Three years ago, Chevrolet announced at the launch conference of the Explorer that it would become the official partner of Discovery Channel. Regarding the cross-border cooperation between the two, everyone thinks it is a matter of course. Explorer is not willing to stick to the city. It can also make a difference in the wild, and the brand spirit contained in Discovery fits perfectly with it.
It is true that explorers are constantly exploring their own boundaries. From its birth in the United States in 2004 to its introduction to China in 2017, Chevrolet Equinox has sold more than 3.8 million vehicles worldwide.
Three years later, this model of great significance to the Chevrolet brand has received a mid-term facelift. Can it once again become the mainstay of Chevrolet models?
On the 16th, at the high-altitude Shangri-La, car life witnessed its strength. Compared with the previous generation model, the new Explorer takes care of more young people. The sense of muscle has always been the most intuitive feeling that American cars bring to everyone. Therefore, the appearance is also the biggest change in the new Explorer.
The front grille and headlights have been adjusted. Under the new family-style design, the new Explorer adopts a polygonal air intake grille with internal wave decoration. A titanium-colored decorative strip runs through the entire front face and is connected to the headlights on both sides. The new-style split LED headlight set enhances the recognition of the vehicle. The LED daytime running lights and turn signals are narrow and sharp. The LED headlights below can also bring better night lighting effects. The fog lights below have been changed to black decorative panels, adding a bit of sportiness.
The three-section waistline on the side and the Equinox’s iconic hidden D-pillar make the new Equinox look not rigid and quite dynamic from the side.
Compared with the appearance, the changes in the interior are not that big. It still continues Chevrolet’s classic flying-wing dual-cockpit design. The center console uses a large area of ??soft covering material. The biggest difference is that the The original chrome-plated material is replaced with piano paint material, which is still in line with the taste of American cars and can reflect the heavy and sporty atmosphere.
The multi-function buttons on both sides of the steering wheel are made of soft material and are relatively comfortable to press. They can control the trip computer, voice recognition and some auxiliary functions.
The two letters RS have their own sporty attributes. In this case, the new Explorer simply made a breakthrough and provided a blackened RS kit with inlays on the front face and rear of the car. It has a striking red "RS" logo, and at the same time, red stitching elements are integrated into the seats, the sports gear lever is equipped with an exclusive RS red logo, 19-inch wheels are added, etc., all of which are a good interpretation of the Explorer model's value for money. The pursuit of youth sports.
The body size is 4646mm/1843mm/1695mm, and the wheelbase is 2725mm. Although this data is difficult to call the largest in the same class, it is absolutely no problem to say that it is at the mid-to-upper level. The backrests of the rear seats can be adjusted in two levels. At the same time, the Equinox is one of the few models in its class that can make the rear floor completely flat. This is mainly to take care of the comfort of the rear seats.
As a mid-term facelift model, the changes in the new Explorer are of course not only in appearance. In addition to the standard configuration of active and passive safety technologies such as lane assist, lane departure, and adaptive cruise, the new Equinox also comes standard. A switchable start-stop system is added to the 1.5T model. In addition, Car Life would like to particularly mention the new generation MyLink interconnection system it is equipped with. After switching to iFlytek's engine, it supports continuous dialogue, and the recognition speed and accuracy are greatly improved. Of course, there are also many built-in APPs in this car system, covering practical functions such as intelligent navigation, entertainment music, news information, real-time weather, traffic life, information inquiry, etc. It also provides OTA remote online upgrades, personalized accounts, WeChat teaming and other functions .
Judging from the current performance, the new Explorer still brings us a lot of optimizations, but as a hard-core SUV, does it have the hard-core ability to "show off muscles"?
Regarding this issue, I think we can get a glimpse of it from the choice of venue for this test drive. At Shangri-La, which is 3,459 meters above sea level, the test of car power can be said to be direct and cruel, but the Explorer did not disappoint me.
The new Explorer currently has two power versions, 535T and 550T. The former corresponds to the original 1.5T+6AT combination, and the latter is the eighth-generation Ecotec that has been highly visible in the past year or two? The combination of 2.0T+9AT. Personally, I would recommend the 550T version. At the same price, the German model can only consider 2.0T low power.
The most special thing about the 550T engine is the application of Tripower variable valve management technology. Under specific working conditions, it can switch from four-cylinder power to two-cylinder power to obtain better fuel. Economy. In addition, this engine also uses DVVT variable valve timing technology to further enhance the vehicle's performance.
The maximum power is 174kW and the peak torque is 350Nm. Compared with the 2.0T engine of the Volkswagen Tiguan L380TSI, the 550T has 12kW more power with the same torque.
When you step on the accelerator lightly at the start, there is no sluggishness in the power. After you step on the accelerator deeply in the middle and later stages, you can still feel that the engine still has plenty of power. It is smooth and direct, and overtaking is easy. At this time, the feedback of the accelerator is still very brisk. .
As one of the most advanced automatic transmissions of the General Motors Group, the 9AT performs well. The shifting logic is clear and the response is timely. It can accurately switch to the appropriate gear at various vehicle speeds without any obvious frustration. The gear ratio is very dense, and the overdrive gear is set after 7th gear, which provides better help for fuel economy. In actual driving experience, basically within a vehicle speed of 100km/h, this gearbox can be upgraded to 9th gear.
In addition, the NVH performance is also a highlight. Thanks to the equipped ANC active noise reduction system, the suppression of wind noise and tire noise is relatively good among mid-sized SUVs.
22 configuration upgrades, covering appearance, technology and power, are the changes brought about by the new Explorer.
If you are a boundary explorer who dares to explore different areas of life, this is the right choice for you.
The picture comes from the official website
This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.