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The 2006 Hummer H3 - A True Hummer Or merely Another Off-Road Vehicle?
By Donald Saunders
The Hummer is undoubtedly the world's most distinctive SUV and it's astounding to find that a vehicle designed for use by the military back in the 1980s now has an increasing world-wide following in its 3 civilian versions. In fact, only this month, GM gave notice of a partnership with Avtotor for the manufacture of the Hummer 3 in Russia, which GM sees as its biggest potential market right now.
Everybody will obviously recognize the original Hummer 1 as well as the scaled-down Hummer 2, both of which retained the trademark box appearance of the original military vehicle. But is the Hummer 3, scaled-down even further and with a distinctive shape of its own, a real Hummer or is it merely joining the large number of other SUVs being offered today?
The majority of Hummer 1 and 2 owners aren't concerned about the fact that, While the off-road performance of the Hummer are unrivalled, its on-road capabilities is nothing to brag about. It takes up more than its fair share of the road, visibility is terrible, parking is a nightmare and they simply don't talk about its fuel consumption. The appeal of the Hummer lies simply in its sheer size and unique appearance.
Now the Hummer 3 clearly retains a significant number of of the trademark features of the H1 and H2, not least the tiny military style windows that afforded the occupants of the original military vehicle some protection but which give today's drivers appalling visibility. However its smaller size and more rounded 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 to pay a bit more attention to the competition when considering their purchase.
So has GM made a miscalculation with its design for the 2006 Hummer H3? Well, only time will provide the answer to this question but as we move away from the distinctive size and shape of what many people would call the "real" Hummer, owners are going to look increasingly at the performance of the vehicle in comparison to its competitors and here the Hummer 3 is going to come up a little short I fear.
While 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 appear to be on a par with such vehicles as the Honda Pilot until you compare the weights of the vehicles and find that the H3 is some 900 lbs heavier. Acceleration is extremely poor to say the least and you should not even think of trying to put your foot down if you're going uphill.
Naturally there are ways to get around this problem such as the tune-up kit produced by Geiger in Germany. This kit includes a supercharger that will boost the Hummer 3 up to around 325 hp and substantially improve its acceleration, but should it be necessary to go to the expense and time of having your new vehicle modified? Perhaps this is one problem that GM should have addressed from the start rather than leaving its potential customers to sort out the problem themselves and at their own expense.
SUV's are becoming ever more popular around the world and this is obviously an expanding and very 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 now is whether the Hummer 3 will allow GM to continue to make inroads into this market or will start to yield ground to the competition.
About the Author
For more information on the 2006 Hummer 3 and for details on Hummer prices visit http://HummerOnline.info today.
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/25432.html
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