Indeed, Chevrolet seems to have gone out of its way to give the Equinox that persona. They are dedicated, hard-knock, in-the-wild beasts of burden.Įquinox-type vehicles, by comparison, are city-suburban dwellers wearing cowboy and cowgirl outfits at a masquerade ball. They have locking differentials, thus guaranteeing that power flows to all four wheels simultaneously. Those transmissions have four-wheel low gears to help pull you through the mud and ease your ascents and descents on steep grades. But no one knowledgeable about driving off-road would dare take an all-wheel-drive vehicle, such as the Equinox or one of its rivals, on a trek over rocks and fallen logs, or across streams or through deep mud.įor that kind of travel, true four-wheel-drive transmissions are needed. In all-wheel drive, power is shifted from one wheel to another, most often through electronically controlled transfers, on the basis of algorithmic need - repetitively shifting power from slipping to gripping wheels, for example.Īll-wheel drive is good for running through moderate snow, traversing rain-slick highways or rolling over gravel. It is seldom used in full-size pickup trucks or SUVs.Īlso, there is the matter of all-wheel drive, which the auto industry, for marketing purposes, deliberately confuses with four-wheel drive. Like the Equinox, this week’s test vehicle, all have lighter, unitized construction in which the vehicle’s body, floor pan and chassis form a single rigid structure. That also can be said of Equinox rivals such as the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Saturn VUE, Ford Escape and Jeep Liberty - all of which have abandoned body-on-frame, truck-based architecture in pursuit of ride and handling more akin to family wagons and sedans. Although it is sold as a small SUV, it actually is nothing of the sort. The auto industry could save itself marketing headaches and money by firmly embracing station wagons.Ĭonsider the 2005 Chevrolet Equinox.
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