Here's Why We Wouldn't Touch The Chevrolet HHR With A 10

Beating the PT Cruiser may seem like an easy thing to do, yet the Chevrolet HHR sent to do the honors still leaves a lot to be desired.

When the Chrysler PT Cruiser first entered the U.S. market in 2000, consumers went nuts for it. Never mind its performance figures, safety ratings, or driving experience. The chrome-strewn hatchback had the retro flair to leave undiscerning drivers, both young and old, enamored. Predictably, they sold more than 100,000 of them year after year, thus bringing the retro styling once austerely flaunted by the Plymouth Prowler to the mainstream.

The early 2000s had domestic automakers coming out with retro-styled halo cars purely meant to live up to the Prowler's luster. Cars like the final-generation Ford Thunderbird and the oddball Chevrolet SSR were destined to be kept in garages most of the year, only ever driven to car meets. But, while Ford kept this aesthetic to its performance cars like the Mustang and the GT, General Motors set its sights on competing with Chrysler directly. Enter the HHR.

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The HHR came standard with a 2.2-liter 4-cylinder engine derived from the Cobalt. Despite its higher-than-average displacement for a compact, it was naturally aspirated and underpowered. It churns out 143 horsepower, with 0-60 mph achieved in approximately 8.5 Seconds. These figures sound commonplace, if not for the way this power is delivered.

On a Reddit thread, a user reported in a thread discussing whether the HHR is a good buy that his example "screams in pain" when pushing it to its limit, adding that it "does not like to go over 80 mph." Much of this can be explained by the 4-speed automatic the powertrain is coupled with. Around the time when 4-speeds were falling out of favor, only commonly found on cheaper models, the transmission suffered from tall gearing, leaving the HHR "lethargic in everyday driving," so say Consumer Reports.

There are a couple of silver linings to this, however. Primarily, for those who prefer to row their own gears, a manual transmission was available on all models. It may not have much of an impact on speed, but drivers could at least then control when power is being delivered. What's more, an SS version that is, albeit, not much more powerful than the standard HHR was also offered. It was even supercharged, though only for one model year before Chevy gave it a turbo instead.

Longevity also failed to be one of the HHR's strong suits. They are cited as developing many problems through their years of being on the road, including transmission gear slippage, transmission fluid burning, and suspension issues.

The suspension issues in particular have poorly designed components to blame. Jalopnik's David Tracy bought an HHR for $3000 to drive cross-country for business as an alternative to renting. To make it road-ready, Tracy sought to replace all the suspension components and was able to replace all but the control arm. It is bolted to the car through multiple layers, including the subframe, a sleeve in the center of the control arm's rubber bushing, the subframe again, and then through the body. With such a complicated replacement process comes loads of time and labor, upping labor costs significantly when servicing the car.

Another mechanical issue to note is its power steering. The HHR, Cobalt, Saturn Ion, and other GM compacts from the mid-to-late 2000s were recalled for faulty power steering. What would happen is, while driving, the power steering would fail, posing a severe safety hazard. Another defect that was famously reported in tandem with the power steering is an ignition switch issue that affected 2.6 million models and resulted in 13 deaths. It would be safe to assume that, at this point, either of these issues has been resolved on any given HHR example, but one cannot be so sure.

Apart from power steering and ignition switch concerns, the HHR, despite being a more modern design, didn't score exemplarily in its IIHS side impact crash test, only coming out with a score of 'marginal.' This score, by the way, is despite the test car coming with side curtain airbags.

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The HHR is from a dark period of GM's history, as it was released just before the Great Recession. Domestic automakers, running out of money for resources, began to manufacture models with rather piecemeal quality around this time. It wasn't exclusive to any one company, either. Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors all saw the quality of their vehicles go downhill, with the HHR being no exception.

Interior plastics used on General Motors models from the mid-aughts were noted as being thin, chintzy, poorly-grained, and prone to cracking. The HHR's interior featured swathes of this plastic. Also, its reliability and safety issues are also a reflection of the car's overall quality.

If in the market for a used tall wagon like the HHR that could serve as an economical means of transporting large loads, there are far superior options to choose from. Set retro design aside, and you'll find that equally-funky models like the Scion xB well exceed the standards both the HHR and PT Cruiser set for themselves.

Sources: GM, Chevrolet, Consumer Report

Michael Farber is a journalist who has written articles about cars as far back as college, with his passion for cars dating back to his childhood. He couldn't think of a greater privilege than to write about what he loves. He currently dailies a Honda Accord 2.0T: Civic Type R engine with none of the austerity.