Corner-cutting steals Equinox's thunder
By James R. Healey
USA TODAY

Hey, somebody said, how about we do a version of the Saturn Vue? And so they did. Stretched it 6 inches. Replaced the slab-plastic body panels with shapely steel ones. Axed the nifty Honda overhead-camshaft V-6 that's a Vue highlight in favor of a cheaper, aging, General Motors pushrod V-6. Dipped into the cheap-plastic parts bin that Saturn uses for interiors. Misaligned a couple of parts. Priced it like a Kia.

And there you have it -- Chevy Equinox.

The really useful thing that Chevy did was carve out a lot of space inside. The rear seat slides forward and backward a total of 8 inches. Slide it up for a big increase in cargo space. Slide it back for limousinelike back-seat legroom.

If you'll stoop to avoid the ceiling, there's plenty of room in front of the rear seat to squat and strap in a baby, then scoot sideways clear across to the other side as if you were in a low-roof minivan. That move-about room, rare to near-extinction in most rivals' SUVs, is worth a lot.

When the rear seat is full forward, you still get about 40 inches, a rare and generous specification that rivals the biggest SUVs' rear legroom. Front legroom is 41 inches, generous in any size SUV. So if leg space is your deal, Equinox is your SUV.

A tradeoff: No third-row seat is available. Equinox is within an inch of Ford's Explorer in length and exterior width, and Explorer manages a reasonably useful third row.

Side-to-side, Equinox clearly is small, not midsize. It surrenders about 3 inches of shoulder room to Explorer and to Chevy's own TrailBlazer midsize SUV, and gives up as much as 7 inches of hip room.

Doesn't feel narrow, though; in fact, Equinox seems wide inside, and sometimes illusion is sufficient for satisfaction. That won't make it any easier to get three-across kid seats, though. Chevy says they'll fit, but that obviously would be tight. If you need three across, take your kid seats to the showroom to make sure they fit; don't assume.

In addition to the luxurious feeling of space, here's what else stood out in the test drive of a $26,000 front-wheel-drive LT.

-- Noise. Not much. Even slamming over potholes, rough pavement and drainage gutters, Equinox was premium-quiet inside. Nice work, especially at the price.

-- Power. Plenty for around town and modestly challenging duties, but the venerable (polite for really old) GM V-6 runs out of breath when you have to hammer it, such as high-speed merging and passing. The seers at consultants J.D. Power and Associates say modern, powerful GM V-6s are due in a couple of years. Meantime, the 3.4-liter pushrod engine does a credible imitation of sufficient power in low-demand situations.

-- Handling. Yucky. Too much body lean, even on low-speed corners. Too much delay between when the driver says, ''Turn now,'' and the truck says, ''Uh, OK.'' Even if you don't sling around in your SUV, you'll still notice the lack of crispness when you make that last-instant decision that, yes, this is the corner you want.

Steering is good, though. GM has seemingly sorted out the sometimes crummy-feeling electric power steering.

Brakes are a mix. The pedal has a reasonably firm feel missing from most GM trucks, but the brakes don't come on very hard very fast, so the firmness seems phony.

-- Exterior. Perhaps the best-looking Chevy truck. Early buyers say the look is among the big lures.

-- Interior. You can't help but love the space, but elsewhere there are problems.

The backs of the front seats feel more like they're trying to shove you off forward than invite you to settle back and drive. Be sure your back and the seat are compatible.

Gearshift and turn signal levers move with distressing clack sounds implying brittle cheapness and lack of precision. You use both every day, so it would have been worth making them feel and sound much nicer.

The PRNDL gear indicator is down on the console instead of on the dashboard, forcing you to take your eyes further from the road if you want to verify the gear position.

The floor-mounted handbrake lever is partly blocked by the combination armrest/console between the front seats. You can raise it for good brake access, but then you can't use the console easily.

The all-wheel-drive model doesn't need the front-wheel-drive's traction control, and the hole for the traction control switch is plugged with an ill-fitting piece of plastic.

The edge where two different materials meet on the front door handles is obvious and unpleasantly sharp.

There's so little space between the side of the seat and the door that only skinny hands can reach the power-seat controls.

Interior colors and textures are generally pleasing, but they don't make up for the cheesiness and gaffes.

-- Quality. The hood and radio panel both were misaligned -- the kind of mismatches that were supposed to have been banished years ago.

The flaws are a commentary on how auto-industry cost-cutting has become corner-cutting. They keep an otherwise top-flight SUV from earning the loud ovation it would deserve if done in classier, higher-quality fashion.