ronheater70
New member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2023
- Messages
- 3
- Reaction score
- 4
Well let me start by saying an Equinox was barely on my radar for anything. Our oldest daughter bought a 2012 used about 4 years ago and other than me putting a water pump on it, it had been pretty trouble free.
Fast forward to a 2021 spring afternoon and my work car was hit while sitting at an intersection and totaled. Now the main purpose of that car was me primarily driving it to work on days I didn't ride my Motorcycle because of snow / ice etc.. SO in replacing it I already knew I didn't want to spend a lot of money or have a huge payment for something that just occasionally takes me to the office 12 miles away. What was decided however was that we wanted a small SUV again. We have 6 children, 2 still live at home but are both 17 so they have their own jobs and cars so a small SUV would suit us fine. (we had an Excursion and Explorer in the past ).
Research led me to the MAzda CX 5, the Escape, and the Equinox. I couldnt find a Mazda near me with low miles or even Average miles.. I looked at a nice spec'd out Escape and really liked it. Drove it and liked it more.
Then we Drove an Equinox and i was, well unimpressed. However my wife loved it. Doing research I saw multiple fail points on the Escape and their engine choice regarding head gaskets etc. On the equinox I saw fail points also but not typically catostophic, so we decided on the equinox. We found a 2018 LT AWD with less than 50K mile son it and a fair price. Carfax looked good so we laid some money down and drove home with it. Since then we have put about 17K miles on it. I have to say it has become one of my favorite vehicles we have owned. We just completed a Graduation trip seeing point sof interest along the Great lakes that our Middle Daughter wanted to do for her graduation trip.. (whatever happened to wanting to go on a cruise? argh..) in 2 weeks we put 3,100 miles on it with 2,000 of that with 4 adults and luggage in it, and the last 1,100 with 5 adults and a luggage carrier in the hitch in back. (our oldest daughter is 27 but only 4'10 and under 100 pounds, I wouldn't try that with a 3rd full sized adult!) it was packed. never A hiccup, never an issue passing someone. never used a drop of oil on trip with sustained 75 + mph highway runs.
Very Happy.
My Complaints are limited.
I wish first gear was a little longer, so it didnt shift as fast and also had a higher gear ratio for 6th gear so it would reduce RPMS and fuel consumption slightly at highway speeds.. But I know with that lil engine options are limited.
The air vents, particularly the one to the right of the steering wheel annoyed the heck out of me. It seemed it was either pointed at my wife or directly at my arm while driving. Trying to get air tot he passengers in the back while driving was either me freezing my arm ice cold or nothing.
I tend to wait to write a review on something and get out of the honeymoon phase with it, I figure 17K miles I have enough experience with it to like it or hate it.. I like it!
Fast forward to a 2021 spring afternoon and my work car was hit while sitting at an intersection and totaled. Now the main purpose of that car was me primarily driving it to work on days I didn't ride my Motorcycle because of snow / ice etc.. SO in replacing it I already knew I didn't want to spend a lot of money or have a huge payment for something that just occasionally takes me to the office 12 miles away. What was decided however was that we wanted a small SUV again. We have 6 children, 2 still live at home but are both 17 so they have their own jobs and cars so a small SUV would suit us fine. (we had an Excursion and Explorer in the past ).
Research led me to the MAzda CX 5, the Escape, and the Equinox. I couldnt find a Mazda near me with low miles or even Average miles.. I looked at a nice spec'd out Escape and really liked it. Drove it and liked it more.
Then we Drove an Equinox and i was, well unimpressed. However my wife loved it. Doing research I saw multiple fail points on the Escape and their engine choice regarding head gaskets etc. On the equinox I saw fail points also but not typically catostophic, so we decided on the equinox. We found a 2018 LT AWD with less than 50K mile son it and a fair price. Carfax looked good so we laid some money down and drove home with it. Since then we have put about 17K miles on it. I have to say it has become one of my favorite vehicles we have owned. We just completed a Graduation trip seeing point sof interest along the Great lakes that our Middle Daughter wanted to do for her graduation trip.. (whatever happened to wanting to go on a cruise? argh..) in 2 weeks we put 3,100 miles on it with 2,000 of that with 4 adults and luggage in it, and the last 1,100 with 5 adults and a luggage carrier in the hitch in back. (our oldest daughter is 27 but only 4'10 and under 100 pounds, I wouldn't try that with a 3rd full sized adult!) it was packed. never A hiccup, never an issue passing someone. never used a drop of oil on trip with sustained 75 + mph highway runs.
Very Happy.
My Complaints are limited.
I wish first gear was a little longer, so it didnt shift as fast and also had a higher gear ratio for 6th gear so it would reduce RPMS and fuel consumption slightly at highway speeds.. But I know with that lil engine options are limited.
The air vents, particularly the one to the right of the steering wheel annoyed the heck out of me. It seemed it was either pointed at my wife or directly at my arm while driving. Trying to get air tot he passengers in the back while driving was either me freezing my arm ice cold or nothing.
I tend to wait to write a review on something and get out of the honeymoon phase with it, I figure 17K miles I have enough experience with it to like it or hate it.. I like it!
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