The Equinox
10th September 2009
Weeks ago, a Durham Mom’s Night Out friend (hi Catherine!) mentioned a blogger who got a car from General Motors to drive across the country. I jokingly mentioned we should get one, too — I had no idea how we were going to fit everything and everybody into our Nissan Altima for our cottage vacation without strapping Spencer Dog and Alice to the roof.
Well. Look what happened. I shit you not, tea dribbled down my face when the email landed.
That, my friends, is a brand spankin’ new 2010 Chevy Equinox in my driveway. This fully-loaded one costs $42,000, which is more than I’ve ever made in a year as a journalist. GM gave it to us for our entire week away, no cost, no expectations. We just had to pay for gas.
Thoughts:
- As a crossover, it felt like driving a car. It took me two seconds to adapt. There was no big front end, you didn’t feel like you were driving a truck or huge van
- Great on gas. In fact, this vehicle is supposed to be the most fuel efficient crossover on the road right now
- I love, love, loved having the girls high up. As a tall person (and mom), it’s a struggle for me to be all bent over pulling them in and out of carseats
- Ditto the trunk. Everything at waist high, not rolling around and stuck in the back
- It was not that much bigger than our Altima in terms of storage. You can stack high, but not too high or stuff is on top of the kids, and blocks your view. You’ll see below we did this anyways for the trip. Still, Eric — car packer extraordinaire — says we could not have taken what we did to the cottage in our car
- Rearview camera. Enough said
- Satellite radio is sweeeeeeeet. We spent much time listening to stand-up comedy. Once we have money again (hahaha!), I’d definitely get this for our vehicles
- Tight turning radius — surprising for a larger vehicle
- Get this: The manual did not show how to open the gas tank. So Eric and I are digging around the driver’s side area, prying the car with our fingers. Then I accidentally tripped (quel surprise), bumped into it, and it opened. DESIGN FLAW, GM!
- Good pick-up, speed, passing abilities. Overall super smooth ride
I’m not running out to buy it tomorrow, but have to admit the experience has made us increase the timeline for a crossover of some kind — hopefully after the winter.
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- Tea from Tim’s. Of course.
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- Satellite radio, GPS, DVD player, rearview camera.
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- The trunk packed for the drive home. Note the bag of recycling good Earth girl me drove all the way back.
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- Dropping the car off after a looonnnng day of driving home.
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- Lucy’s nest. She kicked the stroller, Spencer’s head and that box of Fruity Cheerios ALL THE WAY HOME.
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- Empty trunk.
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- Alice’s side of the back seat. (You can see her in the exercauser through the window!)
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wickked
that must have been a sweet ride!
oh yeah and how do we get one?
A crossover is exactly what we are looking for in our next vehicle. I love the look like a SUV/drive like a minivan action. I definitely want something bigger than my Caravan as the kids get older and we have to transport more stuff around.
I have the torrent which is the pontiac version of the equinox. We love it! but in terms of transporting more stuff my dad’s caravan can fit way more than we can in this suv.
We love our Mazda MX-7 crossover. Handles just like a car, but you sit up higher like an SUV so visibility is great. Fuel efficient, and super comfortable. That being said, when the baby arrived we realized that getting an infant car seat in/out of the side door was awkward, especially in parking lots where the adjacent car might be parked close. Also the rear facing car seat took up a lot of space, so we purchased a “minivan” (Town & Country). Definitely not as sleek as the Mazda, but shopping with our van is EASY. There’s tons more storage, car seat fits perfect, lots of room for passengers and other stuff. The sliding side doors are awesome!!! Plus its even more comfortable for driving long distances, and surprisingly good on gas! We’re very happy with both.
I have a Dodge Caliber, which is one of the smaller crossovers. If I park between a car and a minivan, it’s exactly in between in size (the three vehicles look like stairs). A bit too small for two kids, but perfect for one. Super on gas, kick-ass stereo system (important for road trips), glovebox doubles as a beverage cooler, cuts through the snow like a tank. However, the turning radius sucks and there’s about half the amount of storage space required.
I think my next vehicle will still be a crossover, but a much larger crossover.