A couple months ago I got the chance to drive a Chevy Equinox for a long weekend for free! We used it to drive to Wisconsin for Jessica’s birthday, so we really had some time to experience the vehicle. It’s kind of a midsize SUV, which is a good size for us. Like when I got the free Ford Escape Hybrid loaner, the drop off and pick up could not have been easier. I just told them the days and the car arrived and was taken away. The only thing was that the morning they dropped off the Equinox was the day that I hurt my foot really bad, so I didn’t actually get to drive it that much at first. A couple days later, though, I took it out to run some errands.

Here’s what we liked about the Chevy Equinox: Good, quality speakers, comfortable seats, smooth ride, XM radio, and the video display that shows up on the rearview mirror when you put the car in reverse. That was super cool. We also liked the size of the Equinox. It’s not too big, but would be large enough to get groceries or larger items and to haul around golf clubs in the summertime.

What we didn’t like is that the Equinox didn’t have GPS built in. It had ONStar, which honestly, seems like antiquated technology in this day and age. When they dropped the Equinox off they did a demo of how ONStar works and it literally calls someone and they ask where you’re going and give you directions. Really? Let me just type it in my iPhone instead. Or? Have built in GPS. I know ONStar has a bunch of functionality, which we did not explore, but as far as navigation goes, I didn’t really like it. We also wished that the Equinox was a hybrid. And that there were dual temperature controls and seat heaters. Also, we couldn’t figure out where the auxiliary jack was to plug in our iPods. There had to have been one, we just couldn’t locate it.

Overall, though, we thought the experience was really great. I haven’t been in a Chevy vehicle for…. I can’t remember the last time. Even though there were some key things we disliked, the Equinox exceeded our expectations for what it would be like to drive a Chevy for the weekend.

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