Z-06

It is still a ride.

Annual Ride Calendar

Here is Car and Driver Review. Much balanced, shows how Juvenile crapmunds is about some of their opinions and views about cars. We had a Twilight Zone sort of distorted-reality moment on our recent drive of Chevrolet's new HHR SS when one of the engineers on the project compared the retro trucklet to the Mazdaspeed 3. Who would have ever thought we'd be comparing an HHR with that angry little hatch? Pricing for the SS will start right around the Mazdaspeed 3's $22,935 base, and dimensionally, the match-up makes sense—the Mazda is less than an inch longer, the HHR 4.8 inches taller (HHR does, after all, stand for Heritage High Roof), but it still seems a little like dropping a kitten in a terrarium with a scorpion. Don't be misled, though, because in the all-important power-to-weight-ratio battle, the HHR proves it's got a little venom on-tap. The last Mazdaspeed 3 we tested weighed in at 3202 pounds, while the HHR SS weighs an estimated 3300. While the Mazdaspeed packs 263 ponies from its turbocharged 2.3-liter, the SS's turbocharged four—the same as found in the Pontiac Solstice GXP, Saturn Sky Red Line, and upcoming Cobalt SS—manages 260 horsepower from its two liters, yielding 12.7 pounds per horsepower, which is within nipping distance of the Mazda's 12.2. It may be Cute, but it can get a little bit nasty For those who are still skeptical, consider that the HHR SS also includes some pretty nifty performance tuning tricks, like launch control. With the standard Stabilitrak stability control in Competitive Mode, the engine is limited to 4100 rpm until the tires hook up. In cars with the manual transmission, flooring the accelerator with the clutch depressed holds the engine at 4100 rpm. Miscreants who need more freedom to smoke their front tires will be happy to hear that, with stability control fully off, redline-wrenching parking-brake burnouts are still a possibility. Torque steer, a virtual guarantee when plumbing 260 pound-feet of torque through the front wheels, is wonderfully minimized; we noticed just the tiniest whiff in the lower gears. The second bit of surprising high-performance programming in the HHR SS is the no-lift shift feature, which allows the driver to keep the throttle pinned during shifts and holds the engine just below redline, therefore keeping boost up and eliminating turbo lag. With the throttle on the floor, the unrelenting turbo whoosh from beneath the HHR's shapely hood is accompanied by a pleasingly violent pop from the exhaust pipe during shifts. Both the launch control and the no-lift shifting are rather hard-core for such a mild-mannered bread van, but then again, so are the performance figures. Chevy says 60 mph will arrive in just 6.3 seconds and the quarter-mile in 14.8 at 99 mph, numbers that would have trailed the field in our most recent hot-hatch comparo by only the smallest of margins. Just as important, the company claims 0.86 g on the skidpad, a scant 0.01 g behind the 'Speed 3. Numbers are one thing—tie enough bottle rockets to a can of rotten tuna fish and it'll go fast. Feel is something much harder to accomplish, and we are pleased to report that the fun of the HHR SS driving experience goes well beyond engaging launch control and tromping on the gas pedal. Now available from Chevrolet: A Rewarding Compact Performance On the 1.6-mile road course at the Bondurant driving school's Phoenix facility, the SS proved stable and competent. It's not the on-the-rocks stiff, furious little machine that the 'Speed 3 is, but body motion is well controlled and the steering is responsive, although not as direct and communicative as that in the Mazda. Braking, as well, is on par with the class, with strong binders hauling the SS down plenty quick, although the pedal turns mushy at the bottom of its travel. Optional Brembos will be bundled with a limited-slip differential and improve the immediacy of the bite, but the non-committal finish remains. Think a step below the Volkswagen GTI in firmness and connectedness. Past complaints about the HHR have mentioned the shifter for the five-speed manual and its awkward positioning, but that has been remedied in the SS. The window switches, which previously resided at the base of the center stack and in front of the shifter, have migrated to the driver's door armrest. This allowed Chevy to move the shifter forward by 1.5 inches and up by 2.0 so that it falls naturally to hand. Shift action has been improved as well, with a reduction of one full inch in side-to-side travel across the pattern, resulting in an unexpectedly precise unit that, while not as short as, say, a Honda S2000, allows better control than that Mazda the Chevy folks keep talking about. How many Mazdaspeed 3, GTI, or Dodge Caliber SRT4 intenders will be cross-shopping the decidedly cuter (perhaps too much so?) HHR SS, we can't say. But those who will open their minds to the retro box will find it to be more relaxed, yet still quite confident. Customers for whom the Mazda and Volkswagen are a bit too tightly-wound may find the potent HHR SS to be precisely their pick. Besides, the HHR SS will earn cool points by the full-size truckload by being the only hot hatch available as a windowless panel truck soon after its launch.

The real gentleman of C&G award for 2007 goes to Mr. Blu.

Sorry, about that. No entertainment for you.

We are expecting 80* partly coudy skies tomorrow and may be some rain. Is that bad?

Good idea. What is the efficiency of waste oil heat?

Hot Chick

Probably a MILF driving while talking on the phone. Sorry about that.

A typical Edmunds, not silent and terribly deadly fart in an elevator or a huge dump on the turkey in a connoseuirs' banquet.

makingdonutsinsnowwithahighoutput172hpsupercar.org

I guess talk of merger of "equals" broke down.

You mean they guy that ownes the website with million hits (plus one from CD and Fly each) a day?

WHAT???? A Toyota that is not what we read in the magazine?????? Are you sure you are not anti-Toyota biased?

So was the infrastructure in Europe. If the demand would have come, the supply would have been generated. Imagine if GM had put expertise 20 years ago, that 2-4 time power boot advantage would have been nonexistent as it is in current world.

Like I said in the earlier post. Tell the customer that. Don't tell me. I do not disagree with you. What I do not think is right is just because GM fans or GM thinks it is stupid, does not mean that the customers will. 50 years ago Detroit shunned diesel out of their game as they thought it was stupid to spend research $ on them. Now they are ruing for the chance that they could have had better prospects with it. With the brute force they were in 1970s the laws would have certainly made diesel a place in US. Diesel is now the tour de force in Europe and much of the other world. You and I face the brunt of not having a GOOD DIESEL GM car in US. For a car like Malibu, which is a high volume vehicle, profitability comes with volume. In a cut throat market of midsizers, profits are not as generous as truck markets. You can go for the less sales more profit version for other vehicles, not one that brings volume.

Are you trying to say that the Japanese manufacturers, who are more cost driven will offer them, if they were not worth it? Again, a customer does not want to be told that he is an idiot and that the gadgets he is wanting is nothing but showing stupidity. Tell that in his face, and we can see how many sales GM gets. Why do you need cell phones, didn't the world run fine without them 20 years ago? Why do you need a 30 gig IPOD? Why do you need a phone which pinches butts on the LCD screens? Why do you need internet, didn't all the things that internet does could have been done twenty years ago. The customer has changed from NEED based to WANT based. And when they have choices you betcha that he will end up at another showroom. GM should think and act likewise, then only can they bet on getting sales in the Bu. Caddy got the concept right in the CTS, and I heard it straight from the mouth of none other than Jim Taylor. That is the attitude to have and that is why the CTS will be successful. Because they gave it 100%. Again you are living in Walgreen world. Which Chevy dealer will tell the customer, go to Buick, they have those things? When a customer comes to a multiple car dealer offering other GM brands your case will hold. Not in an individual Chevy dealer, where he would try to sell a Chevy. If he convinces the customer that he/she does not need those gadgets then hats off to him. Most of time he will not be able to, and guess what, Honda or Toyota or Nissan will have +1 in sales.

VQ engines altough are good, have never been super competent. Altima has best power to weight ratio in the class yet it lags in the sprint. The infiniti G35, despite almost everytime boasting the best HP, got overtook by the BMW330i. The CVT makes the engine neutered. The only best thing I liked was the old Altima with the SER package, which really had a good 6 speed. The new one has a long first gear. The stick action is notchy and uninspiring. Handling is good but again not spectacular. To me it is a step backward compared to the last generation one. Sorry, I did. Yeah those 10%, 5%, 1% numbers thing that GM makes excuse of, don't go there. If you add all these numbers, I am sure they can gain a point or two in marketshare.

Again you too miss the point. Unless the SAAB, Pontiac, Buick and Saturn were in the same building as the Chevy, the dealer will let the customer know that hey if you want those goodies we have these vehicles. A Dealer will NOT say go to the "OTHER" GM Brands and they will provide you with what you want. To me Altima is just plain UGLY. The interior is worse than the G6, the build quality is subpar, and it does not break any grounds on anything spectacular. It is just an iteration compared to the previous one, where Ghosn was stuck in nostalgia of its success.

As much as you are right, sheeples will not get it. Let us theoritically say that a family goes on to Chevy dealer trying to get a mid-sized sedan. They are stuck on those features which the Bu does not offer. What will the Chevy dealer say? Go to the Buick or Pontiac store? I 100% guarantee that the dealer despite being a diehard GM fan will NOT say that. People are getting in the mentality that there is TOY and then there is LEXASS. Thus, do not comprehend what Pontiac and Buick stand for. If they do not have in the Bu what Toy has in Crapry, they will not go to Buick or Pontiac. (As much as some people here hate the Chevy and love the other two). That is the reality. GM thus needs to offer those features in Malibu, regardless of where it stands in the GM foodchain.

+1.

On a side note, is that picture on the front page taken in Cincinnati? My undergrad friends rented a place that looked exactly like the one with dual garage doors in Cincinnati, while attending grad school.

Well that is a whole different country. Anyways, I had told Fly that I will chip in with any help we need to keep this site going on in full health, not an octagenarian bedridden on life support.