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I'd disagree with dennisw a litte: If you start out in a neighborhood at low speeds like I do, you may not cause the engine to rev up at all. I generally go about 5 minutes with the engine idling in cold weather, because the hybrid will use the HVB to get me out of the driveway and started down the street. Then I'm basically cruising down residential streets at low speed (25mph), so the engine never works enough to increase the heat production. Our old Honda Fit produced heat faster in cold weather because it can't sit there and idle in the same scenario. Once I hit the main road, I get heat quick, just like any other car. The automatic climate control might be a little pessimistic about whether the heater is ready, but if you're concerned that it's not working properly, see if it comes right on after a short stop, such as pumping gas or a quick grocery run. When the engine is already hot, it should blow warm air almost immediately. One of the effects of higher efficiency is less waste. Cabin heat is a waste product of the engine, so there's less of it in the hybrids because they only run the engine to produce exactly the power needed for driving & maintaining the battery. My classic Prius before the Fusion, and my wife's Lexus CT 200h all have the same issue. The extra fuel your Equinox is burning in the subdivision (compared to a hybrid) is going to cabin heat instead of driving. All that said, buy your wife a nice pair of gloves. It's still going to be cold outside when she eventually gets out of the car. :-)

The comments I've had on my 2010 FFH are that it sounds at least as good as if I were talking on the phone directly. The microphone placement is also above the driver in the 2010. If I've just gotten in the car, I usually turn the blower down on the AC until I'm off the phone, but that's so I can hear better without blasting the volume.

Do you mean the entire dash dims, or only your speedometer needle dims? On my FFH, the entire dash (cluster, including speedometer & displays, and radio display) might dim to the "lights-on" setting any time it's getting overcast or shady. The thing that really bothers me is that the dash dimmer is not connected to the headlight on-off state; I have seen cases where my dash is dimmed but the headlights are off. Likewise, I can have my headlights set to "on," and the dash still stay at full brightness (on a bright, but rainy day, for example). Needless to say, I'm not a fan of this behavior, since there's no separate lights-on indicator on the dash.

I did basically the same thing when I sold my 2002 Prius (120k miles) after buying my FFH, and CarMax's quote was quite the lowball offer compared to any online valuation. When it sold privately, I got spot-on what I expected based on NADA, Edmunds, and KBB. It could be that CarMax isn't interested in high-mileage trades, so that might not be a problem for the OP.

It's probably MG1 or the power-split device (as Toyota labels them). You might also hear the HV electronics while braking, but I would call that a hum. My classic Prius made the same noises, only quieter since it has smaller motors. My FFH is loud enough that my wife, who has really good hearing, thought there was an ambulance in the distance at every intersection the first time she drove the car. If you can borrow another FFH or a Prius, you'll probably hear the same noise. At low speeds (below 5-10mph), you probably will not hear any of these noises; the wheels aren't turning fast enough for the motors to generate significant power, and the regeneration icon will not appear on the battery gauge. The more prominent whine is the electric motors & PSD under load stopping the car. At higher speeds, especially 40+ when you are near or past the threshold that the engine must turn, MG1 is spinning near its redline while braking in order to generate maximum power to charge the battery. When the motors are under load (and therefore the gears of the PSD also), they can make some noise, and this is probably the whine you hear that starts out at a high pitch and gets lower as you slow down. If you don't hear it change until the engine stops below 48 MPH, I would be convinced it's the combination of MG1 and the PSD. Depending on your hearing and the noise around you, you can also hear the HV system transferring energy to & from the battery pack. I'd describe that as quiet hum. If it's really quiet, it's possible to hear this while accelerating, but it is generally more noticeable during braking. Usually the acceleration current is limited to keep some headroom to start the engine without interrupting your acceleration, while there is no need to start the engine during braking. The electronics hum only changes volume; it doesn't change pitch that I've noticed. I will admit that I have not researched the FFH drivetrain in detail, however I have yet to see or hear it do anything inconsistent with what I learned about my classic Prius, and they use the same overall design.