154k mi here, '06
Bought mine used at 50k mi in 2011.

Added a hitch kit and restored a lil trailer for her, my girl works around the farm, so to speak!

 

I just retired an original 2010 battery when I bought the car from my Brother this Summer w/137,000 miles. The battery was still serving, but taking chances with stressing an original alternator with a battery that MUST be getting tired didn't take much convincing. Nearly impossible to believe that it lasted 13+ years.
That battery will get a dose of Charge-It battery medicine & keep this -or- that going around the farm until it's finally kaput(!) though.

 

Pretty amazing, huh?

I'm sold on the battery management system plus keeping the battery away from engine bay heat.

I pulled a perfectly good on from a 2001 in 2022 (or so?) for the exact same reason, more or less; wife's call, Winter coming.

Looking forward to getting rid of heavy toxic lead batteries altogether, tho.

 

See as this thread was started over 13 years ago when the oldest HHR was maybe 6 years old, maybe it's time to change the name? At this point, 100K is low mileage even for the newst 2011.

How about:

High Mileage Club 200K+, (formerly 100K)

???

 

It’s about the mileage, not the age. I think there is a 200,000 mile club thread.

 

Transmission fluid & filter done, coolant flushed. Serpentine belt and front shocks are next, and then I think it's ready for road trips.

 

Of course I know it’s not about age. My point was that high mileage in the title is now a misnomer. It was just a thought to consider a name change. Your decision. Your don’t need a reason.

I’ll go find the 200K thread. Maybe.

 

And we're just about to hit 100K in our '08 SS.

 

Hello HHR family! My '06 2LT (purchased new July 2006) is at the dealership today for inspection and ABS/TC dashboard lights before it transports my son back to college across the state, rolled in at 166,507mi for the check-up and early oil change. Over the just past 2 (maybe 3?) years it's gotten the following most recent TLC:

• New front coils and control arms
• New front brakes and rotors
• New front bearings **
• New front tires
• New alternator
• All (4, in the 2.4L engine) new fuel injectors
• Replaced OEM peeling chrome gear shifter knob with compatible matte black Cobalt knob
• Replaced rear corner marker lenses with LED style (not an LED bulb replacement in the OEM lens, but new lenses with multi-LED strips

After 18 years as my daily driver for PC support business and family road trips, the rust for our climate has definitely taken a toll. I can post the underbody frame pics if anyone wants to see the ugly age and main reason I'm no longer driving this for daily commute. As of this weekend I finally got the remaining old vinyl decal residue off the partially rusted body panels so that my logo, business lettering, and phone number are not immediately visible, but of course there's faintly still some tan lines remaining where the metallic paint was covered for this many years. The body has hail damage which totalled it for salvage title a few years ago, but I wasn't ready to retire the wagon until this summer. Now it will be up to my son whether he sticks with this wagon for the rest of his college days like I did with an '88 Cavalier and eventually a 2000 Cavalier at college, and maybe he can find some buddies to take on the rust removal and body work it would need to be 100% shiny again. I have some swap-out parts that I never got around to installing, but if my son retains the car then next summer maybe we can spruce it up a little bit:

• Matte black exterior door handles in place of peeling plastic chrome OEM handles
• Metal (polished stainless steel) interior door handles in place of weak OEM chrome plastic that's peeling as well
• Replacement rear door lock actuator (my younger son's passenger door got the most frequent use, it seems, as his lock pin intermittently fails to go up to unlock or go down to lock, it's unpredictable)
• Front corner marker LED replacement lenses, which are enclosed in the front fenders and not as accessible as the rear corner markers

** Note: After bringing home our son from freshman year of college, the right front wheel bearing, followed by the left front bearing, both in one week. That was also when we went shopping for a newer car for me in place of my HHR. I've been very happily driving a 2015 Buick Enclave AWD now since June, and I think I'm finally ready to give up maintaining the HHR as my own daily driver now that I'm so much more comfortable (spoiled) by driving the Enclave. (:K

 

If its that rusty underneath I would take a good look at the fuel lines.Especially around the drivers side rear.