CuriousC

Thats good to hear, I don't expect it to get through 5 feet of snow but I need to make sure it can handle a few inches of snow along with slick roads. I have nothing to do now except to research the Malibu, the second vehicle I am considering. I don't buy until early next year, just doing research now. Thanks again.

skyeglen

It may not go thru 5 feet of snow but I went thru a little over 11 inches of fresh snow this morning before the snowplows came thru with no problem. I have a pretty long driveway that I hadn't plowed and went a couple miles before I got to a plowed road so the lower grille opening was pretty packed full of snow but the HHr went right on thru.

I did get rid of the Firestones last week and put on a set of Goodyear Triple Treds and they seemed to work great.

The HHr is my first non 4WD vehicle in a very long time and my first FWD vehicle ever. I left 2 4WD vehicles parked and took the HHR this morning on purpose just to see how it would do..... Yup, I'm impressed.

MWG2

The OEM Firestone tires that come on the 2LT are horrible in the snow.

Once I put on the Michelin Pilot tires, Car 11 worked GREAT in the snow!! Flawless, absolutely flawless!!!

Old Ray

The Malibu looks like a great CAR and I would have one if I wanted a CAR, the HHR is NOT a car, if it is nothing else it is a small station wagon with unique styling. This is not an apple to apple comparison IMO.You obviously can get anything you would like but if form follows function and you don’t need a small wagon and are being pragmatic why even bother looking a HHR, buy a Toyota or a Malibu, hard to tell the difference anyway.

MWG2

Ditto!!

Lone Ranger

I beg to differ. We had our share of ice and snow here over the past two months and my bone stock 1LT w/ the Firestone Affinity tires got around pretty good. I also feel like the dry road handling is acceptable for the tire, given the 1LT base suspension.

My previous car was a 1995 Corvette, so I do know what good cornering/handling is like. I'm not at all comparing the handling of the HHR, I'm just qualifying my opinion. It would be easy to say the HHR handles well if you came out of a '85 Chevy Celebrity, for instance. But when you had a sports car for five years that is known for good skid pad numbers, then saying the HHR handles well for its type is qualified.

Oh, and I also used to have to qualify regularly on an EVOC course @ work (Emergency Vehicle Operations Course). Even Crown Vics can handle okay with a stiff suspension and decent tires...

skyeglen

Just my opinion, but I would have not attempted 11" with the Firestones. I only left them on until I could get the Goodyears.

Ranger, I think your EVOC elvoved from what we used to call Defensive Driving Courses many years ago. Don't think I could count the number of orange cones I took out with Crown Vic's over the years. Might be fun to put the HHr thru a time or two.

MWG2

Well you can beg to differ all you want...The 2LT does NOT come with the Firestone Affinity tire, it comes with the Firestone Firehawk tire. The Firehawk is terrible in the snow. Affinity is a better tire than the Firehawk. So begging to differ is fine, be you are addressing a DIFFERENT Firestone tire.

RandyS

This may be a bit of a tangent:

With the stock tires having such a bad reputation, why not just replace the front tires and run the stocks on the back until they wear out, and then use the two other stocks on the back until they're shot? I don't think your back tires do much braking and no traction.

CuriousC

That is impressive. I drove our old Accord through a severe snow storm and it left much to be desired. I only ask since both vehicles are FWD.

How much did the replacements cost? Does the SS version have better all seasons? The argument over OEM tires vs. After market has given me some insight. Thanks everyone.

It comes down to the price. I built the HHR SS which is $24k and the Malibu LTZ with the V6 and all the options which comes in at a little over $27k. If I haggle on the Malibu I bet I can get the price fairly close to $24k (Probably $25k-$24,750, just a guess). I know if I haggle with the price of the HHR SS I can probably get it lower, but I am just in awe at how beautiful the 2 tone leather looks in the new Malibu. Beauty to you is probably different than mine but I find anything Toyota makes really boring, appliance like. While the Malibu looks like a beautiful luxury car on the inside and out.

I am not an expert on cars like people here but if I remember correctly the HHR is based on the Delta platform which is also used in the Chevy Cobalt, a compact FWD car platform. While the 2008 Malibu is based on the Epsilon I platform, a mid sized FWD platform. So I am willing to bet the Malibu is bigger on the inside but the HHR has the advantage (Somewhat IMHO) since it has a hatch. Another thing I didn't care for about my Accord was the narrow trunk opening, a decent sized trunk but the opening was undersized. The Malibu and most modern sedans suffer from this, though people that have bought the Malibu said the trunk is huge.