Extended Test Drive

[HoKC]

Last Friday I had the chance to drive an H3 for a long distance for the first time. Included in that drive was about 15-20 miles of off road adventure. We are having a Hummer Happening on the 27th and I had to go check out the trails we are using for the H3 to make sure they were going to be practical and still be fun. Here is what I thought of the whole thing.

1.) Drive to Kansas Rocks Off Road Park (http://www.ksrockspark.com) From Hummer Of Kansas City, Distance 85 miles – The ride down was pretty tame, divided 4 lane highway most of the time. Cruise control set at 74 with no problems. I was driving a cloth adventure unit and the comfort level was pretty decent (would like to have had a dead pedal---more on that to come). Part of the drive was plain two lane highway and involved some highway speed passing. I was a little concerned about this from all the talk of under power but in the three times that I passed including one that was uphill, I never felt that I was having trouble. It just downshifted, wound up and got down the road. Seating position was slightly below what I am used to. This is mainly due to the fact that it was a manual seat and had no adjustment for height. I like to sit a little higher in the vehicle than most.

2.) Kansas Off Road Park, Distance 15-20 miles – Had trouble writing that first part because I was so excited to get to this part. The off road abilities of this thing are absolutely amazing. It is VERY easy to become comfortable and at ease when traversing terrain in this thing. First off it was 100 degrees outside according to the thermometer and here I was tooling around in the brush with the AC on and tunes playing. My guide for the day, non other than one of the founding fathers of the park, Dave Killion. He drives a heavily modified Land Crusier. The H3 happily climbed and crawled over everything we wanted to. It has the amazing ability to practically stop on a down hill just by engine back pressure when in low gear. We actually had to gas it to go down. It is a lot of fun to be pointed straight down and just let go of the gas and brake. The real excitement though was the smaller width of the H3. We had the chance to go a lot of places that you just cannot make it into with an H2. I could have spent all day crawling around down there. It was especially good at climbing over rocks and hills. To use the old cliché “It climbs like a mountain goat”. I had only two things that I would have liked to have had when I was there. 1. A dead pedal for the left foot. The soft spongy spot just is not comfortable to me, I like to brace myself with that foot when I am not using it to brake. 2. Power seat option in the cloth. I would really liked to have been able to raise the seat up to give me a better view of the ground in front of me. I tried it when I got back and the Leather power seat can give you a much better view when raised (I am 5’8” in case you wondered). The H3 was so good off road we had to go ahead and decide that they were going to have to go on a different trail ride than the H2 to make sure they really had something to challenge them.

3.) Kansas Off Road Park to Hummer Of Kansas City, Distance 85 miles – I normally would have let the ride down stand for the highway portion of the driving but just as we were leaving the park a cold front moved through and dropped the temperature by 30 degrees (yes, that is Three Zero degrees, welcome to Kansas) in only 10 minutes. It also started pouring down rain. The kind where you cannot see more than a couple hundred yards in front of you. This presented a different style of drive so I thought I would include it. We drove with the wipers on full blast doing about 60-70 the whole way. The rain does quite a number on that vertical windshield but the volume of rain was the biggest problem. I just used the side of the road as a reference most of the time. One of the most important things I noticed though was that the H3 NEVER felt jittery or like it was hydroplaning at all. Even when we started picking up a very strong crosswind. I think the pushed out wheel base gives it a firm stance in that regard. I was never under the impression that I was even close to driving on the edge of my traction limit. A very good feeling when a lot of vehicles at that speed and amount of rain will not be that way. All the rain was good enough to clean the H3 by the time we got back though. ?

To wrap up this long post let me say I am now even a bigger fan of the H3 and look forward to showing others on the 27th what it can do and getting pictures of the huge smiles on their faces just like I had last week.

HoKC

[HoKC]

Last Friday I had the chance to drive an H3 for a long distance for the first time. Included in that drive was about 15-20 miles of off road adventure. We are having a Hummer Happening on the 27th and I had to go check out the trails we are using for the H3 to make sure they were going to be practical and still be fun. Here is what I thought of the whole thing.

1.) Drive to Kansas Rocks Off Road Park (http://www.ksrockspark.com) From Hummer Of Kansas City, Distance 85 miles – The ride down was pretty tame, divided 4 lane highway most of the time. Cruise control set at 74 with no problems. I was driving a cloth adventure unit and the comfort level was pretty decent (would like to have had a dead pedal---more on that to come). Part of the drive was plain two lane highway and involved some highway speed passing. I was a little concerned about this from all the talk of under power but in the three times that I passed including one that was uphill, I never felt that I was having trouble. It just downshifted, wound up and got down the road. Seating position was slightly below what I am used to. This is mainly due to the fact that it was a manual seat and had no adjustment for height. I like to sit a little higher in the vehicle than most.

2.) Kansas Off Road Park, Distance 15-20 miles – Had trouble writing that first part because I was so excited to get to this part. The off road abilities of this thing are absolutely amazing. It is VERY easy to become comfortable and at ease when traversing terrain in this thing. First off it was 100 degrees outside according to the thermometer and here I was tooling around in the brush with the AC on and tunes playing. My guide for the day, non other than one of the founding fathers of the park, Dave Killion. He drives a heavily modified Land Crusier. The H3 happily climbed and crawled over everything we wanted to. It has the amazing ability to practically stop on a down hill just by engine back pressure when in low gear. We actually had to gas it to go down. It is a lot of fun to be pointed straight down and just let go of the gas and brake. The real excitement though was the smaller width of the H3. We had the chance to go a lot of places that you just cannot make it into with an H2. I could have spent all day crawling around down there. It was especially good at climbing over rocks and hills. To use the old cliché “It climbs like a mountain goat”. I had only two things that I would have liked to have had when I was there. 1. A dead pedal for the left foot. The soft spongy spot just is not comfortable to me, I like to brace myself with that foot when I am not using it to brake. 2. Power seat option in the cloth. I would really liked to have been able to raise the seat up to give me a better view of the ground in front of me. I tried it when I got back and the Leather power seat can give you a much better view when raised (I am 5’8” in case you wondered). The H3 was so good off road we had to go ahead and decide that they were going to have to go on a different trail ride than the H2 to make sure they really had something to challenge them.

3.) Kansas Off Road Park to Hummer Of Kansas City, Distance 85 miles – I normally would have let the ride down stand for the highway portion of the driving but just as we were leaving the park a cold front moved through and dropped the temperature by 30 degrees (yes, that is Three Zero degrees, welcome to Kansas) in only 10 minutes. It also started pouring down rain. The kind where you cannot see more than a couple hundred yards in front of you. This presented a different style of drive so I thought I would include it. We drove with the wipers on full blast doing about 60-70 the whole way. The rain does quite a number on that vertical windshield but the volume of rain was the biggest problem. I just used the side of the road as a reference most of the time. One of the most important things I noticed though was that the H3 NEVER felt jittery or like it was hydroplaning at all. Even when we started picking up a very strong crosswind. I think the pushed out wheel base gives it a firm stance in that regard. I was never under the impression that I was even close to driving on the edge of my traction limit. A very good feeling when a lot of vehicles at that speed and amount of rain will not be that way. All the rain was good enough to clean the H3 by the time we got back though. ?

To wrap up this long post let me say I am now even a bigger fan of the H3 and look forward to showing others on the 27th what it can do and getting pictures of the huge smiles on their faces just like I had last week.

HoKC

[MxHonda]

Thanks for the great offroad review. I cannot wait for the chance to try mine out!

[canucksnaphook]

That is what I am talking about...now please somebody lend me 50k quickly !! I am dying to get an H3 as a new vehicle. But am going to wait until next spring....this isnt easy !!

C.

any pics of the trip???

[HoKC]

None this time but I will get some from our event.

[canucksnaphook]

sweet....appreciate it !

C.

now about that 50 grand....

[XM DUDE]

I really think Jeep should be afraid, be very afraid!, when people dicover how good this thing really is, you will see alot of Jeep trade ins and Jeepers jumping ship. The H3 is priced close to the Rubicon and is more confortable and will crawl with a Rubicon, hmmmmm what would you choose?

[HummerNewbie]

Thanks for the great review. Can't wait to hear about and see pics from the event

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by HoKC:
...just as we were leaving the park a cold front moved through and dropped the temperature by 30 degrees (yes, that is Three Zero degrees, welcome to Kansas) in only 10 minutes.
HoKC </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Got to love the weather up there. I left KC on day to run up to Lincoln to pick something up. When I left it was 75 degrees and I was wearing shorts and a tee-shirt. By the time I got to Lincoln it 30 degrees and snowing Every time I stopped to get gas or go in someplace everyone looked at me like I was a freak

[oneworld]

Great review Marvin, hey i sent you a private message see if you get it > not sure if that works, anyway once again thanks for the imput and check out my questions in the private message.

[jagular7]

Glad you liked the park with the manueverability of the H3. Hopefully the weather for your event will be dryer than this weekend. We had over 5+ inches of rain here near KC, and Dave spoke about how much rain the park had.

[HoKC]

As dry as it was down there it will most likely not cause any problems. Most of the stream crossing were almost completely dry.

[HummerNewbie]

KC,

I just found out last night that I might be flying up for a couple of days next week. What are the dealership hours going to be Friday and are you even going to be open on Saturday? I was thinking about stopping by, especially if you are going to have any Slate or Superior Blues on the lot. Are you going to be around most of the week? Got an H3 I can borrow for the event Saturday?

[HoKC]

We are going to be open regular hours Saturday (9-6). If you are in town and want a free lunch and a ride around the off road park let me know and I will set it up for you. I am sure we will have some blues here on the ground (we have 5 right now) but it might be close on the slate blue. I have one that is supposed to deliver Saturday so it might still be around. While I may not be able to get you in the drivers seat at the park I am sure a ride along is no problem.

[HummerNewbie]

Thanks for the offer of the lunch and the ride along. Don't think I will actually have time to go out there but sure would love to. If I can work it out I will let you know. I had something come up this weekend that is pushing my H3 purchase off for several month, the reason from coming up there, but my AC went out this evening so I may have to try to work it out on that slate blue you have if still available. Not living 4 months down here with no AC and really hate to spend a fortune on fixing what I am getting rid of If I can't make it to your event, when will you be around? Would be nice to meet at least one of the people from here.