Sorry to say this, but I can't wait to trade my 09 HHR in and get rid of it. This has been one of the worst cars I've owned.....constant little problems and failures have put me off of ever owning another GM product. I will own foreign autos or , if domestic, only a Ford product from this point on. I've owned this car for 4 years, just turned 50k miles, 29K when I purchased it. So I have not been hard on this car....at all. The car is used mainly by my wife and it is anything but neglected. In the past I also owned a 99 Chrysler 300M, so I've had my fill of shoddy build quality.........but I have never owned a Ford that has come close to the problems with the 09 HHR. From what I can glean, it's not just the HHRs either......it's GM wide with few exceptions. It would cost me thousands to fix the mirrors, radio, speakers, door handle, rattles, door rust and peeling clear coat. I guess when I replace it, it will be Ford, German or Japanese (and I thought those words would never come out of my mouth).

 

Yep. Best to get rid of it since you were unlucky and got a "bad" one.
No car maker is immune from having some cars that turn out to be lemons. It can and does happen in any make or model.

Me. Bought my 2010 new. 40k miles and the only problem was a stereo HU that was replaced under warranty.

 

I agree with fireman...and just to add on to this...if you think any "economy" car manufacturer is leaps and bounds better than another...you are mistaken. EVERY manufacturer has had its issues with something engineers thought would work, or cars made on a Friday afternoon...

 

.....or cars made on a Monday morning by someone with a hangover! Some friends of mine that used to live in Detroit in the '70s and worked on the line for GM said they used put a loose nut or a bolt inside a fender panel or a door panel sometimes just to drive people crazy!

 

got an 08 w/31k on it. Only problems I have had were the recalls on the ignition and pop up compartment on the dash and one self made issue with the fuse box. Other then that everything is original to the car when I bought it.

 

Im probably as old or older than the posters in this thread but im going to say it any way, you old farts need to get with the times monday@friday cars? Really? I get it, it was quite true before robots and japanese factory line protocols adapted by all makers. It's happening at a higher level so it can be any day of the week!
I worked at a dealership in the 70's & 80's and have found liquor bottles and air tools inside doors and B pillars so I im rollin what youre smokin, not saying it never happens.
Gm Ceo and boards have admitted and exposed neglect of quality control of their parts bin vendors and engineer short comings. IVE SEEN it in a nice cross section as a govt. fleet manager, GM has way more issues with the trinkets mentioned by the original poster, across all models. The hilarious thing is if we bought duplicate gm models at the same purchase, every one of them would have the same failure with in an average of two weeks of each other.
I love my used one owner HHR but if I HAD bought it new for $xx,xxx I would have been very unsatisfied, probably arrested for something I did at the dealership
Let the guy vent, he was nice about it.
A lot has changed with automotive tech in the past 5 years and its been that way since forever, always changing so one can't condem one brand over another and it be nothing but an opinion if youre talking about a 5-10 year old cars

 

Old Farts:

Love my HHRs, both of them. No problems.

Get off the Forum soon

Boydie

 

There are some people who just buy lemons. My father in law was one. He could go to a car lot with a thousand cars in it,. Go straight to the only lemon there, pay extra to 'have it today', swear it was the best car there, bring it home and have nothing but problems with it.

My wife and I have bought several new cars and some used ones too. I guess we have been lucky to never have had a real lemon. We usually drive them to death sometimes we resurrect them and sell them cheap. The last few have gone to the junk yard with at least 150,000 miles on them and a few are still on the road having been sold for next to nothing.

Its too bad you had problems with yours but I know how frustrating it can be to have to hand out more money to fix something that you don't think should have failed yet. I'm also guessing your not handy with a wrench or you would have done the work yourself and not paid so much to have things fixed.

I just had a different engine put in my HHR. Its been a very frustrating time waiting for the engine place to send me the engine then waiting for the shop to get time to put it in for me. Not a real cheap deal to have this done either. But total engine replacement is not in my repertoire these days.

 

what can I say ...
You, guys, have got "unlucky" cars. Maybe they do not have a little bit of love and attention?
This happens all the time.
It's like a bad wife. Met her on a bad day, a couple of hasty steps - and receive congratulations. You - the husband, and this for a long time.
But a bad car compares favorably with a bad wife. You can give or sell it to another man, and it's legal! You can even throw it in the river or to divide - and you do not have to prove that you were in the heat of passion.
That's probably all I can cheer you, guys.

About myself I can say that I like my Hippo. He rarely gives trouble.
By the way ... my wife's Ford - much more capricious creature. And its repair - is also very expensive, although you can buy all the parts around the corner.

Totally agree with you about the GM.
They love money too much and too little respect for the client.
This can be seen even in Russia. Probably even better than in the United States.

 

I have only had one lemon, a 73 Pontiac Grand Am. I didn't blame GM, I asked atound no one had the problems I had so ,I figured out I had a Lemon. I did have another Pontiac later and it was a good car. In fact I would not mind having a Soltice.