GSragtop

Hello everyone, I am thinking of buying a 2008 HHR SS within the next few days. It seems to be a perfect fit for my needs, in that I am in sales and spend a huge amount of time in my car. I drive an easy 20-25,000 miles a year, and I need something that has some space (for work during the week and the kids on the weekend). I figure the HHR fits that bill, plus if I can keep off the go pedal it should get me good MPG's as well. I am at the point of my life I don't want a "practical" car such as a Prius, or Accord. I want to enjoy my driving around.. With all that said do you guys think the HHR SS is a good choice? How are the seats after a long drive?

The most important question I have is, what are the known issues I should look for when buying a used one? I am a very competent shade tree mechanic and know what to look for in a car in general terms, but is there anything specific to the SS I should look for?

I have never driven one (there are none around me and in fact the one I am looking at is 3 hours away), although I did drive a Cobalt SS for a few days back in the day. I remember it being a blast and almost BEGGED me to drive it stupidly. How do the two cars compare?

Any info you guys can give me would be great.. I guess the bottom line question is.. Is the HHR SS a 200,000 mile car if taken care of ??

SS fan

I don't know I bought mine as a sales mobile, loved it so much I got a panel to go to work and been driving the SS for fun, has 90K now it's still a monster

Oldblue

Welcome to the site! There is a beauty red panel SS on the site for sale and a silver one just sold recently, they do come up for sale and sell pretty quickly!
Please ensure you get the vin and run a Carfax. You'll be able to tell the condition on sight have a look at the under hood area the wiring can be cut for certain mods and the piping has been reported to crack and split. These are usally simple repairs you can do u de that ole shade tree.
I would look at all SS's not just '08

GSragtop

So I gotta ask, why not the 08's as that is the year of the one i'm looking at right now?? (priced well and does not have the red interior which is not my style)

Oldblue

I said look at all not just, meaning there are some nice low milage SS's out there not just '08's , the '09's have some neat up dates and the '10's all came with sunroofs I believe
Also if I recall the Brembo option wasn't available on the '08, I could be wrong

GSragtop

Ahhh, now I get it.. What year did they ad the center display screen?? AND can it be added to a older SS that does not have one??

firemangeorge

Don't like the red interior ones, just go with a 2010 SS since they all came with black interior only.
And, the 2010's all came with the RPD display on the dash.

Sounds like the options that you want, a 2010 would be the year you should be looking at.

JAN67

I bought an 09 back in September. Here are the problems I have experienced so far: Much higher fuel economy than my last car, Extreme awesomeness, and extended periods of elation. But seriously, these are inexpensive cars so you will feel and hear the road - a lot. Overall they are super cool and, while not as roomy as a mini van, I find I can put more in the back of this than we can our Dodge Journey. The higher roof really helps out.

P-38 Sam

I just bought my HHR SS after about a year search. From what I know to look for is the front end. The rotors can warp, Bushings can go. So look for any front end issue while test driving.

These cars, at least the HHR, get an "Excellent" rating from Intellichoice.com. I used this site when I bought my Saturn. It was accurate in the fact that only a four year period of Saturns were build better than a Honda. I still have my Saturn. It has 190K. I spent maybe $5K in maintenance over the last 17 years for this car. Tires, oil, timing chain, etc.

So if Intellichoice rated the Saturn as Excellent back then, and its rang true, and they rate the HHR the same, you should get lots of use out of it. I have seen many HHR LTs, and SS's with over 150K on them.

Hopefully this helped some.
Sam

Vibro

I stumbled across mine, having started my search for a used truck but finding my dollar wouldn't go as far as I'd liked. Then when I started looking at the HHR, I came a across an SS, read about it, and had to snatch it up - it's too much car for the money to let get away! They're pretty rare - the SS - around these parts, I haven't seen another one yet. I'm totally happy with my decision, and am hoping for years of enjoyment. The only thing I would think is it's only going to get harder and harder to find one with low miles. mine had 56k! Be careful with Carfax - its a great idea, but if someone doesn't report it, it doesn't show up on the report. might always be best to have a car inspected beforehand.