Official 2018 Chevrolet Equinox Diesel Fuel Economy Numbers Don't Quite Get to the 40-MPG Mark
General Motors’ expectation that the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox Diesel would climb to the arbitrarily important 40 miles per gallon marker will not be fulfilled by the production Equinox.
In accordance with Environmental Protection Agency procedures, the Equinox 1.6TD comes up short of the 40-mpg highway marker by a single mpg.
Released today by General Motors and likely to be featured on the EPA’s fueleconomy.gov website on August 15th, the front-wheel-drive 2018 Chevrolet Equinox Diesel is rated at 28 miles per gallon in the city and 39 on the highway, for a combined rating of 32 miles per gallon.
Diesel-powered, all-wheel-drive Equinoxes share the 28 mpg city rating and the 32 mpg combined rating, but drop to a 38 mpg highway rating.
GM calls the 39 mpg highway result “expected segment-topping” fuel economy, but we’ve yet to see what Mazda achieves once the EPA certifies the CX-5 Skyactiv-D.
Compared with other editions of the Equinox, the 1.6TD offers a combined rating equivalent to the best highway rating of any of the other models: the front-wheel-drive 1.5T, which has a city rating of 26 mpg. The thirstiest Equinox, meanwhile, is the hi-po 2.0T all-wheel-drive, for which premium fuel is recommended. It’s rated at 22 mpg city, 28 highway and 24 combined.
Prior to the CX-5 diesel’s arrival, the Equinox 1.6TD’s most efficient rivals are the Nissan Rogue Hybrid and Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, which have combined ratings of 32-34 miles per gallon, though the Equinox is measurably more thrifty on the highway.
The 1.6 turbocharged diesel, offered in top Equinox trims, commands a premium over the 2.0T, but, due to equipment differences, the comparison is not as straightforward as you’d expect. Including fees, the 2018 Chevrolet Equinox Diesel is priced from $31,435.
Sales expectations are modest. GM hopes to see 5 percent of Equinox buyers opt for the diesel, which would have translated to roughly 1,200 U.S. sales in July 2017.
[Image: General Motors]
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.
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As with the current Chevy Cruze that uses the same powertrain I would suspect the Equinox to easily exceed the lower than expected 39 rating.
I go up and down on diesel. I think they'll make some sales, but after owning one in Germany (highway commute), and what came with it, I'm not sure I'd do it again, even with the fuel cost savings (you have in Germany). So complicated, anything that breaks is seemingly expensive or hard to replace yourself. The torque is nice, yes, as is the cruising MPG. The noise, lack of fun winding the engine out, vibrations, heavy nose feeling... all turn offs. In the USA you really just have to be a diesel fan to really justify one, IMHO. Extra so when you live in an area where diesel often costs more than premium gas. But I get why people like these. I could see Chevy and Mazda carving out a little slice of customer satisfaction with these. But like Kyree states above, come 2019, I fully expect Mazda's HCCI engines to make any diesel obsolete for any non heavy duty application. Basically all of the positives, none of the negatives of diesel.