All-New 2025 Chevrolet Equinox: Is It Worthier Than the Best-Selling RAV4 and CR-V?

There were a lot of model introductions, refreshes, and updates during the first month of 2024, but as far as the American automotive market, one of the most essential official arrivals was the reveal of the first details pertaining to the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox. This compact crossover SUV clearly overshadows goodies like the all-new, first-ever Porsche Macan EV (because of pricing, mostly), the Silverado HD Trail Boss (because it's just an off-road package, of course), the leaked BMW i5 Touring, or the Volkswagen Golf and GTI facelift, among many others.

The Chevy Equinox, now with a much less boring design and a thoroughly overhauled interior, is a very important nameplate for General Motors. In fact, this is one of the few models from GM that claimed a spot in the top 25 cars, SUVs, and trucks with the best deliveries in America – it placed 14th with almost 213k units sold. That's a strong performance, though nearly not as noteworthy as the fourth place from Toyota's RAV4 (almost 435k deliveries) and sixth-placed Honda CR-V (361,457 units). As such, after we took a minute to compare the 2025 Chevy Equinox against internal foes like the 2024 Buick Envision or GMC Terrain, maybe now it's time to also pit it against the top-grossing RAV4 and CR-V.

As far as it is concerned, Chevrolet wants to remind us that Equinox models have been in production since 2004, and two decades later, the nameplate has already sold more than three million units. Now, alongside the smaller Trax and Trailblazer, as well as the larger Blazer and 2024 Traverse, Chevy's Equinox is also fresh and features the series' first-ever adventure-oriented trim version called Activ. The second best-selling nameplate after Silverado is clearly inspired, just like the 2024 Traverse, by the tougher design of the brand's pickup trucks and will be available in LS, RS, and Activ trims.

Each grade has a distinct front styling – which could help set them apart or increase customer confusion if they don't know this little detail. Wheel choice is contemporary – it starts from 17-inch setups and goes all the way up to 20 inchers on the RS variants. Perhaps more importantly, Chevy has also given the 2025 Equinox a modern interior – complete with an 11-inch configurable driver information cluster plus a new 11.3-inch infotainment screen that's 30% larger than the biggest option of the current model that also comes with Google built-in and – notoriously – no CarPlay or Android Auto.

Logic dictates that the first and foremost rivals are the other GM models built on the same architecture (GM D2XX) – the 2024 Buick Envision and GMC Terrain. However, none of them racked the same deliveries as Equinox, so maybe it's time to move on. Other viable alternatives are the Ford Bronco Sport if you want something rugged from the get-go, the Mazda CX-5 if you're going to hit it with the higher leagues without necessarily paying the premium, the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage if you want something that stands out in any crowd, 2025 Subaru Forester if you wish to something equally all-new, for example.

These are just a few of the potential rivals – we didn't even mention the Mazda CX-50, Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, Dodge Hornet, Jeep Compass, Volkswagen Tiguan, Mitsubishi Outlander, Ford Escape, or Jeep Cherokee, for example. But the truth is simple – only three other nameplates can genuinely measure up with the 2025 Chevrolet Equinox. Those are, naturally, Nissan's Rogue (9th best-seller in America last year), Honda's CR-V (sixth), and Toyota's iconic RAV4 (fourth). In order for their sales to come first, the Nissan Rogue (over 271k), which just got updated for the 2024 model year, will arrive at nationwide dealerships starting from an MSRP of $28,320 in the S trim level.

That's marginally more expensive (+$410) compared to the prior model year, but the Japanese CUV boasts various design and technology upgrades while sporting the same 1.5-liter three-cylinder with 201 hp and a continuously variable transmission (CVT). The same 1.5-liter and CVT setup is valid for the base Equinox with FWD – but it only has 175 horsepower under the hood. As a counterpoint, the AWD variants come with an eight-speed automatic transmission instead, and it also has a neat 1,500-pound (680 kg) trailering rating. Moving on, there's the 2024 Honda CR-V, which is only its second model year as a sixth-generation model.

Logic dictates that it is one of the main reasons for its spectacular performance last year, so it is no wonder that the only novelty for the 2024 model year is the Sport-L trim level, which comes exclusively as a hybrid. That's another one of the advantages of the CR-V over the Equinox – it can be had with a 190-hp turbo or a 204-hp two-motor hybrid setup starting from $29,500. It's a little more than the Rogue, and we are pretty sure that Chevrolet will try to keep the Equinox MSRP under both when it reaches dealerships later this year. Last but not least, there's also the 2024 Toyota RAV4, of course.

This one is growing a little old by now, as the XA50 fifth generation was introduced in 2018 and has already been updated across all markets. However, it still has a solid following, which allowed it to claim fourth spot in America and second worldwide last year. In the US, it starts from $28,675 and also packs a much larger 2.5-liter four-cylinder with 203 horsepower or a hybrid powertrain with 219 combined ponies – the most out of the entire bunch. Obviously, the 175-hp Equinox is losing the horsepower wars against the RAV4, Rogue, and CR-V, right? But maybe it has other trump cards going forward - the most important of all being the base price. So, which one would you choose and why?