HHR driver seeks to improve mileage

[spacer]

I just picked up an '06 yesterday, with the 2.4.
I have the roof rack rails, but no crossbars, and since I'll likely need to haul our canoe from time to time, I'll probably leave the rails intact for the moment. The spoiler is there, but I actually kinda like it (I've been told I'm weird, but that's another thread). If I find evidence that I'll see anything resembling a significant mpg gain by removing it (without killing resale) then I'll look into it.
I flung it around Tuscaloosa today with the wife and kid aboard, got in some residential city driving, business area too, and took a mixed route home from there, between a two lane highway and a stretch of interstate (at about 68mph), and got a reading of 28mpg from my DIC. The city/highway mix was probably about 25/75.
When I fill up I'll see how close the dash computer is to reality, but compared to my last few vehicles, this is a real relief.

I was hoping there'd be some other HHR drivers on the board.

[Thymeclock]

While awaiting a relatively minor warranty repair on my then almost new ’09 Aveo, the Chevy dealer gave me a loaner car that was an ’05 HHR. It was all black with black tinted windows and it looked like a coffin on wheels. I hated the damn thing and was very glad to get my Aveo back. (BTW, do the the letters HHR mean anything?)

I think you might be wasting your time with aero mods for it. What I noticed with the HHR is that the A/T had the same shift points as my Aveo – meaning that the torque converter lockup does not occur until 45 MPH. Apparently Chevy used the same programming for all their automatic transmissions, which means you will get poor FE at speeds lower than 45, no matter what you do.

[spacer]

HHR stands for Heritage High Roof, and I'll keep the slow-speed local driving tip in mind. I do like mine, though.