Whats the deal with speed?

[clydecpa]

I'm not sure I understand what the question was, but make it plain to me and I will ask him and relay his answers to you. I won't divulge his name, because he didn't choose to pick sides on a public forum, I did. His arguments generally focus on what GM is doing wrong that is keeping them from keeping up with the foreign car makers. I agree with most but not all of his arguments.

I, like everyone else here, love the offroad capabilities of the H3. Yet, like 95% of the die hard offroaders here, I drive 95% OVER THE ROAD!!! Do I want to have my cake and eat it too? YES!!! That's part of the American way! GM probably has the engine technology on the shelf that would have worked better. But, they put it back on the shelf and pull off old (but proven) technology to power the H3. I realize the I5 is pretty new, but the H3 is brand spankin' new, and needed a brand spankin' new engine, not a Colorado hand-me-down.

Also, I test drove every vehicle mentioned earlier save the Montero, and I have no idea what their "tested" 0-60 times were, just like I don't care about EPA mileage ratings, only real world results. Every one of those other SUV's (and a half dozen or so others) felt noticably faster than the H3.

This is a fixable problem, and one I look forward to GM addressing. I hope it does happen sooner rather than later, but given GM's track record, I don't expect it to happen in the 2nd model year.

[clydecpa]

I respect your opinion, but I disagree.

You can ask a consumer to sacrifice power in exchange for fuel economy, or vice versa. When you give hime a brand new product offering with no power and no fuel economy, that's a problem. Let's not sugarcoat it; the H2 gets 11-12 mpg in real world driving (my neighbor has one, so i know first hand). Given the reduction in size and weight of the H3, I don't consider 14-15 mpg to be "damn good." If you do, good for you.

I don't see why GM spent so much money developing the H3, but couldn't design a more power/fuel optimized engine. My next door neighbor is a GM employee (engine specialist to be exact for the Saturn plant) and cited this to me recently as another example of GM higher ups being asleep at the wheel.

My company was the exclusive Hummer dealer for the entire state of Tennessee region in the mid to late 90's, so I know a few things about Hummers and marketing them to customers. Right now, they've been made more affordable to the masses, but appeal probably more strongly to the hardcore offroad enthusiast. That's fine if that is what you are; you probably don't want it to have curb appeal to "soccor moms." Nevertheless, as fuel prices continue to climb GM will be forced to up the mileage ratings on the next significant change to the H3 or H?.

I simply stated that the deal killer for me was the combination of poor power with poor fuel economy. That combination is a fact! I tried to deny that for a couple of months, but when it came time to buy, I came to my senses. You can continue drinking the kool-aid you like so much, no problem. And nobody generally cares what the mileage estimates are based on. People care about what REAL WORLD mileage a car gets!

Don't misunderstand me, I like everything else about the H3, but the engine just had me shaking me head and walking away from purchasing.

Sorry I haven't updated my profile in 2 years, maybe it should say, "Hummer wannabe."

[walc]

Amen.

[humv]

The H3 is what it is! Take it or leave it. I ask what is the compromize? Size of motor vs fuel economy can you have good gas milage with increased horsepower? This subject is like beating a dead horse. Having your cake and eating it too is hard to do.No matter how you slice it! I keep a journal of every tank of gas that I have put in mine and do about half city and half highway driving on mine. It has 2900 miles on it as we speak and I have gotten anywhere from 14 to 17 mpg.The best tank was when I let my son take it on a long trip all highway miles and it got 17mpg.I have to agree it isn't the perfect vehicle but I liked it and bought it.Time will tell if it holds up or falls apart, who knows. I have always had Toyota trucks and have had good and bad experiences with them as well. I just sold a 2004 Tacoma TRD 4x4 4 door v6 and the best tank of gas I ever got was 16 mpg.

[poul]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">you probably don't want it to have curb appeal to "soccor moms." </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
exactly!
that's the main reason i didn't buy landrover/grand cherokee yet. i could live with this engine and install turbo in a year or two. my main problems are with damn unfolding seats (i need to haul big paintings around all the time) and wonky drive on gravel roads. both should be easy to fix for GM, unlike achieving impossible goal of good speed AND good mileage AND good offroading.