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  • William Maley
    William Maley

    By William Maley •

    The 2018 Chevrolet Equinox Could Have Looked So Much Different

      How focus groups caused Chevrolet to go back to the drawing board

    If it weren't for focus groups, the design of the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox could have looked so much different.

    Speaking to Automotive News, chief engineer of the 2018 Equinox Mark Cieslak revealed that focus groups weren't not impressed with the first designs of the redesigned model. They described the design as being bulky, 'not compelling', and looking a bit odd. If this was old GM, they would have gone forward with the design.

    "Back in the day, we would have probably just kept going," said Cieslak.

    "What we had on paper we felt was not going to win."

    But this being the new GM where bean counters lost a fair amount of influence, the decision was made to go back to the drawing board. At the time, GM was scrambling to fix the Malibu as its redesign earned poor reviews and a drop in sales which likely played a part in this decision. They needed to get the Equinox redesign right as the model it would replace was very popular. There were concerns that this could cause the new Equinox to be delayed. But in the end, the team were able to design a new Equinox without falling off schedule.

    Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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    regfootball

    I looked over the new CRv pretty good at the auto show. It's not as amazing as the hype is made out to be. It is done well but there is still residual honda cheapness inside. It's just not the same huge serving of bleh from before. Nonetheless, it will continue to sell. They had to make the crv nicer finally because it became such a piece of crap  loud and cheap inside, etc   The new one is an upgrade but not the be all end all  

    To me the Rogue is maybe not best in class but I think it's interior feels most spacious and it has the 3 row option.  Feels macho enough. Probably gives most value for the dollar. 

    Chevy is ok selling new equinox for stupid high prices for 6 mo to a year while they sell off the old one at huge rebates. And while they figure out how to make the production line run and make it so you don't have first year bugs. Shouldn't have to but Gm is Gm. 

     

    Side note new Acadias and envisions have huge discounts now. Probably can get more value on one of those right now instead of new equinox. 

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    hyperv6

    There is always going to be a deal out there but it really comes down to what you really want.

    Like the full size and mid size. I could have got a great deal on a full size but it was not what I wanted.

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    ccap41
    5 hours ago, regfootball said:

    It is done well but there is still residual honda cheapness inside.

    I don't think it matters which brand, if you're looking at any of the mainstream brands they will all fall into this category at some point. They're not luxury vehicles and there will be plastic cheapness. It's just where they make the plastic that's acceptable to each buyer.

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    Stew
    13 hours ago, ocnblu said:

    It is like they're building in a need for the perpetuation of rebates with this pricing scheme.  Sad.

    The somewhat brawny new CR-V is proof you can have a CUV that appeals to both sexes, and the interior in the Honda is simply beautiful.

    Over here though I am anxiously awaiting my new Compass.

     

     

     

    Jeep us informed once you receive it.  That is another one I feel like was simply knocked out of the ballpark. 

    2 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

    I don't think it matters which brand, if you're looking at any of the mainstream brands they will all fall into this category at some point. They're not luxury vehicles and there will be plastic cheapness. It's just where they make the plastic that's acceptable to each buyer.

    Exactly, GM has their fair share of cheapness and yuck in their inteiors as well.  the sad hing there, is that it DOES extend to Cadillac.  

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    ccap41
    23 minutes ago, Stew said:

    Exactly, GM has their fair share of cheapness and yuck in their inteiors as well.  the sad hing there, is that it DOES extend to Cadillac.  

    Yep, completely agree. I know damn well my Escape had a lot of plastic, too much if I'm being honest. But I think the "fixed" it by not making it glossy. When it got dirty it looked really bad so I had to keep up on it. Basically the whole damn center stack was glossy plastic and felt really cheap if you touched it(which you never do where it was at but that's besides the point).

    Just knowing all of these vehicles are so competitively priced they have to cheapen out somewhere. Let's just hope it is more subtle than others.

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    Stew
    1 hour ago, ccap41 said:

    Yep, completely agree. I know damn well my Escape had a lot of plastic, too much if I'm being honest. But I think the "fixed" it by not making it glossy. When it got dirty it looked really bad so I had to keep up on it. Basically the whole damn center stack was glossy plastic and felt really cheap if you touched it(which you never do where it was at but that's besides the point).

    Just knowing all of these vehicles are so competitively priced they have to cheapen out somewhere. Let's just hope it is more subtle than others.

    Same with my Beetle.  Touch points (steering wheel, shifter, controls) feel great.  The dash top is hard plastic, but done in a sheen and texture that it still looks good.  Even the Camry has a few cheap pieces (namely that $h!ty silver plastic eveyone used the previous decade), but touch points feel fantastic. 

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    regfootball

    Friend had 2 different crv leases. Absolutely hated them. Noisy, bad ride, not advertised fe. The new one apparently cuts down interior noise allegedly. Good. When I test drove the previous gen one awhile back it was noisy, rode like crap, and was cheap inside. Honda badge was the only reason it sold I imagine 

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