I bought the HHR at a ripe age of 21... and the Soul never really appealed to me in the beginning. After seeing it in person, it looks great, but there's no room in it... plus, it's a Kia. I'm sorry, I still remember the first models back in the 90's and those were major junkers... still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

I love the retro styling of the HHR, while the Mazda is more modern, the Soul is a good looking box. Needless to say, if the HHR weren't out there, I wouldn't have a wagon. I'd be driving an Impala instead.

 

Thanks to everyone for the input! It seems like my thoughts after driving each line up pretty well with whats being said here. I didn't know that the storage was that different between the 2 though. I'm 25 and I absolutely love 50s hot rods and I get that feel from the hhr. I'd love to get an hhr and go all out on it, maybe flat black with whitewalls. Its already got that chopped look to it. ( I wish I could have a panel but its just not practical for me.)

As far as performance goes, one of the biggest gripes I had when I drove the Kia was the fact that to me the engine felt really rough. The hhr definitely felt smoother.

I did really like the interior in the Kia though. I'm just concerned that after my current car (a crown vic police interceptor) 142 hp is going be hard to get used to on the highway.