I will be keeping my HHR. Geat gas milage looks good, still not a bunch in my area so people still ask about it. Only thing right now I would trade it in for is a newer model.

 

I love my HHR to because of looks and gas mileage plus if I want to spank someone I just get out my 03 Mach 1 and that does the trick.

 

All I can say is that I'm sure everyone read the specs for the HHR before they were in production. Therefore, everybody knew what they were getting. You have to be patient with a new model. The performance parts will come. This is actually a wise move by GM to put out the HHR the way it is. As one mentioned earlier, Chrysler is taking a huge risk throwing all these performance parts up front because they themselves have no idea how the Caliber is going to sell. Chrysler better hope the Caliber takes off or they have blown millions of dollars on something that will become nothing more than yesterdays news. GM is obviously testing the market with the HHR to see how well it sells. For one, you have to realize, its taking a while for people to get use to the HHR more than anything else. The sales are gradually picking up, but people weren't running to the dealerships to order their HHR's as soon as they came out. If you ask me, they didn't want to turn this into another SSR, where they throw all these performance products up front on the SSR, and guess what...The SSR hasn't exactly taken off, and with those performance parts, came a hefty price tag along with it. GM lost a lot of money on the SSR. They were not going to make the same mistake with the HHR. Chrysler has always been the company to put all the performance goodies in their vehicles up front, and look at them. They have talked about filing bankruptcy several times over the last few years because their cars are not selling as well as they hoped. It just comes to show you that you can spend millions upon millions of dollars on a top edge vehicle and stock it up with as many performance parts as you want, if the people don't like the vehicle, they're not going to buy it no matter what you put in it, and with that, all this money flushed down the toilet by the car manufacturers causing them to file bankrupty or come pretty close to it. Again, I think GM is doing a smart thing bringing the HHR along slowly. It's all about testing the market. If the market looks like it's going to be a hit, in which it definitely looks like it is, then they'll start spending more money in providing more performance parts for the car and working with aftermarket companies with specs, in addition to adding bigger and better goodies on the models in the near future. Gotta' be patient folks.

 

I knew Ed Zachary what to expect when I order my HHR. I never intended it to compete in the "Fast N Furious" lanes. Just a simple ride with a sweet old school look, and great gas mileage. I believe the aftermarket parts will come soon enough. Besides, I did not expect to make too many mods during the warranty period. By then, there should be plenty of options to install.

Who knows, I may get it Overhaul'd or Pimped my ride someday......

 

i agree with txman on what he said and also dodgs parts original and aftermarket in general are more expensive that anyone else so think about that ...... and on another note i think that the caliber looks too boxy it's too
square i like the style of the hhr it gets me where i want to go in style

 

My last truck was a 2000 Ford Ranger vith the 3.0L V6. It was a quick little truck (much lighter than the HHR), but still - that V6 only put out 160hp! In comparison, I think GM has done a great job giving us 172hp in the 2.4L (4cyl), stock. It seems the domestic market is always a step behind the imports until you get up into the pricing stratosphere.

And we all have bigger dreams than wallets here...

 

I thought the 2.4 was 172 hp?

 

The other reason you don't see any CAI's yet is because it is very difficult to get the airflow "right" on the HHR. The computer is tied directly to air velocity and volume. If the flow is not right through the MAFS, you will have all sorts of problems including funky tranny shifting - as we have already heard from a few who tried to "backyard" their own intakes.

Personally I would not even consider an intake for the HHR from a small company. Bigger companies have the experience and resources to plot out what will work. As I mentioned about the AEM testing; we found several "surprises" in trying different thing. (Non-disclosure prohibits me from saying any more.)

My point is, the "big boys" have more of a shot at getting it right. Unfortunately, for them, the market is all about 6.9L diesel trucks right now - whose owners will pay $400 for an intake and $800 for an exhaust that will bring their 4mpg hogs up to 10mpg. That's where the money is to be made in their eyes...

We will just have to wait in line...

 

It's 172 HP for the 2.4. The 2.2 has like a 150 something I think. At least the HHR has more balls than the Scion. I'm not totally bashing our engine. I'm just saying it's weak in comparison to some of the competition, including imports and Chevy should have offered something a little better. The 2.4 is actually pretty quick. But I don't really have any more intrest in modding for speed because it know it's pretty useless. I would be happy with a nice CAI, exhaust, and reflash. But at this rate it's never going to happen. Like I said before everything was available for the Mustang from launch! But Ford was willing to share their technology with the aftermarket companies before launch. If only Chevy were that smart.

 

Ooops! Brain Fart!

There I changed it!