Latest Motor Trend has article comparing the HHR, Mazda 3s, Dodge Caliber and Toyota Matrix. They placed the Mazda first, now I will say that all in all the Mazda is a pretty nice overall vehicle. however I was very disappointed to see the place the Matrix 2nd and the HHR 3rd. After all, isn't the Vibe GM's worst vehicle as far as quality goes?

I want to write a letter into MT, can anybody give me the links showing the Vibes poor quality ratings for me to shove in their faces?

The Vibe is built at the NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA by UAW workers. The Matrix is built at Toyota's Cambridge plant in Canada by nonunionized workers. It's possible that the general design is nearly identical, but there may be differences in manufacturing. Of course, it may just be perception and biases as well to account for differences. However, the quality issues are probably not going to be found on brand new cars, but those that are a year old when the car starts to fall apart.

So then this would mean the Dodge placed 4th, no suprise there. Saw one this weekend when me and my g/f were going to the movies, cute no. good-looking no. hideous yes.

bobo, thanks for the info, I was not aware of that.

PS, sorry about putting this post in the truck section... didn't realize that until now. Moderator please delete, I already have a duplicate post in the chevrolet cars forum.

i didn't realize how tiny the hhr is on the inside until i sat in one this past weekend.

to be honest i'd rather have the mazda 3

It really depends on what one is using these cars for....

The HHR should have at least gotten 2nd. The Mazda3 was going to win because it is more sporty than the HHR, and since when have auto mags favored a slower car? They griped more about the Matrix having funny little annoyances, which added up should have demoted it to 3rd. They took major points off the HHR because it was "too slow." But they also say that the Matrix makes you work hard to get any quickness. That area seems to be subjective to me-I'm still getting used to a clutch, so an automatic HHR would probably be faster than me in a manual Matrix. But the HHR isnt supposed to be a poor-mans Z06, so I think they came down too hard on it for not going 0-60 in sub-4 seconds.