Indeed, I could have lived quite well with the base car and not felt the lack of anything. Standard equipment also includes air, a tilt steering wheel, and AM/FM stereo with CD, power windows, doors and locks, fog lights, and the Multi-Flex sliding rear seat with 60/40 split-back, the rear cargo rack, reclining front buckets and a bunch of other stuff.

The LT lifts the standard feature quota, of course, and there are some stand-alone options such as the OnStar safety/security system, 17-inch wheels, an upscale stereo, a power sunroof, and so on. If you go wild and check off about every box there is on a LT AWD model, you could probably get the sticker north of $36,000, but you don't really have to in order to get a very pleasing package.

No question in my mind that Chevrolet has hit a sweet spot in the sport-cute market with the Equinox.

GM of Canada officials expect Equinox to do much better than the Tracker, since they're expecting to sell about 10,000 units a year to Canadians, up considerably from the 6,300 Trackers sold in 2003.

It wouldn't surprise me a bit if the Equinox did that well, since I know there are lots of people who'd like a big, competent, accommodating and responsive sport-cute for about as much as they'd spend on smaller and nastier competitive models.