Question on 2010 Chevrolet Equinox Hill Climbing Performance
We are going to buy a new car this Fall. The vehicle will be used mostly as a trip car and mostly out West in Colorado/New Mexico/... .
I read the Consumer Reports first look at the 2010 Equinox today. It was mostly positive but for comments on the performance. One problem seems to lie in the shift schedule programming when ascending hills.
I would like to hear from anyone on this forum who is driving the 2010 Equinox out West at elevation. Any observations on the car's performance "in the hills" would be appreciated.
I read the Consumer Reports first look at the 2010 Equinox today. It was mostly positive but for comments on the performance. One problem seems to lie in the shift schedule programming when ascending hills.
I would like to hear from anyone on this forum who is driving the 2010 Equinox out West at elevation. Any observations on the car's performance "in the hills" would be appreciated.
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On the downhill side, there is a hill descent control system that holds vehicle speed steady without downshifting (up to a certain limit of course). It works pretty nice on the small to moderate hills. And the transmission has a pushbutton manual mode that would work pretty well for mountain duty (but is too sluggish for "sporting" use).
All that being said, I really question whether the 4 cyl AWD model would cut it in the "real" mountains. It works fine here in the midwest, but I have to believe it would run out of breath pretty quick going up a steep grade at high elevation. 6 cyl probably a better option there (but you probably already knew that).
Yes, we do plan on getting a 6 cyl and for the reasons you state. I was reading a review of the 2010 Outback 4 cyl and the reviewer noted that at 7000 feet the "4" was running OK but indicating that it would be a lot happier if it were a "6".
In regards your hill climbing transmission response, in general, that sounds like what I would like: a relatively "graceful" downshift, one notch at a time with a bit of rpm boost to maintain speed. The Consumer Reports "first look" report stated that their test Equinox seemed reluctant to downshift under load and required a heavy foot to get things moving (not so good). I assume that the CR test car was a very early model, so, perhaps, Chevy is fairly quickly cleaning up their software as they get reports back from the field.