Is the HHR a E36 M3box?

A friend of mine totalled her New Beetle today in Maine. She is asking me about the HHR for a replacement. I've never been impressed with anything GM in regard to interior quality but she cares about storage (dogs in back, etc.), kid carrying, snow ability, and reliability.

She'd like to stay at the lower end of the $10K-$20K range. Off the top of my head I can think of a few but I'm not a fan of any of these vehicles so I thought you guys would have some input.

HHR CX-7 Rogue CR-V Subaru Legacy/Outback

I think she won't like the Subaru even though it would fit her criteria. Maybe the CX-7 would be a good option? The AWD and the fact that they've been out for a while might be good. I've driven one and found it to be a good vehicle. She likes the HHR because it has advertised good gas mileage, is 33mpg reality in these things?

Her bug was a 2.0 five speed with 170K on it.

My inlaws have one and love it.

The biggest issue with the HHR's design is outward visibility. It suffers from the high belt lines and thick A-pillars foisted upon us by safety regulations so seeing out the car is like peering out the gun ports of a bunker. The panel van version has even worse visibility. If she can deal with that, then the HHR should be fine for her needs. It drives like a non-SS Chevy Cobalt, which means boring, predictable, and safe.

cx-7's are good little suv's

honda and acura suv's are pretty good as well

but she could get a brand new kia sportage or even sorento around that price range, and the new kias and hyundais are a leap ahead of the models of a few years back

She mentioned the Kia and Hyundai. I've seen a few on the road. How do you guys feel about those soft roader types?

Go for a cx-7. You can find them for under 20k

Sultan wrote: My inlaws have one and love it.

Funny, so do mine.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but the '11 Sportage actually looks good to these subjective eyeballs. For a big-ish crossover, $18K starting ain't bad. I know nothing else about them though.

Whoever Kia hired to redesign their entire range deserves a raise imho.

red5_02 wrote: Go for a cx-7. You can find them for under 20k

If they came with a manual transmission I would already have one.

A friend has one and uses it to transport 3-4 greyhounds so space shouldn't be a problem. Hers has been trouble free afaik.

My son's mom has a 2007 Saturn Vue. I drove it alot when we were together, and it is a pretty nice car with lots of room. Plenty of power thanks to the fact that it is essentially a honda. The power plant is stolen from the Acura MDX (3.0L V6, IIRC). I'm sure that's not all they borrowed from Honda either. Plus, the Vue is smaller now and less boxy than the one she has.

A lot of my customers get HHRs for rental cars and very few like them. If she wants to try one out, have her contact an Enterprise office or two and see if they have any. Rent it for a couple of days and she can decide if it's something she'd like or not. Outward visibility does suck in them.

Subaru Forester FTW. Hey, you asked.

I know lots of people who bought Santa Fe's and most everyone likes them. They don't do anything for me, but then I loathe pretend SUVs in general.

KIAs after about 2005 are usually okay. Prior to that, not a fan.

Had a customer with the Mazda thing and I'm fairly certain she said the gas mileage sucked. She couldn't wait to get rid of it. She was driving a Nissan Rogue and liked that.

Dogs. The answer could be Honda Element.
Personally, I had a HHR rental recently for 3 day. I did not like it. My daily driver is a company car Ford Escape.

Rode in one once. Belonged to my drummer. Couldn't belive for how many drums he could fit in the back the front space was kinda tight.

Wife loves her Rogue.

I have had the HHR as a rental about 20 times, the one thing that really bugs me is that you cannot clip in the seatbelt with the armrest down as they both want to occupy the same space. And yes, they are hard to see out of

HHR is hard to see out of.

The CR-V is a reliable, practical, AWD appliance. Costs a bit more, but probably worth it.

I would recommend the Kia option...you get a lot for your dollar. If my Rondo had AWD it would be the perfect vehicle. Definitely looking at the Sportage soon.

Huh, I'm guessing snow ability does not necessarily mean 4wd. I checked out the hhr ss at the last auto show and it seemed to have the flimsiest doors I have ever felt. How about Honda Fit, Nissan Cube, Scion XB, or Hyundai Tucson. Not much 4wd action, but I think all can come with traction/stability control.

My crew and I fly to the job every week. FWIW, the HHR and PT Cruiser are the least liked of all the rent-a-car choices.

I've been driving one the company owns. Outward visibility isn't dangerously bad, it's just less than I'm used to. Tunnel vision, front and back.

When I drive it, it's usually 300-400 miles each way, with city traffic (typically Dallas/Fort Worth) at one end.

It gets close to 30MPG on the highway at 70, consistently. My back doesn't hurt after a five- or six-hour run. The seats are much better than the Colorado I occasionally use.

I have other minor issues with it and many newer cars. It can only be unlocked with the key at the driver's door, or one can unlock all doors with the remote. I can't unlock just the hatch. I can't unlock just the passenger door. That makes accessing gear inconvenient for me. It also unlocks everything when it's put in park. I just don't like that.

Overall, I like the PT Cruisers I've rented a little bit better. Maybe because they're not quite so ugly.

The local Chevrolet dealer had a brand new manual trans 2010 (zero miles) on ebay last month for $14,990.00.

This might fit my needs except for the "suck" factor.

Was shopping for SUV's for the wife a while back, and came to two conclusions. Used Murano, or cx-7. Price range was right where you are.

I did recently shop Subaru Foresters (Trying to find the ever elusive turbo/manual combo) and there seems to be a pile of LL Bean and other loaded ones in that range.

I would go for the Suby or any of the Korean ones..

The SS panel is bitchin.

The timing of this thread is funny to me, I've been secretly lusting for an HHR SS for some ungodly reason. Kind of ashamed to say it, but I would rock one SO HARD.

Boosted and ugly are a fun combo. Ask anyone that's driven a turbo K car.

I recently rented a Kia Rondo and have decided it will be our next vehicle. It has tons of space gets good mileage and drives like it's much smaller than it is. It was even well balanced and behaved in the 13 miles of winding dirt roads I was thrashing it through on the way to the grand canyon.