Help my mom buy a new car (HHR and no boring sedan content)

My mom has finally decided to replace her 1985 Mercedes 300 Turbo Diesel. She's been looking at the Lexus ct200h but this evening expressed reservations about dropping 20k on a car. We did some quick math and came up with about a 15 year pay back if she bought a car at half the price that gets half the mpg. She hates boring cookie cutter sedans so the Accord and the like are out. She did mention renting a HHR for a trip once and liking it's styling and ride. She's a tree hugger (yea I know the Mercedes is bad) so emissions and mpg are high considerations. Thoughts?

I daily drive an HHR at the rate of 120+ miles per day. As a people and cargo hauler, it's outstanding. I take my kids to practice and carry all their gear, or make huge Costco runs. It's comfortable for long trips. Interior is rental car grade, but very user friendly. For someone who needs a cheap wagon, it's hard to beat. I get 30-31mpg with it, a 2.2L 5 spd.

I've read others complain about visibility and blind spots, but I completely disagree. I have no issues with visibility.

What does she want to spend? Is she stuck on new or will used suffice.

Scion xB might also fit the bill if the HHR is too old or American.

Why not get the more pedestrian Prius vs. the CT200h? Its cheaper, faster, gets better gas mileage, and has plenty of utility.

She's looking used. She was looking at 2013 or so ct200h but today we talked about lowering the budget down to 10k. I'd say it's more the car than the price for her. For instance she liked the ct200h over the Prius mainly because of the styling. But she's recently retired so if she can get a good not bland car for less it'd make her feel more comfortable financial.

Has she looked at a Ford C-Max? I just got one done for about 12k. A little over the top of the budget, but I couldn't find another hybrid that came close price-wise. Nicer to drive than a Prius as well. Mine is a 2013, about 49k on it when I bought it.

If you are willing to take a trip to Orlando these guys have several of those lexuses at seemingly decent prices.

http://www.offleaseonly.com/mobile/pages/inventory/browse.asp?param_type=used&param_location=3082331&param_make=Lexus&param_model=CT%20200h

What about a used Prius or Prius V?

Well, not a tree hugger version, but the HHR SS is fun with 300 hp... ;)

More seriously, Volt. Used '12-13s are down in the sub $15k range and can be used day to day on pure electricity, but get 40-50 mpg when running on gas on the highway. I loved mine.

Klayfish wrote: I daily drive an HHR at the rate of 120+ miles per day. As a people and cargo hauler, it's outstanding. I take my kids to practice and carry all their gear, or make huge Costco runs. It's comfortable for long trips. Interior is rental car grade, but very user friendly. For someone who needs a cheap wagon, it's hard to beat. I get 30-31mpg with it, a 2.2L 5 spd. I've read others complain about visibility and blind spots, but I completely disagree. I have no issues with visibility.

While I did like the HHR overall, we differ on some points. For one, apparently your definition of "huge Costco runs" is different from mine.

Do you have a height adjustment on your seats? The one I drove did not, which made seeing at certain angles difficult. The top of the windshield blocked view of traffic lights when stopped at the line, and the inside mirror often blocked my view of traffic descending on-ramps. The view in that mirror was ... ummm ... narrow.

I did like the HHR for long trips, and got around 30 MPG with the automatic.

Aside from the problems seeing out, the electric power steering failing once, the ignition switch occasionally refusing to give up the key for a while (requiring a particularly awkward Vulcan nerve pinch to release), and the later ignition switch recall, it was a fine machine.