My car has been great. no real problems. One of my favorite cars i have ever owned fo many reason. My only gripe is like some others here. The quality of work that was done putting them together. Some defininte fitment and lack of QA issues.

I have tracked down four rattles in mine. One in lower kick panel driver side area, driver side rear door, roof panel above driver (sunroof), and last was a bad strut.

*Lower panel-- fixed with felt and small nut/bolt
*Rear door interior panel-- dealer fix cause never was actually attached with proper bolts or mounts!
*sunroof-- just needed to snug a few screws and add some loctite
*Bad strut is just bad strut :) No biggie

19k and running really good. mechanically mine is a runner!!

 

It's funny (knocks on a Redwood tree!) but I had to install the little computer (still new to the HHR I don't know what it's for) that sits right in front of the fuse box since it wasn't in it's cradle; it was just sitting there, hanging freely in the engine bay! I found several fuses in the fuse box were loose (thanks to whoever put that post up here!). I still swear that the battery isn't tied down correctly when I looked at it, I just haven't had the time to take everything out again + really inspect everything back there... I've had no problems though so I should count myself as lucky...

To the OP I hope all your problems get fixed!

Later
Allex

 

I've owned a lot of cars over the years and I mean a lot. I lost count at 25. Most American. The most problematic were a a 2003 Saab 9-3 (all electrical they could not fix) 2005 F150 with front end issues that could not be fixed and my 2008 HHR SS electrical issues, rough idle and rattle more than my 1995 Honda Accord with 225K miles.

I miss the Accord. 225K miles, 1 clutch, 1 radiator and 1 alternator. Oh, breaks and tires. Never died. Never stranded me. At 196K miles my wife and I went to Vermont to go Sking. We got 36MPG calculated driving at 72mph. When I had 30K on it, I went to Maine and it got 42mpg calculated.

We had a Honda oddyssey that was good until it dumped a trans at 76K miles and wasn't the same after. Screw Honda and the dealer.

I want American. I just don't know. Most likely I will replace the SS next year and I have 2 options, give ti to my dad who loves it and trade in his HHR Shadow or trade mine for something.

Camaro? (lousy in snow for winter)
Volt (will I be able to get one ?)
Something else......

Might have to get a BMW.

I love my wifes Prius but I just can't bring myslef to have 2 toyotas but her average 46 MPG is tough to Sneeze at (pun intended).

- Edit I should mention my 2000 Trans Am Firehawk has been THE MOST RELIABLE CAR I have ever owned. Of course, it only has 33K on it.....

Sigh.

 

Well, they fixed the horn....apparently never connected from factory. Started at the fuse panel and worked back. How the heck does that happen? Where was the QC guy? Still have the rattle in the front left. Think it's a strut. How do you have a problem with a strut on a 7k mile car that is driven very gingerly?

To be honest, I am waiting until I have enough equity in her so that I won't lose cash on a trade in and I am looking at an FJ Cruiser/Ford Flex. Don't need to run premium in the new FJ's and great for Cdn winters. Never owned a Toyota before other then my wife's Vibe (awesom car). I never thought I would consider an import, but take a look at these 60 month resale values

FJ Cruiser-36% of MSRP
HHR SS-24%
Pontiac G8-19%
Saab 9 series-15%

No wonder GM stopped leasing....couldn't sell the cars after the leases were up, unless they wanted to take a major hit, or charge $500 a month for an Aveo.

I would like to continue to support the Big three, but am done with throwing away my money on sub-par quality.

 

Sorry about your problems. My 09 SS had 4 radios replaced since April.The radio stopped working the first night I brought it home.Since then the others were replaced due to USB port issues and cd's jamming/errors. My sunroof would re-open on it's own a few times when I was closing it. My headliner was/still is hanging down lower than normal over the mirror since delivery....the part has been on backorder. The remote start only works when it feels like it....it has been re-programmed 2 times and the techs cant figure it out. I basically just gave up on it, I'll try it and if it works,fine, if not then whatever.
Overall I like the car alot. But I am pretty sure this will be last GM car....and I have been driving GM for 25 years now. Shame they did away the HHR. Did you see the replacement? The Chevy Orlando?? Hands down the worst name GM came up with. Body styling is not bad though......but that name......

 

I kind of equate GM's current position to that of Hyundai from the 80's, though not quite that bad. Anyone who bought a Pony or Stellar in the 80's were sworn off of Hyundai do badly that it killled their reputation over almost 20yrs. Even when Hyundai was began to introduce great cars in the early 00's their sales were still low cause people would't take the chance. It took them nearly 10 more years of building quality cars with great warranties to gain market share. A lot of the car business is in the name and the reputation and GM has lost the Gen X and Gen Y car buyers altogether. I suspect that when the loyal baby boomers that have always owned GM's start to book into retirement homes, GM with drop even further before being able to make a true comeback. Ask anyone who owns a Honda or Toyota if they would buy GM and most would say never. So unless Toyota and Honda and the rest start dropping the ball.....those "lost" customers are gone for good.

 

Toyota has dropped the ball a lot of late and that is some of who is buying Hyundia's.

Between some of the quality issues and increased cost Toyota has felt what GM has in a smaller scale.

GM again has the new product and soon to be release product. Now they have to re gain the trust of the public and that just takes time.

Cars like the new Malibu, CTS, Lacrosse, Nox and Regal are home runs but till people trust them GM can do nothing more but keep bringing better product.

Note the guy that turned Hyundia around in this country came from Buick.

 

I got rid of my 2005 CTS for my 2008 HHR SS. I have no problems to date with the HHR SS. The only problem I had with the CTS was that the brake lights didn't work the day I picked it up at the dealership.

In regards to rattles, I was never able to find the console rattles in my CTS. Drove me crazy until the day I turned it in. It seemed to magically transpose itself into the HHR SS, but at least I was able to track the rattle down to where the main console meets the shifter console on the passenger side (near the fuse/relay panel).

I have since relieved my rattle issues with the HHR, but I'm sure there's more to come. It's a GM thing, regardless of whether it's a premium model or economy (I own 5 and they all have their own theme song).

They just can't seem to figure out how to snap plastic together.

 

I think that it is partially due to the cheap plastics that they use. Kind of like imitation legos.

 

No, Legos done make noise.

Pull up the cover on the shifter and the surround and put a little padding or I used Buytl Rubber like they seal windows with. It removed my console noise.