Car and Driver Praises Chevy Equinox

10158 Views 67 Replies 35 Participants Last post by Equinox, Apr 12, 2004

Tone

Discussion Starter · Mar 11, 2004

Car and Driver did a road test of the new Chevy Equinox and were pretty impressed by it.

The article concludes that "The Equinox suggests a whole new attitude at Chevrolet."

See - http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?se...article_id=7878

I'm not much of a fan of SUVs, but I have to admit, this one looks very good. Especially considering how most of these vehicles are actually used.

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leafs_fan

· #61 · Apr 5, 2004

Originally posted by TRBON8R@Mar 23 2004, 11:36 AM

Funny, but I thought I did post specifically regarding the Equinox and my dissatisfaction with the Chicom motor and Jap trans. Are comments only welcome if they heap praise on GM and the Equinox? Oh well, can't please everyone.....

Ben
'87 GN [email protected] on radials and a piss poor state of tune

:angry: Why dont u complain to gm for making the truck engines and axles in CANADA.. or maybe the almighty corvette engine was/is made right here in St. Catherines Ontario.. NAtional borders are almost non existant when it comes to auto manufactering......sorry bout the spelling :mf_boff:

later
matt

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leadfoot85

· #62 · Apr 5, 2004

Originally posted by bigals87z28@Mar 23 2004, 09:26 AM
...GM cannot and will not be confined to the boarders of the US.

Ah, yes...the very definition of a corporation according to websters.

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bgclarke

· #63 · Apr 6, 2004

Originally posted by gp2@Mar 30 2004, 04:21 PM
Somehow I knew this would haunt the good folks at Tonawanda. Fortunately for them GM has been pouring a lot of dough into the plants over the years and they continue to produce fine engines. (Well mostly, I have an '02 saturn L200 with the I4 they built there. Plenty of power, fact is I passed on the six because I couldn't discern enough of a difference. Anyway the engine on mine, like all the other folks I know with one continues to have electrical problems even though my dealer has had it in several times. On deceleration all the lights flash on and off. )

Tonawanda also has had the (negative) distinction of rolling out the piston slap plagued 3.1 V6.

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joey

· #64 · Apr 6, 2004

Yea, and the 3.4L comes from the same lineage. Well they make the I-5 in Tonawanda, and that's a nice engine. Canyon/Colorado's been out a few months right? No recalls yet! A Canyon Crew Cab with a Cap would make a nice Truck-SUV, Beter then an Explorer Sport Trac.

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bgclarke

· #65 · Apr 7, 2004

Originally posted by joey@Apr 6 2004, 12:17 PM
Yea, and the 3.4L comes from the same lineage.

The 3.4 also suffers from piston slap; listen to any GM minivan from the last 6 or so years when they start....some sound like baby diesels.

I'm sure the Tonawonda facility does produce good quailty engines. I believe the problem is with the suppliers and not GM per se, but the final result is a "GM engine" that has issues.

Anyway, enough of my ranting. This thread is supposed to be about the sharp looking Equinox.

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originalstarlite

· #66 · Apr 7, 2004

Originally posted by bgclarke+Apr 6 2004, 08:54 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (bgclarke @ Apr 6 2004, 08:54 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteBegin-joey@Apr 6 2004, 12:17 PM
Yea, and the 3.4L comes from the same lineage.

The 3.4 also suffers from piston slap; listen to any GM minivan from the last 6 or so years when they start....some sound like baby diesels.
[/b][/quote]
So other than this piston slap that is a noise produced when it starts, are there other problems that I should know about?

Is it not possible that "piston slap" is fixed? Is it due to a faulty fit and occurs after several years? I started a Nox and it sounded like any other car to me?

If there are so many issues, how or why does GM still use this motor? Why are the class action suits not lining up? I am not trying to start a flaming war, only trying to understand what I have on order and deciding if I still want it.

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bgclarke

· #67 · Apr 7, 2004

Originally posted by originalstarlite@Apr 7 2004, 06:15 AM
So other than this piston slap that is a noise produced when it starts, are there other problems that I should know about?

Is it not possible that "piston slap" is fixed? Is it due to a faulty fit and occurs after several years? I started a Nox and it sounded like any other car to me?

If there are so many issues, how or why does GM still use this motor? Why are the class action suits not lining up? I am not trying to start a flaming war, only trying to understand what I have on order and deciding if I still want it.

Intake manifold gaskets were a problem on the 3.1 and 3.4 V6s produced from 1998/1999 to late 2002.

3.1 and 3.4 engines assembled after November 2002 have an updated design for the intake manifold gaskets. The tech I talk to regularly says that it's too early to tell if the new gasket design has addressed the problem.

As for the piston slap, yes it can be fixed, and it may in fact be fixed with the 2004 engines. The main problem is that some of the pistons in these engines are not as wide as they should be, which allows for a bit of side to side movement in the cylinder walls. Between the 3.1 and 3.4, piston slap seems to afflict the 3.1 by a much larger degree.

When I had my 2001 Malibu, at 46,000 kms GM determined that it needed to be fixed. The solution was to replace the pistons with new ones that had teflon on the piston skirts. However, when they tore my engine down, they discovered that cyclinders 2 and 4 had cylinder wall damage and I needed a new engine. They replaced the engine. Now my 2003 Malibu, with 21,000 kms is starting to slap.

As to why GM still uses these engines....when they work well, they are solid as a rock and have a long life.

As for the class action lawsuit, here is a snippet from the filing:

A class action lawsuit has been filed against General Motors Corporation on behalf of of purchasers of 1999 through 2003 model GM vehicles with a 3.1, 3.4, 4.8, 5.3, 5.7 (LS1), 6.0, or 8.1 liter engine that exhibits a loud noise due to Piston Slap.

Given all of the problems I've had in the last few years, if I had a chance to get the Equinox, would I? Yes I would.

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Equinox

· #68 · Apr 12, 2004

Of all the articles written on the Equinox the one thing noticed the most is the rear seat being too stiff. Also I read in Wards Auto World that road noise is heard. I do know for a fact that the plant is working on the road noise issue and many improvements are being done. More sound deadener is added to the spare tire jack compartment...extra sound deadener is applied to the wheel wells inside the vehicle and extra foam backing is applied to the back of the carpet. I do wonder if changing tires will help?

As for the seat being stiff...according to the vendor that is what GM specified. Next years model may be different though...I'm hoping GM listens to this.

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