We are ready to trade our 98 Dodge Durango in for a 2007 HHR, the Durango is just killing us in gas. I am curious how the HHR does in the snow? We are in Kansas and get a couple of good snow storms a year and some ice. My Durango is 4WD and I never really worried about the weather. Now with a new car, no 4WD it makes me concerned. What is everyone's expierence?
Thanks!

No problem with the winter drive in Chi-Town...
And the heated seats (leather) are the "BOMB".

I live in North Central Missouri so I get about the same amount of snow you do. I drive 45 miles to work and had no problems at all the last two winters. I do have a 2LT with traction control and anti-lock brakes, so that helps. I will say the firestone tires are not the best, but there not terrible either. One thing you will notice in an HHR is you don't have to stop at gas station near as much as you do with your durrango :lol: . Good luck. :thumb:

BTW :welcome: to the family

We are ready to trade our 98 Dodge Durango in for a 2007 HHR, the Durango is just killing us in gas. I am curious how the HHR does in the snow? We are in Kansas and get a couple of good snow storms a year and some ice. My Durango is 4WD and I never really worried about the weather. Now with a new car, no 4WD it makes me concerned. What is everyone's expierence?
Thanks!

I can't wait to hear the answers as well - I had a '98 Sidekick 4x4 with BFG T/A KOs on it that was amazing in the snow so I don't know what to expect from my HHR...

We are ready to trade our 98 Dodge Durango in for a 2007 HHR, the Durango is just killing us in gas. I am curious how the HHR does in the snow? We are in Kansas and get a couple of good snow storms a year and some ice. My Durango is 4WD and I never really worried about the weather. Now with a new car, no 4WD it makes me concerned. What is everyone's expierence?
Thanks!

I live in Derby KS, The car does ok in the snow it would do better with good tires, I bought mine in January and drove it home when there was snow on the ground. The stock Firestones are crap! they don't grab very well on ice or snow. I am planning on replacing mine with some Yokohama Avid touring tires when the stock tires wear out. I had those on 3 other cars and never had a problem in the snow.

If you're concerned about snow performance, I would skip the 2007 and get a 2008 HHR. The new ones have available electronic stability control, which obviously helps quite a bit in snow.

Tires, tires, tires; it comes down to the tires used. No other system/car type will have more impact than 4 good snow tires. I'll choose a FWD w/snow tires anyday over a 4WD on all-seasons. ABS & ETS are almost useless if there's no available traction.

That being said, I'll have to use my Firestone for a couple of winters before I can justify purchasing new snow tires. Yeah, I know that I'll likely be sliding around quite a bit... at least I'm saving them for winter-only duty, so they'll have as much tread as possible.

From my experience with previous cars, a wagon body style feels more balanced in the snow, because of the extra weight in the back; it somewhat prevents the back end from "floating" and becoming unstable. Of course I still have to experience this personally on the HHR.

Yves

Being from Kansas myself, I have had good luck with our 06 HHR. I love the anti-lock brakes and it has good traction.

We've put close to 20,000 kms on our all seasons in 9 months and will probably add a several thousand more before the snow flies.

Last winter with the new Firestones Affinity tires wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. Any more than a couple of inches of snow and we slid around a fair bit.

We're getting steel rims and snow tires for this winter....my wallet will hurt from that I know.

We're getting steel rims and snow tires for this winter

If you can get your hands on a set of 15 inchers, you'll be able to get a 70 ratio 15 inch tire; these should be much cheaper and will likely perform better if you stay below the stock 215 width (like: 195 or 205).

Edit: 205/65R15 works perfectly diameter wise and is an available tire size.

Yves

http://www.chevyhhr.net/gallery/files/1/1/9/9/az1.jpg

This is a picture from one of our trips. This was in New Mexico where we got caught in a blizzard! We stopped at this truck stop to get gas and there were people in cars, trucks, and big trucks stopping for the night because the weather was so bad. There is no motel here or anything so they thought it was bad enough to just stay in their cars instead of driving in it.

We had hotel reservations in Albuequerque so we went on. About 2 hours of snow coming down worse than is in the picture, with hardly any traffic to keep it off the road. We made it easily on stock tires on 16" rims. To me that says that the HHR does fine in snow as long as the driver is cautious and knows how to drive in that type of conditions.

I did not have any more driving issues with the HHR in the snow than any other fwd vehicle.

I noticed a couple posts commenting on the good performance of the ABS...
Anti-lock brakes require a surface that the tire traction has a resistance to or they stop spinning just like any other tire. Ergo, they have no function on snow...

Simply put, cautious driving will be the key in keeping an HHR under control in snow. I'm going to do my third HHR winter (first full one) with Stitch II here in the Buffalo area, and I have no qualms whatsoever about the car's ability in cruddy snow weather.

That said ...

Two winters ago, I found that stability on mine was much improved when I was carrying 140lbs. of play sand under the cargo shelf. Putting the extra weight on the rear axle helped it cling just a little bit better, even when the front wheels were spinning. (Stitch II, like Stitch before him, is a basic LT, no ABS or ESC) :thumb:

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o132/pats50fan/smilies/welcome4.gif to the site!!! The HHR is definitely not going to perform in the winter like your Durango 4x4 does. It handles the snow like most other front wheel drive cars do.

Why the Hell are we talking about snow.... It's friggin HOT out there....

Why the Hell are we talking about snow.... It's friggin HOT out there....
That is what the subject matter is.

What is snow? :D

It`s the exact opposite of the stuff blowing out of the back of your avatar pic...

The HHR is great in the snow. But how good any car is is largely dependent on what rubber it wears. Invest in 4 good snow tires like I did and you will have no problem. We had a pretty wild winter here this past year and the HHR was :thumb: !

If you can get your hands on a set of 15 inchers, you'll be able to get a 70 ratio 15 inch tire; these should be much cheaper and will likely perform better if you stay below the stock 215 width (like: 195 or 205).

Edit: 205/65R15 works perfectly diameter wise and is an available tire size.

Thanks for that info Yves. I was originally looking at 205/60R16 and expected to pay a hefty price for them. 15s should be cheaper.

I just put the numbers in a tire size calculator and the speedometer will only be off by 0.4 mph with the 15s vs 0.9 mph with 16s.

Thank you all for your input. I had a front wheel car before the Durango and I did ok in that, I wanted to make sure it was about the same. :thumb:

If you're concerned about snow performance, I would skip the 2007 and get a 2008 HHR. The new ones have available electronic stability control, which obviously helps quite a bit in snow.

I could swear I just read that the esc was standard in my new motor trend magazine where they list all the new 2008 models. I'll check again but I'm pretty sure the said it was standard along with onstar and tpm.

I could swear I just read that the esc was standard in my new motor trend magazine where they list all the new 2008 models. I'll check again but I'm pretty sure the said it was standard along with onstar and tpm.

Nope; I have the brochure sitting next to me. You can only get "StabiliTrak" ESC on the 2008 2LT models (4 door or panel versions).

Cool thats good to know. Now I don't feel too bad for not waiting for an 08'

Well I double checked and motor trend said ESC, TPM, and onstar are standard across the line. I can't believe motor trend could be wrong:lol:

Geez you pay for a magazine and can't even get accurate information:roll:

http://www.chevyhhr.net/gallery/files/3/6/1/8/Wheelie1.jpg

(Wheelie approaches you all and has an innocent look on his face/grille and calmly asks):

Ummm, Excuse me, I wonder if you can tell me...What is Snow????:smile:

*Wheelie Lives in LOUISIANA....No Snow comes here!..and if it does, It's Rare!

If you're concerned about snow performance, I would skip the 2007 and get a 2008 HHR. The new ones have available electronic stability control, which obviously helps quite a bit in snow.
My 2007 HHR has the electronic steering on it. I haven't gone through winter yet. I love my Silver Beauty and do not plan on doing any mods to it.

If you can get your hands on a set of 15 inchers, you'll be able to get a 70 ratio 15 inch tire; these should be much cheaper and will likely perform better if you stay below the stock 215 width (like: 195 or 205).

Edit: 205/65R15 works perfectly diameter wise and is an available tire size.
Got a price quote of $716 for 4 Bridgestone Blizzak Revo1, 4 GM specific hub-centric steel rims, mounting, road force balancing, nitrogen filled, 4 sets of lug nuts and delivery.

Now I just have to figure out if I want to drop that much money...

http://www.chevyhhr.net/gallery/files/3/6/1/8/Wheelie1.jpg

(Wheelie approaches you all and has an innocent look on his face/grille and calmly asks):

Ummm, Excuse me, I wonder if you can tell me...What is Snow????:smile:

*Wheelie Lives in LOUISIANA....No Snow comes here!..and if it does, It's Rare!

"You don't know what you're missin', Wheelie..that snow is fun stuff to cruise around in!", comments Tropicar (contemplating his escape to warmer climes):D

Got a price quote of $716 for 4 Bridgestone Blizzak Revo1, 4 GM specific hub-centric steel rims, mounting, road force balancing, nitrogen filled, 4 sets of lug nuts and delivery.

Does that include taxes?

Lets see: (50/rim + 20/bal + 120/tire + 10/nut set) x 4 = 800.

My guess is that they include the balancing for free. Not a bad deal, especially if the tires are worth more than 120.

It hurts, doesn't it? That's why I'm going to settle for the OEMs for a couple of winters; they only have 5000 km on them, so they shouldn't be too bad.

On a side note, Sears in the states has a "Firestone Weatherforce" winter tire in the 205/60R16 for $60 each. You have to drive to Massena, NY to get them. :wink:

Yves

Yes, that's taxes included (GST, no PST) and shipped from B.C.
The tires are on sale for for $99 a piece right now.

Would cost about $750 at CT for Goodyear Nordic tires and multi-fit rims (which may have issues). Either way it's painful.

We currently have almost 26,000 km on the OEMs. Environment Canada is predicting below average precipitation this winter, so I'm thinking of going one more winter on the OEMs.