New Owner of an Older HHR
12-20-2013, 07:21 PM
#1
New Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 12-19-2013
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 16
New Owner of an Older HHR
Greetings! I will be taking delivery of my '06 HHR sometime during the week of Christmas this year.
Long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I purchased an '03 Chrysler PT Cruiser, which I owned until last year (2012). I sold it with nearly 95k miles on it, for a used Buick Century from my dad.
That Century got whacked around a bit - a week after I got it, I was involved in an accident that put a big dent in my front fender. Things had been going well with it since - until earlier this month.
On the night of the 5th, on my way to work, I hit a deer - which obliterated my side mirror on the driver's side, and launched my car into the ditch. It didn't look too bad at that point, and after getting an estimate, I planned to take it out Saturday afternoon to get gas.
On my way to do that, a 19-year-old kid in a 17-year-old Saturn nailed me in that same front fender, ripping the bumper cover off and damaging the hood, fender, and my driver's door.
THAT was when I started looking at other cars - which led me to my new baby. It's a 2006 HHR LT, with a sunroof (which I'm not too thrilled about), a spoiler and fog lamps. It has the 2.4 L engine with an automatic, and I'm already excited about buying it.
I came on here (through the magic of Google) to find out more about the HHR, from people who actually drive them. I'm also willing to give some comparisons to the PT for the community. There is one thing that I can almost bet I'll be able to tell you: the HHR is probably much better in gas mileage than the PT. I averaged 22-24 for mileage when I owned it.
I live up here in the Great North Woods of Wisconsin, and have lived in the state for all my life. Anything else - feel free to ask.
Oh, by the way? The HHR will be only the second GM vehicle I have owned. My first two cars were Ford Escorts; the third was a Dodge Dakota extended cab - which I traded in for the PT Cruiser.
Long time ago in a galaxy far far away, I purchased an '03 Chrysler PT Cruiser, which I owned until last year (2012). I sold it with nearly 95k miles on it, for a used Buick Century from my dad.
That Century got whacked around a bit - a week after I got it, I was involved in an accident that put a big dent in my front fender. Things had been going well with it since - until earlier this month.
On the night of the 5th, on my way to work, I hit a deer - which obliterated my side mirror on the driver's side, and launched my car into the ditch. It didn't look too bad at that point, and after getting an estimate, I planned to take it out Saturday afternoon to get gas.
On my way to do that, a 19-year-old kid in a 17-year-old Saturn nailed me in that same front fender, ripping the bumper cover off and damaging the hood, fender, and my driver's door.
THAT was when I started looking at other cars - which led me to my new baby. It's a 2006 HHR LT, with a sunroof (which I'm not too thrilled about), a spoiler and fog lamps. It has the 2.4 L engine with an automatic, and I'm already excited about buying it.
I came on here (through the magic of Google) to find out more about the HHR, from people who actually drive them. I'm also willing to give some comparisons to the PT for the community. There is one thing that I can almost bet I'll be able to tell you: the HHR is probably much better in gas mileage than the PT. I averaged 22-24 for mileage when I owned it.
I live up here in the Great North Woods of Wisconsin, and have lived in the state for all my life. Anything else - feel free to ask.
Oh, by the way? The HHR will be only the second GM vehicle I have owned. My first two cars were Ford Escorts; the third was a Dodge Dakota extended cab - which I traded in for the PT Cruiser.
congrats on your new to you ride.
aboard
to the forum, and congrats on your new ride!
01-09-2014, 09:32 PM
#8
New Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 12-19-2013
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 16
Some things I've noticed, now that I've had the car for a few weeks:
Positives:
• I am now convinced that power seats were the one thing that was missing on the PT Cruiser that the HHR has. Seating is comfortable, and along with the raised height makes it feel easier to get in and out.
• The heated seats are addictive, especially in the sub-zero weather that has been inflicted upon the state after I purchased the car.
• The built-in SiriusXM radio is fantastic. I now have five pages of saved stations – which equals my saved stations from my old XM Roady – and I also have four FM and two AM stations saved on page six.
• The remote starter is very convenient, especially for these exceptionally cold mornings.
• The sight lines in the vehicle are not as bad as you'd think. The windows are large enough that you can see around the vehicle without difficulty.
• The side mirrors are large enough for the vehicle. Going from a car with smaller mirrors to these is a huge improvement.
• The feel of the driver's compartment is decent. There's enough room where you feel like you're in command and things are comfortable.
Neutral Observations:
• The gas mileage is a bit underwhelming. My first tank – and granted, it wasn't a full tank – was only at just over 21 MPG. That is mostly winter driving, of course.
• This is the first vehicle I've owned that had running boards. The Dakota didn't have them. None of my other cars had them. They're a bit annoying, even if I'm old enough to remember seeing cars that had them.
• Another "annoyance" is the Driver Information Center. Yes, I know that ice is possible under 32 degrees F. Yes, I can sense when I'm losing traction. No, you don't need to inform me of this constantly.
• The rear window wiper isn't the greatest in the world, but I've yet to see any vehicle with an effective rear wiper.
• The only drawback with the built-in XM Radio: I miss not being able to have a "favorite" notification for a particular song or artist. Also, the station/artist information doesn't apparently scroll like it does for other XM radios that I've owned.
• The traction control can make braking feel "interesting" at times. I suspect that a lot of the issues other owners have had with brakes is because they don't use the brakes as intended.
• I really wish there was a way to turn off the outside temperature display on the dash, but that's just because seeing it read "-11°F" gets depressing after a while.
Negatives:
• Sorry, I am still not a fan of the sunroof. I've seen the horror stories of people who had leaking issues – and I'm all too aware from my wife's convertible that leakage can occur. I'm going to keep the cover closed during most of the year, I'd suspect.
• The leather seats are not going to be fun in the summer. I don't think it'll be anything that a towel or two wouldn't fix, but I'm not looking forward to it. I've only driven cars with cloth seats in the past, so this will be a first for me.
• OnStar. I've only accidentally activated it once, when I was trying to use the steering wheel spoke to turn through the roundabout downtown. Now that I know what to do, I think it won't be a problem. I can't see shelling out the $90 for the service, on top of my XM Radio subscription.
• The radio controls aren't intuitive, and I'm still having issues trying to figure out how to go from station to station and favorite pages. You essentially have to remember five different buttons, plus the six "program" buttons, to move between options.
• The buttons on the steering wheel aren't built for people with stubby little fingers. Or normal fingers, either.
• I always used to think the window controls in the PT Cruiser were strange. The ones for the HHR take the cake, though. WAY too low on the center console, and too hard to find to activate.
• The cup holders are located too low down, also. You feel like you're pressing the cup/bottle into a hole that you're not sure is actually there.
• The layout of the cargo bay and the rear storage panel "cover" is nothing like the PT's – and that's not a good thing. The cargo bay's layout isn't ideal, but at least I invested in bungee cords to make it more useful. Now to figure out where the forward anchors are located.
• The headrests on the rear seats are the only thing that really make the sight lines bad. Lower the back seats and you can see much better out of the rear window; as it is, you have this crunched parallelogram that is your line of vision directly behind you.
Positives:
• I am now convinced that power seats were the one thing that was missing on the PT Cruiser that the HHR has. Seating is comfortable, and along with the raised height makes it feel easier to get in and out.
• The heated seats are addictive, especially in the sub-zero weather that has been inflicted upon the state after I purchased the car.
• The built-in SiriusXM radio is fantastic. I now have five pages of saved stations – which equals my saved stations from my old XM Roady – and I also have four FM and two AM stations saved on page six.
• The remote starter is very convenient, especially for these exceptionally cold mornings.
• The sight lines in the vehicle are not as bad as you'd think. The windows are large enough that you can see around the vehicle without difficulty.
• The side mirrors are large enough for the vehicle. Going from a car with smaller mirrors to these is a huge improvement.
• The feel of the driver's compartment is decent. There's enough room where you feel like you're in command and things are comfortable.
Neutral Observations:
• The gas mileage is a bit underwhelming. My first tank – and granted, it wasn't a full tank – was only at just over 21 MPG. That is mostly winter driving, of course.
• This is the first vehicle I've owned that had running boards. The Dakota didn't have them. None of my other cars had them. They're a bit annoying, even if I'm old enough to remember seeing cars that had them.
• Another "annoyance" is the Driver Information Center. Yes, I know that ice is possible under 32 degrees F. Yes, I can sense when I'm losing traction. No, you don't need to inform me of this constantly.
• The rear window wiper isn't the greatest in the world, but I've yet to see any vehicle with an effective rear wiper.
• The only drawback with the built-in XM Radio: I miss not being able to have a "favorite" notification for a particular song or artist. Also, the station/artist information doesn't apparently scroll like it does for other XM radios that I've owned.
• The traction control can make braking feel "interesting" at times. I suspect that a lot of the issues other owners have had with brakes is because they don't use the brakes as intended.
• I really wish there was a way to turn off the outside temperature display on the dash, but that's just because seeing it read "-11°F" gets depressing after a while.
Negatives:
• Sorry, I am still not a fan of the sunroof. I've seen the horror stories of people who had leaking issues – and I'm all too aware from my wife's convertible that leakage can occur. I'm going to keep the cover closed during most of the year, I'd suspect.
• The leather seats are not going to be fun in the summer. I don't think it'll be anything that a towel or two wouldn't fix, but I'm not looking forward to it. I've only driven cars with cloth seats in the past, so this will be a first for me.
• OnStar. I've only accidentally activated it once, when I was trying to use the steering wheel spoke to turn through the roundabout downtown. Now that I know what to do, I think it won't be a problem. I can't see shelling out the $90 for the service, on top of my XM Radio subscription.
• The radio controls aren't intuitive, and I'm still having issues trying to figure out how to go from station to station and favorite pages. You essentially have to remember five different buttons, plus the six "program" buttons, to move between options.
• The buttons on the steering wheel aren't built for people with stubby little fingers. Or normal fingers, either.
• I always used to think the window controls in the PT Cruiser were strange. The ones for the HHR take the cake, though. WAY too low on the center console, and too hard to find to activate.
• The cup holders are located too low down, also. You feel like you're pressing the cup/bottle into a hole that you're not sure is actually there.
• The layout of the cargo bay and the rear storage panel "cover" is nothing like the PT's – and that's not a good thing. The cargo bay's layout isn't ideal, but at least I invested in bungee cords to make it more useful. Now to figure out where the forward anchors are located.
• The headrests on the rear seats are the only thing that really make the sight lines bad. Lower the back seats and you can see much better out of the rear window; as it is, you have this crunched parallelogram that is your line of vision directly behind you.
01-09-2014, 09:44 PM
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: 12-24-2007
Location: Seville. OH
Posts: 2,873
I have never had a sun roof issue with mine. I have read the stories also.
The leather seats can get warm in the summer but the heated seat are very nice in cold weather.
I have yet to pay for on star. Every now and then I push the button and ask if there running any deals. I have gotten on star three times now for 3 month period for free. It came in real handy the one time I locked the keys in the car. I just call them and they unlocked it with in 30 sec.
Good luck. Joe
The leather seats can get warm in the summer but the heated seat are very nice in cold weather.
I have yet to pay for on star. Every now and then I push the button and ask if there running any deals. I have gotten on star three times now for 3 month period for free. It came in real handy the one time I locked the keys in the car. I just call them and they unlocked it with in 30 sec.
Good luck. Joe