Review – 2012 Chevrolet Equinox V6 Delivers Good Not Great Fuel Economy

Posted by Michael Waterman on January 27th, 2012

2012 Chevrolet Equinox

“Road trip!”

It’s one of the great battle cries and call to arms–especially if you’re driving the right vehicle.

I recently had the chance to test the 2012 Chevy Equinox’s chops as a road tripper. The complete details are in our 2012 Equinox review. But I’ll hit the highlights here and share some photos of this five-passenger Equinox set against sagebrush and lava rocks in Southern Utah.

Read: 2012 Chevrolet Equinox Review

The goal was to get from my house to grandmother’s house to the other grandmother’s house in five days and more than 700 miles. That meant five hours of four-lane wrangling–each way–with the Equinox packed with enough clothes to cover five days of travel for four travelers. Needless to say, the Equinox was stuffed.

We started with an empty storage area behind the rear seat. With the seats pushed all the way forward you gain 31.4 cubic feet of space. But we had legs to fit between the front and rear seats so we quickly stuffed the rear cargo area with bags, computers, iPads, pillows, coats, gifts (it was a holiday trip, after all) and more miscellaneous junk. Available space was adequate but far from spectacular.

Rear storage space in 2012 Chevy Equinox

Then we motored and averaged just over 22 mpg during our first leg of the journey.

You know the drill. You arrive at grandma’s house, eat a bunch of tasty home-cooked meals, and then when it’s time to go she emerges with gifts and other miscellaneous items she is certain you could use. So after making half-hearted attempts at saying “no” to the gift bonanza, you turn your brain to computing how you’ll make all this stuff fit in the back of the road trip machine.

After multiple attempts at packing the Equinox and then unpacking when it was obvious the stuff just didn’t fit, I was able to use the available cargo net to keep everything tidy.

2012 Chevy Equinox packed with stuff

Averaged 22 mpg in V6 Chevy Equinox

We were on our way to the home of grandmother #2, just 286 miles the opposite direction. So we drove.

Our first leg of the trip we averaged 22.4 mpg. The second, slightly shorter leg we returned 21 mpg.

How does that compare to the published fuel economy ratings for the V6-powered Chevy Equinox? Slightly better than average, the green side of my brain is pleased to announce.

The Chevy Equinox with a V6 engine is expected to return 17 mpg in the city and 24 on the highway for a combined average of 20 mpg.

So we beat the averages just slightly.

But the space challenges made me wonder multiple times if I would have been better off driving a three-row Chevrolet Traverse instead.

Front 3/4 view of 2012 Chevrolet Equinox

Side view of 2012 Chevrolet Equinox

The V6 Chevy Equinox vs. the V6 Chevy Traverse

The Chevy Traverse averages 16 mpg in the city and 23 on the highway. Virtually the same as the Equinox.

The Chevy Traverse has a 22-gallon tank while the Equinox stores only 18.8 gallons. That means the Traverse can cover 376 miles on a tank of the gas while the Equinox can only manage 321 miles before you’ve completely drained the tank.

Hmmm. More space. Better ability to comfortably seat family and friends. Plus a tank of gas takes you even further down the road.

Given the choice of two road trip vehicles, we would opt for the Traverse over the Equinox.

Then again, the Traverse is more expensive and for many people who leave a smaller travel footprint, the Equinox will work well, especially if they buy the Chevy Equinox with the 2.4-liter Ecotec four-cylinder engine that can return up to 32 mpg in highway driving.

Question of the Day: Would you choose a two-row or three-row SUV for your ideal road trip machine?

Read: 2012 Chevrolet Traverse Review