I’m notorious for trying to shove as much stuff as possible into the back of our car.
Okay, fine, I’ll admit it. I pretty much known for shoving as much stuff as possible ANYWHERE in our car.
This little tidbit about myself is why I have fallen in love with the Equinox. There are so many handy storage areas.
For starters, there’s the glove compartment. Ok, so that’s pretty standard in any car but I can still cram stuff in there. There is also a handy area right above the gear selector where you can keep your cell phone, chap stick, compact, or even a shrunken head if that’s your cup of tea.
But by far my favorite storage area is the middle console. Not only does it house the USB port and power outlet but this sucker is HUGE. No really. My laptop can fit in there and I don’t have a netbook people, I have a 15 inch Macbook Pro! It’s so deep that most of my arm fits in there. I’m almost tempted to fill the whole thing up with Pretzel M&M’s and then run away from home. I could totally survive for at least 4 hours on that much chocolatey pretzel goodness.
Of course the storage space doesn’t end there. Check out how much we were able to stick in the cargo area.
I could have fit a lot more back there if it were for those balloons and my children’s incessant need to bang them around. The cargo cover was a godsend in that area.
I’m not a fast runner and there is good reason for that which I’ll tell you about later.
Last week I completed my fourth 5k in 4 months. At the beginning of the year I set a goal for myself to run five, 5K races in 5 months. That goal has since increased to seven races in 7 months. I’ll actually be ending with the Warrior Dash. (Yes, I realize I may not survive.)
Anyway, by no means am I a svelte runner. I’m not one of those people that wears tiny running short or sports bra type tank tops. My running attire consists of athletic pants/capri’s and a top that attempts to cover that jiggle that occurs when I run.
Because I have some extra junk in my trunk, I tend to experience back ache after I finish running. It’s typically nothing a heating pad and some ibuprofen can’t take care of. The only problem is I usually have to wait until I get home which means that by that time I’m super achey and it takes twice as long for the heating pad and meds to do their work.
Thankfully, this race I had a secret weapon in my arsenal.. the Equinox!
That’s right, with heated seats and 3 different temperature settings, I was in heaven as soon as I slipped in and started the drive home. My poor back felt so much better when I got home that I made my hubs come out and take a few more pics of me with my favorite new running companion. (That’s right..it was raining. SUPRISE!)
What I like most about the seats is that unlike other vehicles I’ve been in with them, these don’t turn off automatically. They will keep the heat constant until you decide that your tushy is as warm as it needs to be.
WARNING: Warm tushy may cause your significant other to want to touch it. #justsayin
You can read about my other running exploits at MadHatterMom.com
The Chevy Equinox is a great vehicle for getting around the city, to driving though Pacific Northwest hills and mountains, to taking scenic drives that require time and a comfortable ride. The Equinox LTZ came equipped with an all-wheel drive (AWD) system and a powerful V6 that has torque making it nimble for its size.
Having a good AWD vehicle is not just for driving off roads, but also great for driving on roads such as all the ones he have here. And in any major city along the west coast, there are always many areas made of hills the size of small mountains. This crossover was great for moving around everywhere and still giving 20 MPG and more. Having strong stable traction is important for moving the entire vehicle around corners and bends. But the real advantage to having AWD is using it off paved roads, and that doesn’t mean Baja or rally racing.
We visit family and the beach along the Oregon coast and there is a stretch that is made for vehicles to drive upon where it is legal to drive on the beach. It for the most part is smooth and similar to smooth concrete, but if you want to stay off the ‘road’ then you have to drive more offshore which is deeper sand.
The little one may have problems in the sand.
The power of the DOHC 3.0L V6 makes it climb out of the sand with ease and is pretty much safe to assume that this car or any Chevy equipped with AWD will do its work and to get you out of a stuck situation.
It did that and more, I felt so comfortable driving on the sand, it made for a fun and adventurous trip to the beach.
When I was planning my posts for my Chevy experience, the idea of writing about customer service never crossed my mind. Why would it? I am only driving this car for a month, I don’t see anything happening where I would need to talk to anyone except to OnStar for directions. Boy, was I wrong. Two things have happened that have warranted a call with customer service, once with On Star, the other directly with the dealer.
Situation #1 – on our trip to our picnic last week, we stopped at the grocery store so I could pick up some ice and mayo for the sandwiches. Since I was just running in quick, I left the teens with the babies in the car (anyone who has grabby toddlers understands why I would not want to bring them inside the store if I didn’t have to). I took the key with me, and out of habit locked the doors behind me. My eldest was working on some art, and went to open the door to empty her pencil sharpener into the trash can next to the car. Since I had the car locked, when she opened the door [click to continue…]
I simply pressed the On-Star button and or Chevy Equinox directed us toward Mt St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Our family often admires the majestic volcano easily viewable from the Portland skyline. We have a goal this summer to explore the Pacific Northwest. Did you now there are fossils out east and glaciers up north? We want to do it all and we hope our Chevy will go with us to do it all!
I never thought my jogging stroller would fit into a trunk, let alone give me space to carry a hiking backpack, cooler, and other gear.
Holy cargo space!!
What I find so great about the Chevy Equinox is how easy everything is to use. On-Star is one of those things you never knew how great it was until you experienced it yourself. If I forget my cell phone at home I can make calls right form my car. My husband also can call my car and I can answer it through the Bluetooth on my phone or the actual On-Star system. I was able to add 60 minutes to my system for only $5.00!!
We all understand the nightmare that is navigating downtown Portland, I can say with the help of On-Star I made it to my Beaverton exist without chasing down and following The Max. It’s also been helpful for family road trips and I know my family is safe and sound with On-Star. It’s just one fo those things I never knew I needed until I had it, and now I couldn’t picture my life without it.
Here’s a few family pictures of our adventure, be sure to check out Our Ordinary Life for more!
Remember my post about shiny things? Well, we can also add buttons to the list.
I was always the kid growing up that when you told me not to push a button and then left the room, I would totally push it. Call it curiosity, call it stupidity, whatever, I still did it.
Anyway, one of the things my kids love about the Equinox is all the fabulous things I can make it do with just the key fob!
Truthfully, I love it to! I may be a bit simple but come on, I have 2 kids and an 11 year old car so all the bells and whistles that the Equinox has is super fun and in 2 weeks I may be running for the border with my Equinox and seeking asylum in NW Chevy On the Go territory..
Check out my latest Chevy obsession and I do it every chance I can!
Read more about my love for button and all things shiny at Mad Hatter Mom.
The Chevy Girls On The Go Campaign is being sponsored by the Northwest Chevy Dealers. They are letting me test drive a car for one month and providing me with gift cards for Girls On The Go Missions and a camera to video tape them with. All opinions expressed above and in any videos are my own.
This week is all about the space available in this car. I know it can fit a lot, but here’s proof. See if you can find where my kids like to hide out in this video:
I did a huge shopping trip this week (having a family of 6 means my shopping trips are usually huge), and I just have to show you what I was able to fit in the trunk, with LOADS of room left over!
Stacie blogs at Staying Me, and can also be found on Twitter as SalemMomma.
I’ve got a thing for, well, things that are shiny.
If they are shiny and light up then hold me back boys because I’m all over it!
One of the great thing about the Chevrolet Equinox is the styling. We are driving around in the LTZ model which mean chrome! (Shiny people chrome people!) When I took the car over to my parents house to show it off a little the first thing my dad noticed was the chrome accents. We have been saying for several years that it just didn’t seem like cars were being made with it anymore. So thank you Chevy for making cars look GOOD.
Anyway, I digress. This isn’t about the chrome, or the sexy lines of the car. This is about what I discovered late one night.
We have a family of six, which means lots of food gets eaten in our house. So any vehicle we buy needs trunk space. And by trunk space, I mean big enough to be able to fit a baby elephant in it. This week’s shopping trip consisted of regular food items (milk, bread, rice, meat, produce, etc), plus a Father’s Day feast. So it was a little bigger than usual, but not too much. Here’s what I brought home:
Now this was just the grocery store trip. There was SO much room left over, I have no doubt that we would have been able to fit our regular Costco goodies in there with no problem. As you saw in my video earlier, you can fit all sorts of things in there. Groceries, kids, whatever! We went on a picnic this week, and fit the huge cooler, the picnic quilt, two bags of food/utensils, the diaper bag, my camera bag, and the kids were still able to sit on the edge.
Stay tuned for next week’s adventures!
Stacie blogs at Staying Me, and can also be found on Twitter as SalemMomma.
Music plays a big role in our family, especially while in the car. From my kids singing their favorite children’s songs to listening to my favorite pop songs music can be fun, especially when kids are involved. Chevy provided me with an iTunes card so I could easily download some of my favorite tunes and see just how easy it is to listen to my favorite music in my Chevy Equinox.
What I love about listening to music in my Equinox is how great the sound is. The Chevy Equinox features a Pioneer sound system that blows anything I have in my car away. It takes one second to plug in my favorite music with a simple USB drive which can be plugged in right in my center console. The center console is massive compared to anything Ive ever seen so my USB drive doesn’t take away anything space wise from the console.
Another feature I wanted to point out are the controls right from my steering wheel. Why would have thought something so simple could make such a huge difference, especially as a mom. I can easily control the music, radio, etc right from my wheel without ever having to look away. Talk about genius!!
Welcome to the home of your Northwest Chevy Dealers. We are just a few of your local Chevy Dealers who love great cars, good people, and the great outdoors! We like to have fun too, so be our friend, win some awesome prizes, and check out what’s going on with Chevy in your area! Come in and see us – we’d love to introduce you to the new Chevy Equinox!
There is also a handy area right above the gear selector where you can keep your cell phone, chap stick, compact, or even a shrunken head if that’s your cup of tea. 
