Chevy Equinox Diesel Is More Efficient Than Its Hybrid Competition
This Chevy is now officially more efficient than the hybrid variants of the Toyota RAV4 and Nissan Rogue.
The official mpg numbers are in for the Chevrolet Equinox diesel and they’re impressive. The EPA says the front-wheel drive version of the Chevy crossover hits 39 miles per gallon on the highway, 28 in the city, and 32 overall. The all-wheel drive variant is almost as efficient at 38 highway/28 city/32 overall. Highway range is rated at 577 miles.
This easily makes the diesel the most efficient Chevy Equinox. Unfortunately, it’s also the least powerful at 137 horsepower, but that’s forgivable considering the 240 pound-feet of torque that comes with it.
The next most efficient Equinox is the 1.5-liter front-wheel drive model which achieves 32 highway/26 city/28 overall mpg. That means a diesel Equinox in the city is as efficient as a gas Equinox on the highway.
More importantly than beating its own stablemates at the fuel economy game, the Chevy Equinox diesel passes up the hybrid variants of the competing Toyota RAV4 and Nissan Rogue by a fairly significant amount. The hybrid Rogue only gets 35 mpg on the highway while the Toyota gets 34. However, both Japanese competitors get slightly better city fuel economy, as hybrids often do.
Chevy is also touting its 1.6-liter turbodiesel as a “Whisper Diesel” that won’t make that gnarly diesel noise like heavy-duty trucks. It claims to be 65 percent quieter than the 2.0-liter diesel in the Jaguar F-Pace. If that’s true and if these mpg numbers hold up, diesel may have another chance at grabbing some more market share in the U.S.
