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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Anyone heard of the Chevrolet Captiva? Friends asked for a small 4WD SUV rental car and this is what they got, and we hadn't heard of it before. Apparently only available as a fleet vehicle, for some reason. No local dealers have it. Looks and drives good and the price is pretty good, 22/28 mpg. I never knew they made cars just for fleet purposes.
I knew about and have already seen a few. It's a half decent vehicle. It's just a Saturn Vue but when the brand died they just put a Chevy badge on it. It's known as a Captiva in other parts of the world as well.
Pretty much what they did to the Vue is what they should have did to the Pontiac G8 (Holden Commodore). They didn't because in GM's infinite wisdom (mostly influenced by Buzz Killington) because it was a fun vehicle and would have let them compete in the same battle with the Dodge Charger which has been going quite well if I do say so myself. However, the Captiva (then Vue) is a boring soccer mom grocery getter/kid carrier so of course they had to save that.
The first one I ever seen was also at our local Avis rental center at the airport. I didnt even know they existed until then. I think other than that, I seen one in a parking lot at a local Target a few months ago. I guess it may have been one that had been sold off.
From looking at them, they look alot like the Suzuki Grand Vitara, but not sure if they actually are the same vehicle or not. Like Yello Jacket said, I think its basically a Saturn Vue.
Last edited by Tennesseestorm; 11-21-2012 at 11:12 PM..
I rented one, and like you, had never heard of a Captiva. And I'm a car nut. But I was pleasantly surprised by it and it will probably make for a good second- hand car. That being said, I was really impressed by the Ford Escape Titanium that I rented a few weeks ago in LA. Premium feel and a nice performer with the Ecoboost motor.
Anyone heard of the Chevrolet Captiva? Friends asked for a small 4WD SUV rental car and this is what they got, and we hadn't heard of it before. Apparently only available as a fleet vehicle, for some reason. No local dealers have it. Looks and drives good and the price is pretty good, 22/28 mpg. I never knew they made cars just for fleet purposes.
I rented this for a 160-mile round trip drive a couple of weeks ago. I thought it handled potholes and rough patches in the highways rather decently. I don't know how this compares to a Jeep Cherokee in terms of durability and would appreciate some feedback.
Some third party reviews have been touting the Equinox for being among the best when handling bumpy roads but after doing a glance between the Captiva and Equinox, I can't see how the Equinox could be better. Captiva seems to be better-designed for this purpose, at least visually speaking.
I rented this for a 160-mile round trip drive a couple of weeks ago. I thought it handled potholes and rough patches in the highways rather decently. I don't know how this compares to a Jeep Cherokee in terms of durability and would appreciate some feedback.
Some third party reviews have been touting the Equinox for being among the best when handling bumpy roads but after doing a glance between the Captiva and Equinox, I can't see how the Equinox could be better. Captiva seems to be better-designed for this purpose, at least visually speaking.
Both the Captiva Sport (Captiva in the US), and Equinox are Theta Platform SUV's. The Captiva is on the short wheelbase version of Theta, and the Equinox on the long wheelbase version.
The Captiva Sport is older, debuting in 2007 (in the US as the Saturn Vue, internationally as the Captiva Sport or Opel Antara in Europe).
The current version of the Equinox debuted in 2010.
I would think being a few years newer to market and being based on the same platform, the Equinox would have the most advanced engineering in this platform for the purposes of ride/handling. Also, being on the longer wheelbase alone gives it a distinct ride advantage over bad roads.
Not that I want to sell the Captiva Sport short too much, but there is a reason GM looked at and decided against selling it as a Buick when Saturn died (as they did other Saturn destined products such as the Regal and Encore), and even now sells the Captiva to fleet and commercial owners only and not to retail private buyers.
As YJ said, they are a re-badged Saturn Vue (or, GM Theta platform crossover).
GM is not selling them retail in the US, but is selling them to fleets. As such, they are showing up on used car lots.
In a way, the real benefit to GM/Chevy here is that it allows them to reserve the Equinox for retail sales, and not devaluing it through fleet sales.
It is like the old Chevy Classics (old style Malibus) that were sold to rental fleets a decade ago.
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