliant (just like the rest of the Chevy SUV lineup). It offers an outstanding balance of road isolation for comfort but also a firm, not-overboosted steering feel from the chunky wheel. Broken cobblestone streets? No problem. Hit railroad tracks crossing the road at a slightly higher speed than you should? Easy peasy. Nothing upsets the Equinox’s chassis, even with the big 19-inch wheels at all four corners. It’s also quiet inside, with little road noise, wind rush or engine roar to disturb the passengers’ comfort. It’s an impressive little SUV in terms of the environment it creates — but it falls a little flat in the grunt department.
The sole engine is a carryover turbocharged 1.5-liter four-cylinder making 175 horsepower and either 184 pounds-feet of torque in front-wheel-drive guise or 203 pounds-feet in all-wheel-drive versions. This is because the transmission changes depending on FWD or AWD selection: FWD models get a continuously variable automatic transmission while AWD models get an eight-speed automatic. FWD is standard on all trim levels, with AWD being a flat $2,000 option.
Here’s the odd thing about the Equinox’s powertrain: Having driven both versions, I can confidently state that the FWD/CVT combination is the one to get despite having less torque. It’s tuned differently and feels far more sprightly and responsive than the AWD/eight-speed combination, which gets off the line smartly but runs out of steam quickly, is slow to shift and doesn’t like to kick down if you’re performing a 30 mph, foot-to-the-floor passing maneuver. To be clear, neither version of the powertrain is all that entertaining — it’s best described as adequate, and I feel it would likely struggle if the Equinox was loaded down with five people and luggage. It’s rated to tow only 1,500 pounds with AWD (and just 800 pounds with FWD), but I can’t imagine towing anything with this powertrain. It’s just plain poky and borderline slow.
That’s probably not going to matter to buyers, however, as GM has demonstrated to us time and again that its customers care less about what’s under the hood than what’s filling the cabin. Screens over speed, baby, that’s the name of the game, and it’s proving to be a winning formula for Chevrolet, too. Perhaps the upside here is that you’re unlikely to get a traffic citation for stoplight drag racing, as you won’t be doing any. You’re not going to win that challenge.
Aside from the powertrain differences, every Equinox drives pretty much the same. The RS only looks sportier; despite having some more aggressive tires and a suspension tuned for that, it doesn’t feel any more athletic than the LT. And despite the Activ’s chunkier all-terrain tires and a suspension tuned for those, it feels like the RS and LT. The Activ’s off-road theme is mostly for looks only; there are no additional changes beyond a mode selector that can switch from Normal to Snow/Ice and Off-Road (which comes with any of the AWD Equinoxes). It’s not a Z71 off-road variant like we see with the larger Traverse or the body-on-frame Tahoe; there’s no underbody trail protection, no proper locking differentials, not even any greater ride height over an RS or LT. It’ll do fine on a dirt road and can even be entertaining, but it’s not meant for going any further into the bush than the trail’s dirt parking lot. The chunky off-road General Grabber tires are a bit louder and bouncier than the on-road rubber on the LT and RS, but not detrimentally so. Sure looks cool, though, eh?
Quality You Can Feel
That’s a cliche, yes, but the interiors of the latest Chevrolets are truly impressive, and the Equinox is no different. The base LT is still a high-quality environment, with comfortable seats, plenty of room, excellent visibility, and materials and assembly quality I’d put up against anything in the class. Chevy’s combination of touchscreen controls integrated into the new 11.3-inch multimedia screen and hard buttons and knobs for climate and select audio controls are the new industry standard, in my opinion. Easy to use at a glance and not distracting, all of the routine stuff you want to be able to readily find and use is right there. The gauge display is a standard 11-inch digital screen reconfigurable to a few different layouts depending on how much information you want in front of you. The RS’ sportier red-and-black interior looks excellent, and the Activ’s tan upholstery with faux-suede trim is even nicer.
The multimedia system uses the latest Google-based operating system that has now appeared in all other new Chevy products, and it works reasonably well. If you’re already part of the Google universe, you’ll have some great integration options with your home and personal electronics. If you’re an Applehead, the Equinox still has standard wireless Apple CarPlay integration, as well.
But what the Equinox brings to the party that truly impresses might be the sheer volume of safety and convenience features it now offers, with more standard equipment than the outgoing model. It’s hard to evaluate such things in a review, as you hope you’ll never actually have to test a safety system, but they’re important to families who buy Equinoxes. Standard on all 2025 trims is the Chevy Safety Assist suite, which includes automatic emergency braking (which is actually ridiculously sensitive in the Equinox) , front pedestrian detection and braking, lane departure steering assist with lane departure warning, forward collision alert and more. It also now has intersection automatic emergency braking, an HD backup camera, rear park assist, rear cross-traffic braking, adaptive cruise control and myriad other features. Options include a 360-degree camera system, traffic-sign recognition, rear pedestrian alert and a rearview camera mirror. The only thing it doesn’t have that would make it just about perfect is GM’s amazing Super Cruise hands-free cruise control, but that would require a lot of expensive cameras, sensors and actuators that would boost the Equinox’s price — which is actually quite reasonable.
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- Shop for a 2025 Chevrolet Equinox
Priced to Be Popular
When you take into account FWD and AWD models, there are six versions of the Equinox you can purchase, with prices ranging from $29,995 (all prices include a $1,395 destination fee) for an LT FWD up to $36,395 for AWD versions of the RS and Activ. But even loaded to the gills with options, the ‘25 Equinox still comes in much less than the roughly $48,000 average new-car price in 2024. For this kind of reasonable value, plentiful equipment and excellent ride and comfort, you can put up with a little bit of poky acceleration — the rest of the new Equinox makes up for it.
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