Nissan Leaf vs. Chevy Equinox EV: Battle of the Affordable Electric SUVs
[MUSIC PLAYING] EMME HALL: Look, I know it
shouldn’t be quite this easy, but we really like the
Chevy Equinox EV better. I know the Nissan Leaf, it’s
the original affordable EV, and this year it’s all new. It’s still affordable,
and it did really well on our Edmunds EV range test. But for similar money, you can
get the entry level electric SUV from Chevrolet, the Equinox EV. Now, listen, if you need to know
right now which one we think is the more well-rounded,
affordable EV, it’s the Equinox, but there are some
things that the Leaf does just a little bit better. Let me show you what we mean. We’re Edmunds, and we test
hundreds of cars each year on the road and at our
private track so you get the most trusted reviews. If you want to know which car,
truck, or SUV is the best, then stick with us. [AUDIO LOGO] [MUSIC PLAYING] The new Leaf is way better than
the old ones, and in some ways, it does succeed
on its own merits. But in other ways, ugh. Now inside on this top trim, I
get a really big screen matched with a reconfigurable gauge
cluster of the same size, but even on lesser trims, the
screen is almost just as big and that’s really nice. I do have wireless Apple CarPlay
and Android Auto, but, you guys, Google is built in on these
upper trims, which I really like. So I already have Google
Maps right there ready and waiting for me. The graphics here aren’t
fancy, but they are really easy to read. And I do want to point out
the reverse camera with the 360-degree view. It’s pretty clear,
so I’m digging that. I love the fact that I’ve got
my little Bose speakers here in the headrest because
I don’t hear so good and I like having that
right up next to my head. And this roof, you
guys, it’s so cool, and it just gives the Leaf a
little bit of an upscale touch. Now when it comes to
controls, a lot of stuff happens on the screen, but I do
have this row of haptic buttons down here for my HVAC. Again, I wish they
were physical buttons, but you know what, sometimes
beggars can’t be choosers. I do have a physical volume
knob, so that’s nice. And the controls on the
steering wheel, this is really, really useful. Very functional, a little
hard to figure out, but you’ll get it
after a couple of days. But there are two things in here
that I just can’t even handle. Number one, there’s no
dual-zone climate control. Come on, Nissan. Even on the highest trim,
you’re cheapening out. And, second, there is no auto
up window for the passenger. I’m usually the driver,
but I know that passengers can find that really annoying. The Leaf doesn’t have
really big door pockets, but I do have two big
cupholders in the front. It’s not quite big enough
to fit my big dumb cup, but if you’ve got one
with a skinny bottom, that is going to be no problem. The center armrest doesn’t
really have a lot of storage, but I love the fact that
the wireless charging pad is right here because
my phone just fits so good, and it just– oh, I love it so much. These seats are Nissan’s
zero gravity seats. I have always loved them,
and I love them here. They’re super comfortable even
over our five-hour EV range test. And the Leaf has got some
of this really cool interior trim here. It’s got these blue
highlights on it. I love the sentiment here. It feels a little
bit like a wetsuit. I wish it was just
a little bit softer, but if you’re looking for a
car that maybe isn’t made out of a wetsuit, go to the link
in the description at Edmunds. We’ve got all
kinds of tools that can help you find the right
car at the best price. You guys, look at this
cool design back here. Listen, there is plenty
of room in this rear seat. I’m 5′ 9, I have
plenty of headroom, and I’m sitting behind myself
with no problems whatsoever. In fact, the max legroom
that you can get here is nearly 32 inches. You could easily fit two
six footers back here. Three might be a
little bit of a stretch but two very, very easily. The seats, however,
they’re a little flat. I’m not sure how much time
I want to spend back here. And keep in mind that
in the base model you get no amenities back here. There’s not even air
vents, but this top tier, I’ve got air vents, I’ve
got heated rear seats, two USB-C ports, and
a standard outlet. Nothing should ever
lose battery back here. And if you need to put
a car seat back here, look how easy these
latches are to get to. Back here in the Leaf, I’ve
only got 20 cubic feet of space, and part of that is because
that is the battery there. But I do have this little cubby
with four metal tie downs, and then I can put a
little bag back here, move this little guy forward,
and then, boom, everything is hidden from view. I’ve also got some
lighting, a 120-volt outlet. And when I fold
these seats down, I’ve got 55 cubic feet
of space, and that is enough to hold probably
a couple of these. [MUSIC PLAYING] Now I don’t know how a vehicle
can be both floaty and choppy and shuddery all
at the same time, but somehow the Nissan
Leaf manages to do that. You’re going to feel
every little imperfection in the pavement come up
to the old butt dyno. But the good news is that the
S-plus trim, that will get you about 303 miles of range. That’s because it’s got
those tiny little wheels. This one is loaded,
it’s got more weight, and we’re getting
259 miles of range. But those are just the
numbers that Nissan quotes. We’ve done our own
testing, and I’m going to show you later in
the video what happened. Now, as for the
powertrain, look, there’s not enough juice here
for you to go hooning around, not even in sport
mode, but still it’s fine for daily driving. And what I really like
is the visibility. There is so much
visibility in here. It’s super easy to park and to
put exactly where you want it. Now because this is an EV, you
don’t have any engine noise. That means it’s really hard to
make the rest of the vehicle quiet, and I got to
tell you, Nissan really fails when it comes to wind
noise, especially around these mirrors. More than once I’ve had to
look around and be like, wait, do I have a window open. What’s going on here? And as a fan of
one-pedal driving, I really don’t like
the fact that Nissan makes me initiate one-pedal
driving every single time I get into the vehicle. And– and it actually
moves the brake pedal. I do not like that. Driver’s aids here,
they’re nothing special, but they all really
do work well. The lane centering keeps you
nice and centered in the lane. The adaptive cruise
control is nice and smooth, but what’s great is that
they are all standard across the entire trim package even the
vehicle that starts at less than $30,000. [MUSIC PLAYING] So it’s spacious, it’s easy
to drive, it’s affordable, and you have a ton of range. Y’all, there is a lot to
about the Chevy Equinox EV, and there’s a few things
that maybe you’re not going to so much. The worst thing is that look. Ugh, my lights
are on the screen! Ugh! Now, look, inside
the Chevy Equinox, I’ve got a really
large screen here, and it is running GM’s fairly
new infotainment system. There are some things here. First of all, the good. I’ve got Google
built in, so that means I’ve got access to Google
Maps, Google Assistant, the Play Store. I’ve got eight years
of OnStar basics. All of that is fantastic but no
Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. Now, yeah, I’ve got
Google Maps already, but what I don’t have is any
way to read my text messages. You can set up your phone so
that Google will read your text messages, but, you guys, it’s
a very complicated process and it’s really, really
easy to get it wrong. Oh, but check it out, a
reconfigurable gauge cluster. Does that make up for it? Not quite but it’s cool. And this backup
camera, look, there’s all this unused real
estate on the screen. Plus it’s not even that clear. Now I really like that. I’ve got some physical controls
here for my HVAC system. There are redundant controls
on this screen as well, but nothing beats a
great physical button. And if you’re wondering
where your one-pedal drive control is located, guess what. It’s on the screen. Why? Just give me a button. There’s actually some
cool touches in here. I really like this kind of
texture on the dashboard, and I love that our trim has got
this blue contrast stitching. And check this out. In the RS trim,
which is the fancy go fast version of
this vehicle, you can get red interior, a
red interior on an Equinox. It so doesn’t make
sense, and I love it. Now, unfortunately, these seats
are not quite as comfortable as what you get in the Nissan. They’re a little flat. They’re not as well bolstered. If I had my option, I’d rather
spend my time in the Leaf. Now as far as cup storage,
look, no surprise. Big dumb cup does not fit. Skinny bottom cup
fits like a dream. And there’s all kinds of really
cool little cubbies here. I’ve got this little guy
here for pens and pencils. I’ve got a cubby up
here under my HVAC, and then this is actually
a two-story system. So I can put a lot of
stuff down here as well. I think it’s
really, really good. Man, I thought that the
Leaf felt like a wetsuit. Ugh. Look, the good news is that we
have a ton of room back here. On paper, there is 6 inches more
rear legroom, and I believe it. I would shove somebody back
here who’s 6′ 3 or 6′ 4, and I don’t think they
would have a problem. But the Leaf gets it
done with seating, but you’re going to be
much more comfortable back here in the Equinox
at least when it comes to headroom because
the seat of this, it’s flat, and there’s not
a lot of support. Now as for amenities,
I’ve got air vents. That’s cool. I’ve got two USB-C ports. That’s cool, but this trim
doesn’t have any heated seats. But if you’ve got
little ones, you need a car seat like the Leaf. Super easy to find
those latches. Back here in the Equinox, you
do have a little bit more room than what you’ve got in the
Leaf, about 26.5 cubic feet of space, and that
expands to about 57 when you fold those rear seats
down, and they fold pretty flat. Now keep in mind
this is an SUV, so this floor is a little bit
higher than what you’ll have in the Leaf but you also
get a little bit of extra added storage underneath here. | also a few little amenities. You’ve got some lights. You also have a 12 volt and
some metal tie down hooks. [MUSIC PLAYING] Y’all, this vehicle is so much
more comfortable than the Leaf. The Equinox actually has
a compliant ride quality. It just soaks up the
bumps and everything feels really, really smooth. And the road noise
is better, too. Listen, when you get down
below 18 miles per hour and that passenger
warning sound comes on, yeah, that gets a little
loud, but road and wind noise are virtually non-existent here. My range is pretty
good, too, 319 miles for the front wheel drive
version, 285 for the all wheel drive. Now those are EPA numbers, and
we did just a little bit better when we took it
for a test drive. And for the powertrain, look,
you guys, this isn’t a Lucid. It’s not a Tesla Plaid. You’re going to have an adequate
amount of power, just not overblown. The point here is that it’s
smooth and it’s accessible. And remember that one-pedal
driving stuff on the Nissan? Well, here this Chevy will
remember your choice every time you turn the vehicle on and off. But even when you don’t
have one-pedal driving on, I noticed that the brake. It feels like the grab point
is really, really high, so I recommend you just
put it on one-pedal driving and let it do its own thing. And if you’re a
regular commuter, you can get the Equinox
EV with super cruise. That’s right. That is GM’s eyes up,
hands off driver’s aid. Now you’re going to
spend a lot of money. In fact, you’ll spend
more to get that than you will to get a loaded
Leaf, but still it’s really nice that it’s there. And even if you
don’t get it, you get all of the
standard driver’s aids including the little
GM safety seat that gives your butt
a little buzz when you’re doing something wrong. So what I’ve got here
is a vehicle that has got better ride quality. It’s not as noisy. It’s got a good amount of range. I can get super
cruise, and I have the option of all wheel drive. It’s not looking good
for the Leaf, y’all. Now remember at
Edmunds, we can get you a good deal when you buy
a car, but we can also get you a good offer when
you want to sell your car. So check us out. [MUSIC PLAYING] Every EV gets a range
estimate from the EPA, but like 0 to 60 times
and cargo numbers that we get from
manufacturers, you know we’re going to
test it ourselves. And we have tested almost
every EV on sale today. That is over 100 EVs, and
we do it the same way, the same 60/40 mix of
highway and city driving. We also use the same
settings until we get down to 10 miles or less of range. And spoiler alert, these
two are overachievers. The Chevy really impressed us. The Equinox EV managed 356
miles on our range test, and when it achieved that
number almost a year ago, it was the most
affordable EV we had ever tested that managed
over 300 miles of range. But a new car holds that title. The Leaf covered 310
miles in our testing, and that number may not sound
as impressive but hear me out. Chevy sent us the most efficient
version of the Equinox, but this Leaf is the loaded
trim level with big wheels and more weight that
can hurt your range. A little back of the
napkin math tells it that if the most efficient
Leaf S-plus over-performs the way this
platinum plus did, it could achieve over
360 miles of range and at a lower price
than the Equinox. Now one thing to note is
that both of these vehicles have the same peak
charging rate, and they can charge at
both a Tesla Supercharger or a standard DC fast charger. But the Leaf doesn’t
even need an adapter. Hey, if you had a good time
watching this video, go ahead and hit that like
and subscribe button. And if you have any
questions or maybe some suggestions
on videos, go ahead and put it in the comments. We read them all. Now value is a huge proposition
for both of these vehicles. They are not cheap. No new car is, but they are
some of the most accessible EVs that you can buy today,
especially when it comes to this Leaf. the base model starts
at right around $31,000. You don’t even need that
for an EV qualifier. This vehicle is
genuinely affordable. And Nissan said
that it’s coming out with a less expensive
version next year. It’ll have less power
and less battery, but it’ll cost you just a
little bit less as well. Now in just over $40,000,
our loaded leaf here, it’s got some really
nice materials. There’s a lot of
attention to detail, and during our time with it, it
seems to be very solidly built despite a few minor rattles. Now our money is on the SV Plus. For an extra $4,000, you
get all kinds of cool stuff. You get better upholstery,
better stereo, better wheels. You get a bigger
screen with Google. You get USB ports and air
vents for the back seat. Plus you get a
heat pump, so it’ll be really efficient
in the winter. So all of that for
35 grand, that’s less than the average
transaction cost for a new car these days. So, yeah, worth it. The Equinox starts at just
a bit more than the Leaf, right around $35,000. So that means for the same
price as a mid-tier Nissan, you’re going to be getting
a base Chevrolet with cloth seats and just basic features. But the real value addition
here with the Equinox is the inclusion of eight years
of a subscription for Google. Now you only get one
year in the Nissan but also keep in mind no
Apple CarPlay or Android Auto here in this Chevrolet. So if you really want to
use those Google functions, at least you’re not going to
have to pay in the Equinox. And the Equinox is
a nicely built car. Yes, on the low end, the
materials can be a little hit or miss, but you could say
the same thing of the Leaf. It’s just that the
low end of the Chevy is so much higher than what
you’ve got on the Leaf. Really it all comes down to if
you value that higher seating position and the extra space. But you can spend a lot
more on the Chevrolet. You want a loaded Equinox
with all wheel drive and super cruise, yeah, it’s going to
cost you well over $50,000. We think that the
sweet move here is a base LT with a few
comfort and safety packages as long as you don’t
mind those cloth seats. The Nissan Leaf is a much
better electric hatchback than it used to be,
and it’s a great way to get yourself into
an entry level EV. Of course, you get
front wheel drive only, and you have to be
OK with less space. And if you really, really
like Apple CarPlay, then, yeah, it’s a
no brainer as long as you’re OK with that
subpar driving experience. But if we’re recommending
one vehicle today, it is the Chevrolet Equinox EV. It is more versatile, it’s more
spacious, has a better ride quality, and if you can
keep those options in check, it still holds a lot of value. Yes, you’re going to spend
a little bit more money, but we think it’s worth it. Thank you so much for
watching, everyone, and we will see you next time.
The Nissan Leaf and Chevy Equinox EV are two of the most affordable electric vehicles you can buy in America. But which one is better? In this video, Edmunds’ Emme Hall puts the two head-to-head to find out, covering their available features, driving experience, range and more.
00:00 Intro
00:55 Leaf Interior, Tech, & Storage
04:38 Leaf Driving Impressions
06:22 Equinox Interior, Tech, & Storage
09:50 Equinox Driving Impressions
11:46 Edmunds’ EV Range & Charging Tests
13:23 Value
15:36 Edmunds’ Take
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