It's with a very heavy heart that I must let my 2010 HHR 1LT go I had hoped that she would last me the next 30 years She only had 142,000 miles & though she could be resurrected, it won't happen through me.

Unfortunately 4 days ago while returning from dropping off Amazon returns, I hit a 4-way trailer hitch that had dropped onto the road way. It struck the transmission/transmission oil pan and somewhere near the rear wheels.

I held out hope that it was only the Transmission fluid pan, which I could easily replace, but alas, I was not that lucky...


Busted the transmission housing

Avoiding it would have meant crashing into a pretty metallic red SUV on the left,, possibly a concrete light pole on the right (would have definitely had to jump the curb), or being rear ended by a speeding pickup truck...

She was my second longest lived vehicle, having served me for about 70,000 trouble free* miles. In total mileage, she far out lasted my 2004 Hyundai Accent which I bought new & had lots of issues with starting in the 2nd year of ownership. Accent was donated to Cars for Habitat as a $500 charitable donation with just over 89,000 miles on it.

I may however have a chance to get another 2010 HHR, there's an LS 15 miles away with 100,000 miles on it & the dealer is asking just $3995..... but I have no way to get there.... I'm also looking at a 2011 Scion xB within walking distance for $300 more...


* I consider her trouble free even though I had an issue with the front ball joints several years back. I dropped my car off for alignment adjustment and new tires. It went in running great & sounding great, but with nearly bald tires. When I left the shop, I had new tires, but the sound was distinctly different, it sounded like the road noise had suddenly been amplified, I thought it was crappy tires that were just naturally louder than I was used to, but turned out to be the ball joints were suddenly loose & by the time I figured out it wasn't just road noise, the wear was bad enough they had to be replaced.

 

Sad news, to bad that people don’t secure their vehicles and parts . Yeah that transmission case is toast!
I would suggest to go with the HHR 15 miles away! Uber? Possibly a neighbour or a friend from work?

 

I'm definitely going to try for the HHR first, odometer shows 100,726 miles for $3995! Going to call the dealer Monday morning & see it's still there, then catch a Lyft to the dealer if its available. I must of looked at 50+ different cars online today that I might be able to get, but when I search: "What should I look out for when buying a used" year make model trim.... all but two cars (the Scion and the HHR) came back saying watch for transmission issues, . Scion only mentions airbag (recall), issues with the 5-speed manual trans but not the automatic (the one I'm considering is auto), and may use excessive engine oil, but it also has 155,910 miles & is $360 more. HHR mentioned timing chain if it's near 150,000 miles, suspension, & power steering. If both are already gone, I guess it's back to riding a bicycle for a while, which will definitely make my doctor happy

 

All can be addressed in time, and you may be able to do the work yourself.

 

OMG I had the exact same thing happen to me.It luckily only bent the pan and I was able to fix it.The hitch hit the pan so hard it almost split it in half but it didn't leak a drop of fluid. It missed the hard lines by an inch.

 

Careful out there! There’s debris everywhere! My wife teases me for changing lanes if there anything on the road, you never know what damage a piece of 2x4 can do, she ran over a piece and it took out her AC and radiator! Eyes on the road and two hands upon the wheel!

 

Kind of torn here.... the HHR I found shows 3 incomplete recalls and an accident, - the Scion shows no open recalls, no accidents, but has had 4 owners, and has been sitting at the same dealer over 3 years, since Feb 2, 2023 with only 18 miles added to it since they got it. I didn't notice anything in the all too brief test drives of either vehicle, but then again both salesmen were talking the entire trip so could have been easy to miss something they were talking over

The quotes I've received to swap the transmission range from $3,700 for a used transmission from a 'trusted' independent service center to $5,400 for a remanufactured transmission at the nearest Chevy dealer, with the cheapest reman option at $4600 from the same independent center.

Of course I only have about $2100 I can spend right now, it's a nice down payment for anything used, but doesn't cover a transmission swap & that's not something I'm capable of doing. Also the hitch hit something near the back of the HHR as well, lifting the rear end off the ground, so there's damage somewhere back there too, could be nothing, could be major. I didn't notice any change in ride quality as I quickly made my way to Lowe's & parked it for easy tow. Insurance won't cover anything, as I didn't have Collision on the policy.

I'm very seriously considering just buying a 2005 Honda 1300VTX touring bike I found nearby for $2995 with only 8500 miles on it. Been riding since the 80's, so no issue there, & they average about 35-38MPG in the city / 43-48MPG highway!!! Downside is of course that I loose my cargo capacity

The HHR is only a few miles from the motorcycle, so I think I'm going to rent a car, check out the bike more thoroughly, then stop back by the HHR & give it a more thorough look see & hopefully a longer test drive, hopefully with a quiet co-pilot...

 

The open recalls could be misinformation if the dealer didn’t file tge paperwork correctly. And if FM doesn’t know that they have not been done, they still have to do them. You can check in the drop down for tools and put the vin number in to confirm what tge recall is for.
To bad no insurance for tge issue, they would have written the HHR off , but you would get some insurance money for it.
Go with the HHR , after you test drive it again! It will tell you if it likes you!

 

SO.... I did get the HHR LS, better mileage, better test drive experience, smooth acceleration*


These chrome accents look a lot better in these pictures than in real life, so they will be gone soon.



but definitely not perfect and may have been better off passing on it.....
* Acceleration.... if you get out there & GO i.e. shifting occurs over 3000 RPM, it's a nice smooth ride. If you're going with traffic & shifting occurs around 2500 RPM, there's a noticeable bounce between 2nd speed & 3rd speed, and a little less between 3rd speed & 4th speed.

> key fobs don't work to lock/unlock doors. I opened them both up to replace the batteries and found aluminum foil on both the lock and unlock contacts. I removed the foil and replaced the batteries, but still don't work.
> Radio turns on, but no sound, no chimes, no turn signal clicky, no warnings... probably the same problem I had in mine, where the factory speaker connectors were just worn out. I'll swap out for my upgraded stereo and speakers anyway...
> Cruise control does not work
> dashboard brake light stays on
> dashboard ABS light stays on
> dashboard ESC light stays on
> dashboard airbag light stays on
> service ESC message
> Service Traction message
> Service ABS message
> Service TPMS message
> change oil soon message
> auto headlight shuts off if you switch to high beams then back to low beams again
> Mirror controls do not work
> Front driver wheel has a negative camber of about 2 to 2.5 degrees - digital angle gauge reads 87.8 degrees instead of 90.
> bad paint job
> middle break light cannot be seen during daylight, somewhat noticeable at night.

Checked fuse box under hood, some relays were slightly loose, but nothing changed.


SEEMS like this would cause a short and/or drain on the fob battery pretty quickly (the foil was stuck to the circuit board).... this one only had 2 layers of aluminum foil, the other fob had 5 layers, both had dead batteries reading 0.0V on my multi-meter.... Seems like the easy thing to do is just buy a new fob from Amazon (ordered) & swap out the circuit board.... both fobs work if I touch the foil to the contacts while holding just the PCB (green & gold part), alternatively, superglue the foil to the rubber so that it lifts back up after you press the buttons....

While it's definitely not the worst paint job I've seen, it's pretty bad....


Looks like they painted directly over dirt, rust, chips, cracks, etc... there's overspray on some of the side windows, on the vin sticker on the driver side door, passenger mirror, etc... also looks like there's no clear coat at all. If things go very well at work, hopefully in a few months I can have the transmission put in the original & keep this for backup..

Oh, and almost forgot.... it came with extra parts....



Just setup an appointment for next Monday with the local Chevrolet dealer for the recall's.

 

None of the recalls except the ignition switch are important. There is a link in my sig to find out the exact recalls.
I bet the hubs are bad and the LCA bushings.