2010 Hummer H3 Reviews

Square, squat and functional in a seriously no-nonsense manner, the H3 is coming to a road near you.GM makes no excuse for the Hummer's style; no soft lines, no friendly curves and no compromises.“I don't think people need to; or should apologise for driving this car,” director of GM Premium Brands in Australia Parveen Batish says.“It's very much a polarising brand and you will either love it or hate it and that is fine by us. We prefer people to be polarised than be not really sure.”Although a descendent of the original Humvee military transport from the Gulf War, the H3 has not only been shrunk, but also civilised.It retains distinctive Hummer design characteristics but, at 2.2 tonnes, is no heavier than most and lighter than some of the more 'mainstream' SUV's winning favour as mum's taxi.Scheduled for release in Australia some five months ago, the H3 is now on sale in 22 dealerships.GM is coy about the reasons for the delay but in essence the company had to work through a raft of mostly minor Australian Design Rule modifications.The Hummer's 3.7-litre in-line five-cylinder petrol engine drives through a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic gearbox and permanent all-wheel drive.The entry-level H3 starts at $51,990 (add $2000 for the automatic) and comes standard with stability control, traction control, ABS, dual front airbags, curtain side airbags, cruise control, foglights, halogen headlights, five 16-inch alloys with 265/75 road-biased rubber with a 31-inch diameter, single in-dash CD and cloth trim.The H3 Luxury ($59,990) comes as an automatic only with leather seat inserts, heated front seats, exterior chrome package, six-disc in-dash CD and sunroof. For the more hard-core off-roader, the H3 Adventure comes as a manual at $57,990 or automatic ($59,990) and shares its trim; except the sunroof; with the Luxury.It also adds additional underbody protection, a locking electronic rear differential and a heavy-duty transfer case with a crawler ratio of 4.03:1.Disappointingly none of the cars come standard with a rear warning device, a glaring omission in a car with as little rear vision as the H3 boasts. Instead, GM has included in an extensive accessories list a $455 (plus fitting) set of rear parking sensors.“We understand how important this is as a safety feature but unfortunately it's not available out of the factory,” Batish says. “We're talking to GM about it and there may be movement for 2008 cars but at the moment we've done the best we can by ensuring it is available as a local accessory.”GM says it is holding 400 orders for the H3 but will not say how many cars it expects to sell in the coming year. The H3 for Australia will be sourced out of South Africa where the global right-hand drive cars are being made.It is likely a turbo diesel engine will be available in 2009 while a decision on the 5.3-litre V8 model is still pending.Producing 180kW at 5600rpm and 328Nm of torque at a relatively high 4600rpm (although Hummer claims 90per cent of the peak torque is reached by 2000rpm), the 3.7-litre engine does a reasonable job shifting the H3 along the highways and byways.There is not a lot of activity when you go for the throttle anywhere above 80km/h but be patient and plan your overtaking and the engine will eventually respond.The driving position is surprisingly comfortable after scaling the considerable heights to reach the cabin. On the subject of getting in and out of the H3, a word of warning: If you are going mud-bashing then it would be prudent to option the car with sidesteps as it is almost impossible to get out of the car without wiping the door sills clean with your leg.The interior offers a reasonably high standard of materials and general ambience. It is also good from an ergonomic viewpoint, with all controls easily to hand.It is less appealing from the back. The door openings are small, entry and exit compromised by extended square wheel arches, the stadium seating and small windows slightly claustrophobic.As a road drive, the H3 is not without merit. External vision is compromised by the relatively small windows, but when well adjusted the huge wing mirrors do compensate.Steering is not as heavy as expected, given the size of the tyres, but it is vague. General manoeuvrability is excellent from the H3's surprisingly nimble 11.3m turning circle.The H3 may have some city manners but it has truly serious off-road ability.All models run a full-time AWD system with two high-range settings; open and locked centre diff; and a low range locked. Even without the option of the super-low crawl gearing and locking rear diff of the Adventure model, it is difficult to image just what sort of terrain will stop this thing.A launch course that would put some more popular 'off-roaders' to the sword barely had the H3 out of a trot. Loose rock climbs, heavily rutted roads and mud bogs were as nothing to the Hummer.You can be reasonably confident you are not going to break the H3 with anything short of off-road lunacy.The Hummer's largely welded body (eliminating squeaky bits where screwed and bolted panels rub) sits on an old-school solid ladder-frame chassis. It all rides a simple independent, torsion bar front and live-axle leaf-spring rear suspension.See this car at the Australian International Motor Show   

From the liberation of Kuwait to our city streets, the Hummer has been a surprising success in the automotive world.Back in the '80s Hummer was building Humvees for the US Army. They hit the spotlight in the first Gulf War and pretty soon celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenegger bought them for the streets.Hummer replied with the roadworthy H1, then a slightly downscaled H2. These are only built in left-hand drive and the only ones you can buy here have been converted in Gympie.Soon GM will import the right-hand-drive cute “baby” of the brawny Hummer family, the H3.We would have had it now, but for minor ADR production problems at the right-hand-drive Hummer plant in South Africa pushing the national launch back to the start of October.I recently drove a H3 in California for 10 days. The smaller military-style SUV still stands out from the crowd, even on the big SUV-dominated interstates of southern California.Perhaps it was the burnt orange colour that attracted attention, but it enjoyed favourable stares everywhere it went. Except San Francisco. Here, the tree-hugging hippy liberals in their small hybrid cars gave it disparaging looks.One unscrubbed homeless gent even mumbled something rude under his breath and spat in the general direction of the H3 as I fed the hungry parking meter. At least he didn't bother asking me for change.Like its bigger brother, the H3 is a boxy-looking car with a high floor and low and wide interior.It seems like a big machine, but inside it is quite cosy for four adults.You could fit five, but the middle rear seat has a pull-out drinks container which makes the seat hard and uncomfortable for long stints.That hot rod slit-window look also has its drawbacks for rear passengers, making them feel a little claustrophobic.A big sunroof at least quelled some of those feelings for my two teenage daughters and gave them a bit of a sightseeing advantage on the Golden Gate Bridge and among the giant sequoia trees of Yosemite National Park.The slitty windscreen doesn't inhibit the forward view, but the rear view is limited by the narrow window with the door-mounted spare tyre cribbing even more of the space.However, there are some advantages of the steep and small windows.Firstly, the sun doesn't get into the cabin which means you don't drive with your knuckles and knees in the sun and the interior stays cooler, longer when parked outside and locked up.That's a big advantage in 40C heat when dad is having a sleep in the carpark at one of the many premium factory outlets that dot the Californian landscape, while the rest of the family is indoors melting the plastic credit card.The advantage is that the short windows wind up and down quickly for paying tolls. California was in heatwave conditions when I was there, so the shorter time the windows were open, the better.While the airconditioning coped well with the record temperatures, there are no vents in the rear compartment to circulate cool air.Despite being a truck-like vehicle, the commanding driving position, ride and handling are very car-like.The seats are soft yet supportive and multi-adjustable, which is good since the steering wheel is height- but not reach-adjustable.There are also no audio controls on the steering wheel and there is only one control stalk which services the blinkers, lights, cruise control and wiper/washers.Build quality is solid throughout; a little too solid since the heavy back door is a real chore to open and close, especially when parked on the steep inclines of a San Francisco street.The model I drove had chrome bumpers, side steps, petrol cap and roof racks. It is not yet known whether these will be standard or options on the Australian models.Despite its army exterior styling, the interior is quite comfortable and refined and has won awards for its class.Out on the road, there is surprisingly little wind or road noise, despite the steep rake of the windows and the chunky off-road tyres.This SUV is actually built for rugged off-road conditions with its front and rear recovery hooks, electronic transfer case, big clearance, big wheels and sophisticated stability control. It's not really designed for the tarmac.On the interstate concrete pavements and smooth streets of Frisco, the H3 actually feels a little highly sprung with the leaf spring rear getting quite bouncy over carpark speed bumps. This is not typical of American cars which are usually softly sprung.We headed for Yosemite, hoping to put the on-paper off-road credentials to the test. Sadly, the national park roads are all smoothly paved and you can't drive on the trails.The off-road credentials show an intent for rugged work, except for the omission of a hill-descent function.Still, it coped quite well with the steep inclines of Frisco and the world's wiggliest and steepest street, Lombard St, where the speed limit is 8km/h.Along Big Sur, which is a windy coast road the breathtaking equivalent of Victoria's Great Ocean Rd, the H3 felt a little sloppy with plenty of pitch and roll.It is not yet known whether the suspension will be tweaked for Aussie conditions and driving tastes, but it would be expected.We packed four adults and a mountain of gear into the vehicle with some cramming. The cargo space is not as big as it looks because of the high floor.With all this extra weight the 3.7-litre engine struggled a little.It seemed to rev a lot to get going and to accelerate for overtaking. But once on a roll, it rarely baulked at hills with its grunty dose of torque.However, in the record heat and on some of the longer and steeper inclines of the Sierra Nevada, the engine temperature went uncomfortably high.The four-speed auto transmission seems rudimentary, but coped well without any indecisiveness, hunting for gears or flaring.A five-speed manual may also be available here.The strong disc brakes got a good workout on long and dangerous descents down windy roads into Yosemite Valley without any hint of fade.Steering is typically American with a vague centre and plenty of play. It goes into corners with some understeer.If its off-road credentials stack up the way they do on paper,  transmission aside, it should sell well here as a rugged alternative to the gentrified SUV competition.One company that will be monitoring sales is Toyota whose lookalike FJ Cruiser has been a success in the US and could be a goer here.I parked the two side by side at Yosemite and drew an instant crowd of fans, even though it was just a couple of days after Al Gore's worldwide greenie concert.Of course, the first thing these admirers wanted to know was the fuel economy.I drove high-speed interstates, cities, steep canyons, you name it. This was no economy drive, so the average consumption was about 15.2 litres per 100km.That may seem high, but given the conditions and the fact that 'gas' costs only 80-85 a litre, I wasn't complaining.

Hummmmmmeeeerr. That's where.Hummer, the civilian vehicle derived from the Humvee military, is one big look-at-me bad boy.It's a vehicle that has been made famous by the Gulf War as much as California Governor Arnie Schwarzenegger, who has a collection of them.As we found out on a H2 Hummer test day at Darlington Park Raceway, at the Gold Coast's northern tip, this is a big boy's toy.In cult terms the Hummer is about as close as you get on four wheels to the iconic Harley. We put the vehicle through its paces, on track and off, with Corvette Queensland, that converts the vehicles to right-hand drive and also markets them in Queensland.Three Gold Coasters have taken the plunge into the $142,000 vehicles. A luxury pack will set you back another $15,000.Keep some spare change for the fuel, with the Vortec 6.0-litre, 237kW GM Gen 111 V8 rated about 20 litres/100km. That's because it is pushing around three tonne of vehicle.It's unlikely the type of person buying a Hummer will take too much notice of fuel prices, so filling the tank for about $150 is unlikely to raise the blood pressure too much.Big Arnie saw private buyer potential for the vehicle in 1992 and asked US authorities to sell him one.Those who follow in Arnie's footsteps will get a vehicle that has just about the ultimate street cred. And, despite its size, it's not bad to drive.Pushed around corners there's a fair bit of body roll and it takes a bit of pulling up.The V8 is linked to a four-speed auto transmission with a shifter that resembles the power controller in aircraft.It has a big cabin with bucket seats in the front, three seats in the second row and an optional single seat in the third row. The front seats have eight-way power adjustment.Surprisingly, the H2 is easy to steer and is far from daunting. The turning circle is tight for this size vehicle at 13.5m and manoeuvring is simple, although you have to keep an eye on the vehicle's width, which is 2063mm, excluding mirrors.People accustomed to driving a LandCruiser or Patrol would feel comfortable immediately.While it may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound it certainly leaps, can wade through more than half a metre of water, can climb step-ups of 406mm, and easily hits 140km/h on the main straight at Darlington Park.Off road it's a beast, but with some shortcomings. The sheer size means at times it's difficult to see the track immediately in front of the vehicle. Enginebraking for steep descents is, at best, less than average, even in low range locked in first gear. Ground clearance, entry and departure angles and ramp over are huge.Both on and off the track the vehicle's trimming groans like a sailing ship in heavy weather. But there's something about the Hummer that leaves you wanting more...more time behind the wheel.