A
Galaxy-class ship is larger and more powerful than an
Intrepid-class ship. Both are capable of carrying out missions to defend the Federation, and clever tactics could always alter the outcome, but by the numbers, the
Galaxy-class ship is superior. Ships of the Intrepid class, however, are a slightly more recent design and probably have a higher warp speed, at least in the short term.
Bonzo the Fifth wrote:
The Intrepid class is a different animal, namely a science and research vessel, with a de-emphasis on weapons and tactical systems, a substantial size reduction and an overabundance of sensors and computing capacity.
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I don't know of any evidence supporting this idea. It was sent into a physically dangerous area to capture Maquis, and Janeway strongly contrasts its capabilities with those of
Equinox, which is much more along the lines you describe. The ship's designer stated that it was an Explorer, although probably the smallest of its kind; this category sits at the top of the classification system, and also includes
Galaxy-class ships. (In fact, his article on the genesis of the
Intrepid class suggests the armament was chosen for equivalency to that of the
Galaxy class. The equivalency probably refers to type rather than number.)
zaphodbrx99 wrote:
Actually, the Intrepid class would win easy. It could survive a mission against a heavily armed cube ( Unimatrix zero ) whereas the Enterprise was scared stiff ( Q Who ) .
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Seems obvious this would have much more to do with the intel to which
Voyager had access. With someone like Seven of Nine on board providing detailed inside technical data about the Borg systems, it is only reasonable they'd have a better chance. In ST: First Contact, for example, Picard is able to provide similar insight to notable effect.
It's worth noting that the cube in "Q Who?" was notably larger than the tactical cube from "Unimatrix Zero." (The latter appears the same size as the other cubes that appeared on Star Trek: Voyager.)
We must be careful not to use
Voyager-specific incidents to evaluate all examples of the class.
Voyager suffered somewhat for the lack of regular supplies, maintenance and upgrades that she'd have received in the Federation, but she also had some modifications and information that gave her advantages in certain situations. For trying to learn about baseline performance of a ship of that class, her adventures aren't much to go on; we're mainly left with some comments from the pilot and backstage information.