New used-car: I'm considering HHR

[Roxanne Appleby]

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f224/spitfiregriffin/Chevrolet-HHR-Premiere-Edition.jpg

I wish it were a little more "luxy," quieter, plusher, etc., but it's not terrible in that regard, and the size and shape fit me to a T.

 

[Misty_Morning]

I got behind one of these going to work on Friday. I thought it was kinda cool. Brand new and black. The woman driving had her dog in its travel cage in the back and he looked genuinely happy.

I followed for about 10 miles on a country road. The more I looked at it the more I liked it.

I'd say go for it. Looks like alot of fun.

 

[TxRad]

My youngest sister has one and seems quite happy with it....

 

[Zeb_Carter]

It's almost time for a new car for me and the HHR is the one I have been considering. I haven't test drove one yet but I definitely plan too. The people who have them that I have spoken to like them and plan to keep them for a long time and will buy another one when the time comes.

http://www.gmcanada.com/images/vehicles/2007/chevrolet/hhr/chev_hhr_gall_main_ext_01.jpg

I like this color.

And they now make a panel truck style...

http://cache.jalopnik.com/cars/assets/resources/2006/12/Chevrolet-HHR-Panel.jpg

 

[Guest]

whats it with americans and their trucks??

 

[Zeb_Carter]

whats it with americans and their trucks??

Well this isn't so much a truck as a retro-truck. It's a retro version of a truck that Chevy made back in the 40's and 50's. It's not big either. When you stand next to it you can see over the top. When you sit in one you feel as if you ass is dragging on the ground.

It's a 4 cylinder light duty SUV really. It's really big on the inside though and will seat four adults comfortably. It's a nice alternative to the big, monster SUV's that have become so popular recently.

 

[MungoParkIII]

I've driven rentals a number of times and found it has an incredibly large blind spot for me. Maybe it takes getting used to but for all that glass on the sides it was always like looking down an long, dark tunnel to peek out of the back of the vehicle.

I also had hell figuring out how to open and close the windows, but once I found the controls I was okay. The car may have needed some alignment work after I ran up over the curb, but I could work the windows.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

whats it with americans and their trucks??

Right, what the others say - it's really a station wagon with a cool body. Definitely not a truck or stupit SUV - it's light, with an economical four-cylinder. Positively European.

 

[Boxlicker101]

whats it with americans and their trucks??

I have driven pickup trucks for over ten years now. They get me from place to place as well as a car and the bed is good for hauling trash, helping in a move, and many other uses. Since I have nobody living with me but my wife, I see no advantages of a sedan over a pickup truck.

 

[TxRad]

I have driven pickup trucks for over ten years now. They get me from place to place as well as a car and the bed is good for hauling trash, helping in a move, and many other uses. Since I have nobody living with me but my wife, I see no advantages of a sedan over a pickup truck.

I'd also like to add to this... a truck is about the only way to get rear wheel drive on a vehicle anymore.... Push me is a whole hell of a lot better than pull me any day....

 

[only_more_so]

I'd also like to add to this... a truck is about the only way to get rear wheel drive on a vehicle anymore.... Push me is a whole hell of a lot better than pull me any day....

Evidently you've never driven in the snow! For control, a front wheel drive car far exceeds the capabilities of a rear wheel drive. The only reason to have a rear drive is for towing and acceleration (and the acceleration only matters if you are pushing the limits of the tires).

Unless of course you're talking airplanes, when pusher props are better than puller props, which the Wright brothers got right, and has never been right since.

 

[TxRad]

Evidently you've never driven in the snow! For control, a front wheel drive car far exceeds the capabilities of a rear wheel drive. The only reason to have a rear drive is for towing and acceleration (and the acceleration only matters if you are pushing the limits of the tires).

Unless of course you're talking airplanes, when pusher props are better than puller props, which the Wright brothers got right, and has never been right since.

Don't want to really argue about it but when you are pulling with the wheels that also steer there are a whole bunch of problems.... Not to mention the cramped conditions in having to work on the whole mess... let's just say i find it easier to control rear drive and front steer..... to many years as a dirt track driver....

 

[only_more_so]

whats it with americans and their trucks??

Actually, it is Americans and automobiles in general. One thing Europeans don't really understand about America is how spread out most things are. Also, while there might be decent mass transit in down-town areas of major cities, the suburbs often don't.

But aside from that, a car or a truck in a very real way is symbolic of freedom and personal independence. Those are concepts so ingrained in our culture that most people respond to it on a subliminal level. A car says, "I can go anywhere I want," even if you never go anywhere. A truck is even more emphatic, "I can go anywhere I want, and do big things." I've heard people who have bought a new truck say things like, "I can tow two tons with this truck," or explain how much building materials it can haul. But the trailer hitch is never scratched, and the bed never sees more than groceries. The important thing is they can do those other things.

 

[only_more_so]

Don't want to really argue about it but when you are pulling with the wheels that also steer there are a whole bunch of problems.... Not to mention the cramped conditions in having to work on the whole mess... let's just say i find it easier to control rear drive and front steer..... to many years as a dirt track driver....

Oh, I agree 100% that working on a front wheel drive is much much harder. Probably why they took so long to come out in the first place.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

I'd also like to add to this... a truck is about the only way to get rear wheel drive on a vehicle anymore.... Push me is a whole hell of a lot better than pull me any day....

Dodge Magnum. That happens to be the other vehicle on my short list.

Rear wheel drive is fun in the winter because you can drive sideways (really - it is fun , and if you have good tires you can get around just as well), but it's slightly less efficient than FWD, so that ends up being a strike against the Magnum.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Dodge Magnum. That happens to be the other vehicle on my short list.

Rear wheel drive is fun in the winter because you can drive sideways (really - it is fun , and if you have good tires you can get around just as well), but it's slightly less efficient than FWD, so that ends up being a strike against the Magnum.

Now the Magnum is positively American.

It also get pretty bad milage especially in the AWD version with the V8. The V6 with the rear wheel drive isn't bad, but definitly not good. It's rated something like 17/24 but from what I hear, most people get about 15 or so. But it is punchie, especially with the 8.

Also, that low roof and high doors may look cool on the outside, but on the inside it's like looking out from a bunker through gunslits, especially if you get a dark interior color. Some people like it, but it's not my taste.

This is my next car (hopefully by this fall):

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/mini-cooper.jpg

 

[Dreamingoflove]

Looks like a copy of Chryslers PT Cruiser to me

 

[SlickTony]

Here, from one of my other forums, are two views of the HHR

When we were in VA last week, our rental car was a very new Chevy HHR. It was funny - we had reserved a full-sized car and I was expecting one of the usual boring cars that I always get, and when we headed out to the parking lot to find ours, my husband arrived at the designated space well ahead of my cousin and me and I saw his face light up like a little kid on Christmas morning. It's a fun-looking car, and has the kind of upright driving position that I enjoy, but other than that we were unimpressed. The engine was really sluggish, the front seats were uncomfortable, and while there was plenty of headroom, not so much on the legroom. Still a nice change, though, since we didn't have to do all that much driving in it.

My rental car on Sunday (drive from Reno to south Bay Area, CA) was an HHR. Oh my God, did any of the people who designed that car actually ever, you know, sit in it and/or drive it? Good grief. It's much smaller inside than it looks from the outside, pretty much a perfect opposite of what one wants. The windows (windshield included) are tiny and the supports are huge, so the blind spots are awful. The seats are stiff and uncomfortable. The drink holders are practically inaccessible, being way down between the front seats, halfway blocked by the (useless) arm rests. The dials were difficult to read, obscured by "stylish" plastic junk. If I had my seat far enough back to feel like the wheel wasn't right in my chest, the buttons on the center console were a strain to reach. I could go on, but I won't. Oh, except to mention that it was a really sluggish accelorator through the mountains, as well.

The best part was that both of my mid-60's FILs (DH's dad and step-dad, who I saw at the beginning and mid-way through the trip) were enthralled with the look of the HHR. FIL2 actually said, "That is a hot ride! It's totally tricked-out!" *DING* Hello, target audience! I thought it looked like a clown car. Do not like!

 

[SlickTony]

BTW, y'all remember I told you I was considering another vehicle and was thinking about a truck? I didn't find any trucks within my budget, but I found this Toyota RAV4 and am enjoying it immensely.

 

[flavortang]

whats it with americans and their trucks??

Fem, if people here could afford tanks that got 2 MPG, millions of dumbasses would line up to buy them. It's a status thing. People like to drive cars that invite people to want to kick their asses. Not so much any of the vehicles talked about in this thread, but the massive Hum-Vees and the like.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Looks like a copy of Chryslers PT Cruiser to me

That's why it's often called the "Me Too Cruiser".

Personally, I think the HHR is better looking than the PT.

 

[cheerful_deviant]

Here, from one of my other forums, are two views of the HHR

As far as the sluggishness is concerned, that is probablly due to the fact that rental companies often buy bottom feeders or maybe mid level cars for their fleets.

The base engine is a 2.2 liter 4 cylinder making about 140 horse. The upper level models have a 2.5 liter that makes around 175 horse I think. It's supposed to be much more liveable in the daily grind and gets almost the same mileage.

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Fem, if people here could afford tanks that got 2 MPG, millions of dumbasses would line up to buy them. It's a status thing. People like to drive cars that invite people to want to kick their asses. Not so much any of the vehicles talked about in this thread, but the massive Hum-Vees and the like.

I have no interest in a Hummer, SUV or pickup truck, but a tank - now that would be something to get excited about!

 

[SlickTony]

We do like to be able to haul stuff, and have had fits trying to get something like a fencepost or a barbecue grill that we'd bought at HD or Lowe's into either of our other two cars, which are a Ford Escort and a Nissan 240SX. Also, when we used to go camping, we had a Dodge Caravan that was very handy for hauling all our stuff. We could get it into the other two cars, but because the situation was often where I would go on ahead to the campsite with the kid/s and all the stuff and my husband would come on later (work schedules!), it involved stuffing my car (the Nissan) literally to the headliners on the way there and stuffing both cars, to less of an extreme, on the way back.

I don't really feel like I should have to defend getting the RAV4, cuz it gets much better MPG than the Nissan. I'm giving it to my son to drive to school, and that had better be all where he drives it.

However, I really do not like Hummers. They look like a cross between a stagecoach and an orc, and while they are great for crushing defenseless Camrys and Civics, they are useless against shoulder-mounted RPGs and IEDs, which is what the Hummer was originally designed to withstand.

 

[R. Richard]

Evidently you've never driven in the snow! For control, a front wheel drive car far exceeds the capabilities of a rear wheel drive. The only reason to have a rear drive is for towing and acceleration (and the acceleration only matters if you are pushing the limits of the tires).

I drive a 1957 Porsche Speedster. It is rear wheel drive/front steer. I have driven it in snow and on ice. I have never found the FWD car that could keep up, save for a rally pepared Mini. I also had a Baja Bug and I never found a FWD that could keep up in snow, ice or sand. When I lived in the East, in nasty weather it was me, the BIG 4WD pickups and the snow plows. If the weather got really nasty, it was just me and the snow plows.