True or false?

The 2010 Chevrolet Equinox with four-cylinder engine gets the best highway mileage of any vehicle in the compact CUV segment.

The answer is true.

Also to be sold as the GMC Terrain, the made-in-Canada Equinox four-cylinder also boasts the best city/highway combined mileage of anything in the segment with the exception of the Ford Escape Hybrid.

In real world terms, this first offering from the New GM has a cruising range of 1,150 kms on one tank of regular gasoline.

The strategy behind the new Equinox is “make fuel economy a win” and this was achieved by a number of means, one of which is the 2.4-litre inline four-cylinder engine with direct fuel injection and variable valve timing producing 182 hp and 172 lb/ft of torque.

The result is a fuel economy rating of 9.2/6.1/7.8L/100 km city/highway/combined in the front-wheel-drive (FWD) version. Using a six-speed automatic transmission, the FWD Equinox goes from 0-60 mph in 8.7 seconds.

Power was increased by five to eight per cent and cold start emissions were reduced by 25 per cent. According to GM Canada, an Equinox driver with the four-cylinder will save $100-$300 a year over its non-hybrid competitors.

The other engine available is a 3.0-litre V6 also with direct injection and variable valve timing with a beefier version of the six-speed automatic producing 264 hp and 222 lb/ft of torque. In FWD, it goes from 0-60 mph in 7.8 seconds while returning 12.1/8.0/10.2L/100 km city/highway/combined.

This is probably the most important vehicle from GM in a long time.

It also is aimed at the most competitive market segment in Canada, the compact CUV, which makes up 27 per cent of annual sales.

How consumers perceive the 2010 Equinox is going to have a lot to do with GM’s comeback in the market.

I spent some time riding in the back seat where many compact CUVs come up literally short in legroom, but this is actually one of the strengths of the new Equinox.

While the target competitors are Toyota RAV4, Honda CRV and Ford Escape, there are also some high luxury models in the mix like the Acura MDX and the Mercedes-Benz GLK 350 and Chevy has an Equinox to match in the LTZ with AWD and the 3.0-litre V6.

The LTZ I drove had an as tested price of $42,120 with nothing, and I mean nothing left out.

The leather seats with red stitching feature a DVD system with eight-inch monitors grafted into each front seat back that swing up when in use or fitted flush when folded.

But it was the navigation/infotainment system that stood out. I dislike these things because they never seem to do what I want them to. But the one in the Equinox, which is optional, was highly informative, easy to use, and for once, it was giving turn-by-turn navigation prompts before things happened rather then a second or two after you had passed the turn.

But it all comes down to how the Equinox rides.

It is visually bigger than the RAV4 and CRV that GM had on hand to test back-to-back. In terms of size, it is closer to the old Chevy Trailblazer/GMC Envoy that were considered full-size SUVs in their day. Compact it ain’t.

The Equinox certainly feels more substantial which I noticed mostly in braking.

One thing for sure, it’s quiet. My co-driver and I covered a lot of ground in two days on the highway and byways.

Most of this was in a four-cylinder. With the noise cancelling system in play, I won’t say you could hear a pin drop, but there wasn’t much coming into the cabin from the outside even with the sunroof open a crack.

What I have to mention is the superlative build quality of this Ontario-built truck.

The spaces between closures like the front door and doorjamb rival any Lexus out there and that’s saying something.

If this is what the next generation of vehicles from the New GM are going to be like, bring ‘em on.

At a glance

BODY STYLE: Compact CUV.

DRIVE METHOD: front-engine, front-/all-wheel-drive.

ENGINE: 2.4-litre direction injection inline four-cylinder (182 hp, 172 lb/ft); 3.0-litre direct injection V6 (264 hp, 222 lb/ft).

FUEL ECONOMY: 2.4-Litre FWD, 9.2/6.1/7.8L/100 km city/highway/combined; 2.4-litre AWD, 10.1/6.9/8.7L/100 km; 3.0-litre FWD, 12.1/8.0/10.4L/100 km; 3.0-litre AWD, 12.3/8.4/10.5L/100 km

PRICE: LS, $25,995; 1LT, $27,725; 2LT, $30,110; LTZ, $33,460. AWD adds $1,610.

WEBSITE: www.chevrolet.gm.com