Episode Details

Remember when car guys road tested cars? With the current crossover SUV craze in full swing, those days seem to be over, and who are we to say it’s a bad thing. In this week’s episode of *America on the Road*, host Jack Nerad and co-host Chris Teague take the wheels of two five-seat SUVs: the all-new and mass-market-priced 2025 Chevrolet Equinox and the premium-oriented 2025 Mazda CX-70 Turbo S Premium.

Chevrolet’s 2025 Equinox enters its fourth generation with a tasteful redesign, both inside and out. Under the hood, it offers a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 175 horsepower and 203 lb-ft of torque. Front-wheel-drive models are paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT), while all-wheel-drive versions feature an 8-speed automatic transmission. The interior shows it modernity, boasting an 11-inch digital instrument cluster and an 11.3-inch infotainment touchscreen powered by Google . It also offers something the battery-electric version of the Equinox doesn’t, and we’ll tell you what that is, along with our overall review of the attractive SUV, in our road test segment. With a starting price around $28,600, the Equinox might well grab your attention. But how does it compare to the leaders in the compact SUV segment? We’ll offer our opinions.

While co-host Chris Teague was putting the Chevy Equinox to the test, host Jack Nerad was piloting a fascinating newcomer— the 2025 Mazda CX-70 Turbo S Premium. A reasonably new Mazda nameplate, the CX-70 is a midsize SUV that doesn’t shy away from performance. Equipped with a 3.3-liter turbocharged inline six-cylinder engine delivering 340 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque, i