7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
How good is the PT Cruiser Wannabe?
Date of Review: May 9, 2006
The Bottom Line: If you like the PT Cruiser but have Chevy brand loyalty, your vehicle has arrived.
INTRODUCTION AND INTERIOR
I test drove the 2006 Chevrolet HHR. HHR stands for Heritage High Roof, and is modeled after the 1949 Chevrolet Suburban. To view it a more callous and cynical way, it's GM's painfully obvious attempt to cash in on Chrysler's success with the PT Cruiser.
Functionally, the HHR is a lot like a small minivan without the minivan look, which is fine by me. I guess it's sold as an SUV instead of a minivan since minivans in general have such a negative image, especially with the younger set.
The seating position is high and comfortable, yielding good visibility, but not quite as high as the loaded Chrysler Town and Country I drove previously. The cloth seats are comfortable, but they don't feel as plush and supportive as the leather seats in the much more expensive minivan. Perhaps the seating would be more similar to that in a smaller, less expensive minivan.
The power window buttons are oddly placed on the center console rather than the armrests, which makes them a little harder to reach and find. The tachometer is small and artfully overlaps part of the speedometer. It doesn't really call attention to itself due to its diminutive size, which is why I don't know at what rpm the engine becomes audible. This is trivial in the automatic I drove, but may be a little problematic with the manual.
ON THE ROAD
Again the HHR feels more like a minivan than an SUV. It seems well insulated, blocking out much of the undesirable noise. The suspension feels soft, favoring a plush ride over razor-sharp handling. When I went over speed bumps (faster than I should have), the sound was pretty loud, but the impact wasn't jolting at all.
The engine was usually inaudible. The engine noises at medium to high revs, which first noticed when ascending a steep grade, were audible and sounded kind of sick. The note is medium to high in pitch. The engine seemed to beg me to let off of the gas, and I wasn't even working it that hard. By contrast, the PT cruiser I drove previously just sounded O.K.: not good, but not bad like the HHR, either.
Dealing with the engine noise during normal driving isn't a big deal, since the whiny engine is seldom perceptible. If you intend to race the Chevy HHR, however, I imagine that it would get aggravating in a hurry.
I had to brake quickly to avoid an accident during my test drive. The brakes felt mushy and unresponsive, but that may be because I'm not used to ABS. Steering seemed adequately responsive, though.
STYLING
All right. Not that I think this has eluded anyone, but the HHR is Chevrolet's answer Chrysler's wildly successful PT Cruiser. Its overall shape is boxier, with heavily bevelled edges. The rear and overall shape of the HHR look better to me, with a level roof line instead of the downward sloping one on the PT Cruiser. The downward sloping roof on the PT Cruiser, especially a black one, makes it vaguely resemble a midget hearse.
The HHR features two pairs of round headlights, instead of the one pair of oddly shaped ones on the PT Cruiser. The front end of the HHR is the part I don't like as much. There's just too much curvature between the bodywork and the headlights and grill, which makes it look a little too cartoonish for my taste. It's a shame, because I find the rest of the vehicle quite attractive.
THE INEVITABLE COMPARISON
There are many subtle differences between the HHR and the PT Cruiser. Some of the differences are as follows: The HHR features more available interior and exterior colors, bigger wheel and tires, a front and rear stabilizer bars (the PT Cruiser only has one in the front), privacy glass, power mirrors, and remote power locks.
The PT Cruiser has more power, less weight, and costs less. These differences are slight, and many of the features not found on the base PT Cruiser can be added as options or had in a more expensive model.
The most significant difference is that the PT Cruiser offers more models, such as the more powerful GT, which has no Chevrolet counterpart.
AWARDS
The Chevrolet HHR won Smart Choice Lowest Maintenance from Intellichoice and the SEMA SUV Design Award. Those are the only awards I found, but there may be others.
THE VERDICT
I predict that style and the Chevy Bow Tie will sell the HHR more than cold hard facts and specs will. Personally, I prefer the PT Cruiser. However, I didn't find any glaring flaws in the HHR. If you're a fan of Chevrolet or you just like the styling, I recommend that you give it a test drive.
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