I saw an HHR on the road the other day, and I was thinking to myself "Man, GM can hit a homerun when they want to". Then it hit.....what if GM had got ambitious with with the CSV (Continuously ****ty Vans), and applied the HHR styling to the Uplander. I know there is probaly a thousand cost and engineering reasons why...but I don't care. The styling and proportions would be the same, just bigger. An Uplander with the HHR's styling would eat Chrysler alive (at least for a few years)...even with the inferior, dated chassis. I am sure plenty of Minivan buyers would consider an HHR and find it too small. Call me crazy...but I think soccer moms everywhere would eat a retro minivan alive!

 

Better yet they could do it on the new Lambda platform..............

 

I bet that styling would look pretty stupid if it were blown up 50% in size.

 

Remember the HHR drew its inspiration from the 1949 Suburban, which would be more or less the size of a current minivan.

 

I hear ya, though I'd also have to wonder how goofy the HHR would look blown up in size. My biggest peeve with the new minivans is the badge engineering gone wild with them.

 

Maybe, but could it possibly look any worse than the current Uplander does?
I think a HHR-kinda look would be much more appealing than the hairball the General coughed up for the current exterior style of the so-called CSVs.

Aftee renting one for a weekend a couple of weeks ago I have little better to say now, than beforehand. The only truly redeeming qualities of the package were the fairly nice looking dash redo and the mileage we got - but I'm far from a minivan lover so..... Now, one can balance or even try to refute this observation, we drove what was pretty close to a base version, uplevel models may offer a better experience - but you would still be stuck with that "look".

As far as minivans go, Chrysler's stow-and-go seating really ups the utility of a minivan. With the Chev, we were left looking for more storage space.

If, the Gods forbid, we were ever in the market for such a vehicle (must... resist.... wife.... get new.... Camaro.... kids be damned:-), the Chrylser products are just superior, IMO.

 

hmm . . . maybe but not exactly.