Do people buy Hummers because they are good vehicles, or because of the status? Are they really worth the money?
I belive the original hummer (from now on known as the H1) was a great vehicle. The new H2, and the soon to be released H3 are junk!
I think most people by Hummers because they are “cool”. My opinions on the Hummer are below, but I have yet to see more than 2 or 3 actually being used for anything more than reagular driving. The Hummer is just the new “biggest and best SUV” for the yuppies with too much cash. Sorry if I offend anyone here that owns one, but if the shoe fits…
H1 was a cleaned up version of the military version. Different interior, different engine (not sure about that but think so), different paint options. The frame and body was the same as the military version. They even left the “helicopter lifting hooks” on it(If that isn’t the definition of cool I don’t know what is). The H1 is a great off road vehicle, but is very wide so have problems on some trails made for jeeps. Of course you still need to know what you are doing when going off road. As for cost I think they are too expenisve for what people use them for.
The H2, and the soon to be released H3, are both junk. More plastic, lower to the ground reducing off road capabilities. These were designed to attract the “macho man” that wants a hummer because it is cool, not because he will use it for anything more than going to the store, and work. BTW the “helicopter lifting points” were left on the H2, but are now made out of plastic. Wouldn’t want to lift it with those. Cost again is too much for what they are.
I think they are. They are excellent vehicles.
In my fleet of vehicles, I have a military hummer. I’ve gone places and done things with it that I would NEVER go/do with an H2. IMO the H2 is just a status symbol, no different from the Mercedes/Lexus/any other luxury SUV that couldn’t make it through a bumpy parking lot.
The H2 finished DEAD LAST in the J.D. Powers customer satisafction survey. That makes it hard to consider it as a good vehicle.
Here in my city where there’s no offroad application they’re a status symbol. They symbolize the fact that the driver is a fucking idiot that’s not used to and in fact incapable of manuvering a vehicle that large and gives fuck not about the welfare of other drivers on the road.
If one more of these damn idiots drives me off the road again by blatently veering into my lane to avoid a little frikkin’ pothole then by gawd I’m going to be the sonuvabitch with a 50 calibur strapped to the roof. We’re just starting to see them on the roads but I’ve already had four unpleasant encounters with Hummer agression and/or stupidity.
Idiots. Stupid f*cking idiots. It’s the worst thing to happen to American highways and roadways in the last 100 years.
why is that rogzilla? Any links or details?
You can find them on ebay sometimes.
My pissy rant was of course not directed at people like Will, who in 29 Palms has a perfectly justifiable offroad use for the original vehicle.
One more thing… notice on their commercial how they’ve got the videogame spacecraft that’s shooting attacking meteors until a H2 replaces them, deflects all the shots and chases the spacecraft off the screen? Way to sell an agressive, “indestructable me” mindset you nimwits.
Sociably irresponsible, that’s what they are. 7100 lbs of gas guzzling, road hogging stupidity.
Heh, “sociably”?
sigh
While the H2 did get 225 complaints per 100 vehicles, the highest in the survery, guess what the #1 complaint was? Bad gas mileage. This skews the survery so much as to make in meaningless.
Who knew a 6500 lb behemoth would get bad gas mileage?
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/06022003/col_comm/31898.htm
Personally, the H1 is a great vehicle that is mostly not used for anything resembling what it was designed for. The H2 is a dressed up Chevy Tahoe.
Unless you’re truly using the Hummer off road (most don’t), it’s purely a penis compensation tactic and I despite you for it.
Oh man, I hope you’re kidding. What’s the H3? An electric car?
Nope, a smaller Hummer, based on the replacement for the current S10/Sonoma. Brand extension, don’t you know.
Oops, forgot the link.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-06-17-hummer_x.htm
Jeremy Clarkson tested the H1 in a desert once and said it was absolutely useless on deep sand (and video evidence bore this out, given that the Land Rover Defender 90 being used as a camera vehicle had no trouble at all).
Dropping the tyre pressure (dangerously low) helped, apparently.
Personally, I think any off-road vehicle weighing more than two tons is asking for it.
And given that the vast majority of Hummer owners have never seen a dirt parking lot, let alone a riverbed or a muddy hillside, makes them status symbols only.
Get a Pinzgauer. It’s an Austrian military vehicle that is street legal in the US. Used, you can pick one up for about $10,000. It’s far more rugged and versatile than the Hummer.
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- I have seen far more hummers perfectly clean than I have dirty. In fact I can’t ever remember seeing one that was really muddy. Most have been pronotional vehicles for radio stations or one a local limo company rents out.
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- I have seen far more hummers perfectly clean than I have dirty. In fact I can’t ever remember seeing one that was really muddy. Most have been pronotional vehicles for radio stations or one a local limo company rents out.
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- IMO, the H2 is a dressed-up, overpriced ordinary SUV.
… - In my jarhead buddies’ opinion, the original Hummer is a good military vehicle, but a POS for most off-roading. It is big externally but has much less interior room than a Chevy Suburban, and weighs 2000 lbs more. Not to mention the fact that in civilian form it costs a bit more to purchase and maintain. He said the “green” ones drive like 55MPH tractors. Many rich & famous early owners soon agreed and sold theirs within months, it seems.
- I agree heartily. While off-road I saw many times Jeep CJ5’s and 7’s cheerfully bounce across terrain that other vehicles struggled with. As much as I dislike tiny vehicles, it’s very tough to follow a classic Jeep with locking axles and 35-inch tires offroad.
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I’d wish you could get a street legal HEMTT http://www.armouredengineer.force9.co.uk/hemtt/hemtt.htm
http://www.oshkoshtruck.co.uk/Products/HEMTT.cfm
(OK, not really, but if you are going for ugly, why not go all the way?)
Brian
dutchboy, the Defender 90 had no trouble because it and it’s sister the Discovery are the greatest offroad vehicles ever concived and created!
Er, um, ahem… sorry.
Although I do drive an SUV, my footprint seems to be about 1/2 that of an H2! What would piss me off? Well, for starters, all that pretty “chrome” is plastic! That car is a cheap piece of junk. Also, I would never dream of taking one offroad- they are very bouncy and unwieldy-feeling. Hell, I figure they might roll over in a parking lot!
Give me a real offroad capable vehicle with a bolt-on frame any day!
EjsGirl, a Land Rover girl all the way!
Edmunds also rates the H2 as the ecological disaster piece of crap that it is.