well im gettin around 30-31 mpg with my 2.2 5 spd with a cgs cold air intake and later this summer i will be adding a ECOTEC HO INTAKE and a throttle body spacer i will have made from the shop and i run up n down these hills around the OZARKS and i do have some power cant wait for the rest of the mods

 

Loading won't make a difference on either engine. Stitch I was a 2.2L 1LT, which made a cross-country trip where halfway through he was loaded down with enough crap to fill the back end from floor to ceiling, and ran like the highway star he was. I'm towing with my current 2.2L 1LT this summer.

 

The thing with a car where premium is "recommended but not required" is yes you can run it on regular and "settle" for reduced performance (and reduced mpg), but in the back of your mind you'll be wanting to get the full performance out of the engine so eventually you find yourself feeding it premium at every fill-up. Not a bad thing at all, as long as you're okay with it.

Someone posted something in a thread on the forum not long ago that the 2.4's EPA mpg rating was done using premium fuel... if true it might also mean mpg could be slightly reduced if regular is used. I don't know if this is true or not.

Definitely drive several different 2.2's before settling on your decision. When I was shopping, the 1st two 2.2's I drove I was not impressed. I was about to scratch 2.2's off the list. I was dead set on getting Sunburst Orange though (first two were white and silver each) and then I found a Sunburst Orange at an out of town dealer about 20 miles away. It had the 2.2, but I went and looked anyhow. I had only seen sunburst orange in photos until seeing this one and I loved the look so much in person I had to drive it. It was not like the first two 2.2's I drove. I immediately noticed it had better response and pull. The first two had only like 25 or 30 miles on them, this one had 100 on the odometer at the time of test drive. Don't know if that mattered or not (doubt it), but long story short I bought it.

If after driving several 2.2's you're still iffy about the power they seem to have, then you may be happier with a 2.4. I would also recommend driving several 2.4's too, to make sure you have a good sampling of 2.4 characteristics.

Have fun with it, the thrill of the hunt is half the fun!

 

I have this for "rapid transit". 0-150 mph in as fast as you are brave and top speed limited by intelligence....or traffic, whatever there is more of at the time! LOL

Oh! and it gets 40 mpg +/-

 

I love my 2.2L. It has more than enough power. It was hesitating before accelarating but I had the injectors cleaned at 15K (warranty requirement) and now it has more power than ever. Everyone else is babying their cars from a stop to get as much mileage as possible. I hit the gas and leave them all behind and still get 24 mpg city when not using the AC. It drops to 22 mpg in the summer.

 

there's one more thing to consider:

if there is hardly any driveability differtence between the 2.2 and the 2.4, keep resale in mind.

you may not care...but other buyers might not be smart enough to come find this site to ask much as you did.

Premium fuel is NOT required in either example, BTW.
I run mid-grade, and avg 480 miles to a tank, with my 2.4

 

On average you only get about 25-50% of the cost back on any add on when you purchase a new car. So resale is actually the last thing you want to consider. Look up KBB on any model HHR and compare the used value with a 2.2 and a 2.4, it's only about $300 dollars. Much less than the 2.4 upgrade cost when new.
You have to remember that the HHR is only listed as a LS & LT. The rest is only options.