How did I post my message two times? weird!

 

That's OK!
You said the thing I wanted to hear!
I am hoping the intake/muffler combo makes a better sound, and you confirmed it as you did the same thing as me; first the intake then the muffler.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks the coffee can sound is not something to be happy about. You say adding the muffler lowers the tone and brings balance to the force, Then I'll go there too.
After all, a number of others have been happy with the combo. Going half way is perhaps not the best way to be. The engine needs to breathe, so we should let it!
At least until my wife complians for real So far it is " I'm not convinced...."
Thanks all for the repilies. Keep'em coming if anyone wants to chime in.............

 

Here's my
I installed the muffler first. The sound was like others discribe, a deeper sound. I dident really notice a performance increase.
The big difference was after Mike at SoCalHHR's installed the Intake. The combined sound of muffler and intake is great. It's not as the hyped up Hondas I hear around town. I don't care for the wing-ding high pitch I hear out of them.
I noticed a big difference in my HHR after the intake installed. Very noticable difference in acceleration. You can also hear the air being sucked into the intake when you get the REV's up on the manual transmission.

As far as the MPG, well, as Mike put it, once you get over the wanting to put your foot into the gas peddle because you just dig the way it sounds and feels, your MPG will go back up!