Show me some Equinox love! :)

We just bought a 2006 Equinox a week ago and I can't say enough good things about it! I used to have a 4runner and have also installed car seats in my MIL's toyota camry (also a brand new camry rental for a day), an older honda accord, a mazda sedan, a 2000 extended cab f150, a crew cab f150, a 1990 somethng oldsmobile, and a dodge caravan with captains chairs. By far I love the equinox install the most! Very easy.

Anyone else with an equinox? I would love to hear what seats you use (pics if possible!) and how you have it set up etc. DS is going to grandma's today and I'm going to put his TF in finally (rf in the middle) but just out of curiosity's sake I'm going to try the myride and nautilus in there too. By October I'll also have an infant seat to play with

My car is a 2010 Chevy Equinox. I ordered it as soon as the redesigned models were being produced, and waited 3 months for it to be delivered - I found out three weeks later that I was expecting our first child. In November I will have had my car for two years and I can honestly say that I still love it as much as when I bought it.

Our 13 month old daughter rides in a RFing Boulevard 70 in the middle, seatbelt install (GM doesn't allow borrowing of lower anchors) and tethered to the front passenger seat track. Our infant seat is a Keyfit and at various times it was installed both in the center with seatbelt and outboard with seatbelt or LATCH. Installation of the Keyfit base was a dream (but I think it is in any car ) and installing the Boulevard was not much harder.

The only downside specific to car seats is that the C-pillar in the new body style Equinox is sharply slanted and I know when we were still using the Keyfit I bumped part of the bucket on the C-pillar more than once. Also there is no center headrest in the back seat so that won't be a good seating position for a child in a backless booster.

I'm optimistic that if we have three kids I'll be able to make a three-across work in that car although I think that at least one Radian would be needed, maybe two.

We love the space in the Equinox. With a car seat in the middle, an average sized adult can sit outboard comfortably. The rear seat is slid all the way back and I still have plenty of cargo room for a lightweight stroller and just about anything else I might want to put there. I think once we have more than one child we might get a Thule cargo carrier for the roof rack for when we go on vacation.

I've mentioned around these parts a few times that I love my sister's (her's is an '06 too.) I've installed in there a FF Radian, Nautilus, SS1 (w and w/o base,) EFTA and MyRide. I've done a few three-acrosses, but the only ones I remember exactly are:

Oto (booster)/FF MyRide/SS1 w/base
SS1 w/o base/FF Radian/SS1 w/base

I know I've done a Nautlius and SS1 side-by-side, too, I just don't remember what went on the other side. :scratcheshead: Could have been just an adult.

Never had a problem getting a seat in that car. :thumbsup: Lots of legroom for my big butt when I'm working back there too.

I don't own one but there's one that "lives" down the block from us. The minivan-like flexibility of being able to move the back seat forward or back along its tracks by several inches to have either added cargo room or added back seat leg room is an enviable feature.

YES! Love the sliding seat. I had his graco nautilus in there at first on the smaller side of the seat, with the seat all the way forward and the other seat folded down, and there is LOADS of cargo space in there. Now that he's back in his TF RF, I have the seat all the way back with the carseat in the middle spot (the 06 has anchors for the middle but they are offset so for a FF seat I will have to use the shoulder belt) and he finds it very easy to climb in and out himself. Still lots of cargo space back there.

I also like the fact that his plug in dvd player keeps running for up to 10 minutes if the car is turned off, so if I stop for gas etc I don't have to start up his movie all over again. Ok that's a petty thing to love, but I do

Got my infant seat today as well so I can play with that too. Ooh the possibilities Just waiting for the sun to go down in the front yard, then I'll do some test runs and post some pics... it's smoking hot here today!

I don't have an equinox, but I have a 04 chevy malibu. They're very similar, and I really love love love my malibu. We're selling it really soon, and I will be VERY sad to see it go.

ok I was hoping to play around with the seats but by the time I cut my pool noodle, a friend of DH's dropped by, and I got the tf installed, I realized there is a snag!

in the 06 equinox, I know the newer models have the middle latch removed, but the latch is offset because of the 60 40 bench seat split. now I personally prefer latch because I find for me, I can get a tighter install, so I used it. but here is the snag... not only does it leave no room in the seat behind the driver for a person or seat to go, but I had to push the seatbelt buckle over so it didn't interfere with the car seat install (the latch for the middle is between the seatbelt and buckle of the outboard seat).

I could install the seat with the shoulder belt, but I don't like the clamps on the true fit and don't want to damage my seat belt, so I'll just use latch and make do. He's only RF for 3 more pounds anyway. And really, it works for us, since he can still climb into the seat but it's not so far over in the middle that I can't reach him to do buckles.

But I will post pictures tomorrow, I pushed the seat all the way back but I think it could move forward a bit! And there is still tons of room for many other seats in the passenger side outboard, I think I could fit pretty much anything there

When baby 2 comes the plan is a nautilus in the middle (seatbelt install due to the placement of the top tether) and the baby outboard on the drivers side in an onboard infant seat.

The Equinox & Malibu are really similar? In which ways? Width of back seat?

I'm not too sure how they would be similar, my MIL has a similar year malibu and it doesn't have latch, the seats are contoured instead of being flat, and I don't think you could get 3 across unless you used a radian maybe. hers is also a sedan, not an SUV.

VanIsleMommy said:

I'm not too sure how they would be similar, my MIL has a similar year malibu and it doesn't have latch, the seats are contoured instead of being flat, and I don't think you could get 3 across unless you used a radian maybe. hers is also a sedan, not an SUV.

Click to expand...

:ROTFLMAO:

Yes I'm aware my malibu is a sedan, not an SUV. Your MIL probably has what is now called the malibu "classic". This is what I have.


I meant they are similar in a few ways.. The way they drive, the way they steer, the feel of the interior of the car, the layout, the seats, etc. I test drove an 07 Equinox, and it reminded me of my Malibu SO much.

ah! that makes sense. I think the 2010 equinox and malibu are even built on the same frame. I don't know how that changes the 2010 equinox but I hear they're much better thought out than the older models, and considering the older models make sense to the mom in me, I may end up replacing this with a 2010 or brand new when it gets old

Ok so pulled out the car seats, but because I have the nautilus installed again (we had to bring the grandparents in the car today) and am feeling lazy at the moment, I just played with car seats with the nautilus in the middle.

So, discovered that the center tether and seatbelt position is not exactly center either, so even with a seatbelt install I was not able to fit either the myride, true fit, or onboard infant seat outboard behind the driver. The onboard seat bumped against the arm rest of the door, so if I put the seat all the way forward and installed it without the base it would work in a pinch. But let's not forget, I'm lazy when it comes to installing/uninstalling so not something I would do daily I measured 14" of hip space between the edge of the bench seat and the edge of the nauti's arm rest. A narrow FF seat *may* fit there.

On the passenger outboard, all my seats will fit rear facing. I forgot to check forward facing but they should work.

So after my little test run, my theory is that to get a three across, a radian would be needed in one or two positions. The passenger outboard seat is for sure has the most space and pretty much anything will fit there, the outboard drivers side is the most narrow space and only a small adult or tiny seat will fit there, and if you use the center latch position it pretty much uses up the whole 60% of that side of the bench and you can't fit anything outboard in the drivers side.

Would be interested to hear any other successful 3 acrosses! I'm a little bummed it's not as roomy as I thought but it's still pretty roomy!

successfully installed a radian xt rf in the middle using latch (this means I cannot use the outboard driver side seat). I don't know if it will install outboard due to being so tall even with the back seat all the way back (unless a tiny adult is in the front with the front seat forward) but I was able to tether it to the front drivers side seat leg with the d ring, may not be able to rf tether if in the middle using seatbelt (which might be a problem for newer equinox that does not have center latch?). not checked by tech yet.

link to post with pics: http://www.car-seat.org/showpost.php?p=1901273&postcount=3