2025 Chevrolet Equinox RS AWD First Test: Quite Good, But Not as Hot as We’d Like

Our previous test of the Chevrolet Equinox RS AWD occurred with the 2022 model. We called it a great-driving crossover held back by “a small yet thirsty and laggy engine, slow transmission, and relatively small amount of cargo room.” Since then, we’ve gotten a new version in the form of the 2025 Chevy Equinox with a modern exterior, new automatic transmission, and other updated features, including a long list of standard driver assists and a slick infotainment setup.

As with any automakers’ small SUVs, the Equinox is an important product for Chevy (though arguably the Equinox EV is more important at this point). Do the changes to the gasoline-powered model make any difference in the driving experience? How much closer is the new version of the crossover to the Honda CR-Vs and Toyota RAV4s of the world?

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Living With It

The interior of the gas Equinox looks like the interior of the Equinox EV. There’s a single, wide unit housing the 11.0-inch digital instrument cluster and 11.3-inch touchscreen, and the display curves toward the driver. A Google OS manages infotainment, and we were impressed by how smoothly it all ran. We could also use Apple CarPlay in the gas model, something you can’t do in the EV.

Forgettable plastic crowds the cabin, but we appreciate the racy blue and red stitching that keeps things interesting. Those cute round vents up front are a nice touch, too. Heated rear seats come courtesy of the $950 Convenience package III, which also adds a power front passenger seat, ventilated front seats, and memory settings.

The rear seats recline one notch, but the seat-back release is in a weird spot just above the shoulders of the outboard rear passengers. There’s not much padding to the rear bench, but it’s still comfortable. Standard rear USB-C ports keep rear occupants’ devices powered up.

It’s worth noting that we had a pre-production Equinox that was not completely representative of the final product. We saw this most during dynamic testing when the SUV threw a handful of trouble code errors. The automaker assures us these glitches do not impact production versions.

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Interior Packaging

Spaces grow a little looser inside the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox relative to the previous model, thanks to the new versions 2.5-inch increase in width, but only just. Legroom and front headroom haven’t changed but now there’s 39.2 inches in the second row, up from 38.5. The Honda CR-V has less headroom in both rows.

Maximum cargo capacity shrinks from 63.9 to 63.5 cubic feet, and with the rear seat up it’s 29.8 cubes, essentially the same as before. The CR-V offers 39.3 and 76.5 cubic feet.

Chevy does a lot with the room in the Equinox. There’s decent space under the cargo hold floor. Up front are lots of storage options like the cubbies in the center console and a shelf underneath big enough for a bag. The cupholders are big, and the flat floor in back is a nice touch. The doors open wider on Mazda and Subaru competitors, but we like how the automaker used the space here.

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Is This Equinox RS Quick?

Given the 1.5-liter turbo-four engine from the previous model carries over, we weren’t looking for much in the way of straight-line speed improvement. The AWD model’s new eight-speed automatic transmission is welcome and operates smoothly in part-throttle situations. But this powertrain doesn’t care much for heavy go-pedal inputs, especially once the vehicle is out of first gear. In that scenario, it sort of falls on its face.

Passing other vehicles in the 2025 Chevy Equinox RS AWD takes a lot of planning and a lot of highway. The upshift is initially smooth, but then there’s an unusual surge and dead spot afterward. That’s to say nothing of the buzzing and vibrations that come up through the front of the SUV, which also seem to be related to the powertrain.

Our quickest launches to 60 mph came with a little pedal overlap and letting off the brake around 3,000 rpm. The SUV feels gutless through second and third gears, and the numbers back that up. This RS’ uninspired 9.2-second run to 60 mph is 0.3 second slower than the last Equinox and 0.5 second slower than today’s CR-V gas model with a same-sized turbo engine making a little more horsepower but less torque.

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Still Needs Sorting

Maybe we don’t have to say it, but these are not vehicles for a track day. The Equinox mostly does worse than the earlier model and Honda in our handling assessments (the Chevys have an equal time through our racetrack-in-a-bottle figure-eight test, 28.6 seconds). At-limit testing revealed lifeless steering but a firm and effective brake pedal. Unfortunately, hard stops were the opposite of refined, and after repeated panic stops the pedal loses some of that firmness.

And yes, it needs more distance to stop from 60 mph. The last Equinox’s best stop was a foot shorter, 125 feet, and the CR-V can do it in 118 feet.

The Trails Call

If there’s any good news, it’s that the 2025 Chevy Equinox is a little better behaved when you’re not driving it flat out. It’s a docile enough ride for the everyday. We heard some wind and road noise at higher speeds but nothing we wouldn’t expect from a vehicle in this segment.

The 2025 Equinox RS offers a skosh of trail-readiness, though we continue to wonder why Chevy insists on button activation for some of its AWD models (shouldn’t it just be always on?) The system works well in sand, but traction control activation sends vibrations through the vehicle, and the suspension can get noisy at times.

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Pricing

Our 2025 Chevrolet Equinox RS AWD test SUV is the top gas model and starts at $36,395, coming in cheaper than the top gas 2025 CR-V, the EX-L AWD. The Honda starts at $37,850 and includes some stuff not standard on the Equinox, like a moonroof, power front seats, and traffic-sign recognition, one of the few driver assists not included with the Equinox. 

All told, our crossover SUV features $4,065 in options, which raises that sticker price to $40,420. There’s not much more to add to the Honda, but included in our add-ons are a 360-degree camera, foglights, rear-camera mirror, ventilated front seats, and heated rear seats—all not offered on the gas CR-V. All in all, the Equinox strikes us as a decent buy for the money.

Positive Steps

This Equinox is a big improvement compared to the previous one. Its exterior glow-up is attractive, and the cabin infotainment by Google looks good and operates well. We might skip the premium paint and panoramic sunroof to keep the price shy of $40,000, but it’s good value in terms of standard feature content and even better with its available packages. We’re stoked about all the new driver assist tech included, even if Super Cruise isn’t one of the features.

Given its driving dynamics, though, we can’t call this 2025 Chevy Equinox RS AWD sporty or fun to drive. It feels like Chevrolet just packed it full of features, rather than delivering on the RS badge. The Equinox as a whole is undoubtedly better than before, and better equipped to battle the segment leaders. But with such a competitive compact SUV segment on the market, the new Equinox might need a little more to rise to the top.

A previous version of the story incorrectly suggested the DTCs/codes we saw after testing were attributable to software when, in fact, they were due to a part quality issue. In any case, the automaker points out this is a pre-production vehicle and the issues we saw do not impact production Equinoxes. In addition, we listed erroneous headroom dimensions, which have been corrected in the story, and mistakenly that USB ports were not in the second row, when two USB-Cs are standard.