:twothumbs [quote=NY HHR;315285]I am one of those like Big Kahuna who has both a PT and HHR. They are both great cars and love the way they drive. Actually, I have owned 3 PTs and 2 HHRs over the past 8 years. I love the 5 speed in the PT I now have and have been toying with the idea of trading the Fall Edition in on an SS but not sure about it yet!

You won't regret the SS. I also have owned a PT and was not near as satisfied as the "06 HHR and '08 HHR SS. There is no comparison. The HHR:twothumbs is completely over and above the PT (period)

 

I very rarely see HHRs that are modified. Most still have their dealer sticker on them. Yuck.

 

I have never driven a PT, but have friends that do the biggest complant I hear from them is the milage other than that they say they are a fun car to drive. Being a serious Dodge person I did consider the PT when I was looking. the milage thing with the room was the biggest thing for me. and I see mods on both have been seeing a lot of body wraps on both lately. the mods I have done are not much just enough for folks to take a second look especially from HHR owners that have not done any mods.

 

I drove a PT back in 2002 when I was looking for a new car at that time. It could have been just the way the seat was adjusted at the time, but I felt like I was sitting on a stool inside the car, more than down inside a seat. The way the driver was positioned, I felt somewhat too high and pitched slightly forward, especially for a car that is fairly compact. It sorta turned me off, even beyond the horrible experience I had with a couple of salesmen at the time.

I do still kinda like the looks of the PT, but obviously vastly prefer the HHR nowadays!

 

My wife and I drove the PTC first and we were not satisfied with the space, both front seat and behind the rear seat. We can fit a lot more junk in the rear of our HHRs, which we frequently do.
I too believe that the hardcore PTC group has passion for there cars as shown by the turnouts at their events. I think we will see this with HHRs after a few more get out there. But, there are those that think they (both of them) are just cars. I work with a guy who drives a plain jane LS HHR and he didn't even notice that my SS was different...

 

MY coworker in the next office over has had a PT Cruiser since one of the first years they were out. He raves about it. He even has a PT Cruiser mouse for his computer.

 

My '02 pt had terrible braking(Almost hit someone in a turning lane when they pulled out in front of me. Thought the pt would never stop ) and the turning radius was just awful for a small car(U turns are a joke). Gas sucked too.

 

Anyone worried about not seeing many modified HHR's needs to come out to WNY, and it's not just us in the club that modded ours. I've seen custom stripe jobs, I've seen chrome mouldings, I've seen one crazy nut who painted his wheels, grille, mirrors and door handles flat black and proceeded to run light blue SS stripes down the center of the car. Every day I drive around and see at least six or seven HHR's, and I can count on at least one or two being modded, not counting Stitch II.

The PT Owners Group (no offense to any PT owners here) looked down their noses at us, thought we had no business being at their show in June. Maggie was the lone exception, she seemed downright happy to see us, but as for the rest, I don't recall ever feeling that icy in summertime before.

Problem was, there was also scuttlebutt around GM Powertrain from some of the show-goers that we didn't belong there, either. They didn't complain about the Saturn Sky that showed in our class, or the myriad of 2000-later Corvettes, or the GM-powered Fords, but oh-God-forbid-those-slimy-HHR's-show! It's a travesty! (note dripping sarcasm)

My point is - snobs occur everywhere in the hobby, not just among the PT crowd. I also think that the PT crowd is so prevalent mainly because, let's face it, the PT Cruiser has had a SEVEN YEAR head start.

 

Just my opinion, but if chevy would have put more into marketing the HHR and got customers involved like chrysler did with their block partys people would have gotten a lot more excited. If you recall there were many custom add ons for the pt within just a few months of coming on the market along with manygreat cruiser clubs around the states. We have owned three cruisers , currently own one plus a 08 hhr panel and enjoy both. P.S. we have attended four " MEET ME ON ROUTE 66 " car shows run by "big k" and if anybody can fire up people he is the man to see.

 

Here's the problem with the "accessories" part of that argument: after the PT came out, the manufacturers were unwilling to risk money on creating tooling for HHR accessories until years in the future, when they were sure it would be worth their dime. That makes the PT so unusual: Chrysler usually is very tight-fisted with their specs, and then when the aftermarket parts come out they're overpriced because Chrysler charges exorbitant fees to allow access to their specs. Maybe if they had been similarly tight-fisted with the PT, they would've had all of that accessory money coming in and wouldn't be up the crick like they are right now.