Winding Road, an automotive e-zine will do a side by side comparison of the HHR SS and the Caliber SRT4 in its next issue. You can sign up for free at http://www.windingroad.com . Great magazine by the way - should be out in about 2 weeks.

i would buy the csrt if just for the fact that is already has aftermarket vendors doing a lot of research and development on a bunch of stuff... and has many upgrades out already for it...

hhrss is still waiting
ms3 has some out but still limited vendors

the csrt got several of the big vendors who switched right over from the nsrt when they were discontinued...


handling and power can be tuned to how you want it... it's all a matter of who has the best platform and the most backup...

If speed is your main criteria the Mazda is the best choice. It was definitely faster. I choose the HHR because of the better ride, no torque steer,and after the GM discount and rebates it cost over 3 grand less than the mazda, better MPG as a bonus. The dealership in Saline has a navy blue 5sp with the gray interior with your name on it!!

geez dont get me started cuz im considering either blue or black and im starting to lean to the HHR SS just still not too turned on by the looks but the platform seems to be far better than dodges and i will never buy foreign so the ms3 is out of the question.

dude its a world economy. That ms3 maybe more american then the mexican build hhr.

it all depends on what YOU like...
The HHR has a cool retro look to it, the Caliber, to me anyway, gets lost in the sea of other crossovers like it. Functionally they are so similar.

You'll be driving it, you'll be paying for it, you'll be the one who looks at it every day. So you have to make the choice. besides, we're biased toward Chevies on here so if you want better opinions on the Caliber, go over to one of their boards...

The Caliber is one UGLY station wagon. Can't believe anyone would buy that cluster****.

Caliber = More Dodge problems...... just google issues with them.

Performance numbers between the HHR SS and the MS3 are only about a .01 seconds apart (MS3 faster), so that equasion is a drivers game (non auto SS).

''Mexican Assembled'' powertrain and 95% of the parts are from U.S./Canada

I came close to buying a CSRT4 until I found out that the HHR SS was coming halfway through the 2008 model year.

I have read about half a dozen reviews of the CSRT4 where the reviewers say it's fast, but they hated the overall feel of the vehicle.

Many hated the boy racer looks.
The heavy clutch is supposed to be a bear for daily city driving.
More turbo lag than the HHR.
Low RPM torque is much lower than HHR, making normal city driving less efficient.
I don't think you can fully disable the stability control like you can with the HHR. Probably they won't let you disable it because of the insane torque steer.
A lot complained about how cornering feels with the electronic brake-lock differential. No mechanical LSD is available like on the HHR.

I have read a lot of great reviews of the MS3. The reasons I didn't go with one are...
3 mpg lower mileage than the HHR SS.
Only 4.8” of ground clearance (not good for rough roads around here)
Very little trunk space with rear seats up (I've got child seats in mine so it's a hassle to remove them to fold down the rear seats to get extra cargo space.) HHR SS has a much larger rear cargo area than MS3 or CSRT4.
Acceleration is very slightly faster. Cornering is better due to lower ground clearance and shorter body. But basically less utility.