Prospective SS Owner
07-01-2015, 09:39 PM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 06-11-2013
Location: Chesterfield, MI
Posts: 34
Prospective SS Owner
Hello everyone. I have been looking at a silver 2009 HHR SS. I am thinking about trading my 2006 LT for it. I am wondering if there are any common issues with the drive line that I should be aware of compared to my 2.2 LT. Basically, are the SS turbocharged HHR's just as reliable?
Thanks!
Thanks!
07-01-2015, 10:13 PM
#2
Senior Member
Join Date: 05-29-2015
Location: Cleveland, OH
Posts: 542
How many miles are on it? I would recommend a glance at the timing chain/guides by removing the valve cover at the very least. I would assume the reliability is similar but the SS's are drove hard and put away wet..at least most
I told the dealer I bought mine from that it has an obvious noise coming from the timing chain. They were a "corner lot, cash only" type of place (how they ended up with an SS is beyond my comprehension!) They were not willing to investigate further and frankly didn't care if I bought it or not. So I beat them up pretty good and drove it 300 miles home. Check out my Project Overboard thread, the timing chain guides are nylon and prone to failure.
On a side note, having an SS makes it all worth it. At some point they'll be hard to come by.
-my 2 cents
I told the dealer I bought mine from that it has an obvious noise coming from the timing chain. They were a "corner lot, cash only" type of place (how they ended up with an SS is beyond my comprehension!) They were not willing to investigate further and frankly didn't care if I bought it or not. So I beat them up pretty good and drove it 300 miles home. Check out my Project Overboard thread, the timing chain guides are nylon and prone to failure.
On a side note, having an SS makes it all worth it. At some point they'll be hard to come by.
-my 2 cents
07-01-2015, 10:42 PM
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: 11-05-2011
Location: simi valley CA.
Posts: 417
I'm not exactly sure but if memory serves me right the HHR was in production from 2006 to 2011 six years.
I believe for the most part they averaged over 300,000 a year in HHR's production numbers. I'm sure if I'm way off someone will correct me :) so that's almost 2 million in 6 years. Now only about 3300 were SS's.
So they are a lot more rare. and in 2009 they made 285 SS's Panels and for that one year only. So they are already very hard to find and if you do they are at a premium Price. The SS's are not to far behind having the same thing happen. So IMO they are slowly going to be less a daily driver and more like a GTO or a Corvette or SSR or Monte Carlo SS etc.
Tim
I believe for the most part they averaged over 300,000 a year in HHR's production numbers. I'm sure if I'm way off someone will correct me :) so that's almost 2 million in 6 years. Now only about 3300 were SS's.
So they are a lot more rare. and in 2009 they made 285 SS's Panels and for that one year only. So they are already very hard to find and if you do they are at a premium Price. The SS's are not to far behind having the same thing happen. So IMO they are slowly going to be less a daily driver and more like a GTO or a Corvette or SSR or Monte Carlo SS etc.
Tim
07-01-2015, 10:43 PM
#4
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 06-11-2013
Location: Chesterfield, MI
Posts: 34
How many miles are on it? I would recommend a glance at the timing chain/guides by removing the valve cover at the very least. I would assume the reliability is similar but the SS's are drove hard and put away wet..at least most
I told the dealer I bought mine from that it has an obvious noise coming from the timing chain. They were a "corner lot, cash only" type of place (how they ended up with an SS is beyond my comprehension!) They were not willing to investigate further and frankly didn't care if I bought it or not. So I beat them up pretty good and drove it 300 miles home. Check out my Project Overboard thread, the timing chain guides are nylon and prone to failure.
On a side note, having an SS makes it all worth it. At some point they'll be hard to come by.
-my 2 cents
I told the dealer I bought mine from that it has an obvious noise coming from the timing chain. They were a "corner lot, cash only" type of place (how they ended up with an SS is beyond my comprehension!) They were not willing to investigate further and frankly didn't care if I bought it or not. So I beat them up pretty good and drove it 300 miles home. Check out my Project Overboard thread, the timing chain guides are nylon and prone to failure.
On a side note, having an SS makes it all worth it. At some point they'll be hard to come by.
-my 2 cents
The car has 56,000 miles on it. I will definitely take a look at the timing chain when I visit the dealer next week. I am going to let the sales person sweat a bit over the holiday weekend, and then try to get the price as low as I can. I am a bit worried because it seems like the car has been from dealer to dealer. Aside from the original owner, the car went from one dealer to the dealer I contacted. There are about 10,000 miles that are not accounted for on the Carfax and when I confronted the sales person about it he seemed shocked. I think someone was driving it around with a dealer plate. It does worry me a bit but other than that it's in beautiful shape and sounds great on the road.
I completely agree that the SS's are becoming more rare as time passes so that's one reason I want one. But I just love the sporty look and of course, the one I am looking at has black interior. I can't stand the grey interior in my HHR. Too hard to keep clean.
What about tires for the SS? What is a good, all season wide tire?
Thanks again!
07-01-2015, 10:53 PM
#5
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 06-11-2013
Location: Chesterfield, MI
Posts: 34
I'm not exactly sure but if memory serves me right the HHR was in production from 2006 to 2011 six years.
I believe for the most part they averaged over 300,000 a year in HHR's production numbers. I'm sure if I'm way off someone will correct me :) so that's almost 2 million in 6 years. Now only about 3300 were SS's.
So they are a lot more rare. and in 2009 they made 285 SS's Panels and for that one year only. So they are already very hard to find and if you do they are at a premium Price. The SS's are not to far behind having the same thing happen. So IMO they are slowly going to be less a daily driver and more like a GTO or a Corvette or SSR or Monte Carlo SS etc.
Tim
I believe for the most part they averaged over 300,000 a year in HHR's production numbers. I'm sure if I'm way off someone will correct me :) so that's almost 2 million in 6 years. Now only about 3300 were SS's.
So they are a lot more rare. and in 2009 they made 285 SS's Panels and for that one year only. So they are already very hard to find and if you do they are at a premium Price. The SS's are not to far behind having the same thing happen. So IMO they are slowly going to be less a daily driver and more like a GTO or a Corvette or SSR or Monte Carlo SS etc.
Tim
This is more of a reason to own a SS.
07-01-2015, 11:46 PM
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: 05-29-2015
Location: Cleveland, OH
Posts: 542
Awesome! @56k I doubt it's worth taking the valve cover off. I figured that item would be replaced at the 100k service, but I was informed by one of our mods it's not serviced just "inspected".
Mine was at 138k when I got it. I knew I was in trouble when I put my finger in the exhaust tip and pulled it out dripping with oil. The salesmans' response; "condensation is normal" (I'm thinking this guy has no clue this car even has a turbo) LMAO - I think they knew they were in for a HIT! They wanted 9k, beat them down to 6300. I'm pretty happy with my purchase.
Congrats on making them sweat! Hopefully all goes well, keep us posted.
Mine was at 138k when I got it. I knew I was in trouble when I put my finger in the exhaust tip and pulled it out dripping with oil. The salesmans' response; "condensation is normal" (I'm thinking this guy has no clue this car even has a turbo) LMAO - I think they knew they were in for a HIT! They wanted 9k, beat them down to 6300. I'm pretty happy with my purchase.
Congrats on making them sweat! Hopefully all goes well, keep us posted.
07-02-2015, 05:09 AM
#7
Platinum Member
Join Date: 12-06-2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 11,098
The production numbers listed above are incorrect.
I pulled these numbers from that "other" HHR site.
Calendar Year U.S. sales:
2006 - 41,011
2007 - 101,298
2008 -105,175
2009 - 96,053
2010 - 70,842
2011 - 75,401
TOTAL 489,780
SS numbers:
2008- 4519
2009- less than 2,647 (216 panels)
2010- less than 1,500 (no SS panels this year)
TOTAL 8659 (216 PANELS)
GRAND TOTAL 498,439
I pulled these numbers from that "other" HHR site.
Calendar Year U.S. sales:
2006 - 41,011
2007 - 101,298
2008 -105,175
2009 - 96,053
2010 - 70,842
2011 - 75,401
TOTAL 489,780
SS numbers:
2008- 4519
2009- less than 2,647 (216 panels)
2010- less than 1,500 (no SS panels this year)
TOTAL 8659 (216 PANELS)
GRAND TOTAL 498,439
Last edited by firemangeorge; 07-02-2015 at 08:27 PM.
07-02-2015, 11:04 AM
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: 03-28-2008
Location: Oshawa
Posts: 1,115
You're correct fireman...regular HHR and SS models were also tallied somewhere on this forum years ago. Change of server seems to have lost many threads over the years. I remember a moderator(dealer) put the world wide totals out there.
07-07-2015, 09:00 AM
#9
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Thread Starter
Join Date: 06-11-2013
Location: Chesterfield, MI
Posts: 34
Well, it wasn't meant to be. I am approved for a loan for the SS, but because I am a full-time college student and my debt to income ratio is high a co-signer would be required. I already had my step-dad co-sign for my current HHR, so he said no and so did my Dad.
My little HHR beast will be sticking around folks! Maybe next year I will have built up enough credit after I graduate, and then purchase an SS.
If it's meant to be it will be.
My little HHR beast will be sticking around folks! Maybe next year I will have built up enough credit after I graduate, and then purchase an SS.
If it's meant to be it will be.
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