Chevrolet's SS badge has weathered a long and turbulent history. Through the '60s and tiptoeing into the '70s, it rode front and center on the grilles of some of the most maniacal, testosterone-fueled street machines ever to leave Detroit. The '80s had the letters stuck in big, bold vinyl on the sides of Monte Carlos at a time when stock-racing cars still resembled their street counterparts, and all was good — but the SS brand lost its luster for good, it seemed, after the demise of the rear-drive Impala in 1996. Remember the most recent Silverado SS? It packed 345 horses and all-wheel drive in a time of supercharged Ford Lightnings and Viper-powered Dodge Rams. The most recent Malibu SS was little more than a trim package, and the current hot Impala model is a rolling catch-22; it's a pure straight-line performer with uncontrollable torque steer pushing it every direction but straight ahead.
Chevy fully admits to letting the SS badge run amok, and a team of engineers at GM's Performance Division has been given the job of wrangling the nameplate back into the pastures where it belongs. The credo within that group is, "Go, Stop, and Turn," and the first recent model to do those things cohesively is the new HHR SS.
Come on now, don't laugh. The Nürburgring course workers probably laughed, too, at least until eight minutes and forty-three seconds later when this latest Chevy was back in the pits, asking for its class-record title. Regardless of what you might think of the base HHR's cutesy flower-shop looks (and florists take note — the SS's goodies will be available on the HHR Panel wagon as well), this car should be taken very seriously. By you, by me, and by every Mazdaspeed3, Volkswagen GTI, or Dodge Caliber SRT4 owner out there. This Chevrolet is the real deal.
At the heart of the HHR SS's performance upgrades is a direct-injection, 2.0-liter inline turbo four — first used in the Pontiac Solstice GXP and the Saturn Sky Red Line — producing 260 hp and an equal amount of torque (models with the four-speed automatic are detuned to 235 hp and 223 lb-ft). Only the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution currently produces more power from the same displacement. It's tucked behind a reworked mesh grille, while a front-mounted intercooler lies beneath a cleanly sculpted front fascia. The SS-specific bodywork also includes lower side moldings, a new rear bumper, body-colored mirrors and door handles, and 18-inch polished wheels wrapped with 225/45R18 Michelin Pilot Sport all-season tires.
Inside, the SS gets mildly bolstered sport seats lined with a patchwork of Ultralux faux-suede, mesh fabric, and black, red, or silver leatherette inserts. The small boost gauge halfway up the A-pillar is no cheap tack-on — it is integrated into a full-length panel. GM's performance engineers also decided that the shifter from the base HHR wasn't well positioned, so they moved the housing forward 40 millimeters and up 50 for better ergonomics. The thicker steering wheel has a smaller overall diameter than the base car and the speedometer has been modified to read up to 140 mph. That's an unfortunate place for it to stop, though, as the HHR SS has a claimed top speed of 151 mph. (And if that's not surprising enough, the upcoming Cobalt SS Turbo, which uses the same drivetrain, is said to be good for over 160.)
We drove the car on the roads outside of Phoenix, Arizona, and then at the nearby Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. Our on-road route didn't offer an opportunity to test GM's lofty top-speed claim, but the twisty mountain roads were an ideal place to enjoy the updated steering, suspension, and brakes. The steering ratio has been quickened to 14.8:1 from the base HHR's 18.5:1, so the smaller wheel's movements are quick and direct, but the line of communication between the driver and the wheels could be clearer as the car approaches its limits, as it's hard to feel understeer coming on. That issue's easily overlooked when I realize what else isn't being transmitted through the wheel: torque steer. The HHR's suspension geometry has been fully reworked for the SS's FE5 package (the one and only SS suspension choice) and the SS's engineers put a lot of attention into the new knuckles that allow the halfshafts to sit more perpendicularly to the wheels, which helps to prevent kickback through the steering wheel. Dodge's Caliber SRT4 engineers should crawl under the HHR SS and take notes.
The SS's ability to put the power down in a controllable fashion is also aided by its optional limited-slip differential. This will be a stand-alone option for the first few months of sales, but will be paired with Brembo front brakes early in 2008 at a price that's undetermined but said by Chevy's PR folks to be "far less than you'd expect for those two options." We estimate it will cost under $1000, and it's a package that would certainly be on our list of must-haves. The Brembos admittedly won't bring stopping distances down by more than a foot or two, but they clamp down in a more solid, linear fashion compared to the pogo-stick feel of the stock stoppers. The bigger rotors and calipers have more track-day longevity as well.
In addition to the performance enhancements brought by the Brembos and an LSD, the HHR SS is aided by two rev-limiting systems that are firsts for a car equipped with a manual transmission. Chevy's "no-lift shift" function electronically prevents engine over-revving when the clutch pedal is depressed, so 6.3-second 0-60 mph runs can be done without ever lifting from full throttle. That means the turbocharger won't spool down and lose boost. The feature's only drawback is that it requires a full driver-brain reprogramming, as I was still catching myself lifting for shifts, even after a full day of driving. It's also a shame that the shifter itself isn't especially impressive. The throws are shorter than the stock HHR's, and the bushings are stiffer, but despite that and the shifter's repositioning, its movement still has that vague stir-stick feel and sometimes clumsy gear engagement that plague many cheaper cars.
The few tenths of a second that this feature slice off 0-60 numbers helps keep the HHR in the hunt with the competition. Dodge and Mazda don't publish concrete numbers, only saying that the Caliber SRT4 will run "low sixes" and that the Mazdaspeed3 will crank out 60 mph in "under six." The Chevrolet falls in slightly behind those two cars, but it's still far ahead of the less powerful VW GTI, which does the sprint in 7.2 seconds. Those who crave nothing but outright numerical supremacy should wait for the Cobalt SS Turbo, which will surely trump the others mentioned here.
Limiting revs even more than the no-lift system is the launch-control feature. With the stability-control system set to Competitive mode, this feature is automatically armed every time the car comes to a stop. Drop the gas pedal to the floor and launch control holds the engine at 4100 rpm, allowing the driver to focus wholly on the twin tasks of dumping the clutch and smoking the punk in a Mustang that just revved his engine at the stoplight. Traction control steps in to limit wheel spin here, but only enough to ensure a decent launch. Of course, for dramatic and smoky tire roasting, the stability-control system can be killed altogether, and launch control goes away, too.
We finish up a session of playing with the HHR's launch and acceleration aids on the paved pad that sits alongside the Bondurant school's autocross course, and now it is time for the main event — hot laps on the road course. Here, the distractions of Phoenix traffic, patrol cars, and sand-covered roads following a fresh desert rain are gone, but the short track is a challenging one, with high speed turns and blind crests that threaten to throw an inattentive driver right into the hey bales. The HHR exhibits just as much athleticism here as it does on the road, where it demonstrated excellent body control and great damping on rough surfaces. Twin-tube MacPherson struts are used for the front suspension just as in the existing HHR models, but a 23-millimeter stabilizer bar has been added and damper tuning is SS-specific. At the rear, a semi-trailing twist-beam setup gets similar modifications, with a solid, 24-millimeter stabilizer bar, stiffer axle bushings, and progressive-wound coil springs. Final tuning, as the Chevy reps proudly boast, was done at the Nürburgring in Germany. The result is a car that feels lighter than the Dodge Caliber SRT4, despite a curb weight that's 100 pounds heavier at 3280 pounds. In fact, the HHR feels closer in terms of agility to a Mazdaspeed3, only taller and with better damping. It also feels well planted, even at triple-digit speeds. While the front-drive HHR is inherently an understeerer, the car can be provoked to whip its rear end out briefly, but only with a dramatic lift of the throttle in one of Bondurant's blind corners.
So even if the HHR is marginally slower than both of those cars, it's a true all-around performer, whereas the Caliber is more of an on-paper all-star. Also, power delivery is more progressive than in the turbocharged Mazda, with the boost coming on earlier and less abruptly. The power amps up around 2500 rpm then plateaus, for a linear pull right up to redline. The coarse little four-pot doesn't sound great, but the whooshing of the turbo enhances the experience of mashing the HHR's throttle before lifting off to hear the blow-off valve belch angrily. (That noise was a hot topic in the development of this car, but Chevy's younger engineers pushed for more a tuner-pleasing blow-off noise and pushed the louder valve into production.) On Bondurant's track, torque steer remains a non-issue with the Chevy, though wheelspin is excessive at times, even with the limited-slip. That's a problem we suspect could be cured with a set of summer tires, but Chevrolet doesn't plan to offer them, even as an option. It's part of an effort, we're told, to differentiate the HHR's purpose from that of the more hardcore Cobalt SS Turbo, which will come with summers standard.
Where the HHR SS might lose buyers cross-shopping the Volkswagen GTI or the Mazdaspeed3 is in the cabin. While the seats are supportive and comfortable, the optional red leather accents look special, but in a Pep Boys sort of way. The door panels, dashboard, and center console are all rock-hard plastic, and the updated gauge cluster still looks cheapish. The Caliber SRT4, which has been battered by the same complaints, should be more worried about the SS. A lot of people have been disappointed in the Caliber SRT4's evolution from the old Neon SRT4, with gripes focused on the lack of a mechanical limited-slip and the car's truck-like feel. The management of expectations isn't a problem here — no sane person can claim that Chevy screwed up the HHR with this SS version. In fact, listening to the HHR's turbo four spit and burble from the side of the track, I can't help but think this car feels more like the old breathed-on Neon than the hot Caliber does, and that the upcoming Cobalt should be even more appealing for the enthusiasts who still mourn that car's departure. Chevrolet is even considering stage kits for the small SS twins, as Dodge offered with the Neon, which will take power figures north of 300 hp.
The HHR SS is being shipped to dealers as you read this, with a $22,995 base price that's equal to the Caliber SRT4's and twenty bucks more than the Mazdaspeed3's. Add in the limited-slip and Brembo brakes (which you want, trust me) and the cost will still remain competitive. If neither the styling nor the interior quality bother you, it'll be well worth your money. The SS badge has true meaning again, and in the small-car performance market at least, the HHR is America's new hero.
http://www.motivemag.com/pub/feature/first_steer/Motive_First_Drive_2008_Chevrolet_HHR_SS.shtml
