GM cars used to be pretty invisible to me. About 10 years ago I started noticing them more. Their design departments are now producing some pretty attractive vehicles. Even our Ice Blue Metallic Bolt EUV has some sharp looking design elements for a chunky econobox. The Bolt is actually my first American car and I'm 67. Okay sure my first car, a 1974 Opel Manta Rally in Signal Green, was made by GM owned Opel, but it was fully a German built and designed car. Anyway, the fact that I now think GM cars sometimes look nice going down the road is a big compliment to their design team. This Equinox is no exception - really nice looking car. Now if they would only offer it in that Cacti Green you can get on the Trax . . .
The Blazer EV looks even better. Too bad the Ultium platform has underwhelmed on performance and price point thus far. I say that not as a hater but as someone who was (and is still) hoping for better. Here's hoping price and range both improve in the coming years. If not, the vehicles really just aren't that compelling compared to similar vehicles from other brands. With my Volt still going strong and usually driven as an EV anyway, the Equinox (and other new EVs) don't yet make a strong enough case for me to trade in.
Great overview! Tip on SuperCruise: if it disengages, press the SC button on the steering wheel within 10 seconds to see an infobox in the cluster with the reason it turned off. I have the 1st gen system on my Bolt EUV and have been very happy with it. I’ve used it for literally thousands of miles of highway travel now, and won’t buy another car without a similar system
Currently driving a Bolt EUV, and seriously considering an Equinox EV simply for the additional room (with 2 kids the Bolt fills fast for trips), and faster charging at DC fast charging on those road trips. Thanks for the look!
Great review. I liked your segment on the self parking fail (other reviewers don’t test these types of functions) as well as the demonstration of the good self-driving capability. That said, I think you needed to put more emphasis on the surprising decision to forgo Apple Car Play on the entertainment system. What is the rational? Cost or a defensive move to stop Apple from gaining a bigger share of the pie. You are probably right to say that the Equinox EV will be a success for GM but I suspect that a lot of potential buyers are going to be turned off by the lack of integration with their cell phone. There will be other similarly priced cars with Apple Car Play in the future; GM is not the only choice. Now subscribed - thanks.
Self Parking fail was on the reviewer. From the manual: > APA searches for parking spaces, to the left or right of the vehicle, up to the sensors’ ranges of 1.5 m (5 ft). > APA cannot park in all empty parking spots. > The parking spot must: • Be sufficiently large to fit the vehicle comfortably. • Have an adjacent vehicle, wall, or pillar for the system to align to.
I’ve actually talked a lot about this on my podcast. I’ll link that below. It definitely is an issue. Especially since they left it on their ICE vehicles.
I really wish they’d have a stereo upgrade available with a “Sun & Sound” type package like we’ve seen before. I’ve got a 19 Equinox Premier 2.0 and the Bose and sunroof are my fav options. The Bose isn’t amazing but does a good job for the price over the standard audio. On my Volt, Equinox, and Cruze I don’t mind the hard plastic lower door materials. Very cheap to replace when they will ultimately be destroyed from all the use.
Hey! I don't know if you remember, but I live in Corydon, IN and I bought a Bolt EUV at the same time you got yours. I still have it and I still love it! Anyway, I just got my wife a blacked out Equinox EV RS like the one you have in this video! It's GREAT! She really loves it!
Auto parking failed because you used it incorrectly, follow the manual, it must see other vehicles in adjacent parking spots to see the open/available location. Meaning if the parking lot is empty it will not park itself.
Yep, it uses sonar to detect spots. It needs a hard object adjacent, whether a vehicle or a wall. From the manual: > APA searches for parking spaces, to the left or right of the vehicle, up to the sensors’ ranges of 1.5 m (5 ft). > APA cannot park in all empty parking spots. > The parking spot must: • Be sufficiently large to fit the vehicle comfortably. • Have an adjacent vehicle, wall, or pillar for the system to align to.
Not worth including on the vehicle then IMO They should probably include that info on the screen not just buried in a manual. I’ll have to try to again in a crowded lot
The ID.4's park assist works in the same way. Which makes sense, why would you need it if no other obstacle is around? I tested it during my test drive and it worked great parking backwards into a tight spot, surrounded by other cars.
Thanks for the full review. I've been looking for full reviews since I learned about the equinox ev but most reviews i found have just been show room floor walk arounds. Wish there was more info on the google maps feature. Ive heard some things that the subscription was going to be bundled in with onstar but have never gotten solid answers.
I will get either a Model Y Performance or the 1LT Equinox EV. I like that fully loaded Equinox, but it is at a Y Performance type of price range. Seriously, the Model Y Performance is crazy fast, it scares me.
Excellent review. Funny that your dealer got one before the embargo lifted. Keep up the good work. Many comments about affordability of EVs. People are forgetting to do the math on how much they save on gas when they charge at home 95 to 99% of the time. Over the term of the loan it can be tens of thousands of dollars.
I know. I should’ve said relatively. It’s definitely not possible for everyone but the entry level option should be within reach as a starter EV for most!
@@MetzTech You can get it down to 35K if you get a 2RS after the 7500 rebate. So get the mid tier trim which has a lot of the features people want with good price.
He said 50k after the tax rebate, so 43k, was affordable. This same market would either overpay for a Toyota or get a specced out gas Blazer...that would be pretty affordable. For people looking to upgrade their Bolts, maybe not.
I think it's going to be a hot seller. I wouldn't mind owning one. If I had one super minor gripe it's the column shifter. One of my favorite features of my Bolt EV are the gear select toggles. Excellent review as usual. 🚙🇺🇸🔌⚡
To be fair, that is not how the self parking is supposed to be used. The manual basically states that there needs to be a car in one of the adjacent spaces for it to work. So that’s not really a fair criticism.
I’m definitely going to test it again, but to be fair again….there were multiple chances for the system to suggest a parking spot next to another car or between two cars…and it didn’t show that spot as an option. So I still feel the system needs to be refined and improved
I remember you showing off your Bolt last year. I was asking if you knew anything about this car coming out. Here it is a year later pretty sharp car! Are you upgrading now to that or wait and see the new Bolt next year?
Hey Metz great review. A few things tho….. 1…. At 225…. You have easy access if things need to be worked on? Problem is things don’t ever need t9 be worked on. That’s why non legacy EV car companies bury that stuff and have a frunk, ICE car companies think you have to make what’s under the hood look like engine components. Which would be equivalent to Henry Ford adding a horses head to the front if a model T because people were used to horses or Apple adding a rotary dial to an iPhone when they came out! 2… Saying this is a budget car isn’t right. A budget EV maybe. But there should be better materials used in anything over 50K 3…50K is not cheap. Hopefully the bolt 2025 will actually BE an affordable EV around 30K. Like it was before. If we dint get cheap EVs adoption won’t happen. And although Chevy is doing a great job there is still nothing cheap for a common person!
Thanks for watching! I agree about the frunk! Definitely. It’s definitely competitive I think in the space right now. Budget EV is probably the better verbiage!
Thanks for the video. I am getting the Equinox EV, yet in transit, but coming. I am glad you pointed out the sits are good, because I love my Bolt EUV premier but I want the more miles the faster charging and the room inside. Just one question, Will you review the FWD? wondering if the motor power is enough. For sure I won't use the self parking. Great video.
That underhood space looks like ICE design holdover instead of a ground up EV. Definitely space for consolidation and a frunk and instead we get lazy legacy OEM design and wasted space.
They have a dual pane power sunroof option. May not be exactly as big as a panoramic, but the description says "rear seat passengers will appreciate the fixed-glass skylight positioned immediately behind the tilt-sliding sunroof glass". The option is an extra 1500.
Biggest reason why I won't get Tesla is their stupid roof. I don't see the point of massive heavy glass absorbing / losing heat when it's be covered all the time not to mention much higher potential for breakage.
@@yootoobvyooer Yeah I have seen some model 3s with cracked glass on the rear apparently due to some issue with the trunk opening/closing. Tesla's FSD is game changing, but to anyone used to a luxury quality build/car may find it a downgrade. But I guess that's just what happens when a software company tries to make cars. Honestly I hope they are able to license the tech to toyota/lexus because a self driving lexus would be really nice.
@@yootoobvyooer I agree about the massive trend in sunroof's. They are a novelty. Ordered my Equinox EV without the sunroof. Never have to worry about it leaking or leaving it open.
I had self park on my 2nd Gen Volt. I think it works best when it parks between vehicles; it is looking for the objects to aim between. It never seemed to fare well with painted lines.
Great Review, I currently have a 2022 Bolt Euv Premier and seriously thinking about the Equinox Ev Awd as I live in Canada with lots of ice &snow...you didn't mention the ride, but would you say it's better than the Euv which I find a little bouncy in the rear.
You can turn off the ambient engine noise to make the car even quieter. I thought the Info and driver screens were fantastic. The Google OS is awesome, too. I don't know why so many people are fixated on Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. My last car had them and I never used them. With the AWD, the torque/horsepower is more than enough. The interior is excellent quality overall. Many cars have hard plastic in the rear doors. The front storage area under the HVAC controls is air conditioned to keep your phone cold. It should come with wireless charging, but I may add a pad to do that. I believe the narrow storage well closest to the driver is for like a wallet, pens and such. Wife's purse fits perfectly in the lower storage area under the center console. Overall this is a damn fine car. Just put a down payment on a 2LT. Didn't get the Supercruise, though because it requires a subscription once the trial runs out. Kind of wish I could swing it, but it's a $2700 dollar option plus after a few years $350 a year.
Are there any mechanisms to prevent snow buildup on the lights. This is a problem with the cyber truck because of the small recessed design. A washer would be useful.
Ordered a 3RS last Friday and will be cancelling that tomorrow after finding out GM removed the wireless charging, rear view mirror camera and HUD without ever mentioning that to their dealers. I had to stumble across that info on my own. For the cost, $52,000+, removing that tech, which is listed in the owners manual and came on my 2023 Bolt EUV, it’s a deal breaker.
The car looks great - I just wish it had NACS out of the gate and I hope GM reverses their decision and adds CarPlay back in. Old man watching the car self park on the curb was hilarious. 😂
Very good review. I was hoping they had a better choice of interior colors like the Equinox shown on TV about a year ago. I’m waiting on the Cadillac Optiq, I hope it will offer a two tone tan interior and a little more power than the Equinox FWD. Thanks, I subscribed.
I know you owned a bolt so my opinion. The Bolt is a modern day Chevy Sprint. Useless on trips with no fast charging and so cheap looking. This is a huge step up. Great job Chevy.
These Tesla guys. 🙄 I’m sorry, where are all the high quality materials in your Tesla’s rear seat? Also to say Chevy’s reconfigurable instrument cluster is “cluttered” yet Tesla puts everything you’ll need to see inside of one single display is hilarious. Outside of that, nice review! Supercruise has different modes, hence the different color LEDs in the steering wheel. ‘Blue’ means the system is still fully active, but the driver has *temporary control* of the steering wheel for manual lane changes. The system makes sure it’s safe to activate before it allows you to activate it and that’s probably why it’s ranked above Tesla’s Autopilot. Thirdly, kudos to Tesla for perpendicular parking better than the new Equinox EV. The Tesla relies on cameras for driving and parking which is why it’s better at this activity when there are no other vehicles around. *gm* relies on the sensors to detect objects and only uses the cameras to locate a “space” or open gap large enough for the vehicle hence the reason it was having trouble finding a spot in a nearly empty lot. What you didn’t explain is NOBODY will ever need this feature in an empty lot. The Equinox will park better in real world situations where the lines aren’t as clearly visible or as new, when there aren’t any lines AT ALL, or simply when vehicles around you are parked on top of the lines and inside of neighboring parking spaces which is common in N. America.
I owned a 2022 Bolt EUV for 3 years. I’m a new Tesla owner. My 2024 Model 3 has soft touch vegan leather and textile fabric/alcantara on the back doors. No different than the front. 🤷🏻♂️ All I need to see on my display is the speed. And Tesla puts it on the top left so you can see it with a quick glance. That’s all I need, that’s why the Equinox seems cluttered to me. People that don’t use Teslas regularly always describe their system as more complex than it actually is. But that’s another tangent I like Supercruise in the limited time I’ve gotten to use it. The fact that it allows you to take control temporarily is a great feature! I definitely want to test the parking system when there are cars around. But you can understand my reservation after what it did…even if that’s it intended use case
nice looking car. would be a great upgrade to my bolt euv. However the removal (so they can mine more data/get microtransactions) of carplay is a show stopper. won't ever buy another GM EV as long as they don't support that, unfortunately...
Great first look! Glad to hear it doesnt feel under powered like the Blazer. Although I read the more affordable fwd option is gonna be pretty slow. Would you say the ride is less "bouncy" than the Bolt? Overall, I think the Bolt rides pretty good but feels bouncy to me over road expansion joints, possibly due to the shorter wheel base.
supercruise will come off for some intersections as well that don't abide by the rules of limited access. like a merge lane to come in with. it's otherwise FULLY hands free. but not driver attention free yet. use it whenever i drive my 2023 bolt euv anywhere. i use a highway to go anywhere.
Love more normal EV options coming out. One nitpicky thing I have is the center console lid opening up to the side. Many times my wife needs to get in the center console when I’m driving and this would make that difficult. Overall, a nice EV.
I just bought a new Bolt EUV four months ago so I plan to drive it another 5 years at least to get my money's worth. By then who knows what things will be like.
Currently in a Bolt EUV, Chevy Bolts were such great value cars. I would consider the equinox if it had apple car play. Would rather go with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 PE or wait it out for Rivian R3 or updated model Y.
Didn't they say this thing was going to be 30k? Even if there is a 1LT, the price pattern doesn't look close. This is giving me doubts about the new Bolt. So it has the play store to download spotify/tidal? Then to play music can you hotspot from your phone? Or download playlist while on wifi? I'm a little confused on this.
That option model was dropped because it had a smaller battery and customer analysis determined that most buyers would opt for a bigger range on the entry model. Nonetheless $28k after incentives is groundbreaking
At 23:37 when you mention your concern about the upcoming bolt. I think the only way the bolt is better is that it's significantly cheaper but also significantly more range. 400 miles for under 30k would be very competitive to the equinox. It becomes do I want more space or more range. Instead of do I want a cheap small ev or a slightly bigger ev for a bit more if the bolt had comparable range.
@@MetzTech Yeah, I suppose even just 360mile range would still be great. My current ICE car is only about 370miles on a full tank and I fill up at 3/4-1/2 tank left. With an EV ideally i'd be able to charge overnight at home. Eliminating not just the cost of gas but the inconvenience of needing to go to a gas station would be nice. Also since the bolt is coming in 2025 it should have the GM V2L capability. So there's a backup battery for home in case of a power outage. Tesla needs to catch up and expand powershare to all their models.
Maybe the Chevy knows no one would use self parking to pull into an empty lot. While I haven’t tried this with my Equinox EV I would probably look for a lot with some cars in it. Hopefully it wont park me on top of a car like it did with you and the curb!
Hello: Thanks for your videos! We were “this” close to getting the Bolt EUV but decided to go with the 2024 Equinox EV. Then we were “this” close to getting the 2024 Equinox EV and decided to wait for the 2025 Equinox EV 😂 Any idea of when it is going to be available? I had read that it would be available Aug. 26th.
@@MetzTech Thank you for your quick reply! We like the lower price of the 2025 Equinox EV. We took a 2024 model on a test drive and admittedly enjoyed the creature comforts. However, the 2025 LT with 2 of the packages would be sufficient for us especially coming from older vehicles. If we can still apply the federal tax credit and other discounts, (i.e. employee and/or low APR) that would be even better.
I don’t need or want supercruise which general motors hopes to live on in perpetuity through a subscription service. I have a 2023 Chevy Bolt EV 2 LT . I’m honestly telling you I would not trade it in on the Tesla. I do Hope you enjoy your Tesla. And I’ve been in Tesla‘s best. Back to the point of the new equinox. There’s just not enough new over the functionality of the bolt. OK, I’m a little biased. I love the channels that focus in on EV‘s. Discussions and debates are healthy for this new emerging market.
what makes you think Autopilot is going to switch to hands off? They're switching FSD to hands off supposedly but they've said nothing about making autopilot hands off.
Saw information in the owner's manual about needing to sign into the infotainment system with your Google account for certain things to work (like giving you car your credentials is a good idea). Anyone know the extent of what works and doesn't work if you don't "sign in" with your car?
I'm interested in a 2LT, but it doesn't seem to allow for configuration with the safety package that includes adaptive cruise control. Will you be doing videos for charging and range?
Is that because ACC is standard on the 2LT and you don’t therefore need to add a package to get that feature? I’m looking at the configurator now and it shows ACC as “Standard” vs. “Available.”
I disagree with this notion that the Bolt EV has no place with the Existence of the Equinox EV. We're still talking about a car that's going to cost $28K with the tax rebate. That's a great deal but it's not helpful for the people that need a Civic priced car. If the Bolt EV starts at 28K pre-rebate and offers 150 kW of charging it will be a huge success. The only reason EVs aren't selling is because the luxury mid-size market is already fully saturated. We need real cars for your average person because that's the bulk of vehicles sold.
WTH ! Auto parking assist ?? LMAO !! 🤣 FAIL !! That's what human hands, eyes, a neck, head and brain does, turns to look in the back window and parks the thing. But he did a great video anyway and the car looks like a winner as well.
Dude, it's not designed to read lines or curbs using the cameras, the autopark uses the radar syaem and there must be a parking spot between VEHICLES for it to work properly. Please read the instruction manual when told to do so.
so many bells and whistles, make a bare bone car that's cheap, I dont even need radio, just put AC, bluetooth speakers, and a bracket to put my phone in the middle, just add an odometer... make them cheap ! PLEASE
I truly think GM should pull out their stakes and just stop making cars. Their cars are no longer affordable and Tesla has passed them up completely. I just got my model Y long range for 39,000 after rebate, plus tax, and I will never look back!
They didn't use it correctly. For the Equinox to know there is a parking spot it needs to see a wall or another vehicle or two next to the location. If the parking lot is empty it won't see the spots.
Why the hell would anyone buy this? Seriously 150kw on a 2024 ev? Cheap plastic everywhere. No frunk. And it's just as expensive as a model 3 or y in reality and way more than the Hyundai offerings that charge at 350 kw
Not a fan. This looks too small and the design is not very good looking. The only cool part is the rgb panels which are FAR nicer than the Blazer EVs dumb “fan lights” that you can barely see. I will choose the Blazer EV over this regardless. Bigger, MUCH nicer looking.
Sincerely if you drive both… the equinox is more enjoyable to drive. But I can see why if you’re spending the $$ it may just be worth going up to the Blazer to get the best materials
We don't need all that electronic junk! We could actually have affordable EV's without it, but manufacturers don't want that... That's the biggest scam. The prices were supposed to go down the more people got them, but it's the complete opposite! 🤬
GM did a great job with the Equinox EV, however, they really need to minimize the interior with just 1 center screen and hide those HUGE, ugly chrome vents. A large sunroof would be great as well, as a NACS connector. I looked at buying the Equinox EV but just bought another Tesla Model Y today, for my wife.
They’re getting close to all of that. Technically larger screen than the model Y. Although looks way worse IMO. But almost no physical buttons. Would’ve loved NACS