In recent years the “hot hatch” market in the US grew a massive amount. Ford launched the Focus ST and Fiesta ST which have both been praised endlessly by journalists including us. Chances are you’ve heard of the Chevy HHR, it’s the ugly panel van/car thing that you see running around town. You’ve probably also heard of the Chevy Cobalt SS, a small performance car from Chevy. What happens when you combine the two? A failure.

Jun 11, 2018 MACE roll race event, Corvette Z06, Cammed Camaro Z28, nitrous Mustang, HHR SS and more! - Duration: 3:51. Matt Einarsson 58,662 views.

Awful Looks

Right off the bat, the normal HHR is an ugly car. It kind of looks like a station wagon mixed with a creeper van. It has a long, box yet awkwardly curvy design. The wheel arches stick way out in an attempt to make a sporty design, but Chevy managed to make it look the complete opposite of sporty. Those massive wheel arches make it look like a pickup truck which makes sense considered the design is inspired by the 1949 Chevy Suburban. Yup that’s right, Chevy based the design for this hatchback on the Suburban.

The problem is only compounded with the SS version of the HHR. It retains the awful base design, but with cheap body parts to make it look like a sporty car. The bumpers are redesigned, side skirts are added, and a small rear wing is also added. I will say the front bumper actually has a nice aggressive design, but all the other added parts just look awful.

You may not see the similarities initially, but the longer you look at an HHR SS the more it looks like a PT Cruiser. Don’t even get me started on how much of a design fail the PT Cruiser was.

Hhr Ss Auto Tunes

2.0L EcoTec Engine

One area that Chevy got really good on the HHR SS is the powertrain. The 2.0L Ecotec is actually one of the best four-cylinder engines ever made, but definitely not the absolute best. The 2.0L Ecotec engine was taken directly from the Cobalt SS and plopped into the HHR, but with less power.

The manual transmission models output 260 horsepower and 260 lb-ft which is actually pretty decent. The automatic models, however, output a measly 235 horsepower and 223 lb-ft. Supposedly Chevy lowered the power on the automatic to make it last longer. This power translate to a 6.3s 0-60 time for the manual transmission and a 7.5s 0-60 time for the automatic.

These specs would be totally respectable if most HHR SS owners bought the manual transmission model, but they didn’t. Most HHR SS owners ended up buying the automatic which means the majority of these cars run a 7.5s 0-60 which is literally slower than a modern pickup truck.

Luckily this engine responds well to modifications so making as fast as a proper “hot hatch” is pretty easy. I seriously don’t understand how Chevy could release a car with the SS badge that runs that pathetic of a 0-60 time.

Hhr Ss Auto Tuner

Does it Stop or Turn?

Well does it stop or turn? Sort of. Chevy knew the HHR SS wasn’t going to be a fast straight line car. Supposedly they put most of the development time into making the car stop and steer well, but they fell short. According to Motor Trend’s testing, the HHR SS was pretty bad at stopping compared the other hot hatches on the market at the time. It did, however, slightly out corner the contenders.

Compared to today’s hot hatches such as the Focus ST, the HHR SS is pretty bad at stopping and turning. The Focus ST has a brake-based torque vectoring system which majorly improves handling especially on tight canyon roads. The HHR SS is also on the heavy side coming in around 3,280 lbs which is 50 lbs heavier than the Focus ST.

Basically, the HHR SS was a halfway decent canyon carver at the time but falls extremely short compared to today’s hot hatches.

So What is it Good For?

The US is full of brightly colored and loud sports cars. These are fun and all, but having a car that looks slow but is actually somewhat fast is also very fun. This is where the HHR SS really fits in. It seems like nobody even knows the SS version of the HHR even exists, so when it comes to race they might be surprised by how quick it is. That is, of course, assuming said HHR SS isn’t a stock automatic version.

Other than the sleeper factor, the HHR SS really doesn’t have much of anything going for it. If you really want compact performance car from Chevy the Cobalt SS is really the only way to go. If you’re okay with buying a Ford the Fiesta ST and Focus ST are far superior options. Let the hate in the comments below begin!