General Motors has had an SUV blitz on for the past few years, as it pedals hard to catch up with the success of the Ford Explorer, the Dodge Durango, and the Nissan Exterra. But gaps remain—at least in GM's offerings—and so Chevrolet has added another sport ute. The Equinox comes at just the right time, since it fills out the lower end of GM's SUV lineup. There it will take on popular vehicles like the Toyota RAV4 and the Ford Escape. But perhaps more important—for the moment, anyway—it offers SUV practicality with the gas mileage you might expect in a midsize sedan.

The Equinox is kind of a TrailBlazer lite. It shares some of the big SUV's styling cues, such as the muscular haunches and the overstuffed hood. And it's based on the same chassis as the Saturn Vue. Yet the Equinox is arguably more manageable and user-friendly than either of those vehicles. The interior is not lavish, but it is a distinct improvement on the cheap-feeling appointments in the Vue and, for that matter, in the Ford Escape. The Equinox incorporates some of the latest gizmos for comfort and storage as well, such as rear seats that slide forward and back, to maximize legroom or cargo space. The rear seats fold flat in a 60/40 split, and the front passenger seat can be folded flat too, which allows for the transport of such long objects as skis and construction materials. Another nice feature is the two-tier storage rack in the back, which allows you to stack objects that wouldn't necessarily fit well on top of each other. These features seem a bit gimmicky at first, but they add a degree of functionality that is part of the reason many people buy SUVs in the first place.

A particular curiosity in the Equinox is its V-6 engine, the first powerplant in a U.S.-made vehicle to be imported from China. I looked under the hood—and failed to spot any "made in China" labels—and also paid careful attention to the engine's performance. There are no shortcomings to report. The 185-horsepower V-6 is powerful, smooth, and quiet, and will probably give the Equinox an edge over competing vehicles such as the RAV4 or the Jeep Liberty that have a four-cylinder as the base engine. (A V-6 is optional on the Liberty.) The Equinox's handling is squishier than I would like, with overpowered steering that detracts from the driver's feel of the road—a convenience in big, heavy SUVs, but unnecessary on the Equinox. And I had one quality concern with the test vehicle, which had a door that needed some coaxing to latch properly. Still, this modest-size SUV has several qualities worth bragging about.