Because the 3 broke so unexpectedly last week and because Layla and I needed to get around, we decided to rent a car for the weekend. Even though I made a reservation for a compact, Avis didn't have any available, and so they gave me the Chevy Equinox like the one pictured at the top of this article.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to take pictures of my own and, you know, upload them to the WikiMedia Commons like I usually do. All I have are pictures I found on the web.
The short short story: the Equinox is the worst SUV I've ever driven. The interior—which is usually the only thing worth looking forward-to in a car which isolates you from the road as much as possible—was near-Classic in quality.
Particularly odd was the gear-shift indicator, placed just above the gear selector on the center console. In contrast to the usual "PRND2L" indicator, this one was arranged "P R N D L4 L2." L4? L2? What's this nonsense all about? You can see most of this in the picture below. The odd button-looking things just in front of the gear selector are really just small plastic bits with lamps inside. They're not buttons.
Apart from that, the overall feel was terrible and the fittings looked like something cobbled together by recent design-school graduates—or so said Layla. And indeed, I agree wholeheartedly. The two redeeming qualities of the car were the 3.4L V6 (which is only an OK engine, not a great engine) and the price, and the price is really only a sure thing if your rental car agency is often out of Aveos.
So, as usual, I heartily recommend you stay away from the Equinox. American design mediocrity at its finest.
P.S.
I chatted with a rental car guy after dropping the car off for a few minutes and he pointed out that there aren't any Honda rentals anywhere, really. I've never noticed that, but I'm pretty damned sure he's right. It turns out that the management at Honda forbids it because they don't want to tarnish their image. And, if their cars are going to be rented alonside the Equinox, I don't blame them.
Subarus are rarely seen as rentals for the same (or similar) reason.
A coworker of mine drives an Aveo because it was the cheapest car he could buy. I think that the only thing that made it 5 figures was the automatic transmission. It's a less bad car than could be expected for that price.
Like most hilariously tiny vehicles, the Aveo really isn't all that bad until it's been driven for about a year or two—at which point, the bargain-basement switchgear starts busting left and right and the hard-plastic interior starts rattling like a damned baby toy. There are few experiences I've had that are worse than riding around in a three-year-old three-cylinder Chevy Metro (a.k.a., the Geo Metro after Geo was sent a big SIGKILL).
this kind of scares me, i was looking into getting an equinox. I don't know anything about cars! I just liked the look and liked it when I test drove it.
You should consider the Toyota RAV4 and the smaller Hyundai crossovers (the Santa Fe and the Tuscon). They're endlessly better vehicles in build quality.
--D