2026 Chevrolet Equinox: Can a bargain SUV win our hearts?
The Equinox beats the price of last week’s Tiguan by about 10%. But the difference in performance, comfort, and overall joyfulness of the two vehicles is a vastly larger percentage.
2026 Volkswagen Tiguan SEL R-Line Turbo vs. 2026 Chevrolet Equinox ACTIV AWD: Midsize SUVs flying under the radar.
This week: Chevrolet Equinox
Price: $40,985 as tested. Panoramic sunroof added $1,495. More options packages noted below. Advantage, Equinox, by about 10%. But is it?
What others are saying: “Highs: Attractive design, affordable pricing, impressive standard tech features. Lows: Lethargic acceleration, mediocre fuel-economy estimates, cabin is noisy at highway speeds,” reports Car and Driver.
What Chevrolet is saying: “Made to do more.”
Reality: Do more than what exactly?
What’s new: The Equinox was redone for 2025, so it pretty much carries over unchanged. The ACTIV trim is the lowest rung, not the level we usually get to test, as manufacturers like to show off their top tiers, so credit to Chevrolet for that.
Competition: In addition to the Tiguan, highlights include the Buick Envision, Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Mazda CX-5 and CX-50, Nissan Rogue, Subaru Forester, and Toyota RAV4.
In and out: The Equinox ACTIV sits up surprisingly high for a small SUV, high enough to mention from the outset, so plan for some leg raises. I was surprised it features just 17-inch wheels; they looked bigger. (More upscale trims get 19s or 20s.) But with 8 inches of ground clearance, what usually amounts to a side note may explain a lot about the Equinox’s overall performance.
Up to speed: The Chevrolet Equinox’s 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine creates 175 horsepower, and it pales in comparison to the Tiguan’s 258.
So does its performance. The all-wheel-drive Equinox takes 8.6 seconds to get to 60 mph, according to Car and Driver. And that’s the only engine choice you get. Advantage, Tiguan, by almost 2 seconds. That high profile may be slowing the Equinox down.
Shifty: The all-wheel-drive Equinox gets an eight-speed automatic transmission. (Front-wheel-drive models are stuck with a continuously variable transmission.)
The steering column holds the stalk, and triggers can be used to change gears if needed. It’s not a lot of fun.
On the road: Speaking of not a lot of fun, neither are country roads in the Equinox — no zip, no zig, no other Z-words denoting any sort of hilarity or joie de vivre.
And yet, neither are highways, where the bumps come with enhancement and the potholes kinda hurt, if I’m being honest. I expected the Equinox’s country-road indifference but not the lack of highway manners. Strong advantage, Tiguan.
Driver’s Seat: The Equinox seat was super comfortable and the materials seemed almost luxurious, not a given in a Chevrolet by any means.
Front seats were heated for free, and ventilated with the help of a $945 package, which also heated the rear corner seats and added more power controls and settings to the front seats. We finally have a tie among the competitors in this category, although the Tiguan upgrades give it a slight advantage.
I gave up a Subaru Trailseeker (think Outback EV) for the Equinox, and the Equinox seemed so much bigger and harder to see around or fit into snug spaces than the larger Subaru. The Equinox is shaped like a pyramid, while the Subaru has more vertical glass, allowing for better views all around. The short windows further hamper visibility to the side of the vehicle and into the corners.
Friends and stuff: The rear seat feels very … adequate. It’s not uncomfortable, the fabric feels OK, the Evotex in between the microsuede holds you in place. The center spot is bit of a hump, but the floor is quite flat, helping with legroom there. Still, this would not have been as much fun for my fellow vacationers as the Tiguan, I’m certain.
Cargo space is 29.8 or 63.5 cubic feet, as folded, about 10% smaller than the Tiguan.
Play some tunes: The 11.3-inch multimedia display seemed much larger, so getting around the system is easy. A volume knob is the only old-timey control.
Sound from the unnamed system was quite good, about an A, another tie with the Tiguan.
Keeping warm and cool: All the HVAC controls are in toggles underneath the infotainment systems. They’re not hard to figure out but the typeface could be a little bolder. Advantage, Equinox.
Fuel economy: 22 mpg average, which is not too far off the average for small SUVs. The Tiguan Turbo beat it by 5 mpg, though, while moving much more nicely, a real feat.
Where it’s built: San Luis Potosí, Mexico. Parts are 55% Mexican and 11% U.S. and Canadian.
How it’s built: Consumer Reports predicts the Equinox reliability to be a 1 out of 5.
In the end: Its easy to see how the average price of vehicles is pushing upward, when another $4,000 gets you so much more SUV in this competition.
I love a bargain, but Chevrolet just offers so much less, so Tiguan it would be.
