Summertime in Canada was made for long weekend road trips. Whether you’re just exploring the beautiful local bounty our great country has to offer or heading off to explore a new city, nothing beats summer in Canada. So when you get the chance to hit the road in a sweet ride to attend one of the country’s coolest and longest-running music festivals, Osheaga, you take it. For a road trip of this calibre of awesome, you need just the right vehicle. Something good on gas with enough room to carry an unreasonably large amount of Rimowa suitcases, cameras, healthy snacks, and all of the sneakers. This type of trip called for the all-new sleek Chevrolet Equinox RS, a perfect mid-size SUV. Toronto to Montreal for Osheaga has never been easier.
What’s more of a road trip tradition than singing out loud to all the songs? Yes, all of them. With Sirius XM’s SXM App coming set up in the RS, every genre of music, sports, and talk is available at a whim on the 425+ channels, so there is a lot to work with. For the most part, we bounced around the 70s, 80s, and 90s channels exclusively looking for songs to sing loudly too. Was the pinnacle of catchy pop music the 90s? We have several hours of evidence that points to yes! The rest of the time we were crushing albums from the bands playing at Osheaga, brushing up on some classics like Arcade Fire, Charli XCX, Future, etc, and taking the opportunity to discover new bands like hard rock outfit Turnstile, Men I Trust, and Khruangbin all through Apple CarPlay and the pretty sweet premium Bose system, complete with seven high-performance speakers.
While the drive from Toronto to Montreal is pretty straightforward, it’s never a dull moment on the 401. Did you know that the 401 is the busiest highway in Canada, and some say in the world, due to the volume of traffic between Montreal and Toronto? This makes the TO-MTL run a good test of any car, especially in its fuel efficiency. Of course, there is no real threat of running out of gas and being stranded on this highway due to the periodic rest stops appropriately placed every hour or so apart, but it is a good test to see just how good a car is on gas. Well, the six-hour drive plus an hour and a half full stop on the highway (typical) later the Equinox RS’ 1.5-liter Turbocharged I-4 gas engine got us to Montreal with plenty of room to spare. This is great considering how much gas is these days. The engine is paired with a 6-speed automatic transmission with a driver shift control for smoother automatic shifting which is great in all driving conditions but particularly nice when accelerating after that aforementioned full stop.
When it comes to the tech inside the Equinox RS, everything has been well thought-out. There is an available Wi-Fi Hotspot that supports up to 4 devices from up to 50 feet away from the vehicle. Amazing! The Connected Navigation allows for the driver to experience real-time map information including turn-by-turn directions, speed limit information and more most of which are shown to the driver on the heads-up display. Super helpful when navigating a new city and trying to find that super cool but lowkey restaurant in Mile End. There is also a wireless Smartphone charging area in case you or your passenger forgets to bring a cable. All of this makes for a tech-savvy ride. There is simply no excuse for getting lost or having a low battery on your phone. How are you going to get those delicious food pics?
Summer is a time for fun, those long sun-filled days inspire adventure and make you just want to hit the road and explore. Without a doubt, the 2022 Chevy Equinox RS is a car built for adventure. Nimble enough for the city streets, yet built to take the long haul, and all the while equipped for comfort. The length of the journey is no consequence. So if you find yourself struck with that wanderlust spirit, we suggest you take a look at the RS and see where the road will take you.
Curious about Osheaga? Check out our coverage of the festival here.