While shopping i test drove the caliber as well as a vibe and hhr. Liked the caliber but The hhr won out finaly 'cause my wife has to have power drivers seat( arthritic hands can't work the manual levers). Neither the caliber or vibe offer power seats. We really love the HHR we bought ( 2lt loaded 'cept leather)
Put some 'X Bounds' seat covers on the fronts and there u go.

 

I sorta like the idea of not too many after market items, lets me MOD my Cruck my way, exclusively.

 

My brother recently bought a caliber. I have already made the challenge, so if he accepts......we shall see. Although...I just installed my CGS the other day. It may not be fair.

 

I was Hell bent on getting a Caliber from the day I saw it at the Detroit Auto show last year. It was all I could think about for months. I kept checking with my dealer for availability (never any in stock or none that I wanted). I did take a few test drives and thought that it could be a car I could drive for a few years. Finally I decided to look at the HHR, loved the styling and cargo room. A friend of mine got a Caliber last month, I took a ride in it, the next day I bought my HHR

 

AMEN Beaux66!!!

 

I just finished writing how I considered an Element, and now I see a Caliber thread...

I cross shopped MANY vehicles to try to determine what was best for me. The Caliber was attractive, but once ordered with a/c and automatic, the price difference between it and an HHR became negligible. As well, all reports about the Caliber indicated that its interior smacked of cost cutting to a level that would make a Chevette blush! Another negative (and this applies to many of the new hatchbacks) is the rake of the rear of the vehicle that cuts into the cargo area AND decreases the size of the cargo opening.

The HHR should be considered better than the Caliber simply on the fact that it doesn't come across as an el-cheapo entrant into this growing automotive segment.

Oh, and my dealer is installing a class-1 hitch onto my HHR...

 

No available power seats in the caliber , at least in DEc when we were shopping.
We went and selected the HHR and are not sorry.

 

I rented a Caliber for a week in Spain in October while at a cousins wedding and I thought it had a lot of room and that it handled well and got great gas mileage, the only drawback seemed to be the transmission, it seemed like it wasn't up to snuff. Even though the Caliber is a small car here, in Spain everyone commented on how large my American car was . I would say that both cars are fun to drive but I like my HHR much better.

 

The word Dodge was all I needed to see.

 

We were driving behind a Caliber yesterday and wow, it was really ugly. I kind of liked the profile until then. And in white, it really showed all that angular stuff going on from behind. WAY too huge on the back lights too, I thought.