From an 1880’s abandoned covanent school the skinwalker presents:

As all conversations start about this car, one simply asks: why would one ever buy that thing. Well, it was quite simple. I like going fast, I like stupid vehicles, and I like handling. Now you may wonder how an HHR could ever do any of those things but being stupid. The answer comes in its underpinnings, the ungainly body of the HHR was simply given a chin and then dropped onto the turbo Cobalt SS platform, gaining its suspension, powertrain, and chassis (which the HHR and cobalt already shared). Making 260hp through a 5 speed manual and a geared LSD, it was competitve with other hot hatches of its day. At autocross I’ve been very close to times put down by MK7 GTI’s.

Now don’t for one second get the idea in your head that this car will be normal from the drivers seat, because it won’t be. When you step in you are greeted by an incredibly upright dashboard and a seat taller than any other hot hatch. The distance between the steering wheel and the windshield is probably a whole foot. You attempt to lower the seat, but it wants to pretend to be a compact crossover. The A-pillar boost gauge pod from the factory and SS badges tell you something is not right with this thing. After a few seconds of wondering why, you get used to it, and then you corner and the height makes it feel bizarre. It’s not bad, just strange. Needless to say these things were not sales successes, with only 10,000ish of them ever making it to the road. The strangeness of it all and the sheer rarity is excellent to me

Now for the driving experience of this thing. First off it feels like a hot hatch should. The steering is amazing, it has great feedback, it’s responsive, and the weight of it is quite good. The engine is also a lot of fun, the power is great and the engine likes to go all the way to redline. The sound it makes is great for a 4-cylinder and the acceleration is quick, not truly fast, but plenty to have fun on straight lines. The 1-2 shift gap is a little bigger than you would want but not the worst flaw. The LSD and torque will attempt to wrestle the wheel from you. The height makes it feel slightly strange on corner entry, but then the grip reassures you that this chassis is more than happy to take corners. On to the daily drivability part of the review, there’s nothing wrong nor exceptional from a daily driving standpoint. The recaro sourced seat is excellent, the ride is a little stiff. The interior is cheap recession GM, no getting around it. The interior door handles feel like you’ll pull them off on every use. None of the dashboard looks or feels good. The cargo space is super impressive, and the rear legroom is great. With the rear seats down it will take 2 bikes without disconnecting front wheels, 1.5 more than the bed of a cybertruck. It will also take a twin sized mattress and every possesion in a college apartment bedroom.

In the end, this car looks stupid, is absurdly rare, and drives great. Exactly what I wanted in a car. In the words of one of my friends after I drove them in it hard for the first time, “I hate that GM actually made an HHR into something good”.