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From a Cruze to an Equinox for a few days

3227 Views 26 Replies 12 Participants Last post by  money_man
As a follow up from my thread 3 gears issues: The dealer called today and said the tranny just came in today so they have all the parts. So I took my car in this morning for them to replace the clutch and tranny. Said it should be done by Friday. I was given a 2016 Equinox for a loaner car until done. I must say I already miss my "little Cruze". Kinda feel like I am on top of the world in this thing. Runs OK, under powered and sucks gas. It does have the manumatic in it. I tried it but not the same as my 6M. Surely happy when I get my car back and look forward to the next 100K on it.

Told a co worker I have a 6M in my car and she asked what kind of car and when I told her it was a Cruze: She said it is not a sports car why do you have a manual in it. She said maybe in a Maserati or a Porsche but not a Cruze: Maybe I hit sore spot with her and she wishes she had a stick shift? She has a 66 Pontiac Lemans convertible. Nice car but not a stick either. ?
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I'd say your coworker is either jealous or simply doesn't understand the joy of rowing your own gears.
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Well I thought ya got rid of yer dang cruzen for an equinox ...
on the automatic, you can go M1-6, for a person that doesn't know how to drive Manual, could you learn with this? Obviously not the clutch part but figuring out when to down and up shift.
Well I thought ya got rid of yer dang cruzen for an equinox ...
I was afraid people would take the title the wrong way. After driving the Equinox(at least this one), I would more likely than not be back in the market for another car! I guess it has it utility but not for me!
I'd say your coworker is either jealous or simply doesn't understand the joy of rowing your own gears.
Not many do anymore! Most are surprised to see mine and even when I see one, I am curious as to the owner.
Good god those things are underpowered pigs. I felt like I was constantly winding it out to 3500+ RPM in normal driving.

Otherwise they're an OK car in my opinion. It's a nice size compared to say, an Escape, but the Escape is 500x better from behind the wheel.
Good god those things are underpowered pigs.
If you get an AWD 2.4L, and think it's a race car, sure. My in-laws have one - it's fine.

The 3.6 has far more balls.
If you get an AWD 2.4L, sure.

The 3.6 has far more balls.
FWD 2.4 was what I had. 90% of them are the 2.4. And the 3.6 is terrible on gas for its size and can only be optioned on upper trim levels.

GM really needs to put a small turbo engine or worthwhile 4 cyl (is the GM 2.5 any better?) in one, and lose some weight. I think it's due for a complete redesign next year though.
I had one as my loaner too during my rack replacement. ive felt big rigs that have more get up and go.... always drone and always trying to find power in high rpms. it guzzles gas at a alarming rate.. with eco turned on and my hyper mile driving i didnt really come close to epa city. what a rolling turd of a car in most aspects. comfort was good as was viability and ride
That's pretty much exactly how I thought the Equinox would be, which is a shame because I like the styling of it.

Once I've got the Cruze paid down/off, it's Silverado time for me. :)
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That's pretty much exactly how I thought the Equinox would be, which is a shame because I like the styling of it.

Once I've got the Cruze paid down/off, it's Silverado time for me. :)

x2!
FWD 2.4 was what I had. 90% of them are the 2.4. And the 3.6 is terrible on gas for its size and can only be optioned on upper trim levels.

GM really needs to put a small turbo engine or worthwhile 4 cyl (is the GM 2.5 any better?) in one, and lose some weight. I think it's due for a complete redesign next year though.
It's old architecture - but it sells really well. Why mess with what works while also developing a new lighter program? Doesn't make sense.

Also - did you turn Eco off? On the in-laws, the tip-in felt like half the pedal with Eco on. With it off, I was perfectly happy driving it - and clearly so are over 200,000 people a year.
It's old architecture - but it sells really well. Why mess with what works while also developing a new lighter program? Doesn't make sense.

Also - did you turn Eco off? On the in-laws, the tip-in felt like half the pedal with Eco on. With it off, I was perfectly happy driving it - and clearly so are over 200,000 people a year.
Very true. Kinda like how Toyota didn't change anything with their Tundra 5.7L V8. Sure it sucks for gas, but sales have not hurt because of it. They know that engine will last 250k miles with little to no issues.
On the way home dealer called and car was ready. Remember I was quoted @$700. Well it turned out they only needed to change the disk and pressure plate(didn't need slave cylinder or flywheel) Said disk was @85% worn. $360 with an oil change and tire rotation. Drives like new car again! I wonder if the first dealer I went to would have figured out problem yet?
It's old architecture - but it sells really well. Why mess with what works while also developing a new lighter program? Doesn't make sense.

Also - did you turn Eco off? On the in-laws, the tip-in felt like half the pedal with Eco on. With it off, I was perfectly happy driving it - and clearly so are over 200,000 people a year.
Yep, Eco was off.

The platform is fine. It's not fun to drive, but it's capable and a good size for a family car. The base engine is a huge disappointment in a time where most 4 cylinder engines are actually surprisingly ok. All I'm trying to get at. And I drive a **** Cruze - it's not like THAT'S a fast car.

FWIW, I feel the RAV4 is underpowered as well. The CR-V, CX-5, Santa Fe, Escape w/ Ecoboost...all get around ok. I actually love small crossovers, but this is one I'd pass on.
Imo the only descent crossover power wise is the escape with the 2.0T. The crv is embarrassing slow, the cx-5 was meh but my second favorite, the Santa fe is ok but is hyundai and they have turbo issues up the backside. The equinox was junk when we looked at them. Gm needs to step up their game.
on the automatic, you can go M1-6, for a person that doesn't know how to drive Manual, could you learn with this? Obviously not the clutch part but figuring out when to down and up shift.
Nope. The computer still does too much.
My mom has a V6 terrain (same thing). It's the 3.0 before they came out with the 3.6 in the Equinox and terrain but it has much better power and doesn't strain nearly as much as the 4 banger. It does okay on gas. The 3.6 (family friend has one) does much better. The sticker still says 23 highway but they consistently get 27-28 on the highway out of it and theirs is AWD loaded. Her lifetime average is 22.7 and she does a lot of city. If you take the V6 Equinox and terrain at face value, it doesn't look very good, but then you realize it's rated the same MPG (almost) as the bigger Traverse with the same engine and something doesn't add up. Not sure why GM elected not to retest the car with the 3.6 in it (which is the general consensus of what happened over on the Equinox and terrain forums).

I know a guy on that forum got 33.x mpg out of the 3.6 FWD on a round trip over 200 miles hand calculated. Haven't been over there in a while but I wanna say his lifetime average was something close to 30mpg

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On the way home dealer called and car was ready. Remember I was quoted @$700. Well it turned out they only needed to change the disk and pressure plate(didn't need slave cylinder or flywheel) Said disk was @85% worn. $360 with an oil change and tire rotation. Drives like new car again! I wonder if the first dealer I went to would have figured out problem yet?
Excellent. The first dealership probably doesn't even know what a clutch is (other than $$$)
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