I can defend a Hummer - that is a real Hummer - a military Humvee. If you own of those it is because you need it. They are loud dirty and uncomfortable. They are the type of machine that if you get a little punchy while stuck in Saudi and decide to go off road in the dunes and happen to not see a 6’ deep ditch, the Hummer will do more damage to you that you will do to it. It can cause the passenger in your Hummer to need several stitches above his right eye. And it will back out of said ditch without even a scratch. They are purpose built machines that are very good at doing what they are designed to do.
The H2 and H3 are not Hummers and don’t deserve to even be considered.
IIRC, the true Hummer has a diesel engine that can run on just about anything (vegetable oil, biodiesel, kool-aide, Rumpleminz, etc) and gets mileage in the low teens, while the brainless wannabees with gas engines get single digit mileage (as Cartooniverse mentioned, and I’d never noticed the “i” in his name before now) and seem to be a bit of a waste to me, but it’s not my dime.
If they are really driving one to be “different”, “macho”, “big”, “taller”, “look at me” I suggest they just go all out and buy a dump truck, cement mixer, school bus, or Peterbuilt cab. Y’know. Be original at least.
I can’t even say Hummers are so 5 minutes ago because they were 5 minutes ago 5 years ago.
I saw a “tricked-out” H2 a couple weeks ago. Bright yellow and the owner had tacked on all this body cladding, spoilers, running boards, and bric-a-brac that was also painted the same bright yellow. It was ugly, made uglier, and effectively reduced its already limited off-road capability to zero.
Not that I really care about what someone drives but the Hummer seems to a poor choice for most situations (i.e. urban/suburban environments). It’s like wearing snow shoes to work in the middle of summer, it’s just a bad choice. I think I would feel the same if really expensive snow shoes suddenly became a trend. I would think that the people wearing them were foolish and make fun of them behind their back.
For a narrow range of uses, as Brewha and Bob the Optimist among others have said, it is indeed a fit vehicle. And if you need its capabilities, there aren’t a lot of other vehicles that will do (the Unimog comes to mind).
The H2 and H3, however, seem more flash than substance, the mark of a poseur who wants to build an image on non-existent foundations, rather than that of a tool-user who needs a tool with a specific capability. And that’s a shame, because the styling of the outside of the H2’s cabin isn’t that bad.
Sure I can. As other posters have said, the hummer is no worse than a lot of other SUV’s on the market. You just notice them more because they stand out. Ya get pissed off at all the jags on the road? BMW? Mercedes?
I owned an H3 for a year. Gas mileage of the H3 was 14 city, 18 highway. Not great, but on par with just about any other large truck. The one I bought was about $36K out the door. I had gotten a great promotion to a new job that paid me significantly more money and I wanted to reward myself. So I wanted something nice to drive. I also live in an area subject to flooding, occasional ice and snow storms (with crap for plowing…they throw sand down) and the odd hurricane now and then. So I wanted a vehicle that could handle a fair amount of 4WD requirements when I needed them. I didn’t want a pick-up as I don’t need to haul anything, but as this was my daily driver (all 5 miles each way) I wanted comfort. So what else fit the bill? The H3 I owned had a very nice sound system, the DVD players in the back for the little one (or me) when we took long drives, was small enough for my wife to be able to drive (unlike the H2) and was comfortable for me. I needed something nice enough to take the odd boss out and have them like the car, but also within my general price range, as I wasn’t making that much money.
So before you start painting everyone that buys a hummer as a slack-jawed-drooling-small dicked-wealthy moron perhaps you should take a few moments to consider that there may be a reason that some of us buy them.
There’s a Jeep dealer directly across the street from work, and they have a couple H2’s on their lot (one yellow, one silver), they’ve been there for at least 6 months, they keep putting lower and lower price stickers on them, yet they never move…
every time i drive past the dealership i can’t help but laugh, gas up here is averaging around $3/gallon for 87 octane, with gas prices in the $3-3.50 range, those glorified Tahoes will be growing moss before they’re purchased…
overall i’ve seen a much higher number of small cars around here recently, Priuses (Pri-ii?) are common, as are the Honda Civic Hybrid and diesel VW’s, i’ve seen a distinct increase in the number of scooters and small motorcycles as well, the big, thyroidal gas guzzlers sit on dealers lots and they can’t give the things away, heck, the local Dodge dealer has a Magnum out on display that had an asking price of $16,000 IIRC
Yeah, it’s an attainable dream. Also, one of the very few armored vehicles that are street legal to drive around. I look forward to hitting drive-throughs in mine someday.
If you are the kind of person who sees a Hummer and says “look at that asshole” or considers the cost or environmental or social impact, then a Hummer isn’t for you. The person driving it doesn’t care what you think because it is the type of purchase that is more or less calculated to piss someone like you off.
There seems to be a lot of mis-directed anger at people who purchase/drive gas guzzling vehicles 9like the “Hummer”). What about people who inhabit 10,000 sq. ft. Mcmansions 9like Jonathan Edwards, the self sacrificing lawyer and champion of the poor)? Or people who have enormous power boats 9which burn 20-30 gallons/hour? Or politicians who (like Al Gore) who take private jets?
The market is distating people’s choice of vehicles. Why don’t we single out residential energy hogs as well?
I would never buy a Hummer-they are simple too big and wasteful for me. But if you want one-go ahead! I’m sure you can get a good deal on one now!
When I first arrived at Ft Campbell many years ago I took a drivers class for the HMMWV (FUN). The next day my commander pulled me out of the morning formation and told my squad leader to send me to pick up his freshly painted command vehicle from the depot on post.
This was back in the day… when you could drive a HMMWV with just a soft cap and no gear. The HMMWV was freshly painted and outfitted… and the top wasn’t on it yet. It was a warm summer Tennessee morning, the fog had just burned off.
The air was sweet, my sleeves were rolled up, and I felt like the Coolest M_____F___er on Earth driving that thing. It had a full bag of gas and I had about an hour and a half to get it to motor pool. I used every second I had been given. I will never… ever forget that. Damn…
I’ll also never forget the first time I was assigned my very own HMMWV… God Bless The USA! BTW: they’re hard to get airborne… you’ve gotta want it!
So, excuse me if I came within a frog’s hair of buying one a few months ago. I have nothing but good memories of that vehicle.
That’s what I say. What about Lambos or Ferraris? They get worse gas milage. Oh I forgot, they look pretty.
Don’t be a hypocrite. Hate everything that is beyond average or exceeds what you define as necessary.
Why wear more than your underwear and good thick socks? … Anything else is just waste!
Anyone that consumes anything more than whole wheat bread, water, and a vitamin is a glutton!
Leave a persons personal choice alone. 90% of the problems on this planet are caused by another persons inability to mind their own business.
There wouldn’t be so much pollution and waste if our gov’t wasn’t in the pocket of big businesses and corporations. Let’s talk about the disease… not the symptom.
