Just drove an automatic HHR SS
 

Well I was very impressed, little to no torque steer, fairly quick. It was a little damp out, and would spin the tires fairly well at anything 20 mph or less when punching it. Lost boost at about 4500 rpm for a second in every gear (well I don't know about 4th), boost would drop and tach would stop moving. Did go 120 mph though and could have went faster. A new tune would probably really wake this thing up. This one did not have the "performance" seat. I would def get the performance seat. This one has the roof rails, didn't bother me, but the HHR was dark blue, not much of a contrast. Overall, very impressed:thumb:.

Wow, I need to test an SS!! Thanks for the review. :thumb:

Whoa, 120, I backed off at 90.
It didn`t feel like I was going that fast either, but I looked at the speedo, and backed off.
Maybe the computer is controlling the engine during break-in period, could explain hiccups.

no one else has been reporting "lost boost" when they drive. Wonder if something was not quite right with the engine? When you say the "tach would stop moving," did it freeze where it was or did it drop to zero? that sounds strange for a tach to behave like that. Just b/c the boost drops, that shouldn't affect the tach.

Chris and I went and looked at a red one. I was so very tempted to test drive it but knew better. I actually resisted the temptation :eek:

Well what I ment is the car stopped accelerating. Boost would drop about 5 lbs, then go right back up, you could feel the car slow/stop acc. and tach would "feeze where it was" for a second. It almost felt like a shift. It happened every time, thats when I started looking at the guages to see what was going on. Happened at about 4500 rpm. Actually did not notice in 1st, mostly in 2nd. Not sure why, but thats all I can tell ya.

well it would be interesting to hear if anyone else is having this issue...
how many miles were on this one? I think until 500 miles the boost is supposedly limited.

This one only had 45 miles on it. I will drive another one to compare as soon as one comes in. There is suppose to be a better optioned (to me) one coming in soon, and I will drive that one. Has sunroof, Pioneer stereo, side air bags, xm, performance seat, auto, no roof rack, but unfortunately, all black not red and black seats.

YOu can get an SS without the upgraded stereo ? You will like the black seats, they look good with the SS logo.

My SS has about 500 miles on it, and I know what your talking about with the "lost boost" but it goes away as time goes by. From what my dealer said, the automatics have a waste gate that opens faster then the manuals, thats the reason for the HP difference between the two. So the drop in power is in direct connection with the operation of the waste gate. I think there has to be a way to fix that and get it to the full 260 hp, that stage kit will come in handy:D