When you have a high-powered engine at your disposal, you’ll enjoy a much more responsive drive. The Subaru Forester offers solid performance with its standard 2.5L 4-cylinder SUBARU BOXER® engine. This powertrain provides up to 176 lb-ft of torque for a satisfying performance.

The Chevy Equinox, however, packs more of a punch when it comes to performance. This SUV gives drivers a standard 1.5L Turbo 4-cylinder engine with up to 203 lb-ft of torque. Unfortunately, the standard engine of the Subaru Forester falls far behind.

If you want to feel completely engaged and connected to the road, the 6-speed automatic transmission of the Equinox might be what you need.

Since the Forester comes standard with a CVT (Continually Variable Transmission), you’ll miss out on the sensation of gear shifting.

Both the Equinox and the Forester come with 4G LTE Wi-Fi® hotspot capability. While this feature comes standard on all Equinox models, it’s only available on higher trim levels of the Forester. With the Chevy Equinox, the standard 7-inch touchscreen Chevrolet Infotainment 3 System will provide easy access to your favorite apps through:

• Apple CarPlay™
• Android Auto™
• Voice command function

The Forester comes standard with a smaller 6.5-inch screen that offers a few of the same features. Still, it lacks the convenient voice command feature of the Chevy. In addition, the Equinox will offer a few more speakers than the Forester.

You’ll find that even rear-seat passengers will feel like they have a complete audio experience thanks to the standard 6-speaker system of the Equinox when compared to the standard 4-speaker system of the Forester.

To take your listening experience to the next level, the Chevy Equinox includes standard Active Noise Cancellation to help provide clearer audio. This system works to counteract the noise from the road so it doesn’t drown out the sound of your music.

When it comes to comfort, you’ll find both the Chevy Equinox and the Subaru Forester offer available features such as:

• Heated front seats
• Dual-zone automatic climate control system
• Adjustable seats

They both even have power programmable liftgates available to make it easy to open the cargo area. When your hands are full, though, you might prefer the available Hands-Free Gesture liftgate of the Equinox.

Rather than juggling your groceries while you try to press a button on the door or on your key fob, this system will allow you to simply swipe your foot under the rear bumper.

Speaking of groceries, you might be able to fit a few more in the back of the Chevy, which has 29.9 cubic feet of storage behind the rear row on all trims. The Subaru Forester, in comparison, has 28.9 cubic feet of storage on the base trim and only 26.9 cubic feet of cargo room on all other trims.