EquinoxOwnersClub: Enthusiasts Get It Right - April 1st, 2008
One of the greatest tech revolutions in the world of car owners is the Internet itself, especially when it serves as a gateway for enthusiasts of any make and model to gather and to share information. EquinoxOwnersClub.com is a perfect example of this kind of site. From a purely aesthetic and utilitarian viewpoint I like the site because it’s crisp and to the point with a clearly stated purpose for being, “a website for learning about the Chevy Equinox, and for sharing information from your experiences during the sale and after.”
Site features include:
- news
- reviews
- contests
- photo gallery
- user forums
The forums are one of the site’s strongest drawing cards. Here you’ll find active and knowledgeable discussion of the Equinox, first introduced in 2005. I scrolled through posts about problems, specific dealership experiences, modifications, and invitations to local get togethers. Forums are a tricky feature to add to a site. They either take off and go great guns or sit, fizzle, and die a dismal death signaled by lots of, “Anyone there?” posts. The forums on EquinoxOwnersClub.com speak to a sense of community, a much sought after and rare commodity. I don’t drive an Equinox and even I wanted to dive in to some of these threads.
Note that there’s also a registered user access to a private forum where members can get special discount offers from supply companies online and where the giveaways occur. (Most recently the prize was a custom Equinox grill worth more than $200.)
Other car sites could take a cue from EquinoxOwnersClub.com. We really don’t need lots of blinking lights and flashy images — okay, yeah, the gallery is fun but the photos are where they’re supposed to be, not overwhelming the front page and obscuring the news headlines, which include items on the hydrogen fuel-cell version of the Equinox in the works at GM. (You’ll also get lots of nice images in the forums, which, by the way, load very nicely, no lag time with the pictures.)
Overall this is one of the better enthusiast sites I’ve encountered, with a positive and working philosophy. “An educated owners is a happy owner, so if you have a comment, observation, question, or just want to talk about your Equinox, we hope you’ll feel welcome here.” I did. In fact, I’m kind of sorry I don’t drive one myself.
Posted on April 1st, 2008 by Shorty
Filed under: general |
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