I belong to several car related websites, one is a Chevy Nova site as I own a 1966 Chevy II Nova as well. Well, the HHR is getting a bashing on there I admit I have my issues with the HHR but I have owned far worse cars. Hopefully I won't have as many issues as some have experienced, I've only got about 14,000 miles on it so far, no major concerns yet, but there are some things I dislike which can't be changed, such as sunvisors, front end noises, torque steer, etc....those are things you just have to get used to I guess...

 

Torque steer was vastly improved on my 2LT when I put the Progress rear sway bar and Ground Force rear leveling springs on..... Can't eliminate it as it's FWD, but this was a night and day difference.

 

Greybeard how much would that run as a set?

 

I bought mine through the classifieds here, springs were new old stock and the bar was lightly used...... I think I paid less than $200 total..... New would be twice that or more. Keep your eyes open, they show up on occasion.

 

I guess when another car group runs out of good things to say about themselves they have to start knocking others... I like my HHR quirks and all.

 

Here's one of those posts that knocks others (equally), but bringing a ring of reality into it.

I'm already looking to retire my HHR SS to my pole barn "museum" for weekend, fair weather use only. The car is an '08, has about 26k miles on it and is equipped with the GM turbo upgrade kit. It has been on trips spanning the eastern seaboard from Maine to Florida and has been virtually trouble free to this day, but I now want to enjoy it for weekend fair weather use. My son will inherit it one day.

I started to do research on other vehicles to replace the HHR for daily use. I need AWD and want a car (or similar like a CUV) that is fuel efficient, so decided to look into some "outside the box" candidates. When you go onto any of the other owner forum sites, be it Suzuki, Toyota, Honda or Mini (I explored these), I get very similar "doom and gloom" stories from the owners on these sites. Not that the HHR or any of these vehicles are particularly bad, but people generally post gripes about their vehicles on forums and never post that their vehicles are troublefree, because success story posts would not be initiated by an undesirable event.

As far as a forum knocking a vehicle that is not attributable to its own subject matter, that is simply ignorance. It is based upon perception rather than ownership experience.

 

They are machines made by humans need I say more don't we have Bentley and Ferrari mechanics ever wonder why ??
It should be Illegal to have the amount of fun I have in my HHR for the price I paid for it. Any body thinking the world is perfect should get married. (no not you honey).

 

To the OP-

When someone else pays for my rides, then I'll consider what they like.

I drive my HHR Panel by choice, & am loving it..

 

I get Homo Hot Rod all the time. And even some of my buds that say that, will admit that the SS speed makes it better than most. But either way, I just say that the car may not be for everybody but it serves me well.

Not many other cars out there that can combine
speed/power
mpg
utility
overall small size

It's a complete package. Sure there are others that can haul more, but mpg will take the hit. Certainly I could get more mpg than I get by having a 2LT but power/speed will suffer.

hell I've hauled some decent sized stuff

2 screen doors


A big entertainment center and I even closed the rear hatch with this one

 

I like all kinds of cars, but truthfully I prefer older, classic cars. I own a 1966 Chevy Nova, 1972 Chevelle, 2001 Chevy Venture, and 2009 Chevy HHR.
Do you see a pattern here? I guess you can say I like Chevy's.

There are problems with all makes/models and there are always going to be a few off the assembly line that have problems.....period. I'm just hoping mine's not one of them