Opinions on buying a 2011 Chevrolet HHR (Page 1/2)
railshot MAR 21, 08:12 PM
I know of at least one member here that has had one, and from what I recall it was fairly reliable.
Anyone have any personal experiences with one?

I have one lined up, and it is a pretty good deal, so just need a bit more one on one info on them.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
rbell2915 MAR 22, 04:46 PM
I drove one in driver's ed my sophomore year. The interior felt very cramped and I hated the pedals.
It felt extremely underpowered, but maybe they castrated it so we wouldn't kill anyone by accident.
css9450 MAR 23, 03:39 PM
Check out the online community at their forum:

http://www.chevyhhr.net/

Its a pretty active forum and has lots of good stuff. I have a Chevy Cobalt which shares lots of mechanical bits with the HHR and I frequently find better tech info at the HHR forum instead of the Cobalt forum.
railshot MAR 23, 07:15 PM
Thanks for the feedback.
A lot of people either hate them or love them.

I have been looking at the forums, and it seems a lot like any other forum does... problems, cheers, and many helpful members.
We had an '07 Cobalt, and that is one of the things that drew me to the HHR, as it was based on it.
Good little car.
Usually comes down to personal taste in the end.

I have had my share of "fast" cars and just look to "drive" now that I am in my early 60's.
Miss my '06 Mustang GT, 2001 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4, '69 AMX, '71 Challenger, 65 Mustang fastback, '88 Formula, 86 Fiero GT, etc. etc. etc. but just looking for point A to point B now without many hassles.
ARFiero MAR 24, 08:46 PM
I had mine and I loved it. I owned a 2009 HHR SS turbo 2.0. It had. Pioneer sound system in it and had GMs performance package installed. 300/300 hp and brembo brakes on it. I also added a magnaflow cat back and it sounded cool! Mine also had a no lift shift factory setting.


Shelby

[This message has been edited by ARFiero (edited 03-29-2015).]

TK MAR 26, 04:51 PM
I currently have an SS but they are different beasts in many ways.

The LS/LT 2.2 and 2.4L are good engines and people have tons of miles on them. The chassis are hydroformed so they are pretty dang stiff. Any downside is the quality of the interior materials. The dash and door panels are plastic with no soft touch.

But as far as getting in and driving them for a ton of miles, they are as good as many other cars. Even my SS will get 30 MPG+ at 70MPH. Tons of space, decent leg room although challenging for tall people like me (6'4"). My head clears but I could use a little more rearward seat movement. The view out the front window could be better but it's fine in the end.

If it has the features you like and the price is right, enjoy it. I love mine but I also love the 290hp/315tq too!

You will want to see if it needs the ignition cylinder and/or air bag recall. The ignition recall is likely but it's because some people like to put 500lbs of junk on their key ring. The air bag recall just depends on the year and supplier (goes by VIN). The remote entry might need to be reprogrammed if you suffer from a loss of remote door locks after the battery goes dead. That's about it. The remote programming is the only issue I've had in 70k miles.

[This message has been edited by TK (edited 03-26-2015).]

jaskispyder MAR 27, 09:47 AM

quote
Originally posted by railshot:

I know of at least one member here that has had one, and from what I recall it was fairly reliable.
Anyone have any personal experiences with one?

I have one lined up, and it is a pretty good deal, so just need a bit more one on one info on them.
Thanks in advance,
Dave



I have a manual tranny 2011 2.4L. Reliable, so far, no issues. Great on gas 29-30MPG highway, about 26 city. Not a lot of room for cargo, but works well enough. Seating position is more SUV than car. Ice builds up in the hinge area, stopping door from opening. hot water solves that issue, but it is annoying. Sheet metal is thin. Easy to change oil. No problem in winter (158.7" of snow this year) when equipped with winter tires. The inside does feel small because of the lack of large windows. I have a sunroof, so that helps. The ride is quiet, and seating is comfortable. It is not a luxury vehicle and I wouldn't haul more than 4 people on a long trip. It is a cobalt chassis, with an SUV body, basically. So, it is a car at heart. It isn't fast, but it moves along quick enough. No issues on highway, it can move and pass like any other passenger vehicle. Fit/finish seems to be good, no problems there. Let me know if you have any questions.
silver 85 sc APR 01, 06:14 PM
I bought my '06 LT new. At 100000 miles son caught a curb hard enough to damage the tranny. Last summer the tranny cooler let go and pumped tranny fluid into the coolant system. It was quite the mess. Otherwise been an extremely reliable car and getting 21-23 mpg city almost 30 highway.

Rich
railshot APR 19, 07:27 AM
Well I got me one.

2011, 66,700 miles, LT.
I like it a lot.

After having an '07 Cobalt, they are very similar in many ways.
Averaging 29 mpg, ride is good, and it feels rather solid.
I still need to take it to the dealer for the ignition recall, but that is the only issue I have found in the last week.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!
TK APR 20, 11:59 AM

quote
Originally posted by railshot:

Well I got me one.

2011, 66,700 miles, LT.
I like it a lot.

After having an '07 Cobalt, they are very similar in many ways.
Averaging 29 mpg, ride is good, and it feels rather solid.
I still need to take it to the dealer for the ignition recall, but that is the only issue I have found in the last week.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!




Cool! It's amazing what you can stuff in there especially with the passenger seat folded forward. I have put 8ft strips of wood in there.