| General Motors HHR |
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By Terry Jackson, Men.com Automotive Editor
Sometimes – OK, most times – it’s hard to figure out what the hell General Motors is thinking.
Case in point: The 2006 Chevrolet HHR, a very retro-looking station wagon sort of vehicle with a base price of well under $20,000.
You’ve seen this act before over at the Chrysler showroom. It’s called the PT Cruiser, which was introduced five years ago and was first conceived at Chrysler more than 10 years ago. It sold very well, mostly to older buyers, and then sales quickly slacked off as the novelty of the PT faded. Introductions of special models, from a convertible to a turbo to a woody, have kept the model alive, but the PT no longer is a buzz car.
So exactly what sort of sensation did GM think it was going to create when it debuted its own PT Cruiser five years later?
And what about that name – HHR?
It’s the worst name for a car since GM named its all-electric boondoggle coupe the Impact, or, going back to the 1980s, when Ford debuted the Probe, a name that was sure to cause warm and fuzzy feelings among women buyers.
For the record, HHR doesn’t stand for Health and Human Resources or even Har, Har, Har. GM says it stands for Heritage High Roof. Hmmmm. In that case, I guess we’re lucky they chose the acronym HHR instead of spelling it out.
In the interest of fairness, we’ll give you GM’s best case for the HHR.
First off, they are adamant that there is no connection between the Cruiser and the HHR, even though the guy who worked on the Cruiser design at Chrysler now works for General Motors.
They say the look is designed to be reminiscent of the 1948 Chevrolet Suburban panel model, which GM says was the first sport-utility vehicle and was known in-house as the high roof model – hence the HR part of the HHR’s name.
So, to borrow the advertising phrase from the dear, departed Oldsmobile division, the HHR isn’t your father’s Chevrolet, it’s your grandfathers?
With bulging front fenders and a large grille, the HHR does bear a passing resemblance to those post-World War II Suburbans. You can check out some history books to confirm that, since you’re not likely to have ever seen one yourself.
So to this point, if you’ve never seen an HHR in person – they’re just now hitting Chevy showrooms – you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a big SUV or station wagon. Even pictures convey that sense.
But the HHR is a compact car, built on GM’s quite able front-wheel-drive Delta platform that can be found under the Saturn Ion and the Chevrolet Cobalt.
Under the hood there’s Chevy’s Ecotec four-cylinder engine available in two stages of tune – very mild and just plain mild. It’s hooked up to either a five-speed manual transmission or an optional four-speed automatic.
In the very mild 2.2-liter four-cylinder engine, the HHR comes with 143 horsepower and 150 foot-pounds of torque. That’s not a lot to move a vehicle that, though compact in design, weighs in at about 3,200 pounds. Anyone considering an HHR should opt for the 2.4-liter Ecotec engine, which produces 172 horsepower and 162 foot-pounds of torque.
What’s that you say, maybe the base engine would be better at a time when gas sells for $3 a gallon? Not so. Because the optional engine uses variable valve timing and other tweaks to get its added horses, it has the same EPA fuel mileage rating as the base engine – 23 mpg city, 30 mpg highway.
So why didn’t GM just go with the better engine and same some production costs inherent in offering two engines? Chalk it up to one of the many anomalies about the HHR.
Even with the better engine, the HHR is no screamer. The four-cylinder engine has to work hard in passing situations and has something of a buzzy sound. Performance fans will want to go to Chrysler for its 220-horsepower turbo PT Cruiser for now. Down the road, since the HHR has the same chassis and engine at the Chevy Cobalt, perhaps there will be a supercharged SS version, as there is in the Cobalt – though we shudder to think of the name HHR-SS.
The suspension relatively conventional, with struts up front and a torsion beam at the back. Opt for the LT model and the 16-inch wheels and tires get upsized to 17 inches and the rims are nice polished pieces. The suspension is tightened a little and there are four-wheel disc brakes on board instead of the standard front disc/rear drum setup.
Our loaded test version had the LT option and the result was a vehicle that handled well – stopping and turning at speed without much drama, yet delivering a smooth ride.
The overall design of the HHR puts the driver in an up-high seating position that feels more like a small SUV – like a Toyota RAV4 – than a sedan or even a compact station wagon. Overall height of the HHR is a tad above 5.4 feet, which is only 1.8 inches shorter than the Chevy Equinox SUV.
Where the HHR shines – yes, we did find things to like about this car – is inside.
Equipped with the optional leather seats, the HHR cockpit is a comfortable place to sit, and the overall look of the interior suggests a car costing more than our heavily optioned test car’s sticker of about $21,000.
Even in its base form, with a starting price of $15,425, the HHR comes well equipped with air conditioning; power windows, door locks, outside mirrors and keyless entry; and a 260-watt, six-speaker AM/FM/CD with iPod jack.
Among the options are side curtain air bags at $395, the automatic transmission at $1,000 and a power sunroof at $725.
There’s ample room for four people – five in a pinch – and because of its station wagon design, the HHR can carry a lot of cargo, even if it’s in a bulky shape. With the split rear seats folded down, as well as the passenger seat the cargo capacity is rated at 63 cubic feet. The rear cargo area has a storage space concealed beneath a plastic floor plate.
All this being said, we’re not sure the HHR is a vehicle with much of a future. After Chevy sells the first 50,000 or so, who will buy this vehicle? It’s a direct competitor to the Scion xB, which is wildly popular with young buyers who didn’t need a design that harkened back to some 1949 Toyota? And then there’s that pesky PT Cruiser to consider.
The styling of the HHR will be its selling point and its ultimate downfall, even if there’s an SS version or a woody version in its future.
Which is too bad, because if you look at the HHR as an economical, well-built station wagon – a Cobalt station wagon, perhaps – it’s a very nice vehicle.
And isn’t offering affordable, dependable, capable vehicles and not gimmicks really what GM’s heritage all about?
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