Chevrolet is a legendary automaker that has many great cars available, and one of the company’s better offerings is the Equinox. The Equinox is a compact crossover SUV that offers a good balance of features for the average car shopper, but like in any other car, shoppers will have to pay extra for certain useful features. Here’s a look at the 2023 Chevy Equinox and how much it will cost to add all-wheel drive. 

How much all-wheel drive will cost on the 2023 Chevy Equinox

Chevy currently offers four trims on the Equinox. The LS is the standard trim, and it starts at about $28,000. Then there’s the nearly $31,000 LT trim. After that is the $32,300 RS trim. Finally, the Premier trim is the most expensive trim, and it starts at around $33,200. All trims come with the same powertrain setup though. They all get a 1.5-liter turbo four-cylinder engine, and they’re all paired to a six-speed automatic transmission.

This engine gets 175 hp and 203 lb-ft of torque, and the American automaker doesn’t offer any options in terms of its engine or its transmission. Those engines also come with front-wheel drive as standard across the board. Similarly, Chevy offers all-wheel drive on all trims, and it’s offered at the same price too. SUV shoppers will have to pay $1,600 to get all-wheel drive on their Equinox.

There are pros and cons to adding all-wheel drive to the Chevy SUV

All-wheel drive is a common feature that is a must-have for some folks, but it’s not perfect and it can be an issue for others. Two of the main problems with all-wheel drive both come down to economics. All-wheel drive hurts the fuel efficiency of a car, and that can lead to higher fuel costs overall. With front-wheel drive, the Chevy SUV gets 26 mpg in the city and 31 mpg on highways, for 28 mpg combined.

When all-wheel drive is equipped though, the compact SUV’s fuel economy drops to 24 mpg in the city and 30 mpg on highways, for 26 mpg combined. That’s a drop of 2 mpg, which can add up to a significant amount of money over a long span of time. Then there’s the upfront cost of adding all-wheel drive. $1,600 isn’t cheap, and many households may not think that all-wheel drive is worth that much.

However, there are three main performance-related advantages when it comes to all-wheel drive. Off-road driving is the big one, and all-wheel drive is practically a requirement for cars that can go off-road due to how useful it is.

Then there’s winter driving, as all-wheel drive makes it easier for cars to handle snow. All-wheel drive also has benefits on race tracks since the extra traction allows cars to perform better around corners.

All-wheel drive makes sense for a certain type of driver

SUV owners who are likely to do some winter driving are probably the biggest group of people who’d consider getting all-wheel drive on their Equinox. And while the Chevy SUV isn’t the best SUV for off-roading, adding all-wheel drive can make it decent enough for some off-road adventures, and that might appeal to some drivers as well. 

Not many drivers are going to take their Equinox for a spin at a race track though since it’s not a performance-oriented SUV. As such, the main type of shopper who should consider getting all-wheel drive on the Equinox are the drivers who live in a snowy area and want to drive when it snows. If it doesn’t snow and the Equinox isn’t going off-road, then all-wheel drive isn’t going to be useful.