Well my curiosity got the best of me and I had to go back and check out the "purple" HHR. It is like I mentioned above an LT2 with all the goodies except a sunroof and leather. Fogs, Pioneer stereo, ABS w/traction, 17" tires and rims...asked if I could swap out the white one for the purple....no problem...


Comparison?


I'm wishing I kept the 1LT with the leather. Night and day as far as the cloth to the leather. The ride is choppier in the purple one....I'm guessing the 17''s don't roll as smooth as the 16's? Is there a tighter suspension in the LT2's? Rotors are warped as lots of judder while braking...lot more wind noise on the highway also as well as road noise and tire roar..cabin is not as quiet as with the white one

And to tell the truth...this car feels slower than the 2.2 which doesn't make any sense but it does...I also like the exhaust tone of the 2.2 better


Granted these are rentals and this car may have had the snot run out of it but if I had my druthers I'd ask to get the 1LT back (which I'm not gonna even do..they are already looking at me weird enough lol)

My wife is already ticked no more seat warmers....not a good move on my part but if I do end up with an HHR I know that the 1LT is the way to go for me and I may spring for the leather



Goose

 

Sport suspension, standard and available only on 2LT, includes variable-rate springs, a 25mm stabilizer bar and gas-charged shocks. I have to agree that if I had to do it again I would probably opt for the leather. The cloth seats are not as comfortable as they should be.

 

Goose, I agree that the 1LT ride is very plush but along with that comes a bit of body roll. Notice that the firmness of the 2LT suspension makes it handle a lot better in corners. The difference is what I would call 'firm'. It's not truly sport stiff...you should have ridden in my SVT Focus, now that was a buck board with race type susupension and very low profile tires on 17's. The 1LT w/ a 2.2 does not have the extra power on hand for "accident avoidance" situations which I feel is there on the 2.4. But you guys are making me wish I had gone for my PE HHR loaded with leather...I just didn't find one close enough by.

Wilson

 

I agree about the cloth seats, and the grey are very hard to keep clean, and when they do get dirty, I haven't found anything yet that will clean them well. I'm kicking myself for not getting the leather seats. The seat warmers would have been nice this past winter also.

 

You will never regret having leather seats....and to have them heated...OMG.Leather seats were one of the things that were a have to on the car, another was the sunroof.... Got both
Goose we have 17 in wheels, I think we get a decent ride, but do get some road noise...just turn the radio up and Jay-Dee likes the suspension. I sometimes wished we had waited for the 2008 like we had planned. No problems with our HHR...just that black is so darn hard to keep clean, and we have black interior too. I am being told that we will drive this car until 2009, so I'll live with it. to my master

 

We took a 2LT out for our initial test drive and bought a 1LT.

Now that I have added the Progress Anti-sway bar, I prefer the ride of 1LT. It still has the softer ride, but the sway bar pretty much takes away the body roll and it handles better in the corners. It's a good combination.

 

I just wanted to say... that we never had leather seats till our used 92 Cadillac STS... & the only reason I wanted leather @ that time was because I had rode several times with a co-worker who had the heated leather seats in her Audi... & in the winter here... it keeps you from shivering... love how they heat up quick!... I have actually used mine several times in the HHR already, with this crazy weather we are having here! Also, I guess it is not that common to have cloth in a Caddy....once we had a child, we found they clean better & should look good a long time if taken care of. I had always thought leather was like Vinyl & got super hot in the sun, but that's not been my experience.. they do get warmer than cloth but nothing that will burn you & not as "sticky' when you are wearing shorts... I doubt now if we will ever have cloth by choice again. I missed the leather when my Husband started driving the Caddy & I got a van , with cloth seats... Love the leather too much now & the heated seat were one of my musts, along with the sunroof.

I was also wondering about the 16" wheels vs the 17" wheels... was had to make that call while only test driving them.... I am sure it has allot to do with the low profile tires, I wonder if we can buy a larger size tire when it comes time to replace them to help with that?