Here's What It Was Like To Own a Hummer For a Year
I recently sold my Hummer after owning it for a year. Read my final thoughts over on Jalopnik, or watch the video above.
I recently sold my Hummer after owning it for a year. Read my final thoughts over on Jalopnik, or watch the video above.
Comments
Doug you should look into getting another Ferrari
Nah, that ship has sailed. Don’t want to do the same old stuff again. I’m not sure what the next car will be, but something different for sure.
Disregard this comment.
Some facts from someone who has owned one for about four years, has put on more than 30k miles, and has common sense:
It is not that big. Width? Within an inch or two of any other dually pickup you’ll see on the road. Length? Quite a lot shorter than many trucks out there, even cars (the wheel base as compared to my Mustang is roughly 15-18” longer). This leads to the hummer having a rather excellent turning radius. Height is shorter than an F-150. I’ve driven mine comfortably in cities all over the United States. Saying anything else is pure incompetence.
It is extremely easy to gauge where all four wheels are at all times, especially with the brushguard. The is no overhang in the front and very little in the back..if you can see the corner of the hummer(which you always can), congratulations you know where the wheels are. I’ve had numerous people drive it and not one single person has ever had an issue…narrow roads, construction zones, tight corners, no problems.
Gas mileage is only the fault of the 350. Anyone who has ever looked into owning a Hummer knows this. You absolutely cannot bash the gas mileage and speed when the 350 was only offered for 2 years! Get a hummer with a 6.5TD if you ever want to daily drive it (6.6 Duramax, if you can afford it…). I have never seen below 10mpg; I average 11-12 and have seen 15 on the interstate without taping it up like a baffoon.
The speed is obviously pretty bad, no matter what, but it only takes a day to learn you need more time to get up to speed and larger gaps to enter. 0-60mph with the 6.5TD is right around 15 seconds, which is rather close to a few econoboxes on the market.
I have no issues with noise in mine. I can easily hold a conversation parked or at 65mph.
Preventative maintenance means they can be reliable as ever, ESPECIALLY when they aren’t taken off road. I’ve only ever had an upper radiator hose get a hole and a belt tensioner break. Yea, I’ve got flats but that’s with anything, at least tires are cheaper than anything for the hummer. I have never been stranded on the side of the road with my truck.
I’m just glad the ignorance and misinformation about the Hummer from jalopnik is over and the black eye in the Hummer community is moving on.
Bottom line, you only buy a Hummer purely out of want. I grew up driving by a dealer every day and it was my dream vehicle. Sure it rides stiff as hell, bumpy, and slow, but I love every second of it. If you’re one to complain about these things, this is not the vehicle for you.
Dude! I loved the truck. But you have to recognize it has flaws. I don’t get why some people are so sensitive about their own vehicles. My own car is a Range Rover and it’s a total piece of crap, but at least I’m up front about that. When you say things like “the Hummer is reliable ESPECIALLY when they aren’t taken off road,” you have to wonder if you’re just making excuses for it.
What i hear is “its almost as wide as the widest trucks, its wheelbase is longer than american muscle, its speed is worse than econoboxes, and make sure you get the good 11mpg version.” Without any of the towing capabilities or dual tires or truckbeds of a pickup.
It seems you can argue that its “lovable”, but i find it hard to believe it can be called a “good” vehicle.
How about a track spec road car? Or maybe a tuned street car like maybe a 500 hp Supra as your next car to review.
Based on the, er, fan base the Skyline has attracted, I don’t think there will be another Japanese sports car in my future anytime soon.
Thank you for not posting another article about your GTR…
Farewell, Hummer/Humvee, you will be missed.
Also, since you’ve established that you only own cars for a year (for review reasons) and sell it (The GTR goes next, i presume), the question is… what car will you get for 2016?
Like this one (and the Skyline), the next one will be decided on by my readers/Twitter followers/YouTube viewers. I’ll do a big thread on Jalopnik and here and on YouTube where I ask for suggestions, and in the end I’ll sort through them and come up with something.
I actually plan to do two — one for the Skyline (when it sells) and one for the Hummer (in a few weeks). So stay tuned…
One week with one of those things would be tiring enough for me!
Yeah.
I think your next car should be something from the Sovjetunion. Like a Lada, or a Trabant, or something like that.
For your next one you should get something from the 40’s or 50’s, in factory spec (6 volt, flathead engine, 3 on the tree, all that fun stuff) and review what living with that is like. Winter driving, road trips, etc.
I mean, to be totally fair, you have to expect that it’s not going to be great to own. Fun, maybe, if you’re into that type of vehicle, but it was never designed to be a normal vehicle. It was a military vehicle. And that’s the intrigue. And that’s the only intrigue for me, really. But on to something new, Doug. Peel P50 for a year?
Hahaha. Peel P50 would be so hilarious. But do they really exist? Like, I go on Craigslist and type in Peel P50… not much comes up.