Well, there's a reason I have never rented an HHR....it is bad.
Easily mistaken for a Chrysler PT Cruiser...but not in a good way...I haven't liked the look has been one reason. Right of the get-go, I should have rejected the thing right away because I couldn't get the seat adjusted to my liking. The seats sit up high which I generally like but the windshield is very small so I needed the seat to go down and there was no such adjustment.
Because the driver is seating up high and the windshield is small and the review mirror is attached low on the windshield, there is a HUGE blindspot right in front of the vehicle. This blindspot is even worse than a similar problem with the Kia Soul I described earlier.
In addition to the rear view mirror blindspot, the front AND rear pillars block the view AND the rear seat headrests are oversized AND block the view. I'm not the only one to complain. One of my passengers who is not tall made the same comment based on his rental of the HHR.
Let the complaints continue....the gauges are rediculous. What's with the tachometer popping out in an odd 3-D way? The venting (HVAC) controls are too low in the center console. The driver is required to take their eyes off the road to make adjustments. And with the varied weather in Colorado and now auto-setting for the heat/AC, a lot of fiddling with the controls was needed.
Speaking of Colorado weather, it snowed several inches one day. While I've been spoiled with my own all-wheel drive, the HHR has front wheel-drive so I was not expecting too much trouble...WRONG! I almost didn't make up a little hill because apparently there is very little weight over the tires and the traction control was simply telling me it was "low traction" -- duh!
To be fair, after getting to the client site and the snow being a bit cleared, the HHR handled the roads in fine fashion. That and my adapting to front-wheel drive only.
Like many quirky things, it starts to grow on you so someone who's had an HHR for a while probably doesn't mind its "problems." But the extremely hazard blindspots situation is simply not acceptable.
Easily mistaken for a Chrysler PT Cruiser...but not in a good way...I haven't liked the look has been one reason. Right of the get-go, I should have rejected the thing right away because I couldn't get the seat adjusted to my liking. The seats sit up high which I generally like but the windshield is very small so I needed the seat to go down and there was no such adjustment.
Because the driver is seating up high and the windshield is small and the review mirror is attached low on the windshield, there is a HUGE blindspot right in front of the vehicle. This blindspot is even worse than a similar problem with the Kia Soul I described earlier.
In addition to the rear view mirror blindspot, the front AND rear pillars block the view AND the rear seat headrests are oversized AND block the view. I'm not the only one to complain. One of my passengers who is not tall made the same comment based on his rental of the HHR.
Let the complaints continue....the gauges are rediculous. What's with the tachometer popping out in an odd 3-D way? The venting (HVAC) controls are too low in the center console. The driver is required to take their eyes off the road to make adjustments. And with the varied weather in Colorado and now auto-setting for the heat/AC, a lot of fiddling with the controls was needed.
Speaking of Colorado weather, it snowed several inches one day. While I've been spoiled with my own all-wheel drive, the HHR has front wheel-drive so I was not expecting too much trouble...WRONG! I almost didn't make up a little hill because apparently there is very little weight over the tires and the traction control was simply telling me it was "low traction" -- duh!
To be fair, after getting to the client site and the snow being a bit cleared, the HHR handled the roads in fine fashion. That and my adapting to front-wheel drive only.
Like many quirky things, it starts to grow on you so someone who's had an HHR for a while probably doesn't mind its "problems." But the extremely hazard blindspots situation is simply not acceptable.
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