Alright so, towing with the HHR has been discussed to no end on this forum, but I wanted to add something. After looking up some of the stats on the GMC Terrain I found that it has a unibody chassis. With the base engine, a 2.4 ecotec it is rated to pull 1500lbs, however if you drop in the V6 you can pull 3500lbs. Now it has been theorized on here that the 1000lb limitation for the HHR towing is because it is a unibody chassis, if this is true, what makes the Terrain/Equinox able to tow quite a bit more even with an ecotec engine? Can we just assume that the underrated the HHR, which could probably tow a total of 1500lbs. I understand that pulling more than the rated towing compacity, would void waranty, but could the HHR do it with little consequence. I ask because i have a camper that weighs in at exactly 1000lbs dry wieght, so with the family in the car and and some gear in the camper i would exceed the tow rating by a little bit.

The towing limit is not due to the unibody construction. It is simply dictated by the capacity of the transmission to produce low-RPM torque.

They put the car on a standard incline, hook something to it and see how fast it can start without blowing something up.

Therefore, the towing capacity on: a V6 is more than on an automatic 4 cyl, which is more than on a manual 4 cyl.

Yves

Good info, thanks!

And dont forget the brakes. I would be horrified if I had a decent sized trailer on my HHR and had to stop on any kind of hill. The factory brakes have enough trouble stopping just the vehicle itself without warping.

My camper has trailer breaks.

The unibody also has some say in it too...the rear section of the HHR is just stamped metal spot welded together, really designed to crush and absorb loads in a collision..it can't handle a lot of weight "hanging" off it in the form of s trailer hitch.....its just way too thin..the Terrain was probably designed with towing small trailers in mind seeing the type of vehicle it is..the HHR is more like a novelty car(meaning GM was trying to have fun and be different and also play with the 'other' maker)