The 2012 Honda CR-V has shot to the front of everyone’s minds thanks to the Ferris Bueller Superbowl ad. The CR-V is a well known name in the small SUV world, and the 2012 Chevy Equinox is a lot newer and has received a lot less attention over the past few years. With Chevrolet undergoing a makeover in the post bailout world, how does the Equinox stack up against the CR-V?

The 2012 Honda CR-V.

The 2012 Chevy Equinox.

Both the CR-V and Equinox start in the low $20,000 range. A base 2012 Honda CR-V LX will cost $22,295 while the 2012 Chevrolet Equinox starts at $23,530. Both the Honda and the Chevy come with four-cylinder engines and automatic transmissions, no sneaky ultra low-priced models that you need to add thousands of dollars of options to in order to have the car you want here. Front wheel drive is standard on both cars with all-wheel drive available. The main differences as far as base models are concerned are that the CR-V comes with steel wheels and a manually adjusting seat, while the Equinox has alloys and an automatic seat. Both the Equinox and CR-V have a whole lot of options, including satellite radio, heated seats and navigation.

The 2012 Honda CR-V has 39.9 inches of front head room and 41.3 inches of leg room. The 2012 Chevy Equinox is almost identical with 40.9 inches of head room and 41.2 inches of leg room. Similar story in the back, where the Equinox is larger by half an inch of head room and an inch and a half of leg room. The Equinox has 39.2 inches of head room and 39.9 inches of leg room to the CR-V’s 38.6 inches of head room and 38.3 inches of leg room. The CR-V has more cargo room than the Equinox with 70.9 cubic feet maximum and 37.2 cubic feet with the rear seats in place. The Equinox has 63.7 cubic feet of total cargo room and 31.5 cubic feet of trunk space.