Bronco Sport vs Chevrolet Equinox
Read our comparison of the Bronco Sport and Equinox. These compact SUVs cater to the same audience but offer different experiences. Which do we recommend?
Opposite Sides of the Same Coin
Yin and yang, up and down, left and right, Mets and Yankees, Ford and Chevrolet. Some pairs of two sides of the coin just come naturally. But sometimes, these two sides aren’t quite as apples-to-apples as you expect. Case in point? That’d be the 2024 Chevy Equinox and the 2024 Ford Bronco Sport. These two SUVs are gunning for the same group of potential customers. But clearly, these are two very different ways of achieving a vaguely similar result.
Let’s break down the facts and figures to understand why two vehicles competing for the same clientele wind up being so radically different from one another. Starting with Equinox, it’s hard not to get the impression we’re looking at the exact same vehicle we’ve seen on the roads since the mid-2000s. We can at least describe the styling of the Equinox as consistent, and the newly designed front fascia differentiates the all-new fourth generation from the generations before it. Even still, it’s hard not to find the new Equinox to be the same potato-shaped family crossover that nearly all in the segment are like today.
Bronco Sport: Features & Trims
On the Bronco Sport side, you can at least claim its boxy appearance makes it look far different from its competitors. With rugged, well-defined curves and sculpted angles, the Bronco Sport seems to make the most of living in the standard Ford Bronco’s shadow with similar styling cues. From a purely aesthetical standpoint, it’s hard not to find the Bronco Sport more appealing than an Equinox. But for us to outright recommend one over the other, the Bronco Sport will have to be a better deal in the features department.
At least as far as the Bronco Sport goes, it beats the Equinox in outright trim variety. With five bespoke models ranging from the Big Bend Edition at $29,795 to the fully-kitted Badlands Edition at $38,390. With almost ten grand between the entry-level and range-topping Bronco Sport, there’s plenty of wiggle room for features and trinkets. Even at the low end, the Bronco Sport Big Bend Edition nets a healthy six-speaker stereo with Ford’s SYNC 3 eight-inch capacitive touch screen with crisp, responsive Pinch-to-Zoom capability and voice recognition software to rival the best entry-level infotainment systems.
Of course, Android Auto and iOS CarPlay are included in the SYNC media suite. So you can serenade the five occupants with decent-quality music and entertainment while the standard eight cupholders keep their hydration levels in order. Standard is also a robust set of driver assistance features to keep in line with equipment, which is now essentially standard for all new vehicles, regardless of the price. Items like Ford’s Co-Pilot360 include the clever Blind Spot Information System with pre-collision assist and automatic emergency braking. The optional Co-Pilot360 Assist Plus package adds adaptive cruise control, speed sign recognition, and stop-and-go speed control with automatic lane-centering capability.
Though it’s technically just an option, we see the Assist Plus package as the most desirable optional extra of the Big Bend Edition. Elsewhere, an intuitive-looking instrument cluster makes the five selectable G.O.A.T. modes for the Bronco Sport’s four-wheel-drive system within a short reach of the steering wheel. With the options of Sand, Slippery, Sport, Eco, and Normal, there’s a setting for just about any terrain.
The Carbonized Gray front grille with white Bronco lettering on 17-inch wheels makes for a vehicle that doesn’t look entry-level in most respects from the outside. The standard cloth seats bring expectations down; however, premium seats are an optional extra. Other little trinkets like floodlights and a bottle opener integrated into the liftgate for late-night tailgating tell you exactly what kind of folks the Bronco is marketed at. I.e., people who are as likely to grill hot dogs behind a football stadium as they are at a remote woodland campsite, and that’s just the entry point to the Bronco Sport line.
Moving to the Bronco Sport Heritage at $32,365, its distinct Oxford White roof, wheels, and front grille give everything you have in the Big Bend, plus a distinct retro flair that harkens back to the original Broncos of the mid-60s. Ditto for the Bronco Sport Free Wheeling edition at the same price as the Heritage. With its funky interior and exterior graphics package that runs the length of both sides of the vehicle, the inner portion of the front seats, and the wheels. The penultimate Bronco Sport Outer Banks nets you flashy 18-inch alloy wheels painted in Ebony Black and plush, premium-trimmed heated bucket front seats, as well as a premium material-wrapped steering wheel for $33,935.
Saving the Best for the Range-Topper
In distinct Ford fashion, the best is saved for the very top of the Bronco Sport range, as the Badlands Edition proves. Unlike its lower trims, which all use the same turbocharged 181-horsepower, 1.5-liter EcoBoost three-cylinder engine, the Badlands Edition rewards you with a 245-horsepower EcoBoost four-cylinder turbo engine with a healthy 275 lb-ft of torque to work with. Out on the trails where torque trumps raw horsepower ten times out of ten, that extra grunt could pay real dividends. The two additional modes for the G.O.A.T 4WD system, mud/ruts, and rock crawl, will also do wonders for trail performance at the price mentioned above of $38,390.
As a do-it-all grocery-getter 4×4 that can still get it done off-road, only a handful of vehicles you can buy new right now come close to being as proficient. That’s not something we can say about Chevrolet’s 2024 Equinox, a separate vehicle from the all-new 2025 model announced recently, which we’ll cover separately. New model generations aside, the 2024 Equinox is a very different crossover to the Bronco Sport.
2024 Equinox: Features and Trims
On first impressions alone, it’s clear the Equinox is optimized for the on-road responsibilities of a mid-size crossover first and everything else a very distant second. That said, it’s hard to argue with an entry MSRP of just $26,600 for the base Equinox LT model. Whether through a lease or through financing, a 2024 Equinox LT sans optional extras will be lighter on your wallet than 90 percent of new vehicles on the market. For the price, you earn a seven-inch infotainment screen, in-vehicle Wi-Fi connectivity, a six-speaker sound system, and 17-inch alloy wheels with the option to upgrade to 18s if you like.
The obligatory driver aides are here with Chevy‘s Safety Assist, which delivers the same features as Bronco Sport. Unlike the Bronco Sport, The Equinox offers a Teen Driver mode, which limits the speed and audio loudness levels for newly licensed teenage drivers to protect against those most primordial new-driver instincts. For this reason, Equinox might have gained a slight advantage for families with teenagers who are closing in on driving age.
Good Features, a Decent Engine
Moving to the Equinox LT Trim, starting at $29,495, the bump in price nets you a large eight-inch infotainment screen with two further USB ports, four in total. A leather-wrapped steering wheel and power lift gate combine with the adaptive cruise control standard with the LT to give a bit more comfort in the driving experience. That’s on top of the Confidence & Convenience package with dual-zone automatic climate control with heated front seats, remote engine start, plus front and rear parking sensors with an upgraded backup camera.
Meanwhile, the RS trim starting at $30,950 gives you all this, plus snazzy 19-inch wheels and a black interior with contrasting red stitching and a trim-specific gear stick inside, plus roof rails outside to mount storage hardware for bikes or cargo boxes. At the high end, starting at $31,800, the 2024 Equinox Premier trim brings full heated and cooled leather seating, ambient cabin lighting, wireless fast charging, and a premium seven-speaker BOSE sound system to the mix. Via the range-topping Confidence & Convenience II, it’s all available at your fingertips. It’s all powered via a 175- 175-horsepower 1.5-liter turbo four-cylinder engine, the same as you’d find in the up-market GMC Terrain.
Comfort and Interior
When laid out like this, it’s clear that the Equinox and Bronco Sport deliver similar features in opposite fashions. With that in mind, let’s delve deeper to help differentiate the two a bit further. Both vehicles are storage powerhouses, with the Equinox delivering 29.9 cubic feet of cargo space in its rear hatch and 63.9 cubic feet with the rear seats laid flat. Depending on trim, the Bronco Sport offers between 29.4 and 32.5 cubic feet of space in the cargo area or between 60.6 and 65.2 cubic feet with the rear seating area included.
Both will do you nicely in fuel economy as well, when equipped with the three-cylinder turbo the Ford Bronco Sport gets 25 MPG in the city and 29 on the highway. The four-cylinder Broco Badlands are a bit thirstier with figures of 21 MPG in the city and 26 on the highway.
The Equinox essentially splits the difference at 24 MPG in the city and 30 on the highway. Well then, so much for differentiation. The further you delve into the numbers, the more similar the Bronco Sport and Equinox are. In truth, the biggest discerning factory between the two isn’t anything data-driven but rather the use case.
The Verdict
In short, a Bronco Sport is better suited for off-road getaways than any third-generation Equinox will ever be. The extra adaptability of the Bronco Sport, plus the fact the gen-III Equinox is going the way of the dodo next year, means that we recommend the Ford this time around. Will this be the case when the fourth-gen Equinox comes around? Stay tuned to find out.
