H3

[Knight]

I was looking on the internet this evening and stumbled against this, hummer plans on releasing the H3 to comete head on with the jeep market...

http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=19&article_id=8692&page_number=1

 

[Styx]

I want to Toyota to make a REAL Land Cruiser again(read FJ-40). Does anyone think the people buying these will even know how to drive them off pavement?

 

[deadandcompany]

I want to Toyota to make a REAL Land Cruiser again(read FJ-40). Does anyone think the people buying these will even know how to drive them off pavement?

Sure they can drive em, what about people that buy Rubicons. Those who acutally wheel them know whats going on.

 

[Scrub]

lol yea thats a good point 90% of the rubi's that i see around are used for grocery getters, and even in that article C&D says that the climbing the rubiction trail is nothing like climbing the speed bumps at target...... so i'd say that 95% of the H3's that get sold will never see more than a dusty road or a little bit of snow. just My Opinion though

-Matt-

 

[kairo]

I think it looks pretty good. Well, much better than the H2 at least. 30k is somewhat reasonable for a rubicon type vehicle which would almost certainly be more comfortable than a jeep, and have a bigger power plant. Given the choice, I'd build a jeep for 30k before I bought a hummer, but they're definately a step forward from the H2, and I think we can all be thankful for that. On one last note, I hope they rip sales from Chrysler like nobody's business. If hummer takes the 4x4 market away from them, you can be darned sure some great things will be coming out in Jeep's lineup. Give them some competition so they really put their brains to work on our new Jeeps!

 

[Dennis]

Hummer has the info on the website. hummer.com

 

[Samco Fab]

I'm pretty sure they will offer the H3 with a 4 to 1 t case(option), optional stick shift and I was told lockers front and rear ( an option). The off road package comes with 33s, so the only bad part is the front ifs. Rod Hall has his here in town, I havent driven it, but it is really nice inside. GM is building an H3 production racer right now for Rod, so we will be seeing it in action here hopefully in Baja 2005.

 

[Charlie]

It looks to be another trendy POS based on GM's mini-truck platform with the new (read: quirky/gimicky) 5 cyl engine...for 30k there are many, many vehicles I would consider first :disagree:

Did they take bypasses on the trail? :yup:

I can see GM going under real soon (except maybe in their new focus market: China).

 

[Sauce]

I'm pretty sure they will offer the H3 with a 4 to 1 t case(option), optional stick shift and I was told lockers front and rear ( an option). The off road package comes with 33s, so the only bad part is the front ifs. Rod Hall has his here in town, I havent driven it, but it is really nice inside. GM is building an H3 production racer right now for Rod, so we will be seeing it in action here hopefully in Baja 2005.

You guys should listen to sam on all this stuff, he does race prep for rod hall, who races hummers, so he has the DL on all the new stuff. If anyody knows how these bad boys perform, Sam does. H2's weren't really meant for rock crawling, but they have been doing exceptionally well in desert races. Rod hall has won the last 4 races in his H2. I never was a fan of h2's, but after I saw rod halls H2, it changed my mind. Each vehicle has good and bad attributes. I wouldn't even try and race Rod halls h2 in my commanche, I would get smoked and my junk would fall apart. Anyway, gotta give a local guy props for doing well in desert racing, if I had enough money, I would love to have a prerunner.

 

[Dennis]

It seems that H2 would be too tall to race, but I don't know what the COG and weight distribution is. Also, the front suspension doesn't have that much travel to take the desert racing well. (Unless they redo it completely).
But I'd love to try race an H1.

 

[rusty_tlc]

I want to Toyota to make a REAL Land Cruiser again(read FJ-40). Does anyone think the people buying these will even know how to drive them off pavement?

Real FJ40's sell for around $3,700 used, $10K will build one heck of a nice Cruiser from almost any beater. So for around $14K you can have a real FJ40.

The FJ cruiser is actually going into production. I read an article about it in this months Toyota Trails (the TLCA news letter). Pricing is supposed to be between the Rav and Forerunner. It is speced to be similar to the Rubicon in performance. The FJ Cruiser is based on the Forerunner platform with, I think, a nice retro styled body.

The H2 is built on a modified GMC truck platform. Basically my Sierra 2500 with a plastic body (maybe to keep the COG low? ). For the price I'll stick with the truck, similar performance without the bling.
Looks like the H3 is based on the Sanoma/S10, same argument.

In either case buy the truck and put the savings into performance parts.

 

[Dennis]

Real FJ40's sell for around $3,700 used, $10K will build one heck of a nice Cruiser from almost any beater. So for around $14K you can have a real FJ40.

The FJ cruiser is actually going into production. I read an article about it in this months Toyota Trails (the TLCA news letter). Pricing is supposed to be between the Rav and Forerunner. It is speced to be similar to the Rubicon in performance. The FJ Cruiser is based on the Forerunner platform with, I think, a nice retro styled body.

But, it's got IFS.

Looks like the H3 is based on the Sanoma/S10,

Canyon/Colorado/Trailblazer/Envoy/Bravada platform. S10/Sonoma platform hasd been retired last year.

 

[rusty_tlc]

But, it's got IFS.

Depending on what you want to do that's not a bad thing. Going 65 MPH on wash board, gimme the IFS.

Canyon/Colorado/Trailblazer/Envoy/Bravada platform. S10/Sonoma platform hasd been retired last year.

Right you are. :yup: except for the extended cab.


Google is a wonderfull thing.

 

[Samco Fab]

A truck would be a better choice for sure, but we run in a sport utility class.The truck class (Ford F150 to 350, H1 etc..)has the same rules, but generally is faster than us(H2, Expadition, Excursion, Bronco). Although the H2 won 4 races in a row and beat the truck class on time! Our driver and shock tuning and of course excelent prep overcame hundreds of pounds of extra sheetmetal and 8" of wheel travel. We even beat the H1. I just work with what I am given, although the H2 has suprised me how tough and relible it is, I do realize it is not a perfect vehicle, everything is a compromise. We do almost always beat the heavily modified Jeepspeed Cherokees if I remember right... You all should build a newer Ford to race against us, Ford pays $10,000 for first place.

 

[Sauce]

A truck would be a better choice for sure, but we run in a sport utility class.The truck class (Ford F150 to 350, H1 etc..)has the same rules, but generally is faster than us(H2, Expadition, Excursion, Bronco). Although the H2 won 4 races in a row and beat the truck class on time! Our driver and shock tuning and of course excelent prep overcame hundreds of pounds of extra sheetmetal and 8" of wheel travel. We even beat the H1. I just work with what I am given, although the H2 has suprised me how tough and relible it is, I do realize it is not a perfect vehicle, everything is a compromise. We do almost always beat the heavily modified Jeepspeed Cherokees if I remember right... You all should build a newer Ford to race against us, Ford pays $10,000 for first place.

ouch sam, that was below the belt. I was giving you props and now you are bagging on cherokees, that is harsh. And to think, I was actually starting to like you, unfortunately I am unable to associate with cherokee haters :disagree:

 

[Samco Fab]

Now David, dont you have a Truckoree, not a Cherokee, so sensitive. We all know Cherokees want to grow up to be early Broncos My wife drives a Grand Cherokee, I have a Bronco and GM pays the bills, so I have all the major bases covered. It seems people like to bash Hummer owners on rockcrawler forums. Usually many of the negative comments are well founded, but somebody has to stand up for the Hummers themselves( not the owners). No vehicle is ultimate, everything has its pros and cons.

 

[the_bunnisher]

Hey sam didnt a jeep speed cherokee beat us at last years TT250?? :yup:

 

[DBXJ]

i agree with ta 100% no vehicle is ultamate
for exaple when i was younger my dad used to race baja there was alost always a guy out there who said there truck was the ultimate they thought that so much that they had the best and ran the truck to the ground or wreaked it while some guy wit a budget rig wins it

but as for the jeepspeed thing well they still have the 6cyl which is one of the by laws of jeep speed and the engine generats somthin like 310+ hp if i remeber corretly

 

[rusty_tlc]

Now David, dont you have a Truckoree, not a Cherokee, so sensitive. We all know Cherokees want to grow up to be early Broncos My wife drives a Grand Cherokee, I have a Bronco and GM pays the bills, so I have all the major bases covered. It seems people like to bash Hummer owners on rockcrawler forums. Usually many of the negative comments are well founded, but somebody has to stand up for the Hummers themselves( not the owners). No vehicle is ultimate, everything has its pros and cons.

Just an observation but I think attitude of the average H2 owner might contribute a lot to the bad rep these vehicles have with the general offroad crowd.