Chevy HHR Network - Newbie from Western NY

Hi everyone! Just picked up my new (used) 2010 HHR 1LT yesterday, and looking forward to picking up from your experiences and lessons learned with ownership of your HHR's.
I've been involved with automotive stuff most of my life, and have even worked with heavy equipment and been a machinist too.

I wasn't overly interested in buying an HHR until recently. When I read up on some of the owner reviews and the experiences of owners here, it revved up my interests. Most owners have had pretty good experiences with theirs and seemed very happy with the versatility too. Since I was downsizing from a full-sized truck and looking to retain some ability to periodically move larger items ....which seldom fit in today's smaller cars.... the HHR seemed like a great choice. So far I'm very happy with my purchase. I find the ride very good, the handling nice, and performance for its weight and size pretty good too. It's none of these traits come as a surprise, my mother has a Cobalt which I suggested to her for purchase. Not the best idea I had, but it's been a decent car, just a few more warranty repairs than I expected on a new car.

Regardless, I hope gain some good insight into some of the areas which I should look out for, some where I can improve performance and reliability, and overall make my ownership more rewarding.