How does your HHR do in the snow?
Senior Member
Joined: 06-16-2006
Posts: 830
From: Bakersfield, CA
This is a picture from one of our trips. This was in New Mexico where we got caught in a blizzard! We stopped at this truck stop to get gas and there were people in cars, trucks, and big trucks stopping for the night because the weather was so bad. There is no motel here or anything so they thought it was bad enough to just stay in their cars instead of driving in it.
We had hotel reservations in Albuequerque so we went on. About 2 hours of snow coming down worse than is in the picture, with hardly any traffic to keep it off the road. We made it easily on stock tires on 16" rims. To me that says that the HHR does fine in snow as long as the driver is cautious and knows how to drive in that type of conditions.
Senior Member
Joined: 05-13-2006
Posts: 2,334
From: Chicago,IL
I noticed a couple posts commenting on the good performance of the ABS...
Anti-lock brakes require a surface that the tire traction has a resistance to or they stop spinning just like any other tire. Ergo, they have no function on snow...
Anti-lock brakes require a surface that the tire traction has a resistance to or they stop spinning just like any other tire. Ergo, they have no function on snow...
Senior Member
Joined: 07-26-2006
Posts: 903
From: Soon to be Longview, Texas
Simply put, cautious driving will be the key in keeping an HHR under control in snow. I'm going to do my third HHR winter (first full one) with Stitch II here in the Buffalo area, and I have no qualms whatsoever about the car's ability in cruddy snow weather.
That said ...
Two winters ago, I found that stability on mine was much improved when I was carrying 140lbs. of play sand under the cargo shelf. Putting the extra weight on the rear axle helped it cling just a little bit better, even when the front wheels were spinning. (Stitch II, like Stitch before him, is a basic LT, no ABS or ESC)
That said ...
Two winters ago, I found that stability on mine was much improved when I was carrying 140lbs. of play sand under the cargo shelf. Putting the extra weight on the rear axle helped it cling just a little bit better, even when the front wheels were spinning. (Stitch II, like Stitch before him, is a basic LT, no ABS or ESC)
to the site!!! The HHR is definitely not going to perform in the winter like your Durango 4x4 does. It handles the snow like most other front wheel drive cars do.
Senior Member
Joined: 05-03-2006
Posts: 882
From: Newfoundland, Canada
The HHR is great in the snow. But how good any car is is largely dependent on what rubber it wears. Invest in 4 good snow tires like I did and you will have no problem. We had a pretty wild winter here this past year and the HHR was !
!