Sorry if this question has been asked and answered a thousand times, but I'm a bit of a newbie. Has anyone out there ever done some serious towing with their HHR? I know that the towing capacity rating is only 1000 lbs. but has anyone ever taken the risk and towed more? Is 1000 lbs. the "tongue weight"?
I love my HHR and don't want to trade it in. However, I need to tow my horse and small trailer a short distance. Dare I try? And if so can anyone recommend a good hitch? Thanks.

 

I have a 2007 2LS with a 2.4 and a 5 speed. Even though GM does not recommend towing with the standard, I installed a Hidden Hitch class one hitch on it and have towed my Suzuki 800 and trailer 500 miles from PA to Charlotte a couple times. I believe the trailer and bike total about a thousand pounds with about 50 lbs. tongue weight. Other than my gas mileage dropping significantly (from an average of 28 to 21), it tows fine. I wouldn't want to tow anything any heavier, and I wouldn't want to have much more tongue weight than what I had. I believe the hitch maxes at 100 lbs. tongue weight anyway. The Hidden Hitch is an easy installation using existing bolt holes, and it looks okay. The wiring was easy with the after market trailer harness.

Lewi

 

When I pulled 900+ lbs down to Florida this week, it pulled very easily. 70+ mph all the way. Engine temps were the same as always and got 24.8 mpg.

 

Pulling in to the parking lot at work this morning I spot a SOM LS sitting out at the outer edge of the lot. It's got one of the mid-size U-Haul box trailers hitched up to it. The trailer looked nearly as big as the HHR! The rear end of that poor HHR was nearly touching the pavement (an exaggeration, but boy was it crouched down!). The trailer must have been fully loaded, and I think it was a bit oversized for that HHR to pull. Wouldn't do that to mine!

 

I would be most leery of the transmission. The heat of exertion is a killer on trannys. I would keep away from anything long distance especially if it exceeds 1,000#. The engines are bullet proof but the turbos in the SS's are detuned with the automatics probably due to the transmissions.