Exploring the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV and Buick Envista: Game-Changing SUVs for Every Driver

2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV Review

Speaker 1 0:10

Time now for this hour's car review . I had a chance to drive the 2024 Chevrolet Equinox EV , built in Mexico , comes in these trim levels 1LT , 2lt , 2rs , 3lt and 3RS . I had the EV2LT . This is a small SUV , ev Seats , 5 . All new for 2024 . We didn't have the 25 because they didn't have it in the press fleet yet , but they're the same , trust me .

Speaker 1 0:39

Sharply designed EV , long and sleek . Great looking front fascia with slit , peekaboo lighting up front , laid-back wind-cheating front glass and low roofline gives it a fast appearance . Rear fascia is cutting-edge too , with large sunshade over the rear glass . What I liked about it everything Designed in America . All the way . Congrats to GM and Chevrolet .

Speaker 1 1:05

Interior highlights materials and seat design is attractive but really doesn't stand out . But you know , considering the price , I'm sure that somewhere down the line they're going to have another high-end one with leather interior . Not just yet , though . Cup holders , phone charger and HVAC controls all in the right places . Infotainment screen is the latest from GM . The layout on the dash holds instrumentation below the dash pad . It really is a nice layered look on that dash Cargo room average for the size SUV . What I liked about it ? The dash design makes use of those controls makes it really easy to use . No Apple CarPlay question mark why ? Yeah , because they're trying to go and steal all of that and make it a complete GM connection .

Speaker 1 2:03

Engine front wheel drive , electric motor If you want dual motors , you go to the all-wheel drive 213 horsepower in this , 236 pound-feet of torque . This is not a rocket ship . This isn't one of those plaid Teslas , it's not that . But it is certainly plenty of power for this particular vehicle . Of course , direct drive transmission 1,500 pound tow rating . In the city You're going to get 117 miles on a charge , 99 on the highway , up to 319 miles is what it's rated for the single charge . I got 3.4 miles per kilowatt hour . Miles per kilowatt hour , you do the math . I went 347.6 miles Trying to make it out to Jack Nierad's work , but I couldn't . I didn't quite make it .

Speaker 1 2:55

What I liked about it ? I liked about the range . We could use improvement . Again , more power , but that leads to more cost and we're going to get to that right now . As a matter of fact , what I liked about ride and handling it's heavy , like a typical battery electric-powered EV , but it is a dream to drive . What could use improvement ? I'm not sure . Here's where the fun comes in the base trim price on this really nice SUV EV that has a decent range $41,900 . Prices tested $45,995 . Base model price $41,900 . Super Cruise is a $2,700 option . Do you really want it ? Do you really need it ? No Competitors to the vehicle in base price and size Hyundai Ioniq 5 , $41,800 . Ford Mustang Mach-E $39,995 . And I threw a Tesla in here just so you can get some comparison Tesla Model Y $44,990 . So right there at about $40,000 . And I think that that's pretty much of a bargain these days when it comes to the EVs , because you know they can really go through the roof . How much is that thing that you're driving Mars ?

Speaker 2 4:12

Nothing like that .

Speaker 1 4:14

Mars got delivery of a Hummer .

Speaker 2 4:16

Oh no , now that's in the driveway . That's not the car I'm reviewing .

Speaker 1 4:20

Okay , but how much is the ?

Speaker 2 4:21

I haven't even opened the door on that thing yet . Oh boy , it got there late last night because it took a while to get it , 250 miles down the highway .

Speaker 1 4:30

Yeah , a couple of charge stops , two , two charge stops to get it from Dallas to Niterville . Wow yeah , I'm thinking it's a six-figure vehicle .

Speaker 2 4:39

I think I would bet .

Speaker 1 4:41

Yeah , but .

Speaker 2 4:42

I'll let you know shortly .

Speaker 1 4:44

All right , I'll tell you what I was impressed by this vehicle , and you know it takes a lot to impress me and I'm not trying to brag or anything , but we drive a lot of new vehicles . We have 52 of them a year .

Speaker 3 4:58

We see them all yeah .

Speaker 1 4:59

And we do see them all , and some are okay , some are good . This one's great . Now what consumer report says about it ? I don't know . Yeah , it may be a different story , but we didn't do a long-term test on . It was only for a week , and so we get them , yeah , and we generally have the , you know , 500 mile limit on it , so 347 miles . I got a pretty good feel for it and I really really did like it . Now I will tell you I didn't have to take it to a fast charger because I plugged it in here at the house on the 110 . And then it worked . And then it worked . So I always kept it right up there . I think it got down to about 60% , but I didn't drive it a day , so it managed to catch up to itself .

Speaker 3 5:41

Well , I thought it was a good-looking car when I was sitting in the driveway . Oh , it is . Obviously it needs to have an ICE engine , but that's just my opinion .

Speaker 1 5:49

Well , they still make an Equinox with a gas motor in it . They do , and it's called an Equinox , but it's not built on the same platform . Right understood , yeah , so at any rate , on the in-wheel time car talk show . Time now for jeff's feature of the week . There we go in farina gt and enigma .

Speaker 3 6:10

Here you go . So what's going on here is , uh , it is an enigma . This vehicle measures 14.8 feet long . It's 6.4 feet wide , four feet tall and it is the enigma gt standout features lying as wheelbase . Just the wheelbase alone is 10 feet . It's the 2 plus 2 interior , with hydrogen fuel internal combustion engine nestled in a central rear area , enhancing aerodynamics , paired with an electric motor up front , this prototype boosts all-wheel drive traction for a sporty ride , but what it really catches is your eye . It's the unique cabin entry . While it may look like your standard scissor door setup , the entire roof lifts , offering an unparalleled panoramic view for occupants .

Speaker 3 6:56

The Pininfarina hasn't revealed a new car . It has revealed everything . Check that out the Italian coach builder with a long list of chassis In their classic designs . The new entry is contemporary . It's a GT capable of blending unique characteristics . The dash and windscreen all lift as one and once on board , you'll spot the OLED screen and aerodynamically inspired dash . Sustainable material choices augment the reality . In the windscreen .

Speaker 3 7:28

There's lots of ai , of course , and lots of driver assistance , proving necessarily necessary considering the unique characteristics of the powertrain . The 2.5 liter v6 engine on board , powered here not by petrol , but by hydrogen mike the petrol is gas in your end . I'll just let you know , thank you . The engine alone kicks out 435 horsepower and has but one job the power , the rear axle only , so you're only going to get the power from the ice engine to the back . Powering the front axle is a 200-horsepower electric motor powered by a 10-kilowatt battery , which together gives the new Enigma's right all-wheel drive , because that's what you want in it . It also , uh , features the low , lower the height of the bonnet , which is the front area of the vehicle . Uh , because the e motors are smaller than the engine and thus the car with the optimum aerodynamic coefficient , so it's not too massive .

Speaker 3 8:28

The long wheelbase , the truth , is fraction bigger than the BMW 3 Series , which should give you an idea of the size . It's not too heavy , the concept , weighing in at around 3,726 pounds . So lots of expectation atop the streamlined physique . On one hand , it nods to the reimagined kind of car we all want to rediscover . We talked about that for auto shows . That's where they should be . So there you go . It's a very cool car . Hopefully they'll build it someday . I'm excited they ain't going to build it , no .

Speaker 1 8:59

But it sure is nice to look at .

Speaker 3 9:01

Yep , absolutely .

Speaker 1 9:17

All right time now on the In-Wheel Time Car Talk Show for this hour's car review . Mr Mars driving the Buick Invista .

Speaker 2 9:26

Everybody pay attention , yeah pay attention .

Speaker 2 9:28

This is the 2025 Buick Invista Comes-hoo . Everybody pay attention . Yeah , pay attention . This is the 2025 Buick in Vista . It comes in three trim levels . It comes in the Preferred , the Sport Touring and the Avenir Avenir . Avenir Avenir and we were driving the Sport Touring . Now all trim levels are front-wheel drive . All-wheel drive is not available in this vehicle .

Speaker 2 9:45

Now it's classified as a small station wagon . Now in marketing terms , that's called a small suv . Now it seats five people . It's it's sculpted . It's kind of a sculpted car almost . It's one of those .

Speaker 2 9:59

It's not really a hatchback . It's not really a lift back . It's got a very sloped back to it . So but the passenger area the front passengers in particular they , they sit . It's very tall . It's got a lot of head room in it , so it's kind of a tall car in that regard . It's got a great body color , the one we happen to be driving . The door handles were body color . It's got black trim all the way around it . It's got the thin design LED headlighting , up front , daytime running lights , taillights all LEDs . Now it does have a manual liftgate on it . So that was kind of different concerning the things that we've been driving , but it's no big deal and it does have the new logo up front . A lot of people noticed that . I'm not really sure why . It's basically the same one . They changed the coloring . But a lot of people really noticed that we had the 18 inch black aluminum wheels , so it was a nice contrast the trishield logo yes , uh , one thing I did notice .

Speaker 2 10:56

I wanted to notice that on , uh , we were drooling like , say , the 18 inch black aluminum wheels . The monroney said we had a compact spare wheel and we had a compact spare tire . Two different listings on the sheet , I'm not sure why A tire and a wheel , and a wheel .

Speaker 3 11:12

My God , I bet you , they go together .

Speaker 2 11:15

Well , I don't know , but it was kind of unusual to read that they're separate .

Speaker 1 11:19

Here's both of them . Put them together .

Speaker 2 11:20

You buy one or the other . When you buy the car .

Speaker 1 11:22

That's it Okay .

Speaker 2 11:23

Had the leather seating trim . Seating trim we had . The optional front seats were heated . The rear seat is a 60-40 folding that folds down the monitor that goes across the dash . It's actually two , but the way they've got it set up it looks like one 19-inch screen across there . It's an 11-inch touchscreen that's got all your nav , your convenience controls , your infotainment system , but the driver out of that has an eight inch driver information center right in front of me but it kind of rolls together across the dash to look like one big one .

Speaker 2 11:55

The other thing I noticed about in the technology the it is bluetooth , apple carplay , android . But the bluetooth will connect two devices on bluetooth . A lot of cars won't do that , so it's . You know , you got your one , that's it . This one will do two and it's got front s usbs , rear usb charging .

Speaker 2 12:13

Only one thing I liked about this particular thing a lot of cars , particularly the last two evs I've been driving , when I got out of it I came back to it . I had to log back in my phone , log back into apple carplay , this one . I got in it found it . It's still in my pocket . I hadn't done anything , hadn't even backed out of the driveway , and it found it and I thought that was very intuitive on the part of the system .

Buick Envision SUV Review

Speaker 2 12:38

Under the hood we had a 1.2 you're smart leader turbo , three cylinder , 137 horsepower , 162 pound feet of torque , backed by a six-speed automatic transmission .

Speaker 2 12:49

Now this vehicle only weighs 3060 pounds . Epa says you should get 28 miles to the gallon in the city , epa 32 combined , 30 . Now . I drove 307.5 miles and I got 30 miles per gallon average across nice . It was really and there was a highway miles included . Now I to me it had sportier handling than what you might expect from a Buick . It's not a race car by any means , but you could drive it Round curves pretty good . Felt like you were really driving something .

Speaker 2 13:19

It's relatively quiet out on the road . Even with a three-cylinder it's got its own little noise to it , but it's nothing you can't live with . Just talk to somebody and everything's all good .

Speaker 1 13:30

Here's what the motor sounds like Okay , don't be dissing it Not quite like that .

Speaker 3 13:36

Yeah , come on .

Speaker 2 13:37

But all in all , I was very happy to be driving this vehicle .

Speaker 3 13:41

I'm glad you were happy . It's very pleasant to drive .

Speaker 2 13:42

Now the base model on this is $23,700 . That's amazing . Base trim price is $24,700 . That's amazing . Base trim price is $24,700 . Now , as tested , $27,780 . Still Nice . Now this includes a six-year 70,000-mile roadside assistance warranty and one year of free maintenance on that thing . Now you're looking for something to compare it to . Chevrolet Trax starts at about $20,400 . Mazda CX-30 , $24,995 . Kia Soul at $22, . Looking for something to compare it to . Chevrolet track starts at about 20 400 . Mazda cx 30 24 995 . Key is sold at 22 90 . But the the things that you're going to find in this vehicle , the the little bit of technology that it's got , the way it works , the way it drives uh , I was really impressed with this vehicle . In fact , I showed it to two of my kids my daughter and one of her granddaughters . When you get ready to buy a new car , you need to look at something like this for this price . Don't be out here looking at $50,000 cars straight out of college .

Speaker 2 14:36

Yeah , because daddy's going to buy that , yeah , or grandpa Somebody . But I thought , you know , I could see this being something that somebody coming out of college , a family just getting started this would be a car you could buy . You could afford to buy it , make the payments and you're going to get a nice vehicle out of it . It's got that Buick level of quality in an SUV or a station wagon , excuse me as your government calls it . I love mine . That's my review of the Buick Invista . Thank you , Look at it , Check it out .

Speaker 1 15:06

All right , we're going to do that .

Speaker 3 15:06

Why is he in vision ?

Speaker 2 15:07

Today is .