[HummerMann]

I've owned H2s since they first came out with the '03 and I've only had two incidents, both involved finger flashing. I did have one incident where a car parked so close that I had to get in the passenger side, but as I sat there and steamed and waited, I saw a little old lady return to the car, not even realizing what she had done. I guess I was lucky she didn't hit me when she parked. When I take my mother-in-law with us, I always park in two spots, (lately it seems they stripe the lots with narrower lanes to get more cars in than they did five years ago) so I can get her in her wheel chair and open the door all the way. I'm surprised I haven't had repurcussions from taking up two spots, but I haven't, perhaps hanging the handicapped sign when I take her helps. When I first got my '03 I got thumbs up and smiles everwhere I went with it.

Some of the new comers forget the times when the H2 was new in '03 and '04 and the reception was overwhelmingly positive, BUT then came California Tree Huggers and FUH2 that needed something to rally against. Then came a damaging article in a prominent Left Coast newspaper in '04stating the H2 got "7.1 mpg and would be lethal to any compact car it crashed into." There were two sentences about it's offroad ability, nothing about snow, and the interior was described as militaristic. The article was so slanted that everyone thought Hummers got 7 mpg and ran small cars off the road routinely. I believe in the Northeast, people realize the Hummers go through the snow and floods when others don't and save lives. Even if you just bought an H2 for the fun of driving one, isn't that what America is all about, freedom and the pursuit of happiness??