I’ve been around General Motors products for a large portion of my life. The first car I was allowed to drive was a 2001 Pontiac Montana minivan; my dad’s 1992 Chevy K1500 Silverado was a constant presence growing up. Just after college, I worked on the assembly line at GM’s Baltimore assembly in White Marsh, Maryland and, for a brief time in 2020, I sold cars at a Chevy dealership. My current daily driver is a 2017 Chevy Cruze hatchback and my dad still texts me updates on how many miles his 1999 Chevy Tahoe has accumulated (354,000 miles and counting). Suffice to say, I have an affinity for what General Motors is up to.

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You can’t talk about modern General Motors in an honest capacity without at least mentioning one of its most popular products, the non-electrified version of the Chevy Equinox. When I worked at that Chevy dealership, drivers came in to buy Equinoxes, used or new, in numbers that dwarfed the more iconic cars like the Camaro or Corvette. It’s one of the automaker’s biggest current and historic cars. The Equinox has been around for 20 years and just entered its fourth generation for the 2025 model year. All that is to say, when the latest and greatest of GM’s ever-present crossover, the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox RS, arrived on my driveway, the stakes were high.

The biggest changes to the newest Equinox came in the form of a completely renovated exterior and interior. Following the trend Chevy has been sticking to with its trucks and full-size SUVs like the Tahoe and Suburban in recent years, the Equinox looks bigger, meaner, and more rugged, even if the totality of the “rugged” physique is comprised of extra body cladding.

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It’s important to note that the Equinox is not a performance vehicle by any stretch of the imagination, and the 2025 Equinox continues with that immutable fact. The engine is unchanged from the last generation, a 1.5-liter turbo four banger that outputs an exactly adequate 175 horsepower. The biggest change is an eight-speed automatic transmission that doesn’t lend itself to lightning fast acceleration or really any real input from the driver, but does allow for smooth power delivery and better fuel economy.

Front-wheel drive only models enjoy a CVT. Chevy estimates that the 2025 Equinox is rated at an estimated 26 combined miles per gallon. I found that to be accurate; however, with a light throttle and some careful driving, it wasn’t unusual to get close to 30 miles per gallon.

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Driving the 2025 Equinox doesn’t instill many feelings of surprise, elation, or excitement; at the same time it doesn’t disgust me, bore me, or give me the “ick.” I mean that as a glowing compliment. The Equinox is “Fine” in the best sense of the word. It’s a no-nonsense family car par excellence and that’s all it needs to be. Skid pad tests, 0-60 times, “driving dynamics,” and the like have no place in a review of a small(ish) crossover SUV that will only ever see the parking lot of a race track or off-road course. All that said, it’s not fast and the engine sound leans more towards agricultural.

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This Equinox RS slots right in the middle of LT and the more soft-roader focused “ACTIV” trim. With the RS, you get blacked out trim pieces, RS badging (of course), a two-tone color scheme, and 19-inch wheels. On the inside, the RS nets you a wireless charing pad, a drive mode selector for inclement weather, and a “sporty” flat bottom steering wheel. Plus, it adds Chevy’s suite of additional driver assistance features that includes automatic rear emergency braking and front pedestrian braking (though not, sadly, Super Cruise).

For a mass-market vehicle like the Equinox, that will be marketed towards essentially the country’s entire population of people capable of holding a drivers license, safety features and good looks are going to sell the car more than strict performance metrics.

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As odd as it sounds, I’m pleased to report that exactly nothing of note happened during my week with the Equinox. I took it to church, the grocery store, a friend’s house, and I visited my parents. Not once did the car give me any grief mechanically. The infotainment system informed me and entertained me without a hitch, and it wasn’t at all uncomfortable or difficult to drive.

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The total lack of quirks might seem like a boring review week, but I see that as Chevy accomplishing exactly what it set out to do and that is making an SUV that appeals to the widest strata of society possible. A commuter car or grocery getter like the Equinox doesn’t have to be exciting, but it does have to work in a way that doesn’t aggravate the driver with nonsense, or annoy them with too many confusing features.

I do have a few gripes with the Equinox outside from the entirely subjective fields of driving passion or excitement. First, it’s not particularly fuel efficient given the relatively small engine, and occasionally miles per gallon could drop into the low 20s when puttering around back roads. As with most crossovers, it could only benefit from having a hybrid drivetrain (Chevy does offer an Equinox EV that’s all-electric, and more expensive). Secondly, it’s not that inexpensive when you start checking options boxes.

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The base model front-wheel drive LT trim Equinox starts at $29,995; the all-wheel drive Equinox RS jumps to an even $35,000. The Equinox I drove was equipped with the $1,095 Safety and Technology package which adds rear pedestrian alerts, front fog lamps, and traffic sign recognition. The $900 Convenience Package gives an eight-way power adjustable seat to the passenger, ventilated front seats (very useful during the unseasonably warm days I had), and heated rear seats.

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Add in a destination charge of $1,395 and the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox RS finished in a very handsome “Lakeshore Blue Metallic” weighs in at a total of $38,380. That’s a lot for a mid-size entry level crossover. For comparison, the Lexus NX, a luxury crossover, starts at $41,990. Within Chevy’s own line-up, the much larger Traverse starts at $37,600.

If a little inefficient and expensive, the 2025 Chevy Equinox is not a bad vehicle at all. It’s really quite good at what Chevy made it to do: it will effortlessly haul groceries or sit in a parking lot of the doctors office until the heat death of the universe, and for most people, that’s perfect. Chevy has already sold over three million Equinoxes over the years, and the 2025 update leaves me in no doubt that it will continue to sell Equinoxes in large numbers far into the future.

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