Chevy HHR....no comparison!

[paging_drburgos]

So i just got back from a trip to Phoenix and was lucky/unlucky enough to rent the car that they always compare our 5's to.
I've always liked the way the car looks, well from the rear anyways and had i not purchased the 5 it may have been a car that i would have looked at (although im not the biggest fan of domestics)
So the interior wasnt too bad but i really did like the insturment panel/gauges etc. So turned it on and off i went cruising down the 10fwy.
Right where the 10 and 17 meet the freeway started to curve and whoa!!!
DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT DRIVE THIS CAR over 79MPH
I was so amazed, i felt as if i was going to topple right over. I dont recall ever feeling this way in my 5. The suspension made the car sound just a tad bit quieter than the 5 but the bad combination of the loose steering on top of that made the car feel almost unsafe. I had the car for a few days after that and got used to the "looseness". Needless to say when i got back in my 5 it felt like a sports car and in a sense more grown up and more refined where it counts. Even the 5's engine felt like it had more pull although i know the hhr does have more horses under the hood. The HHR always sounded like it didnt want to move, whereas my 5 loves to rev.

Good job Mazda!

Next time i go i need to rent the Rondo... i'll be sure to submit another essay on that.

 

[opus]

We cross shopped the HHR with the 5, I have friends and family that work for GM so I try to direct my business that way. We just couldn't justify the sacrifices that the HHR was asking for in comparison to the 5. No third row, extra for full air bags, extra for ABS, and what really killed the HHR was the HORRIBLE shifter placement for the 5 speed manual. You had to give up just about all of the center stack conveniences to get the 5 speed, and then they put it sooooo low on the floor that I felt like I was shifting my wife's old 86 Bronco II. I think the HHR is a compotent vehicle, and I will be intrigued by the SS version that is supposed to be coming, but the LT version just didn't live up to the 5. On the topic of vehicle "float", I had the same feeling in my 5, but at about 95 mph coming down a mountain in PA. The 5 just felt like it lifted for a second when going into a bend, but that second scared the hell out of me!! The guys in our dealership said that they had heard similar stories from other 5 owners, though I haven't read much if anything about it on this board.

 

[Mr. Win]

I was in the gym yesterday and these guys were talking about how he watched a HHR flip right off a clover style on-ramp. He said it was amazing, he approached the exit and we got a sudden down pour (like we often do in FL) and the thing just flipped right over. He said it was like nothing he'd ever seen before.

 

[AIMWO4]

Float?

I've never felt this "float". I guess it's when you drive beyond the speed a vehicle was designed to do. (doh)

I've had cars over 150 MPH in Germany before, and never felt like I was losing control... and I've driven them sideways through turns! (drive2)

Remember that HP is a rating, not gospel. How that HP is applied to the road makes a big difference.

We cross shopped the HHR with the 5, I have friends and family that work for GM so I try to direct my business that way. We just couldn't justify the sacrifices that the HHR was asking for in comparison to the 5. No third row, extra for full air bags, extra for ABS, and what really killed the HHR was the HORRIBLE shifter placement for the 5 speed manual. You had to give up just about all of the center stack conveniences to get the 5 speed, and then they put it sooooo low on the floor that I felt like I was shifting my wife's old 86 Bronco II. I think the HHR is a compotent vehicle, and I will be intrigued by the SS version that is supposed to be coming, but the LT version just didn't live up to the 5. On the topic of vehicle "float", I had the same feeling in my 5, but at about 95 mph coming down a mountain in PA. The 5 just felt like it lifted for a second when going into a bend, but that second scared the hell out of me!! The guys in our dealership said that they had heard similar stories from other 5 owners, though I haven't read much if anything about it on this board.

 

[jandree22]

The Equinox my mom had terribly vague steering. Especially at highway speed. Steering had too much assist, too. Her lease just ended and she got a new Camry SE. Wow, that car drives like a dream. Very solid and planted yet very agile... nice car. ha, when she was test driving the Camry SE, she actually had me drive since she gets too nervous driving somethin that ain't hers, well I had her holding on for dear life around a 270* on ramp

But I digress... Anyway, I've driven the HHR a bit and yeah, seems like it's only good for zipping around town in. I don't know why Chevy blatantly designed it like the direct competitor PT Cruiser though... makes no sense.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

But I digress... Anyway, I've driven the HHR a bit and yeah, seems like it's only good for zipping around town in. I don't know why Chevy blatantly designed it like the direct competitor PT Cruiser though... makes no sense.

the lead designer on the HHR project was previously employed by the design team at Chrysler on the PT cruiser project.

 

[jandree22]

huh... well how 'bout that. I'd love to know why this guy keeps getting the urge to throw a hot rod body on mass produced POS grocery-getters (scratch)

 

[Captain KRM P5]

huh... well how 'bout that. I'd love to know why this guy keeps getting the urge to throw a hot rod body on mass produced POS grocery-getters (scratch)

probably a fat paycheck from CEOs more concerned with focus groups than decent quality manufacturing

 

[paging_drburgos]

probably a fat paycheck from CEOs more concerned with focus groups than decent quality manufacturing

(iagree) i'd do the same if i was gettin paid

 

[coolmazda5]

Thanks for the report! Yeah, I hope not to hurt feelings here, but renting those is like renting Malibus or Impalas nowadays, almost every Car Rental agency has them available in the first row.

So, you had to rent an HHR to find out its riding sucks? . Ive rented those and PTs for business, and yes, they look cute, but just until you start driving them. Of course, there is more HP, but is not needed, especially when the car cannot differentiate between a straight road and a curve (silly). In summary: Handling defeats Power

Next time i go i need to rent the Rondo... i'll be sure to submit another essay on that.

Dont get me going with those Rondos, but looking forward to it. In a different forum I managed to piss some people off when, after they praised that KIA shoebox on wheels again and again, I told them that their comments were fair but they had to own one or drive one for some time to really provide a good assessment . It was a similar case as the one you had: Oh, Rondo HP in the V6 is much better than the MZ5, until I pointed them to the 16MPG city or the fact that the powerful thing cannot turn fast w/o flipping like a tortilla.

The last one I read, after I said it had zero design (youll love it). It was something like this: the Rondo design is so intelligent that you also need intelligence in order to see it. WHAATTT?? LOL. To me, a nice car design is like love at first sight. You dont need 2-3 days to find out a car looks nice. When I see a Ferrari, a BMW or a Porsche I just like it or not, immediately. That happened to me with the MZ5. I saw it advertised in a magazine back in 2005 and caught my eye in a secondthe rest, well we know...

Well, enough blah blah blah already just keep us updated!

 

[Seattle5]

It sounds like many people have had similar repsonse in th HHR so i will not dispute it. I too looked at the HHR but it was to small and lacked 6 seats which was our minimum number.

On the handling i have seen this kind of thing be tires. I had a SAAB with stock tire (many years ago) and when I put on the replacements which were not expensive tires as (I was 24 and broke) the cornering was so dramatically improved.
Later i was driving a friends SAAB with the same tires and i could not keep up with him driving my car for handling and cornering.

Cars we looked at before finding the M5 were:
Ford FreeStlye and a used one was about the cost of the Mazada but had more seating which the wife wanted a lot. My Wife was a Ford fan and wanted one but it just kinda was to expensive and finding one the way we wanted was to hard.
We also looked at the Pacifica (price mileage and interior sank that one), Chevy Uplander and its clones (nasty ugly very short test drive) Some toyota SUV thing with lots of seats.

 

[5phreak]

I sat in the HHR in the showroom as they were putting together a quote for me for the 5. The salesman said, "you don't want that, it's crap". I laughed.

Seriously though, the switches felt cheesey. That was the only impression I could get of it since I didn't drive it.

I'm very pleased with the 5 so far (7,000 miles) but it is a little tippy in corners. That's ok, it's making me slow down which I can stand to do.

 

[AIMWO4]

Hhr

What's an HHR? (cheers2)

I wish this thread would disappear.

 

[HotRodSaint]

I was seriously thinking about buying an HHR LT2 with manual transmission. But I test drove the Mazda5 as well. And in the end, the Mazda offered much more than the HHR.