There comes a time in many families’ lives when that tired Camry or Civic just cannot handle the children, dog or cat, and the latest IKEA purchase, which is why CUVs – crossover utility vehicles – are so popular. They have a touch more room for the family, but take up roughly the same footprint in that suburban garage.
There are at least 20 possible domestic and import compact CUVs to choose from; including Kias, Toyotas, Chevys and Fords. So which one do you choose? And what if the family wants to do some roaming that involves a dirt road, or beach?
Reviews Of Competitors: Ford Bronco Sport | Nissan Murano
That’s where the 2026 Chevrolet Equinox ACTIV AWD makes its case. By the way, this road test is of the gasoline Equinox, not to be confused with Chevy’s EV Equinox, which rides on a separate platform and is quite different than our inline-4 version. Hopefully we’ll see Chevy send EV Rider an EV Equinox for testing somethime soon.
Chevrolet’s compact gas Equinox came on out in 2005. Now in a fourth generation, introduced for the 2026 model year, it replaces a design that came out in 2018. The fourth-gen is outselling the last year of the third-gen – 228,000 as of September 2025, versus just over 207,000 for all of 2024.
So let’s dive into the redesign, outside first.
The new Equinox is a tad longer and wider. It’s face is taller and boxier than 2024’s, with slit LED DRLs on the upper edges over a smoked chrome H-accent that divides slim upper, and wider lower honeycomb black plastic grille. There are fake side inlets on the lower grille, while stacked headlights live outboard on the sculpted edges. Another intake lives below the blue body-colored bumper, with black plastic lower cladding that flows around to frame wheels and outline the wide lower sills.
Knobby 17-inch Goodyear Grabber A/T tires, aimed at helping this Equinox handle some of its perceived off-road duties, lives on boxy 5-spoke brushed silver and gray alloy wheels. The beltline rises after the rear doors and into a kinked C-pillar, with blacked-out upper slits expanding into the rear corner windows that appear to wrap around to the hatchback window.
The ACTIV also gets a contrasting white roof, with slim cargo bars atop. The rear window sits high under the sunshade/spoiler, with slimmer Y-shaped LED taillights framing the taller sheet metal under it over a more aggressive black lower fascia.
The new shape certainly looks more macho in front and rear, with a bit more surface sculpting in its flanks, and a lightly metallic Reef Blue paint with white top, liked by many who saw it.
Gas Equinox’s Interior Gets Digital, Styling Overhaul For 2026
A more Western vibe is just part of a sweeping interior redesign done in a hard black plastic dash top and bottom, with padded, patterned stitched tan in between, shot through with a buff metal-finish spear. There are new digital displays, not a sweeping panel like some, but sculpted together; replacing 2024’s more dashboard center-forward look with more knobs and less digital.
The padded black dashtop caps a textured tan dash-front slashed by a buff silver accent and some stitching, running from left to right. Cool jet intake-like a/c vents are set in transparent cones with ribbed gray underneath bookend the tan dash front.
The fully digital 11-inch gauge display can be configured to show a central tachometer with digital mph, flanked by information like tire pressure, audio and more. Or you can pop in a navigation map with digital speed readout, or just the speed and some basic stuff. Head right after the sculpted edge, and a large 11.3-inch navigation display – or navigation and info, or audio, or more, is center stage over slim air vents.
Below that is a double-deck array of real buttons for climate control, heated and cooled seats and more; flanked by dual zone knobs with integral temperature displays. The only touch of more basic black plastic is below the central dashboard design. There’s wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto
The last-gen’s center console-mounted gearshift is gone, moved to the steering column. That clears the way for a wide center console with a drive mode knob and that’s it, outside of cup holders and an inductive phone slot. There’s a deep padded rubber storage nook ahead of it, and more space underneath, plus a bit of storage under the center armrest.
The bucket seats get nice patterned tan cloth inserts with black leatherette bolsters. “ACTIV” is embroidered on the head restraints with some orange piping on the seatbacks. The front seats are a bit flat. The driver gains dual memory presets and power adjustment. The fat, stitched leather steering wheel had a nice feel with the usual buttons in front, and small paddle shifters integrated with audio and radio preset buttons behind.
There’s decent adult-size head and legroom for two in back, with a center armrest, more stitching and tan cloth. Overhead everyone is treated to a long moonroof with fabric shade and opening front section. The rear seatbacks split 60/40 and fold to expand a flat, 29.8-cu-ft cargo area with some wheel well intrusion. There is also storage space underneath. The power rear hatch opens high enough to clear my head.
It’s all very clean and easy to use, with some nice off-roader touches. That said, part of the dash had a slight buzz when the engine hit about 2,500 – 3,500 rpm.
2026 Gas Equinox Reaches 60 MPH In 8.8 Seconds
Speaking of the engine, while there are enough trim levels in the Equinox to satisfy anyone, there’s only one way to motivate them – a turbocharged 1.5-liter inline four with 175-hp, which is 5 more than the last-gen. Our all-wheel-drive ACTIV version gets an eight-speed automatic versus the CVT in the FWD version.. There’s no hybrid or PHEV available, but it does have an engine start/stop system to save a bit of fuel at traffic lights. It’s a bit clunky refiring when the light turns green.
Paddle shifters are included, which are more useful to tap and hold a gear going up or down a hill, or towing (up to 1,500 lbs.).
The Equinox gets three drive modes – Normal, Slippery and Off-Road, with no Sport option. Normal mode is front-wheel-drive, while all four get driven in Off-Road. We spent most of our drive in Normal mode, in cool, dry conditions; and found the Equinox is peppy in commuter use, if a bit lackluster. There’s a hint of torque-steer as our 2,100-mile-old Equinox moves out to hit 60 mph in 8.8 seconds, the 8-speed upshifting neatly, and downshifting when passing power is needed. Twist the knob into all-wheel-drive, and all four tires grab as we head to 60 mph in 9.4 seconds. We averaged 27 mpg in mixed-use commuting and neighborhood cruising. The 2022 Equinox RS I tested for a since-retired website got to 60 mph in 9.3 seconds in front-wheel-drive, and 9.5 seconds when switched to all-wheel-drive, and averaged 24 mpg over days of mostly highway driving.
Under the skin, there are MacPherson struts with specifically-tuned coil springs and a stabilizer bar in front, and a four-link independent rear suspension in back. For our Equinox’s off-road aspirations, the suspension tuning is a bit softer to handle bumps (more later). This 3,428-lb. soft-roader has a very comfortable ride on the highway, absorbing bumps easily and nicely, although there’s some after-bounce off speed bumps.
Those knobby tires do make a bit of noise at highway speed, but the Equinox is mostly quiet. We appreciated the video rearview mirror, crisp and wide-screen in daytime, and great in low light conditions. The butt buzzers – the seat bottom vibrates left, right or in back when you reverse to alert you to stuff you might nudge – also help, even when people walk behind or next to you in a parking lot.
In FWD, the Equinox tracked true with minimal body roll. Pushed harder and some understeer hissed a bit, but was easy to rein in. Pushed hard on our skidpad, and we had more push due to knobby rubber, but easy to handle with throttle – it’s a wanna-be SUV, not a sports car. Its dual pinion rack electric power steering had a direct feel with decent feedback as we felt it load up nicely in turns. It was accurate and direct. The disc brakes had a nice pedal bite and decent stops with minimal nose dive. There was no fade after some repeated hard use. The switch from front- to all-wheel-drive was instant once the knob was turned.
ACTIV means this Equinox can do a bit of off-roading, although there’s no skidplates underneath its 8.05-inch ground clearance. So we twisted the knob into Off-Road and tackled a deeply-potholed mud road along a saltmarsh in Florida. Splashing through those muddy holes, we appreciated the softer suspension as the Equinox just absorbed them with a bit of bounce, and we moved on. The Equinox structure was stiff and creak-free as the tires and all-wheel-drive – indicated on a gauge screen display – just grabbed and moved us along the slippery stuff. So the verdict – this Equinox is ACTIV enough to handle some light off-roading. But it’s not as nimble on-road as some of the competition, which is partly due to its off-road gear.
For safety it includes automatic emergency braking, forward collision alert, front pedestrian braking, lane-keep assist with lane departure warning and auto-high beams. The smart cruise control maintains speed and distance to a full stop, and stays put until you hit resume.
A base front-wheel-drive Equinox LS starts at $30,495. Our AWD ACTIV starts at $35,000, options were limited to the $1,495 panoramic sunroof; $950 convenience package with cooled front seats, power driver seat with memory and heated rear outboard seats; and $945 safety systems with surround vision cameras, rearview camera and traffic safety – the final MSRP was $39,785.
Bottom line: A sweeping redesign called “cute” by some, with well done and well designed interior with lots of room. A bit more power would be nice, plus a hybrid again.
2026 Chevrolet Equinox RS AWD Specifications
Vehicle type – 5-passenger compact crossover SUV
Base price – $31,700 ($36,515 as tested)
Engine type – Turbocharged DOHC 16-valve cast aluminum block inline-4
Displacement – 1.5 liter
Horsepower (net) – 175 @ 5,600 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) – 203 @ 2,000 – 4,000 rpm
Transmission – 8-speed automatic with manual shifting
Wheelbase – 107.5 inches
Overall length – 183.2 inches
Overall width – 74.9 inches
Height – 65.4 inchesGround clearance: 8.05 inches
Front headroom – 38.2 inches
Front/rear legroom – n/a
Second row headroom – 37.8 inches
Cargo capacity – 29.8 cu. ft./63.5 w/2nd row folded
Towing – up to 1,500 lbs.
Curb weight – 3,428 lbs.
Fuel capacity – 15.6 gallons
Mileage rating – 25 mpg city/29 mpg highway