I've only had my HHR for 12 days, and have only driven it 5 of those 12 days. (I have a '98 Sunfire that I use to do most of my driving because I drive over 1000 miles a week for work.)

So far, I only have one real complaint about the HHR. I hate the fact that the gear shift is located on the center console and there is no indicator on the dash to show what gear it is in. The dash displays a plethora of information (like the temperature outside!) but they didn't think it would be nice to have it show the gear?

It wouldn't even have to be a permanent display. The readout that shows everything else could show P, N, D, etc. when you shift then go back to whatever it was displaying. Similar to how it pops up "Cruise Engaged" or "Auto Lights On/Off" for a couple seconds.

Other than that, I am loving this car! :)

 

After a few more days or weeks of driving, you'll develop a "muscle memory" and you'll know what position the shifter is in by feel alone.

After years of ownership, and an accumulated 450,000+ miles on my HHR's, I can't tell you when I looked at the shifter last.

An indicator on the DIC would have been nice, but the beancounters at GM probably shot it down because of an unfavourable "cost per unit".

 

I don't look down at the shifter. I just count the "clicks" as I pull it back into gear. It helps that the Sunfire has a similar setup, so I am already trained to shift without looking.
There have been times, however, when I accidentally shifted past D and noticed it right away because the Sunfire has a display on the dash that shows what gear you are in.

The Durango that I traded in to get the HHR got approx. 13 mpg on a good day. The dash display says my HHR is getting 30.5 mpg right now. I'll take "blind" shifting and 30 mpg over that Durango anyday!

 

Yup, these Trucklets will deliver phenomenal fuel economy combined with being fun to drive, that's a tough combination to find.

We've got a few "hypermilers" here who can get into the 39-41 mpg range, but I lack that sort of discipline. My right foot and our Super Speedways..err..Interstates around Charlotte mean 90 mph cruising and an average fuel economy of 26.5 mpg.

You can get an HHR into single digit fuel economy, I've seen 9.8 mpg while autocrossing at the local SCCA meets, and another member got his down to 4.8 mpg while autocrossing it.

 

I have NEVER accidentally missed D. I don't understand how it is possible. Sorry for your pain.

Push the button, start moving the lever, release the button, keep moving the lever till it stops.... Voila!

Once you release the button the lever will not go any farther than D. You have to push it again to downshift.

 

Once I hit the hiway I can tell by the Tach.

60mph = Approx. 2000rpm on the flat with auto trans.

But I do agree on the fact for some it is not good visually.

Silverfox

 

My indicator area is so dirty I would not be able to see it, if I bothered to look.

 

I am not familiar with hypermiling. But, it sounds like something that requires more effort than I care to put in.

The Sunfire has seen better days. To its credit, I am amazed that it still runs and gets me from A to B every night. One of the many issues it has is that the button on the shifter is useless. You can pull and push it into any gear without ever touching the button. As a result, if I pull it back too quickly, it can easily jump past D.

Knowing that releasing the button will prevent the lever from moving past D on the HHR is quite helpful, though. Thank you for the info!

 

There is a repair for the shifter problem.

 

Welcome to the site :)