As some of you who have seen my posts know, I am new to the HHR "experience", having bought my first, an "07 2LT, just a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, the reason for the purchase was to have a second vehicle to avoid the miles piling up on my wife's new Subaru Forester. What I bought was a nice-looking "07, with a rare paint color (Golden Teal) and a nice options list. It had 164,00 miles on it but I have seen HHRs with lots more, and the owner seemed genuine in that he professed a history of dealer service (he was the original owner) and the CarFax seemed to support that, with many dealer visits noted. I bought the car, and only then did I do something I would encourage you all to do BEFORE purchase; I asked the original owner to supply me with printouts of the service visits,which he was able to procure from the dealers that did the servicing. What I found was that the car had indeed visited the dealer many, many tomes, and oil changes and such were dutifully performed. However, upon reading the comments on the service receipts, many items were noted by the servicing technician and suggested to the owner, only to be declined. I now find that the slight "clunk" I detect in the front end, now requiring controls arms and struts, was diagnosed over two years ago as a faulty control arm bushing, and declined. Reccomended transmission service was twice declined. It goes on. Conclusion: CarFax is a great tool, but not specific enough.

I guess that I am disappointed, not with the car, but with the previous owners. I have had the transmission service and just bought $740 worth of parts to correct the front end and replace the rear shocks "just because". I have not even looked at brakes, exhaust or cooling system although I see from the stack of stuff that brakes SHOULD be OK for a while. I have bought a gallon of DexCool and will drain and refill next week.It has some riust beginning on the bottom of the doors but that will have to wait.

I hope, after all of this, that I end up with a somewhat reliable car, although I am not ignorant of the 164,000 miles it has already traveled. I like it; it is a nice size and is reasonable economical on fuel. I REALLY like the looks.

Get those service records, if you can,. BEFORE you lay down the Benjamins.

Most of the stuff your replacing would still need replacing, if the PO had of agreed, 2 years ago.
so, change what you need to change and know the job is done.
Happy motoring!