2025 Chevrolet Equinox Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The Equinox was admittedly due for an update. Now, it looks distinctly modern. The 2025-model-year redesign follows in the footsteps of the larger Chevrolet Traverse, which got its own makeover just last year. The flat roof, upright grille, and “shark fin” C-pillar look much more at home alongside the Suburban or, indeed, the Silverado, than the meeker, pinched-face Equinox of yesteryear ever did.

Each trim gets its own distinct exterior styling elements. The now-base Equinox LT comes with traditional chrome or, for $1,045, can be optioned with a more contemporary Midnight Edition High Gloss Black treatment. It comes standard with 17-inch wheels, though 19s are available (or included as part of the Midnight Edition package). The RS trim, Chevy’s sportier designation, gets black mirrors and badges, a larger grille opening, and red RS emblems. 19-inch wheels are standard here, and, for the first time ever on the Equinox, 20-inch wheels are available. Finally, there’s the ACTIV trim. This is the new one, and it shows, with dark chrome flowing to the headlights and simpler grille inserts setting it apart. It’s back to 17-inch wheels for the Equinox ACTIV, but these come with all-terrain tires and a chunky design that emphasizes its adventure orientation.

Both higher trims get a dark blue Chevy bowtie in place of the traditional gold one, contributing to the contemporary feel. Each gets its own two-tone paint combo: A black roof is available for RS and a white for ACTIV, at no extra charge. LT buyers can choose either for $495 or stick with a body-colored roof. We love that Chevrolet chose to make this extra customization option free on the two higher trims and affordable on the base.

Interior styling also distinguishes the trims from one another and sets the 2025 Equinox well apart from its predecessors. The housing around the new round vents features a really neat sub-texture effect, with a sculptural, light-reflecting element under the surface gloss. The substantial cowl delineating the front passenger’s leg space, an old-school architecture these days, is gone for 2025, and the shifter has been moved to the steering column, further opening up the center console. In our RS trim tester, this space offered a storage area below the climate control buttons as well as a file-style angled wireless charging pad. The new, larger infotainment screen is now layered with the driver-information display as we’ve seen in other new Chevy models, no longer lying flush with the dash and framed by vents as in recent Subarus.

We think Chevy successfully avoided a cheap feel with this new cabin. In both the RS and ACTIV trims we spent time in, we found textures on the dash that, while not leather, also were not pretending to be. It felt more like a choice than a compromise. The ACTIV trim sports a new “Maple Sugar and Black” interior theme which features two-tone black and tan seats, dash, and door cards, and a tan center armrest. We liked the combination and felt that it lightened the cabin considerably. The RS trim’s interior is much darker, but far from boring, with red highlights on the dash and Torch Red and Santorini Blue contrast stitching on the black seats. We were skeptical of this two-primary-color pairing, but when we saw it in person we found that the blue is pretty subtle. Overall, we thought it achieved the sporty effect.

Like the 2024 Equinox, the 2025 has a single engine offering: a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder. It produces 175 horsepower, just as the 2024 model did, but torque varies with powertrain. In front-wheel-drive (FWD) models, that engine will net 184 lb-ft of torque, while in all-wheel-drive (AWD) Equinoxes, it’ll get you 203 lb-ft.

This is largely because of the variance in transmissions. The outgoing Equinox came equipped with a six-speed automatic across the board. Now, FWD Equinoxes come with a continuously variable transmission (CVT), while AWD versions come with an eight-speed automatic. We did not get to experience the CVT, as both the RS and ACTIV testers Chevy supplied were equipped with AWD (a $2,000 upgrade at any trim level). We did find the eight-speed an improvement over the old six-speed, however. It moved more quickly through the gears during acceleration and made less noise overall. Shifts were generally unobtrusive.

We were pleasantly surprised at the accelerator’s responsiveness at low speeds or from a stop. It wasn’t until we attempted a highway merge that we were reminded this is a pretty small engine motivating a pretty good-sized crossover, when both the sluggish pace and notably increased noise recalled this fact to our attention. Outside of those particular situations, the ride is fairly quiet and comfortable.

Adventurers will be interested to know that the 2025 Equinox can tow up to 1,500 pounds when equipped with AWD. (FWD models are limited to a maximum of 800 pounds.) You no longer need to activate AWD with the push of a button. Instead, the driver can dedicate their attention to the use of another feature: selectable drive modes, which are new to Equinox. RS and ACTIV trims both come with a rotator mounted on the center console. In FWD models, this allows the driver to switch between Normal and Snow modes; if you have AWD, you also get Off-Road mode, which allows more wheel spin for better functioning on loose surfaces.

Heated front seats and a heated steering wheel come standard on the Equinox RS and ACTIV trim levels. Front seat ventilation is available as part of a $950 package that also adds heated rear seats and driver’s seat memory–not a bad price for all those extra amenities. Both the Equinox RS and the Equinox ACTIV come with Evotex seats. It seems that Chevrolet has nixed genuine leather along with the Premier trim, but we’re not sure anyone will miss them much. The Evotex felt sufficiently premium and certainly on par with the rest of the cabin.

The new Equinox’s flat roof translates to fairly consistent headroom from front to back. The front seats get 38.2 inches of headroom with the moonroof or 40 without, while the back seats get 37.8 inches with the moonroof and 39.2 without. We noted that the glass opening of the moonroof stretches well into the rear seats’ territory, bringing additional light to back-seat passengers. If you plan to pack three people into that back row, the middle-seat occupant will no doubt appreciate the flat floor as well.

One other thing about the new Equinox’s cabin: We really liked the placement of the “dead pedal,” the footrest on the left of the driver’s leg space. It lined up nicely with the gas and brake pedals and, had we attempted performance driving on the streets of Minneapolis, would have been ideally placed for us to brace ourselves against.

Cargo space is down just a tiny tick for this new generation of the Equinox, at 29.8 cubic feet behind the rear seats or 63.5 with them folded down. There is also a hidden storage compartment beneath the load floor in the cargo area, but cargo volume is undeniably small for the class.

Google Built-In is standard on the 2025 Chevy Equinox. Gloriously, so is wireless connectivity for both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. We’ll be honest: We would have bemoaned the decision if CarPlay were removed, but we also didn’t use it much. The native iteration of Google Maps proved more functional in the Equinox, projecting onto the driver information display and allowing us more flexibility for simultaneous infotainment activity. For example, our co-pilot could scroll through Spotify or even exit the active navigation to investigate alternative routes without ever interrupting the directions we were being fed from just behind the steering wheel.

Though we loved the navigational functionality of Google Built-In, we did struggle with the voice control. The voice assistant in the Equinox RS we tested was set to a decibel perilously near the pain threshold, and we could not figure out how to turn it down. (The assistant itself was no help, and frantically spinning the volume dial had no effect.) In all fairness, it must be said that a colleague who test drove a different example of the RS did not encounter this issue. We therefore suspect that there is a setting to manage the volume of the voice on the other end of “Hey Google,” and we just would have needed more time with the car to find it.

Most of the Equinox’s tech features are standard for 2025. This includes the new infotainment system touchscreen, which, at 11.3 inches, is 30% larger than the priciest option for 2024. It also includes wi-fi hotspot capability and a six-speaker audio system, in addition to the aforementioned wireless smartphone capability. Wireless charging is standard for RS and ACTIV, available on LT. There does not seem to be any option for an upgraded sound system.

An available Safety & Technology package will add rear pedestrian alert, HD surround vision, traffic-sign recognition, and a camera rearview mirror to any trim for $1,085. Just about every other safety or driver-assistance feature is standard, though, as part of the Chevy Safety Assist suite. This includes rear park assist and lane-change alert with side blind-zone alert, neither of which came standard for 2024. It also includes enhanced versions of automatic emergency braking and lane-keep assist with lane-departure warning, as well as popular features like adaptive cruise control, rear seat reminder, automatic emergency braking, and automatic high beams.

Though it’s not a new addition, the inclusion of standard Teen Driver Technology is still worth mentioning. This bundle of features lets parents program one of the Equinox keys to enforce speed and volume limitations, provide overspeed warnings, and require that seatbelts are buckled before the car will go–or play music. It will also provide a “report card” detailing the number of times the accelerator was floored, events that triggered certain safety systems, number of overspeed warnings issued, and other information that might interest concerned parents and guardians (or anyone paying for a car someone else might drive).

The Equinox can still claim the sub-$30k title for 2025, but only just, with a base MSRP of $29,995 including destination. That will get you a 2025 Chevrolet Equinox LT with FWD and no optional extras. Of course, with standard wireless smartphone projection, Chevy Safety Assist, and Teen Driver Technology, you may very well be happy with the base model as-is.

We were intrigued to learn that the Equinox RS and Equinox ACTIV carry the same base price of $34,395, again for a FWD configuration and including destination. This feels appropriate given that the underlying mechanicals and even the materials are nearly identical, although Chevy reps did inform us that the ACTIV gets its own suspension tune optimized for the all-terrain tires. Other than that, the choice is really about styling, and Chevrolet isn’t suggesting that either is inherently better than the other. Would you prefer your Evotex-trimmed seats in Black (RS) or Maple Sugar (ACTIV)? Do you want Torch Red and Santorini Blue interior accents (RS) or not (ACTIV)? Are slick 19- or 20-inch wheels (RS) your thing, or do you find the chunky 17-inchers (ACTIV) more appealing? The heart wants what it wants, and it needn’t take input from the wallet for this particular choice.

Of course, shoppers in search of the right compact crossover have more to consider than just trims. It’s a crowded segment in which price points hovering right around $30,000 are hardly unusual. As a matter of fact, the 2025 Kia Sportage undercuts the Equinox, clocking in at $28,565. Of course, it hasn’t seen a substantial update since 2021, but then neither has the Toyota RAV4, selling at $30,070. The Hyundai Tucson and Subaru Forester, though, are all-new for 2025, just like the Equinox, starting at $29,750 and $31,115 respectively. (All prices include destination.)

Our point here is not to allege that the Equinox lacks a competitive edge with its average MSRP. Rather, it’s to reiterate that pricing doesn’t always tip the scales. In an ideal world, shoppers won’t need to choose between sacrificing must-haves or living with the guilt of overspending; they’ll choose the daily driver that best suits their daily lives. What Chevrolet has done with the new Equinox is to ensure it continues to merit consideration.