The 2006 Hummer H3 - A True Hummer Or just Another SUV?



Posted: Tuesday, April 18, 2006

by
Help Me To Sleep

The Hummer is without question the world's most distinctive SUV and it's amazing to see that a vehicle manufactured for military use back in the 1980s now has an increasing world-wide following in its 3 civilian versions. In fact, just this month, GM announced a partnership with Avtotor for the manufacture of the Hummer H3 in Russia, which GM views as its biggest potential market at the moment.

All of us will obviously recognize the original Hummer 1 together with the scaled-down Hummer 2, both of which retained the trademark box shape of the original military vehicle. But is the Hummer 3, scaled-down yet further and with a distinctive shape of its own, a true Hummer or is it simply joining the pack of other SUVs on the market?

Most Hummer 1 and 2 owners do not worry about the fact that, While the off-road capabilities of the Hummer are unrivalled, its on-road capabilities is certainly nothing to shout about. It takes up more than its fair share of the road, visibility is appalling, parking is a nightmare and they simply choose to ignore its fuel consumption. The Hummer's appeal lies simply in its sheer size and unique appearance.

Now the Hummer 3 naturally retains many of the trademark features of its predecessors, not least the small military style windows that gave the occupants of the military vehicle a degree of protection but that give today's drivers such poor visibility. But its smaller size and less box-like appearance now put it alongside such competitors as the Toyota 4Runner and Chevrolet Trailblazer and it is arguable that many potential Hummer owners will start paying a bit more attention to the competition when making their purchase.

So has GM made a miscalculation with its design for the Hummer H3? Well, only time will answer this question but as we depart from the distinctive shape and size of what many people would call the "real" Hummer, owners are going to look more and more at the performance of the h3 in comparison to its competitors and here the Hummer 3 is going to come up a little short I fear.

Despite the fact that it will still win with ease as an off-road vehicle, the Hummer 3 is deplorably underpowered for on-road driving. Sporting a 3.5L 5-cylinder engine developing 220 hp, it would look to be on a par with such vehicles as the Jeep Grand Cherokee until you compare the weights of the two vehicles and see that the H3 is some 900 lbs heavier. Acceleration is extremely poor to say the least and you shouldn't even think of trying to put your foot down if you're going uphill.

Naturally there are ways of overcoming this problem such as the tune-up kit produced by Geiger in Germany. This kit includes a supercharger which will boost the Hummer 3 up to around 325 hp and greatly improve its acceleration, but should it be necessary to go to the time and expense of modifying your new vehicle? Perhaps this is one problem that GM should have addressed from the outset rather than leaving its potential customers to solve the problem themselves and at their own expense.

SUV's are becoming increasingly popular around the world and this is obviously a growing and highly lucrative market. The Hummer has carved out a very distinctive niche within this market and the success of the Hummer 1 and 2 is not disputed. The question at present is whether the Hummer 3 will allow GM to continue to make inroads into the market or will begin to give ground to its competitors.

For more information on the 2006 Hummer 3 and for details on Hummer prices visit HummerOnline.info today.

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