Originally Posted by an08HHR

Welcome. Dome light pg 3-19 in the manual. Gas on pg 5-5. Cruise pg 3-12. It is amazing what is in the fat little book that is in the glove box. And yes it is a pain to cycling thru that dic for info and back again. They should of had a separate read out for temp and mileage. Can't help w/ the Pal device. I have a 08 2Lt also with xm only because it was on it, nice, but after the 3 month trail is up, it is up. I'll go back to my cd's at that time. Ever want snow just drive 30-45 minutes n.e. we can't seem to give this stuff away, I know you guys don't get much in Akron.

Originally Posted by Biff

Hi,
I just joined the forum this morning, and I just bought an '08 Victory Red HHR over the weekend.

I traded in my '05 TrailBlazer which I had bought (sadly) just a couple months before the '06 HHRs came out - which immediately caught my eye.

I had been thinking of trading in the TB on an HHR for some time now, and last week I had to take the TB to the dealer for some warranty work on the emission systems due to a check engine light being on.

While there - they had another HHR on the showroom floor, so I picked up a brochure on them on my way out - which I told my wife was "just something to read"..

(that was last Tuesday - 01/29)

Just for fun - I checked on our GM Card earnings - and saw I had $1600, and something about a "Fill up to $3000" offer that expired on 01/31...

Thursday (01/31) we went to the dealership since I wanted to test drive one (never been in one prior) and to see what sort of trade-in my TB might have....

To make a long 3 hour visit to the dealer short ;-) We ended up trading in the TB and picking up the HHR on Saturday.

Now some questions:

Our HHR (a 1LT) did NOT come with XM - but I wanted it, and the dealer told me they could add it - which they did.
I also wanted the ipod PAL device, and according to what they read - it was compatible with the radio - so I ordered one of those too.

On Saturday - when I picked it up - they told me that there was some confusion whether or not the PAL was compatible with the XM modification - and they are getting contradictory answers when they called tech support. (supposedly they will find out for sure today)

I am curious if anyone else had XM and the PAL device added to their radio - my radio is whatever model comes with the 7 speakers and single CD player.

If I had to settle for just one or the other, XM wins for me hands down.

Second question - is the rear dome light ONLY for use as a manual on/off map/reading light for the back seat passengers - or can it be setup to come on with the lights on my rear-view mirror when the front doors are opened?

(no dome light on ours - since it has a sunroof)

I didn't even realize I *HAD* a light back there till this morning ;-)

Last question - I was kinda bummed when I read the owners manual and learned that they recommend 91 octane for the 2.4L engines - I bought the HHR since I wanted to cut my gasoline expenses - my TB was only getting 16.5 mpg.
It was delivered with a full tank of gas - so I have not had to fill it up yet, and was wondering if anyone was getting away with using 87 octane w/out any adverse effects.

I was planning on trying 89 octane at my first fill-up, since I'm a bit hesitant to go all the way down to 87...

So far - aside from the extremely noticeable steering wheel shake during braking, I am very happy with it. (only 130 miles so far)
I'm hoping to get my dealer to turn the rotors for me - this was not the HHR I test drove - otherwise, I'd have immediately told them about the shaking.

I *wish* there was a way to quickly get back to the temp/odometer display on the DIC, it's a bit of a pain cycling thru everything to get back there.

Far as I can tell - there is no indication that you have cruise set other than the initial message on the DIC that it engaged - correct?

Jim