Selwyn Times: July 03, 2019

30 Wednesday July 3 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
SELWYN TIMES
Alpine passes no hurdle to Equinox
IT WAS supposed to be a
Canterbury/West Coast road trip
in a Holden Equinox to coincide
with the March equinox, the
twice a year event when the sun
crosses the plane of the equator
making days and nights of equal
length.
However, as a mark of respect
to the Christchurch terror attack
victims, the event for a group of
motoring writers was postponed;
instead it became a journey to
mark the winter solstice of June
22 – the shortest day – a chance
to watch the sun rise over Sumner
beach and see it disappear into
the horizon at Punakaiki on the
West Coast.
In-between stood some of
the most scenic roads in New
Zealand – the alpine passes and
Buller River regions – and roads
which allowed the Equinox to
show its credentials.
The Equinox is not new in New
Zealand, the Mexican-sourced
sport utility vehicle landed here
in 2017, and has established itself
markedly in the crowded midsize
SUV sector.
It comes in a wide variety of
models, there is a complete range
Motoring
Ross Kiddie
starting from $29,990 and ending
at $60,490, all with four-cylinder
engines, and all turbocharged.
Base models land with a 1.5-litre
petrol unit, there is a 2-litre petrol
and a 1.6-litre diesel.
I’m yet to drive the diesel, but
I can report that even in basemodel
form the power plant is
far from disgraced; it is a real
honey and would probably be
my choice if I was an Equinox
buyer. The cars we drove through
the alps, and return, were 2-litre
LTZ-V petrol models, which list
at $57,490.
At that price the Equinox is
fully loaded with specification. It
gets all the traditional SUV kit,
but there are also many niceties
that would please the South
Island buyer – heated steering
wheel and heated seats for the
cold winters, dual sunroof, and
cooling seats.
Other major items include
satellite navigation, cruise control,
Bose premium audio, wireless
mobile phone charging, handsfree
tailgate, and hill descent
control.
The latter works on four-wheeldrive,
obviously, and while not
HOLDEN EQUINOX LTZ-V: Four-wheel-drive for gnarly off-road
tracks.
all models have drive to all four
wheels, the LTZ-V does, and it
is usual SUV fare, not so much a
device to tackle gnarly off-road
stuff, but easily a mechanism so
that cross-country tracks and
trails can be conquered.
The Equinox is capable and
honest, it does well under
testing conditions and does so
without compromise. Occupant
comfort is high, and the driveline
mechanicals are well suited to
tough conditions.
Holden rates the 2-litre model
with 188kW and 353Nm; for
interest’s sake, the 1.5 gets 127kW
and 275Nm, reinforcing my
comment earlier that it doesn’t
miss out on much.
Quite obviously, the 2-litre
doesn’t work quite as hard, and
it has more than enough power,
it competes in the mid-size SUV
market admirably. Against the
stopwatch it will easily make a
standstill to 100km/h sprint in
8.8sec.
More importantly, it is an engine
that is gentle with fuel use. Holden
claims an 8.4-litre per 100km
(34mpg) combined cycle average.
That sits well with the 9.8l/100km
(29mpg) figure showing on the
fuel usage readout on the journey
across the great divide.
Drive is channelled through a
nine-speed automatic gearbox,
the benefit of so many gears is the
smooth and fluid way in which
transmission is delivered.
In the tight stuff the Equinox
• Price – Holden Equinox
LTZ-V, $57,490
• Dimensions – Length,
4652mm; width,
1843mm; height,
1697mm
• Configuration – Fourcylinder,
four-wheeldrive,
1998cc, 188kW,
353Nm, nine-speed,
automatic.
• Performance –
0-100km/h, 8.8sec
• Fuel usage – 8.4l/100km
also has tidy handling manners,
the suspension has just the right
compliance between cornering
and comfort, steering feedback to
the driver is constant.
Holden has gone big with its
sport utility vehicle range. Not
only is there a comprehensive
array of models to choose from,
they go from small to large – Trax
to the new Acadia.
The company on both sides
of Tasman is on a fairly solid
direction in terms of marketing
and promotion.
The product which is arriving
in our market is markedly
different to what we have
traditionally come to expect.
However, that’s a good thing,
the Holdens that are gracing our
showrooms are aimed to satisfy
families and fleet buyers.