[evldave]

My 2 cents:

Now at 12k miles, it's my DD. Coming from a 325i and before that a Cherokee (plus I have a suburban for extended expeditions). I've had it on 4 long weekends (~1000k miles). , It's an auto and cloth seats. I live in the NW, which means anywhere you go, you are climbing a mountain.

That said, it's easily the best balance between being able to drive there in comfort and drive offroad in security in stock form (and it's not hard to make it even better on the cheap). My whole family is GM now (after being Ford for a few decades) and it's much better build quality than either a Tahoe or 1500/2500 pickup. It suffers on the interior storage, but get a roof rack and you've got enough space for 4 people, 2 dogs, and all the camping equipment you need.

As far as power, I don't think it's even underpowered on the freeway. Sure, compared to a vette or a BMW it's a dog, but I cruise @ 80 on the freeway and have no problem with power. It will downshift to speed up, and the cruise control sucks (it appears to be an on-off, instead of incremental, which means when you go up a hill, it floors the throttle and drops down a gear every time).

You can crank the torsion bars to get more clearance. Add 35's (they will fit in stock trim) and you'll get another 1". On road manners won't be an issue, and it's better offroad.

And one thing you didn't ask about. You'll likely get exceptional service. Hummer dealers bend over backwards for their customers, and the brand prides itself on setting a higher standard (regular hummer happenings, etc). Get it through a 5 star dealer and you'll have the best customer service you can get anywhere (including German or Japanese brands). The build quality on a 1st year vehicle seems great, so that's another benefit.