The Chevy Equinox is a comfy and spacious SUV that won't break the bank

People are clamoring for compact SUVS, and with so much competition, General Motors is changing its focus.

The Equinox has boasted reasonable sales, but has conventionally fallen behind frontrunners like the Honda CR-V and Toyota RAV4.

This year, Chevrolet decided to give the Equinox a better shot at cornering the market with a revamped model that's both smaller and lighter - allowing it to more closely align with the compact space.

Those efforts are already paying off; GM recently reported its best crossover sales ever.

We took an all-new Chevy Equinox LT out for a long road trip to see whether the upgrades give it a perceptible edge. Scroll down for our verdict: