138 HP? wow, someones gunna get a speeder ticcot.

 

Remember that whenever you look up the specifications on an HHR online, the internal GM notation for the car is "H/B." So, GM thinks the HHR is a hatchback, and so do I. I have liked hatchbacks since my first ill-fated 1976 VW Rabbit and a much-better Japanese-made 1980 Dodge. But, then, I also insist on a manual transmission. I also like to be different and drive something a bit unusual. So, no car company in their right mind would produce a car designed to appeal to me! Still, if I wanted a practical replacement for my HHR some day, it would be a hatchback, either as a "crossover" SUV (in other words, a car-based tall wagon like the HHR) or a hatchback sedan like the European Cruze (in other words, the same thing as a short station wagon - station wagon is like minivan, economic stimulus, or subprime, a toxic term).

 

How is this different from any other vehicle? Once you slap all the options on the price is going to skyrocket! WHy would that be a surprise?

A Honda Civic Coupe costs $15,605.

I built it online with lots of options and the price is $29,581.


It was never billed as a performance car....

 

Saw a cruze ltz sedan up close today near me at CW Post College. There was a crafts fair (went with wife-don't laugh) and parked right outside was one on display. The woman representing Chevy let me go in it & check it out. Of course it was in Black with a grayish tan type interior w/leather. Hot looking car in person with a very sporty interior with nice rims w/225/50-17s. I had no problem sitting in the car but I am sure it is because they were electric seats with great adjustments and not manual. Room for 4 adults. (I am 6' 240lbs so it wasn't bad at all). It appears to be just slightly bigger than my wifes Cobalt but don't know how comfortable it would be on a long drive. Woman wouldnt let me test drive it.

 

I had the chance to drive an LT today with the 1.4l turbo engine. It was comfortable, quiet, felt like it had decent power for a tiny little engine.

I've put a few miles on Cobalts in the last few months. It seems smaller inside, but the interior is much nicer. It's one of the nicest GM interiors I've sat in.

I didn't like that they are still using the old dog leg trunk hinges instead of the struts. They really cut into the trunk space.

All in all it irritated less than any new car I've driven since I drove a G8 GT.

 

If I want to buy a small, car-chassis vehicle with a hatchback to replace my worn-out HHR some day, is there going to be nothing offered by GM that will do this? Equinox is too big. Orlando is not coming, and frankly the third row of seats is important for Europeans but not terribly desirable here, so it's not a good fit. Granite seems closest, but I get the idea it's smaller. I don't really care about retro, which is good because everything has gone futuristic. So, for an approximate replacement for the HHR within GM's future, it's either the rumored GMC Granite or simply abandon that market segment? A Cruze hatchback would seem to work, but that's not to be available here, either.

 

I was in a place I can't mention a few weeks ago, and there are some really cool things being worked on

 

?!?

 

Me too. And I saw what looked to be smaller than the Equinox, but bigger than the HHR. Of course I was driving and the only picture I would have got, there was a pole in the way... Most of them were covered in wraps still, but there was one that was completely open.

This was at the GM Proving Grounds in Milford...