itsallu

Havent experienced the issues others post about. I had a brief tire sensor reading issue but it resolved itself out after an additional 4k miles on the car. The most vocal are those with problems. You wont really read about those who love their cars and never had issues yet.

Im at 16k miles now and just got it in feb 08. Its as reliable as all the other chevies ive owned and currently own.

HHR SS issues sound minor when compared to the issues that plague say the VW turbo beetle and mini cooper S which gets our same mpg.

OCMerrill

We are an American Gas-Glut family over here. Wife drives a Yukon, I a Chevy 2500 HD, we have a Jeep Rubicon for fun, a motor home...total gas consumer over here.

So when gas here on the left coast hit $4.50 a gal a couple months back I said that's it. Were buying an econo box. I ran the numbers and the car could make it's payment and still return about $300 more monthly by sharing it between the wife and I piling the miles on it. The other cars are paid for but worthless (maybe not the Jeep )

Goal was it has to be something with go in order to get me to drive it.

So I set out on a mission to test drive all I could in the under $30k range.

Audi A3 and A4
Volvo V50
Volks GTI 4 door
Toyota Matrix XR
Lexis IS250 - No Nav
Mazda Speed 3
Cooper Clubman SS

Then Cole Trickle here on the boards (know each other from other boards) and I got to talking about this little HHRSS he bought. My Friend who restores classic muscle cars bought one and I went over and drove it. Cole Trickle is also a big time car enthusiast and bought one so I decided to add it to the list.

After test driving all those cars (the Lexus was very nice but you cannot find a stripped IS250 so that pushed the sticker to $35K Gone off the list) I drove the SS again.

At the time GM had zero/72 and it was between that and the Speed Three.

We chose the Chevy. Best bang for the buck IMHO. The XM has run out and I just bought a year. Onstar is pretty neat when you forget the cell phone charger, and we are at a 3,400 miles with a 20.02 mpg average. Like winning the lottery when you best a 10 mpg figure before.

No problems at all minus the hard brake pedal and by now we all here know what that is from.

Very satisfied.

HHRemi

Ha! Don't even get me started on "German engineering" [MINI is BMW for those who don't know]. I had a Porsche Boxster S. Beautiful, fast, handled like stink - when it wasn't in the shop. Boxster owners refer to the CEL [Check Engine Light] as Change Engine Light! Ran great when it ran. Ran not great a lot.

I appreciate everyone's comments about the HHR. It's good to get the other side of the story from people who haven't had a need to post problems. I AM aware of why the brakes are an issue and it's not a deal breaker. I would be getting a manual shift so it probably wouldn't happen to me anyway.

robotworkshop

Hello,

I have friend at the office with a Honda truck that has been back in the shop four times for warranty work while my nephew had a leased chevy truck that he beat on for two years without any trips in for service (except oil changes). All of the auto makers have their ups and downs. The quality on the domestic cars us far better than it was and in that regard I think it is a fairly level playing field these days.

A few months my car was totaled when a large tree fell on it and crushed it. My sister had purchased a base HHR LS and I really liked it. Since I was getting a new vehicle I wanted something a little more fuel efficient since I usually drive about 50 miles (to/from work) and also had some storage in the back. I looked at the regular HHR and considered it as a daily driver but once I learned about the SS version and read the reviews decided it was the one I wanted to buy. There aren't nearly as many of the HHR SS around it wasn't as easy to get. The first one I went to test drive sold 15 minutes before I got there. When I went to another dealer they said they would try to help me get one. He had 11 listed in the area and when he followed up all were gone but one. Luckily it was pretty much matched all the options I wanted (had a couple extra) and I have been very happy with it.

So far no service issues. I'm sure the people without problems are out enjoying their HHR SS right now. When you think about how many they've built compared to how many issues are on the forums it doesn't seem too bad.

It handles VERY well and I find that I enjoy the drive to work and back every day. Keeping to a reasonable speed I have gotten close to 37mpg on the highway but with all the construction (and getting into it) the overall has been over 25mpg. Having the turbo is nice since the extra power is there when you need (or want) it to be there. The manual gives an extra 10HP plus the trans is supposed to be stronger if you "tune" the engine. If you go that route "tunes" are available for both the manual and automatics which really wakes up the turbo and engine. They have a lot more power available and it just needs the software on the existing computer tweaked to open it up. It really is nice mix. Handling, power, and economy.

The only thing I had to get used to is that the visibility out the front window isn't what i'm used to and if you pull up too close it is sometimes hard to see the color of the traffic signal. Also, if you get the SS it sits low and you need to keep that in mind when you park it. I am paranoid about the front valance and always keep back. As long as you keep that in mind you should be fine. The regular HHR isn't as much a problem. Just the SS.

As others have suggested you should try and take a test drive and see if you like it! Just make sure you are comfortable with the dealer. If not, go to another one.

Robert

jerSSey HHR

I have been buying GM vehicles for quite some time. Since the mid-90's their quality has been very good. Sure there are some clunkers out there, but I have not had any major issues in the past 10 years. As you can see from my sig, I've piled up the miles on my GMs. I did consider buying a Honda Accord coupe instead of the HHR SS, but in the end it would cost me $5K more, less warranty, and I did some research on the internet about a bunch of problems with the Honda. So I bought the SS in July and have been having a blast every since. EVERYONE who sees the SS comments on it. And those comments are usually "what is this thing?", followed by "this thing is really sweet!" and "it can go 150 MPH and get 28 MPG??".

ColeTrickle

The car is what it is. (goood looks,great motor,nice interior,cheap plastic and so/so fit and finish)

It's a 24K pocket rocket that gets way better mileage than you would expect.

It has a great warranty has alot of versatility and is fun as hell to drive.

I went from a low 12 second 06 GTO that averaged 15 mpg to a car that is more exciting to drive (5speed/I don't like autos) and I averaged 26.8 mpg on my last tank with an average speed of 38 mph(traffic sucks).

ColeTrickle

No kidding.......

I am shopping toy haulers and with the deals that you can score a new 6.0 2500hd I figured I would call jay and see what kind of trade in I would get for a semi loaded 07 Z71 classic(14K miles).

This was a 36K msrp truck 18 months ago and trade in is 12K......lol

looks like I am getting a superlite

Jeff®

I never thought I'd buy a Chevy. We went and tested a Vibe, which is essentially a Matrix. I was luke warm and my wife thought it sucked. Then an evil HHR ad popped up on Yahoo! and I investigated.

Nearly 4 months, 7800 miles and never been back to the dealer.
Fast as heck, Grrrrreat milage, 4 doors for a family of 4, bunch of cargo space, cool site here to talk about it. Just pleased.

At least go for a test drive.

JAXFL_SS

I second this. No need for the bike anymore, I have too much fun (if that's possible) in the SS.

Clevelandhhrss

Just get one.
That is all.